ABSTRACT
Fresh Preserving is a business unit within Jarden Corporation based in Daleville, Indiana. They sell glass preserving jars and associated lids to customers such as Walmart, Kmart, and others. Demand is highly seasonal during mid-to-late summer, with a large percentage of annual volume shipping just before that period. One of the key players at Fresh Preserving is Brad McCollum, Manager, Sales, and Operations Planning. In hindsight, Fresh Preserving could see the demand was different from any prior year because, first, they were entering into the recession of 2008; people were looking for lower cost sources of food, one of which was to grow or buy fresh food and then preserve it. Second, consumer trends were towards healthy eating, gardening, and natural foods. Fresh Preserving design their supply model around the constraints inherent within its supply capability, recognising not only the normal variation that may occur within production, but also recognising and modelling the flexibility that exists within the supply chain.
