Swisher Systems Case Study Essays

Summary Swisher Systems Corporation (SSC) is an industrial heating company that was established in 1949 (W.C. Benton, 2010). SSC is an innovator of flexible heating products, particularly with its knit and braided heating element. The heating element consists of a multi-stranded resistance wire which is knit and braided with fiberglass and is the center technology for most of all the Swisher Systems’ products. Swisher is also known in the heating industry as being the highest quality flexible heat supplier which manufactures control devices and heating cable. SSC holds several patents that support the company in sustaining market share. The patented grounded heating element provides extra safety that their …show more content…
Another area of concern is that the database that Swisher uses has over 1,000 suppliers, but only 150 – 200 of those suppliers are active. Mr. Watkins prefers using multiple suppliers rather than a sole supplier due to uncertainties that can occur when a single supplier cannot fulfill the requirement which then causes him to find an alternative supplier that has been cut-off from the supply chain. Mr. Watkins also mentions that he prefers to pay the premium to have stable suppliers. He also stated having a good relationship with the active suppliers is not impossible or expensive. Mr. Watkins also uses his judgment, intuition, knowledge and network to qualify a supplier. Mr. Watkins also believes that to be a skillful purchaser that you must be a great negotiator. He also mentioned that you must be honest and have integrity to get respect from the suppliers. If both purchaser and supplier are honest with one another then trust is built. Every purchaser needs to become an expert on what they buy as it helps with negotiation with the suppliers.

Conclusion To conclude, I think Swisher System Corporation is at risk having only one person purchasing for the company. If something would happen with Mr. Watkins the purchasing agent, the company will be in a crisis since he is the only person handling the purchasing function at SSC. Most of the work done by Mr. Watkins is

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