Alpargatas SMBA供应链管理书.doc

PAGE PAGE 2 LOGISTICS CASE STUDY DEVELOPED FOR: COUNCIL OF LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT Alpargatas S. A. - Dialog: The Evolution of the Logistics Function Bid Proposal By Octavio Carranza Professor of Logistics of: Universidad de San Andres Argentina Alpargatas S.A.-Dialog: The Evolution of the Logistics Function (A): The Beginning Jorge Jares, logistics manager of Alpargatas SA, watches trucks leave the freight yard for their daily deliveries. After several months of careful evaluation, he concluded that some very important changes were necessary in the company’s logistics structure in order to remain competitive. As he prepared to meet with some business partners to finalize an action plan for the president of the company, he contemplated the kind of company he was employed by. Alpargatas has long been a prominent symbol of industry in Argentina. He is about to propose major distribution changes for one of the most well-known and highly respected companies in the entire country. History and Evolution of Alpargatas Alpargatas was founded in 1883 by two men who epitomized the European heritage that undergirds Argentina’s culture. Juan Echegaray, a Basque, was a pioneer in the manual fabrication of shoes made of jute canvas–lona de yute— and Scotsman Robert Fraser came from a family who manufactured machines and made clothes. The word “Alpargatas” means a kind of shoe worn by rural workers. As Argentina experienced tremendous economic growth from immigrants who migrated by the thousands to its shores, Alpargatas also grew. The company expanded into Uruguay two years later and opened a subsidiary in San Pablo (Sao Paulo), Brazil, in 1907. By 1923, the company had instituted a closed-loop production process in its textile operations. It operated textile mills for the fabrication of canvas and a cotton mill (hilandería de algodón) that supplied the raw material for the vertically-integrated production system. Alpargatas even found uses for the scraps from its cloth mills by