Case Study: Polaris Industries - Operational and Supply Chain Analysis

This case study analyzes Polaris Industries, an American manufacturer of ATVs, Side-by-Sides, and snowmobiles, focusing on its supply chain, manufacturing operations, and potential for improvement. The study examines Polaris's current manufacturing locations, strengths and weaknesses, and the impact of rapidly changing technology on its supply chain. It explores options for expanding manufacturing facilities to China or Mexico, considering factors like cost, quality, and labor management. The analysis also covers Deming's and Juran's approaches to quality improvement, identifying advantages and potential difficulties. Recommendations include diversifying manufacturing locations, improving global sales, and strengthening quality control to enhance operational efficiency and profitability. The study concludes with key findings on Polaris's customer engagement strategies and its approach to foreign markets.

Case study on Polaris
Introduction
Polaris Industries Inc.is an American Company having its major operations in America and
parts of Europe. The company runs under the able guidance of Mr. Suresh Krishna and Mr.
Scott Wine. Polaris is engaged in the business of manufacturing of all-terrain Vehicles
(ATV), Side-by-Sides and snow mobiles. The company has been proposing to set up a new
plant for manufacture of the vehicles given the recent trend of economic slowdown in global
economy. Further, the competitors of the company have been expanding operations in
countries where labour is cheap and cost of production is lower and company is trying to
explore the same.
Supply Chain of Polaris
Polaris Industries Inc. has its manufacturing location at three locations namely Roseau,
Minnesota, Osceola Wisconsin and Spirit Lake, Iowa. All the required vehicles are produces
in these three plants of company. Further, since major sales of the company is concentrated in
America itself, no robust transportation is required and goods are easily dispatched to
ultimate customer. Only a fraction of sales is made to Europe and no issues have sparked as
per the facts provided in the case study.
Important Findings under the case
Point 1
Even after 55 years of set up of company, the company has concentrated its business to a
specific location;
Point 2
The manufacturing facilities of the company are concentrated.
Point 3
There is very little concern regarding the quality of the product rather the entire focus of the
assignment is trade-off between cost and profits/savings. Further, the idea of setting up plant
at different location is done on the basis of cheap labour rather than on maintaining similar
quality set up under concerned case. The company has explored three options wherein the
company has proposed its set up namely China, Mexico or ramping up the production
capacity at Chinese factories.
The major factor that shall be considered for the concerned case shall encompass the
following:
(a) Majority Demand location;
(b) Maintenance of shipping costs;
(c) Ease of communication;
(d) Laying off of workers;
(e) Weak economic environment and corresponding demand.
Point 4

The far zone location of the plant shall disrupt the quality system of the company. Further,
setting up a plant in China shall result in issues in terms of time zone difference and cultural
dissimilarities.
Point 5
Laying off of trained workers will disrupt the current ecosystem of work quality rather the
company should absorb the same in other processes.
Major Strength and weakness
The major strength and weakness of operations of Polaris operational system is described as
under:
(a) Company has a strong core team who are visionary and accepts the change in the global
economic scenario;
(b) Company is agile to plan for controlling cost given the tepid market conditions;
(c) Future anticipation and redesigning of supply chain to shift the manufacturing to a
location which is near customer, thereby reducing cost and increasing margin;
(d) Expansion in the global market in anticipation of future demand;
(e) Strong market presence and funds to expand globally;
(f) Strong supply chain network and integration of factory and warehouse in America.
(g) No reliability on suppliers for engine and components which decreases the cost and
impact the supply chain;
Weakness
The major weakness of operations of Polaris operational system is described as under:
(a) Labour Management issue as the current location of plant does not promote enough
skilled workers;
(b) Lack of dispersed operation and concentration of sales. The company has not been
active enough to capture the market globally as it still concentrated in USA even after
56 years of operations;
(c) Concentrated manufacturing which may impact future operations in case of any issue
related to particular region;
Recommendation for Bolstering the Operational chain of Polaris
The following are the recommendations for further bolstering the operational supply chain of
Polaris Industries Inc.:
(a) Setting up new manufacturing facility in either Mexico or China post conducting a
feasibility analysis along with primary focus on maintaining quality requirement and
setting strict parameters for quality;

(b) Dispersing the manufacturing of the company to wide locations and near proximity to
customer to bolster demand and increase efficiency. The said concept shall help the
company to minimise the inventory and reduce cost;
(c) Increasing the sales globally instead of concentrating the same to a zone in America so
as not to be impacted strongly by fall in GDP of a single country.