Nypro has been profitable for the last nine consecutive years. This profitability is attributed to its strategic alliance with its customers, its innovativeness, its people and its uniform world-class technology. The manufacturing strategy focused on commitment to customer service. Nypro is faced with a market where competitors have been able to improve processes to levels competitive with theirs. Customers are now demanding speed: quicker turnaround of molds and ability to prototype certain molds. Nypro has discovered a machine that will be able to accomplish this. Deployment of this technology is the ultimate question.
It is my belief that the machine should be perfected at one site. The logical choice is in Clinton since that is where the machine currently is. This will allow for the evaluation of the efficiency and effectiveness of the machine. As the situation warrants the machine can either be deployed to individual sites or a separate factory built; depending on the results of the single machine concept. This approach allows for the innovativeness that has built Nypro and the flexibility that global changes are dictating.
Nypro is the fifth largest custom injection molder in the world. It is the largest non-automotive molder with a concentration in the following market segmentation: healthcare, electronics/telecommunications and customer/industrial. Nypro is a global competitor with 21 factories in 8 countries. One of Nypro’s strengths is in its ability to form a strategic alliance with its customer base. To them it is not just a matter of producing the mold; it is a matter of partnering with the customer. Thirty-five customers accounted for 80% of Nypro’s business. It accomplishes this with a manufacturing strategy of building plants near its customers in vital markets. In addition it strives for uniform world-class technology at all plants. Its management style is based on entrepreneurial management development. As a result it is a highly decentralized

organization. Nypro has focused on the high-volume market segment. Low volume or prototype work required by its customer base has historically been contracted out.
The critical issue facing Nypro is how to compete in the future. The company has been able capitalize on its current market by being innovative and achieving strong alliances with its customer base. Competitors have been able to duplicate processes to a point of being competitive. The new changing market is focusing not only on quality and innovation but now it is demanding speed. The current equipment that Nypro has does not have the necessary flexibility demanded by the marketplace. It does not allow for rapid prototyping. Nypro has to decide how to effectively deploy the new technology to meet the changing demands of the marketplace.
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Build a new plant that would employ only Novaplast machines
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Strengths
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Most popular with senior management
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Engineering efficiency- all of the knowledge created about the novaplast equipment would best be concentrated in one place.
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Centralizing development would facilitate personal oversight of project
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Other internal systems are different enough so that it would not mix well with other product focus.
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Could be done rather quickly
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Brings capability that has been outsourced in house.
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Weaknesses
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Not located near customers: transportation costs
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Goes against current philosophy of being decentralized
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Corporate directives such as this have not proven successful in the past.
 Install two or three machines in each of Nypro’s plants
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Strengths
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Market distributed across territories served by each plant and that close-to-customer manufacturing was particularly important in the market segment

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Allows for the potential to capture more market share
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Puts more engineers and marketers in different competitive environments to work on the problem of how to control and exploit the Novaplast
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Possible that better technology would emerge via this option than any of the others
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Some production runs can be switched over to this machine.
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Weaknesses
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Number of machines (21x3) would go against economy of scale philosophy.
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Unproven technology and no clear indication of its feasibility.
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Not to roll Novaplast out across the country at all but to focus on making it successful at a single plant.
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Strengths
 Uses “internal market” for innovation
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Only deploy machines as needed or as they add value to the company.
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Could be implemented rather quickly
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Would allow for engineering/efficiency to be gathered.
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Could evaluate how resource planning systems interoperate
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Stepping stone to other options; testing center.
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Weaknesses
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Very time consuming to deploy if research shows that this flexibility is required in other international markets
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Not to make use of the new technology at all.
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Strengths
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We have identified a niche market and this capability allows us to compete in a market that we let go of back when we first started.
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Weaknesses
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Avoids taking advantage of one of our strengths: innovation
 Doesn’t deal with problem of changing market and competition.

The advised recommendation is to go with making Novaplast successful at a single plant. This approach allows for flexibility towards the other options. We already have customers and other internal plants seeking orders that will utilize this equipment.
We can use these orders to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the single machine concept. Also work that is currently being contracted out can be re-routed to the
Novaplast machine. Data relating to transportation, logistics and other infrastructure costs can be gathered. Also we can evaluate the possibility of integrating Enterprise Resource
Planning concepts that have been previously deployed to other sites. This will assist in deciding to deploy machines to the individual sites or building a single plant with numerous machines. In addition it allows for the inherent innovativeness of the company to come into play. Past history relating to the deployment of corporate directives or strategies has proven ineffective.
This capability in addition to our continued efforts toward strategic customer alliance will allow us to maintain our competitive advantage. The proposed strategy allows us to us the new technology while the optimum deployment strategy identifies itself.
Short Term
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Continue with evaluation of the Novaplast machine at the Clinton site
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Continue pursuing orders that can be produced on this machine.
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Gather data relating to effectiveness and efficiency of machine. Also market and other plant responses.
Mid Term
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Evaluate data to determine if machines should be deployed to individual sites or if a dedicated plant should be built.
Long Term
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Decide on long term deployment strategy