1. What are the major issues and problems facing Chabot?
Chabot faces a variety of issues and problems in the wallpaper industry. First off, as the number of wallpaper manufacturers decreases over each year, remaining company’s market share is increasing, this in turn is creating more competition among these companies. Depending on the market share, some of these companies may be exerting more power and control over retailers than others are able to. Wall coverings outside of wallpaper are also eating at the profits of wallpaper manufacturers as these manufacturers must not only produce a good that is highly valued but is also offered at a reasonable cost. When wallpaper pattern designs become obsolete, markdowns are necessary to help …show more content…

Chabot will also need to focus on forecasting in order to reach higher inventory levels. There should be a threshold for possible levels of demand. These thresholds should be constructed based on a confidence level. In order to reduce the uncertainty of demand, Chabot will probably have to invest a little capital into finding sources of new data that can be used as leading indicators. Chabot also needs to try and cut its lead time down. They may be able to do this by reducing the amount of new patterns introduced each year or at least space out new introductions further than 4 months. Chabot may want to consider setting up some type of trial survey that would have potential customers rate new patterns. This would help get a better picture of demand and may even save money in the end if they decide to cancel certain patterns based on low ratings from trials. Chabot should also consider creating a universal package, label, or SKU. This would speed up the final steps in the manufacturing process and reduce costs.

3. Are there any postponement opportunities in the wallpaper supply chain?
Chabot could really benefit from postponement in its supply chain. Postponement would allow for real time data to become more readily available instead of relying solely on forecast results. Its manufacturing process is set up so that after the first two steps of production, substrate material preparation and the