INTRODUCTION
Sport Obermeyer is a family-owned business in the fashion ski apparel industry. They specialize
in ski apparel for the mid to high-end market, which consists of fully coordinated outfits with
parkas as the centerpiece. They break their product market into 5 genders: men, women, boys, girls
and preschoolers. Within each gender they further categorize according to customer preferences.
The company’s product strategy rests on offering fully-matching collections, and delivering to
retailers early in the season to assure good product placement and ample floor space. Currently
they can boast a 45% share of the market for the children’s section, and 11% for adults.
MAJOR ISSUE
Sport Obermeyer is facing difficulties from its outdated supply chain. They suffer long lead
times, due to supplier capacity constraints which places a heavy burden on
forecasting. Forecasting in this ever-changing market is a significant challenge, which when is
inaccurate costs the company in terms of below cost inventory disposal and lost sales revenues,
which may also further reduce market share.
Due to the dynamics of the industry, having both uncertain supply and demand, usage of an
“agile” supply chain is the recommended course of action. An agile supply chain means that
Sport Obermeyer needs to build agility, adaptability and alignment with suppliers within its
system. Achieving this goal will reduce lead times, which will allow the company to react more
quickly to market demands and reduce the need for strenuous forecasting almost a year ahead of
delivery to retailers. The suggested improvements fall into three categories: operational &
strategy improvements, forecasting improvements and supplier structure.