Case Study: Mobile Health Electronics Ltd
Manufacturing – Make to stock
Background
are sold for use in hospitals and retail outlets. Their home office is in Melbourne, which is also the
headquarters for the main sales office. A sales office is also located in Sydney, NSW. The company has
two manufacturing plants in Australia: one in Melbourne, and another one in Liverpool, NSW.
Distribution centres are also located at each of the current manufacturing plants. The company recently
added a China sales force in Beijing which includes a manufacturing facility and a distribution centre.
The company is keen to expand into India, to develop and sell healthcare mobile hand-held computers
there, and also open a sales and trainings office in the UK to expand its operation in Europe and North
America.
Each of the manufacturing plants acts as an independent company maintaining separate sets of books
and operating more or less autonomously. The Melbourne home office has had their own ERP system
for 7 years but Liverpool and Sydney’s operation have been supported by using a variety of legacy
systems to assist their manufacturing plant, human resource, financials, procurement and sales and
distribution.
With a wide range of IT systems in place, the company thinks a centralised and robust ERP system will
allow for process standardisation across its plants and offices, particularly to enable centralized
procurement and sales functions. They also want to be able to consolidate financial statements as well
as look at sales by product across the companies.
Selling of the products is done with a sales force that calls on warehouse and retail sales outlets such as,
JB Hi Fi, OfficeWorks, and Harvey Norman stores, or by directing visiting hospitals and healthcare service
providers. The Company also manufactures and sells replacement parts.
Traditionally, the company’s CEO and marketing manager travel to trade fares around the world to
promote their scanners and mobile hand-held computers. However, they have been also looking into
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starting an on-line shopping cart web site where they could promote their products and sell parts and
products online. They are also considering providing online trainings to their sales representatives and
staff across the world.
Current Challenges
Mobile Health Electronics Ltd is a growing company that needs standard operations across its
manufacturing, sales and inventory activities. Currently, its IT systems lack the flexibility and scalability
to support its growth into new markets over the next decade. Furthermore, the current IT systems do
not provide the data standardization needed for analysing the costs and profitability of different
products, by sales regions and customer. Mobile Health Electronics Ltd is yet to develop a healthcare
mobile hand-held computer which can be used in both developed and developing countries but again
their systems need to be upgraded to allow for this strategic direction. Another key strategy for MHE is
its commitment to customer satisfaction by delivering the product(s) at the right time, right place, and
at the right price. This may require make to order as well as make to stock products. MHE is organized
around processes that are focused on the value add to customers.
Some additional high-level facts about MHE are as follows:
MHE products need to be customized for value added resellers (VARs) by application of the
reseller’s logo at assembly.
Individual customers do not have direct influence over the product or its function, shape, and
size; however this is something that the Board of Directors (BoDs) is considering changing in the
future to allow individual customers the opportunity to create specialised mobile devices.
Sales planning and product design are determined by management in cooperation with other
staff members.
All sales are maintained in Australian/US currency only, even though the company does business
with other countries like China.
The company currently sources “raw materials” – parts, subassemblies and even one final
product from Korea, Japan, and Germany. These components require strict quality assurance
processes. The company is keen to maintain its current network of suppliers but also seeking
possibilities of working with more suppliers from other countries such as the US and New
Zealand.
Emerging Business Requirements and Future Challenges
With the fast changing and highly competitive business environment, the management of MHE have
realised that the current implementation of their legacy ERP and other enterprise systems which have
been in operation for about 7 years has its share of limitations. The management has realised that new
business requirements and drivers are emerging. They have also realized if they are not proactive, the
emerging requirements can negatively influence the company’s competitive advantage and market
share and as such, they need to act quickly.
Also, the traditional hyper-connected customer centric business models adopted by MHE are causing
the company to fall behind in its interactions with its customers as customers are the real drive for
change. However, the company is currently very slow to respond and adapt to changing circumstances.
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Furthermore, workforce engagement is an important priority. The increasing mobility of managers, staff,
clients and competitors, has created a huge network of mobile information and expertise. The company
has realized that they need an effective and efficient way of supporting, managing and taking advantage
of the networking opportunities that such a network of mobile workforce and clients offer. They are
particularly interested in taking advantage of such a network for improving the design of their products
and also developing a collaborative marketing strategy.
You are employed by Mobile Health Electronics Ltd as a Business Systems Requirements Analyst on a
contractual basis. You have had extensive experience with enterprise systems projects, specifically in
managing software implementations in manufacturing organisations.
Your Task:
You have been asked by the Board to work on the Enterprise System adoption and implementation. You
need to prepare a report that helps the BoDs to make an informed decision with regards to purchasing
an ERP system. Your report and recommendations should include the following information:
A – An analysis of the current situation
A1 – Business requirements and drivers
Develop a list of MHE’s business requirements and business drivers (at least 10 items). Provide a brief
description for each item on the list. Make sure your description is linked to MHE and its business
context.
A2 – Linking requirements to ERP functionalities
Using the list you developed in A1, create a table that includes:
1- A column of the identified items on the list
2- A column that specifies whether each item is a business driver or a business requirement
3- Identify business process(es) that can support or fulfill each of these business drivers or
requirements
4- Identify the type of data or information that is required for the successful completion of each
business process.
5- Against each business driver or requirement in the table, choose ERP functionalities that can
help MHE to meet/achieve its specific business requirements/drivers.
6- Provide a justification for each choice you made in step 5.
B – Software selection process
Using the table A2, your research of the existing enterprise systems in the market suggests that there
are four suitable ERP solutions for MHE:
SAP Business Suite 4 SAP HANA (a.k.a SAP S/4HANA)
SAP ECC6
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Sage X3
Oracle Cloud Accelerator
What other information would you require for recommending the best solution to MHE? What are other
considerations to take into account? Adopt a Rich Picture approach to justify your answer.
C- Laying the foundations for business value and digital transformation
through digital disruption
The management team of Mobile Health Electronics Ltd is fully aware that they need to lay the
foundations for business value and digital business transformation. This focus was an aspect they
considered when they decided to implement a new ERP system suite. The Board of Directors is
concerned that if they do not focus their future approach on digital transformation, they will lose their
competitive advantage with their customers and be left behind.
The CEO of Mobile Health Electronics Ltd has recently attended a Deloitte presentation: “Harnessing the
‘bang’: Stories from the digital frontline.” Findings indicate that 13 industries comprising 65% of the
Australian economy are facing significant digital disruption by 2017.
(Located at:
http://www2.deloitte.com/au/en/pages/building-lucky-country/articles/digital-disruption-harnessingthe-
bang.html)
Define what is meant by digital disruption by using case studies as examples to aid your
definition.
Discuss the major advantages and disadvantages (risks) to Mobile Health Electronics Ltd should
they not focus their attention on digital disruption.
Identify specific ways in which Mobile Health Electronics Ltd can improve:
Their digital disruption performance,
competitive differentiation and
growth in the future
Conclude with a recommendation on your findings for Mobile Health Electronics Ltd.
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Structure of the report
Total: 60 marks (30% of overall assessment in the unit)
Your report should include no more than 3000 words and include:
1- Title Page (0.5 mark)
2- Exec Summary (2 Mark)
No more than 2/3rds of a page
Should provide an overview of the report outcomes
3- Table of contents page (0.5 Mark)
4- Introduction (5 Mark)
You will be required to provide the purpose and a brief overview and the structure of
the report.
5- Scope (1 Mark)
This section discusses the breadth and depth of the project
6- Audience (1 Mark)
This section discusses who the report is going to
7- Project Background (5 marks)
This section briefly discusses the project and its motivations
This section should not be less than one page
8- Analysis and Evaluation (40 Marks)
An analysis of the current situation
Software selection process
Analysis of digital transformation through digital disruption
9- Overall summary (5 marks)
An overall summary of the report should be identified here. This should link to findings
at each point and be able to sell the project to the BoDs and CEO. This should cover at
least half a page.
10- References
Citation: You need to follow Harvard Style
