Navin Verma, CPIM, CSCP

Faculty SCM
writetonv@gmail.com

Capstone Project

M/s Zoom Motors

Case summary:

The Company M/s Zoom motors owned by Mr. VM Lal sells “Arrow” brand motor bikes. It is based out
of Bangalore and has grown from a mere 20 bikes per day in 2010 to 4000 bikes per day in FY 2018-
19. Its market expanded from India alone until 2016 to North America, Europe, Africa & South America
markets by 2019. As per the latest data, the company Sales were USD 264 million.

The company has its manufacturing plant in Bangalore. The plant only assembles, paints and tests the
bikes. It gets assembled Engine (from its own subsidiary), and gets the bike frame, shock absorbers
and hardware from suppliers.

The bike frames are supplied by M/s Kanti fabrications, Bangalore which has a small and rather
unprofessional setup. He happens to be a relative of Mr. Lal and has a long history with the company.
The shock absorber supplier is a technology company in a start-up mode and making fast progress on
all fronts due to professional leadership.

The warehouse for domestic and export shipments of bikes and spare parts ships all export shipments
by sea and domestic shipments by road.

It’s North America (NA) sales comprise of highly customized, high HP bikes that are highly priced but
still much cheaper than the Harley Davidson bikes and offer excellent margins. The Sales & service
facility is in Denver that serves the entire US market. The US forecast expects 150K bikes in 2020.

Situation in Europe is very similar to the US where a third-party service centre in Italy. The European
sales team has forecasted 50K bikes in 2020 with a growth of 5% p.a.

The African market volume potential is huge for the low price, low hp bikes with no market for the
high hp bikes. Competition is tough on pricing and it is not easy to displace the older European brands
unless the price differential is substantial. Forecast for Africa is 350K bikes in 2020 and growing @ 15%
p.a. but there are large swings demand data.

India is a saturated market with multiple players for low cost bikes and is projected to consume only
250K bikes in 2020 and a growth is no more than 3% p.a. The High-end bikes here have a demand of
100K p.a. in 2020 with a growth of 8% p.a.

In the recent Off-site meet, the company senior leadership deliberated on challenges posed due to
rapid global expansion and recorded the following:

Minutes of the meeting:

A. US and European Sales team:

• The delivery time of 4 weeks to Europe and US markets is unacceptable
• Expect far better service support in terms of spare part availability
• Customers expect zero-defect quality - while there are no Quality issues in engine, there are
several customer and service complaints on shock absorber (spring performance) and frames

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 Navin Verma, CPIM, CSCP
Faculty SCM
writetonv@gmail.com

(dimensions out). This market can be very costly in terms of warranty support and liability
risks.
• The European customer feedback indicates their unhappiness about use of Wooden pallets
for bikes distribution. Alternatives need to be explored for the same.

B. Africa sales leader:

• Urgent need to prepare logistics for the big African sales of low hp bikes with reduced costs

C. India Operations leader:

• Sales forecast accuracy by global sales team members is way off the mark,
• Operations is unable to absorb changes in plan within 8 weeks window (still using legacy
planning systems),
• Expects Purchasing leader to resolve the reliability issues in shock absorber “once and for all”

D. India Purchasing leader

• Expressed serious concerns about on-time delivery performance and Quality of frames from
the frame supplier who has failed to respond to repeated feedbacks.

E. The newly on boarded Global Supply Chain leader shall revisit the supply chain strategy to
address the above concerns. He is authorized to consider all possible strategy actions relating
to global distribution, sales and operations planning, manufacturing revamp, inventory policies,
make-buy decisions and the use of digital and sustainability actions as applicable.

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 Navin Verma, CPIM, CSCP
Faculty SCM
writetonv@gmail.com

Task description based on the case:

Imagine that you, as the newly on boarded Global Supply Chain leader of this company have been
tasked to analyse the current issues, evaluate options and recommend corrective actions to overcome
the growth challenges.

Your presentation should draw upon Operations & supply chain improvement strategies to address
the concerns noted in the Minutes of the meeting mentioned in the Case summary section.

This assessment gives you an opportunity to demonstrate that you can apply concepts and strategies
by developing a recommendation presentation for the given scenario.

The presentation flow:

• Your presentation begins with a short overview of your company’s history, product portfolio,
the USP and the past and projected Sales trend.

• Then talk about the Business level growth challenges and how some of the summary level KPIs
are impacted due to poor supply chain performance.

• Next focus on individual supply chain segments in terms of Challenges, cause analysis, and the
corrective action recommendations for the company to urgently implement within the next
two quarters.

• The last section of the presentation should mention any strategic actions (major structural
changes including the most current forces of change such as sustainability and Digital) that
may take longer than two quarters but are necessary to implement and standardize for a
longer-term competitive performance.

Task assessment criteria:

The main body of the presentation will be restricted to 15 slides. (Any number of annexures can be
added though to cover examples or provide details).

The Issue description shall be appropriate to the individual supply chain segments. The analysis will
be convincing and accurate, and the recommended actions need to be specific, measurable,
actionable, realistic and time bound (SMART).

Overall the presentation would have a logical flow of content from slide to slide, be impeccably
designed with suitably sized headings and text with white space balance and contain visual graphics
where needed to make a professional impact.

The last date for submission by email to the Course faculty email id (writetonv@gmail.com) is 22-Jan-
20 after which a late submission penalty will be applicable to the assessment marks.

Late submission penalty

Applicable only in the event of After due date but 2 days late 3 days late >4 days late
late submission. within 1 day
-5 marks -10 marks -15 marks -20 marks

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