Supply Chain Challenges at Leap Frog Enterprises

Excerpts from the Paper

Supply Chain Challenges at Leap Frog Enterprises
1. The supply chain for Leap Frog Enterprises, Inc. is as follows:
Capable Toys, Ltd creates plastic molds and custom designed electronics.
Unnamed vendor creates
US firm supplies
touch sensitive membranes
special paper
Dupont
Co. supplies
Tyvek
Leap Frog receives and distributes product to retailers
Target, Kmart and Toys "R" Us sells products
1. Capable Toys along with its unnamed vendor for touch sensitive membranes are upstream from Leap Frog as well as the US firm that supplies the special paper and
Dupont
Company which produces
Tyvek
used to make the paper. In this special case, Capable Toys is also downstream from Leap Frog because they customize the product after creating the initial...

..... to find the right provider.
5. To get the toys to the stores in time for the holidays, Leap Frog had to use more costly air freight and special ships that traveled directly from Honk Kong to Los Angeles without making any other stops along the way. These methods added additional costs to the manufacturing and distribution of the products. If it had been August rather than December, Leap Frog would have had time to research a wide variety of shipping options and take bids from competing shippers. A good website to find such information is at www.wand.com
Sources
1. "Wand Precision Classification and Search," <http://www.wand.com/CORE/searchCompanies.aspx?sType=3620016&sInfo=Bulk+Transportation+Services> (accessed August 11, 2010).