RESEARCH IN MOTION

Research in Motion (RIM), features in Gartner’s list of Top 25 Supply Chains of the World at Fourth Position after Apple, Dell and P&G. Major features of its Supply Chain are resilience and Demand Driven Supply Chain which leads which leads to a 3-year weighted ROA of 25.1% which is the best among the Top 25 Supply Chains of the World. [1]

The key teams supporting Global Manufacturing are:

• Manufacturing Production
• Manufacturing Engineering Support
• Global Supply Chain
• New Product Introduction
• Global Repair Services
• Manufacturing and Supplier Quality Engineering[2]

According to the Official Website, “The Supply Chain, Materials and Inventory Management teams are responsible for managing the sourcing, planning, tracking and distribution of all manufacturing parts and materials, as well as managing vendor relationships, ensuring a cost-effective and smooth manufacturing process globally. Positions in this area include: Commodity Manager, Production Planner, Master Scheduler, Buyer/Planner, Warehouse Manager, and Materials Operator”

RIM also makes use of SAP for in-house manufacturing. Daily feeds of information go from SAP into RapidResponse thus providing a comprehensive view of the upstream of RIM’s Supply Chain. SAP is also used for report generation which aid the different departments in decision making. [3]

In 2009, RIM partnered with SAP to allow its customers access to SAP Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications on Blackberry smartphones. The new application gives sales representatives simple, secure, Real-time access to customer information which helps them in retaining existing customers. [4]

In 2009, RIM also launched a Cost Optimization Program focusing on eliminating redundancies and reallocating resources to focus on areas that offer the highest growth opportunities and alignment with RIM’s strategic objectives. [5]
RIM also became a member of the Global eSustainability Initiative (GESI). “GESI is an industry & NGO stakeholder body which commits to promote sustainability performance and focuses on three areas for peer and industry wide improvement: climate change, e-waste and supply chain.” Some of the members of GESI are HP, Ericsson, Cisco Systems, Nokia, Vodafone, Microsoft, Deutsche Telekom, World Wildlife Fund and Carbon Disclosure Project.[6] This is a signal that RIM wants to focus on having a Green Supply Chain.

REFERENCES

[1] http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1710016 (last accessed 5/9/2011)

[2] http://www.rim.com/careers/why_rim/careers/global_manufacturing.shtml (last accessed        5/9/2011)

[3] http://www.kinaxis.com/downloads/customer_spotlight/spotlight-RIM.html (last accessed 5/9/2011)

[4] http://www.sap.com/corporate-en/press.epx?pressid=11330 (last accessed 5/9/2011)

[5] http://press.rim.com/release.jsp?id=5121 (last accessed 5/9/2011)

[6] http://www.zdnet.com/blog/sustainability/from-blackberry-to-greenberry-rim-goes-green-at-cebit/188 (last accessed 5/9/2011)

Rohit Bhagat has done his B.E. in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology, Delhi University and can be reached at jeffhardy_027 @ yahoo . co . in