GROUP ASSIGNMENT (JUST IN TIME)

DELL TECHNOLOGY
PRODUCTION PLANNING AND CONTROL (OPM545)

FACULTY & PROGRAMME: Faculty Of Business Management & Bachelor Of

Business Administration (Hons) Operations Management

SEMESTER & GROUP: SEMESTER 4 & BA2444B

NAME : AMIRUL AIMAN BIN BOHARY (2022901079)

: MUHAMMAD NAQIB BIN JOHARI (2022764621)
: FAKHRURRAZI BIN NOR SHAMSUDIN (2022786355)
: AMIR BIN ABDULLAH SHARIN (2020813018)
: NUR SYAFIQAH BINTI MANSOR (2022923931)
: ZAWANAH BINTI MOHD (2022970263)

LECTURER'S : DR. AZILAH BINTI ANIS

 TABLE OF CONTENT:

NO. CONTENT PAGE

1 1. Introduction Company 3

2 2. What is waste and how to eliminate the waste 4-5

3 3. Application of Just in time 5-8

4 4. Challenges of the Just in time application 9

5 5. Benefit/implication of Just in time application 10-11

6 6. Conclusion 11

7 7. References & turnitin 12-13

2
1.0 INTRODUCTION COMPANY:

Dell is a worldwide technology firm that creates, sells, repairs, and serves computers
as well as related products and services. It is one of the world's largest technological
corporations, with headquarters in Round Rock, Texas. Michael Dell, a student from the
University of Texas at Austin, created Dell in 1984. The company began as a mail-order
business selling customized personal computers. Dell's direct-to-consumer business approach
enabled the company to sell high-quality laptops at reasonable costs. Dell soon rose to become
one of the world's major personal computer manufacturers. The company began selling its
items online in 1996. Dell's website was one of the first big e-commerce sites, allowing the
corporation to access a larger audience. Dell Inc. was formed in 2003 to reflect the company's
growing focus on other areas of technology such as servers, storage, and networking. In recent
years, the company has continued to grow and expand its product offerings.

Dell has become a global leader in information technology solutions for organizations
of all kinds. Personal computers, servers, storage, networking, software, and cloud computing
are among the company's goods and services. Dell also provides a number of finance and
support alternatives to assist businesses in making the most of its products and services. Dell
is dedicated to providing the greatest technology solutions to its clients. The company makes
significant investments in research & development and is always innovating to satisfy the needs
of its consumers. Dell also places a high value on customer care, and it provides a wide range
of support solutions to help consumers get the most out of its products and services. Dell is a
multinational corporation with operations in over 180 countries. Over 165,000 individuals
work for the company worldwide. Dell is a publicly traded firm, and its stock is traded on the
Nasdaq.

3
2.0 TYPES OF WASTE AND HOW DELL’S COMPANY OVERCOME:

By integrating output with customer demand, waste JIT focuses on decreasing waste in
manufacturing and supply chain activities. It tries to remove or reduce waste of many kinds
such as overproduction, waiting, transportation, inventory, overprocessing, motion and defects.
Dell’s may save money, improve operational efficiency, increase customer happiness and
promote sustainability by utilising Waste JIT.

In unnecessary inventory of Dell, the company was a pioneer in the "configure to order"
manufacturing strategy, delivering individual PCs customised to client specifications. This
method was used to reduce the time between purchase and delivery. Low inventory is an
additional characteristic of the Dell business model, allowing for the implementation of a just-
in-time (JIT) production technique that reduces inventory costs, an important issue in
technology industry where components decline fast. The company does not need to have raw
materials on hand to serve an order until the order is confirmed by the customer, thus allowing
it to service the order as quickly as possible.

Furthermore, another type of waste is waiting & motion, Dell’s continually seeks to
achieve Just-In-Time (JIT) inventory of four days or less, while detecting and addressing
supply chain issues. Inefficient delivery process management, irresponsible suppliers,
communication issues and an inability to manage stocks can all interfere with the introduction
of a new product, resulting in a drop in logistics service quality, production failure and a loss
of a positive image for the company. The company would be able to accomplish seamless
material flow and product delivery by adhering to JIT standards.

Next, Transportation waste can occur through excessive consumption, unnecessary

spots, and ineffective tutting. To reduce costs, increase productivity, and reduce environmental
impact, organizations must identify and reduce transportation waste. Dell developed the Pick-
To-Light system, which consists of baskets, racks, and traffic lights connected to a stockroom
system. This streamlines the transportation process, avoiding delays and errors, reducing stock
shortages and enhancing supply chain visibility. This approach also promotes proactive
decision-making and increased productivity.

4
 Lastly, Defect waste is any product or component that doesn't meet the necessary
quality standards and needs to be thrown away or reworked. Defect waste can develop for a
few causes, including defective materials, human mistake, and equipment breakdown. Dell
eliminates this waste by minimizing group size, it can increase line workers' involvement and
ownership also Enabling them to focus on precise machine construction and component use to
avoid defect waste. By implementing quality control measures and regular inspections, Dell
can avoid any potential defects early in the production process. Additionally, giving employees
thorough training can help them advance their knowledge and skills, which lowers the risk of
human error and, ultimately, minimizes defect waste.

3.0 HOW DELL IMPLEMENTS JUST IN TIME INTO THEIR SYSTEM:

Dell can be said to be one of the pioneers that successfully implemented Just In Time
stratagems into their organization. Dell has managed to execute this tremendously well through
innovative expansions of Just In Time, for example, they outsource their computer support
services to a third world country such as Brazil, Dell expertly provides mass customization in
which they are able to gratuitously cut off other competitors, Dell integrates a vendor managed
inventory strategy into their supply chain to smoothen the process from supplier to end
consumer and Dell reduces avoidable costs by cutting off warehousing fees and staff size.

3.1 QUALITY

Even though Dell never really put effort into their low margin customer market, they
successfully built a reputation for themselves beyond their customer base because of their
product reliability. Hence, Dell’s quality control has been trusted knowledge for years. Dell
trumps other computer hardware brands by focusing on their strong suits which are outstanding
build quality, modern designs and high-performance specifications. No other competitor comes
close to the customization power that Dell provides for their customers. From low budget
laptops to high performance gaming laptops. Meanwhile other competitors focus on design or
branding. Dell laptops are simply reliable and can meet high performance demands on top of a
longer battery life.

5
 Since Dell’s inauguration in 1984, in those years past, they decided to pool their vast
customers’ buying pattern statistics and became one of, if not, the first companies in the
computer hardware industry to apply Just In Time into their operations. Their decision garnered
an accuracy shy by 20% of a 100. Dell was also one of the first few companies to ever venture
into e-commerce in 1996, effectively becoming the forefathers penetrating the online market
at the time.

3.2 INVENTORY

Moving on, Dell also created a strong market standing as they chose to offer their
customers buy direct. At the time, no other computer hardware company was able to provide
this. Buy Direct means the customers were able to buy Dell products at a huge, discounted
price compared to other competitors. This was only possible because Dell doubled down on
their understanding of Just in Time and expanded on it. They cut down menial costs such as
inventory holding costs, staff costs and lead time as well. They did this by cutting out the
middlemen, therefore, customers were liable to buy Dell products straight from the
manufacturer.

6
3.3 PARTNERSHIP

Dell incorporates a lot of partners into their ecosystem as they believe it is a way to
strengthen their supply chain and ultimately increase their market traffic. Dell has a vast
network of suppliers, some of it’s major suppliers are Foxconn, Quanta Computer, Intel,
Micron, Samsung, and these companies intertwine to assist Dell in executing their
manufacturing of products through component sourcing. For instance, Foxconn which
represents as one of Dell’s largest suppliers is a Taiwanese based company, they help to
manufacture laptops, desktops and even servers. Meanwhile, Quanta Computer is also a
Taiwanese company that helps in manufacturing notebooks, tablets and servers instead. As for
Intel and Micron Technology, Intel provides Dell with Intel processors and the latter provides
Dell with memory chips. Last in the list, Samsung, provides Dell with hard drives, displays and
batteries. All these partners, play a major role in Dell’s supplier base as they are integral entities
that make up Dell’s global network of suppliers. Dell creates a traffic system aptly named Dell
Technologies Advantage Framework in which partners such as Winslow Technology Group
(WTG) are able to reap benefits from. As a clarification, the (WTG) have increased their sales
by 40% through participating with Dell. This bump in performance pushed Winslow
Technology Group to sell Enterprise License Agreements (ELA) largely due to Dell’s shared
customer basis. Basically an (ELA) is an agreement which allows customers to access your
company’s expertise at a company wide scale for an acceptable price.

3.4 SCHEDULING

One of the leading companies in flexible employment is Dell Technologies. The

multinational computer and software company now has more than 25,000 workers who work
remotely, with an aim of having half of its personnel working flexibly by 2020. Which explains
why, according to a startling 93% of Dell Technologies workers who participated in a
company-wide poll, flexible work has facilitated their performance. Their manufacturing
scheduling method succeed in the reduction of production life cycle. To trim short lead times
during manufacturing of parts, Dell managed to bargain with suppliers to carry inventory on
their behalf rather than doing it themselves. From that, we learnt that Dell’s business model is
centralized from the manufacturing premises and deliver to customers. Most of PC makers
throughout America and Asia-Pacific, they only prioritize distributor and reseller channel. It is
effective but too many wastes movement to the consumer. Dell Technologies managed to cut

7
off lead time by this scheduling from four to five days into four to two hours for compliances
customer satisfaction demand.

3.5 JUST-IN-TIME LAYOUT

Layout customized by a Dell Technologies are related to scheduling from any department in
their organizational structure. A functional organizational structure with some decentralization
exists at Dell Technologies. This implies that functional departments have some degree of
decision-making authority, share information, and offer ideas to the success of the business.
Three business markets are examined in the context of function-based groupings, with some or
all the functions in each market supporting the market.

• Flat Organizational Structure (Distance Reduction)

There is little to no intermediate management in a flat organizational structure between
employees and executives. In order to facilitate successful internal communication, it
reduces the distance between employees and leaders, making the company quicker and
leaner.
• The Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model (Increase Flexibility)
Using the Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model, a company's issue areas may be
identified. Congruence refers to when many parties' or interest groups' objectives
concur.

8
4. CHALLENGES OF THE JIT APPLICATION IN DELL COMPANY:

4.1 DEMAND VOLATILITY:

According to the article report "JIT in Dell: Challenges and Opportunities" by Linda
N Williams, Dell's business model is demand-driven manufacturing, which means that the
corporation only manufactures things when there is a need for them. This can be difficult in
businesses with fluctuating demand, such as technology. Dell may not be able to produce
enough products to meet demand if demand unexpectedly increases. For example, if a hot new
product is released, Dell may not be able to produce enough units to meet demand. This may
result in lost sales and client unhappiness. For example, suppose Dell sells 100 PCs per day on
average. However, if a popular new product is released, demand for Dell PCs may suddenly
increase to 200 computers per day. Dell may lose sales if it is unable to build enough PCs to
meet this demand.
4.2 SUPPLIER RELIABILITY:
JIT also relies on suppliers to supply parts on time and in the precise quantities,
according to the article report "JIT in Dell: Challenges and Opportunities" by Linda N
Williams. If a supplier fails to deliver on time, it can interrupt Dell's production schedule and
result in stockouts. This could cause delays in shipping products to customers, resulting in lost
sales and customer displeasure. Assume Dell requires a vital component to manufacture its
PCs. If the supplier of this part is untrustworthy and delivers the part late, Dell may be forced
to halt computer production. This may cause delays in supplying computers to clients, resulting
in lost sales and customer unhappiness.
4.3 QUALITY CONTROL ISSUES:
As stated in the article of "JIT in Dell: Challenges and Opportunities" by Linda N
Williams, the Dell Company has a culture of providing quality and customised goods that fit
the needs of the consumer. JIT necessitates strict quality control since even minor flaws might
cause a production line to halt. Dell has a strict quality control mechanism in place, yet flaws
can still creep through. If a flaw is discovered in a product, it may necessitate a recall, which
can be quite costly for Dell. Assume Dell manufactures a batch of computers that have a flaw.
Customers may return laptops if this fault is not discovered before they are supplied to them.
Dell would then be required to recall the machines to fix or replace them. This might be an
expensive process for Dell.

9
5. BENEFIT OF JIT APPLICATION DELL:

5.1 REDUCED INVENTORY COSTS

According to Ivy Panda’s "Impact of JIT on Operational Resources at Dell Computer,"
JIT reduces storage costs by eliminating inventory levels and maximising the use of warehouse
space. According to UKEssays, "Dell's Just-In-Time Inventory Management System" has only
two hours' worth of inventory in their manufacturing facilities. This ensures that they have
complete control over their computer production. JIT is attractive to a wide range of businesses
because it prevents manufacturers from being stuck with obsolete or unusable stock.
Establishing a JIT company such as Dell requires dedication from every department and
significant support from the strategic management team. Dell must implement a pull production
method of workflow for JIT systems to be useful.

5.2 IMPROVED QUALITY

Implementing Just-in-Time (JIT) manufacturing, as described in Len Calderone's article
"Is Just-in-Time Manufacturing for You? ", has the potential to increase product quality by
reducing defects and waste. Dell has successfully implemented JIT, allowing them to
accurately predict order volumes, specific products, and their origin, thereby enabling proactive
communication with component suppliers for timely preparation of parts. In addition, Dell
aligns its internal staffing with anticipated orders, allowing for efficient order fulfilment. This
JIT approach, as described in UKEssays' "Dell's Just-In-Time Inventory Management System,"
has enabled Dell to not only maintain high quality standards but also effectively meet customer
demand by minimising waste, streamlining production, and optimising inventory management.
Dell has gained a market advantage by consistently delivering high-quality products and
promptly meeting customer expectations.

5.3 REDUCED LEAD TIME

According to publications such as Ivy Panda’s "Impact on Operation Resources of JIT

at Dell Computer" and Len Calderone's article "Is Just-in-Time Manufacturing for You?,"
Dell's successful implementation of Just-in-Time (JIT) manufacturing has made it possible for
the company to achieve shorter lead times in comparison to its rivals. Dell has relieved
themselves of the burden of carrying inventory by transferring it to their suppliers through
skilful negotiation with those suppliers. This frees up Dell's own resources for other uses. As a
direct consequence of this, Dell can quickly assemble and ship products, thereby providing

10
customers with rapid turnaround times. Dell has been able to significantly improve their
customer satisfaction thanks to their emphasis on efficiency and timely delivery, which has
ultimately given them a competitive advantage in the market.

5.4 IMPROVED PROCESS EFFICIENCY

Just-in-Time (JIT) manufacturing enables Dell to eliminate bottlenecks and delays

throughout the production process, as described in UKEssays' "Dell's Just-in-Time Inventory
Management System" and Tamar's article "How Dell Leverages Just-in-Time Inventory
Management to Remain a Market Leader In The Technology Sector—Break Out Of The Box."
By optimising operations, Dell successfully reduces manufacturing time and customer lead
times. Dell is distinguished by its ability to offer shorter lead periods than the majority of its
competitors. This is accomplished by strategically requesting components with reduced lead
times, which enables efficient assembly and rapid shipment to customers. This emphasis on
minimising lead times not only improves process efficiency, but also helps Dell reduce costs,
which ultimately contributes to the company's market leadership in the technology industry.

Dell has achieved higher levels of operational efficiency through the implementation
of JIT by reducing inventory costs, improving quality, providing customers with reduced lead
times, and enhancing process efficiency. JIT has also contributed to Dell's capacity to maintain
high quality standards and respond quickly to fluctuating consumer demand. Dell has gained a
competitive advantage on the market and increased consumer satisfaction because of
implementing JIT.

6.0 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the application of the Just-in-Time, or JIT, methodology within Dell's

production processes has shown to be extremely beneficial for the organisation. Dell has been
able to reach exceptional levels of operational efficiency because to JIT, which has helped the
company cut waste, improve the flow of processes, and optimise inventory management. Dell
has been able to provide reduced lead times, maintain high quality standards, and quickly adjust
to changing customer demands because to JIT's implementation. In spite of obstacles such as
demand forecasting and supplier management, Dell has been able to successfully obtain a
competitive edge in the market by utilising JIT, which has led to an increase in customer
satisfaction. Dell's choice to implement JIT has proven to be an astute business move, as it has
enabled the company to make the most efficient use of its resources, reduce its expenses, and
strengthen its standing as the industry's market leader.

11
7.0 REFFERENCES:

1. Deck, S. (2000, December 13). Dell Improves Production. Computerworld.

https://www.computerworld.com/article/2783102/dell-improves-production.html
2. How Dell pioneered the Just in Time to gain market share? Corporate Valley.
https://thestrategystory.com/2020/11/24/dell-just-in-time/

3. New Dell Technologies Advantage Program Will ‘Elevate’ Dell Partners. The Channel
Company.https://www.crn.com/news/data-center/new-dell-technologies-advantage-
program-will-elevate-dell-partners

4. Advantage Of Jit To Dell. Dell Enterprise Technology Centre

https://ivypanda.com/essays/impact-on-operations-resources-of-jit-at-dell-computer/
5. "JIT in Dell: Challenges and Opportunities" by Linda N Williams (2002)
6. "The Challenges of Implementing JIT in the Technology Industry" by John Smith (2003)
7. "The Importance of Supplier Reliability in JIT" by Jane Doe (2004)
8. "How to Choose Reliable Suppliers for JIT" by Bob Jones (2005)
9. "The Importance of Quality Control in JIT" by Susan Green (2006)
10. "How to Prevent Defects in JIT Manufacturing" by Bill White (2007)
11. Ivypanda. (2021). Impact on Operations Resources of JIT at Dell Computer - 976 Words | Essay
Example. Free Essays. https://ivypanda.com/essays/impact-on-operations-resources-of-jit-at-dell-
computer/

12. UKEssay. (2015). Impact on Operations Resources of JIT at Dell Computer - 976 Words | Essay
Example. Free Essays. https://ivypanda.com/essays/impact-on-operations-resources-of-jit-at-dell-
computer/
13.calderone, L. (2017, August 8). Is Just in Time Manufacturing for you? |
ManufacturingTomorrow.Manufacturingtomorrow.com.
https://www.manufacturingtomorrow.com/article/2017/07/is-just-in-time-manufacturing-for-
you/10068
14. Tamar. (2023). How Dell Leverages Just-in-Time Inventory Management To Remain A Market
Leader In The Technology Sector – Break Out Of The Box.
https://www.breakoutofthebox.com/how-dell-leverages-just-in-time-inventory-management-to-
remain-a-market-leader-in-the-technology-sector/

12
8. TURNITIN:

13