ASSIGNMENT 1Prepare a case analysis for Case 1 and answer question1/prepare diagram at the end of case 1 (include as an appendix to the case). A case analysis must be written in APA format and include

DOW Greenhouse Gas Emission Scenario Study1

Don Weintritt Jr., Amarendra Kumar Martin Fernandes, and Pooja Anand

An increasing number of studies in the area of environmental research indicate that the earth's environment is at risk due to human activities. The research specifically points towards the increase in greenhouse gas emissions in the post–industrial revolution era and calls for a pressing need for the human society to establish a symbiotic relationship with the environment. With growing concern in the global community, it is anticipated that stringent environmental standards will be incorporated into the Federal Regulations in the next five to ten years.

DOW believes that it is a major stakeholder in any changes that come about from the efforts to redress the global climate issues; therefore it aims to contribute to slowing, stopping and reversing the growth of its Green House Gas (GHG) footprint as part of its commitment to the planet. In alignment with its 2015 sustainability goals, DOW wants to study its supply chain from an environmental perspective.

The company wants to reevaluate its current supply chain for certain products, one of which is Gas Treated (GT) Amine. Sixteen raw materials are required for this product, two of which are supplied by DOW's raw material suppliers, and the rest are acquired internally from other DOW plants. These supplier plant locations cannot be changed based on other constraints. There is one manufacturing plant in Plaquemine, Louisiana, that manufactures a particular grade of this product. This grade can be blended with raw materials supplied by external suppliers, in different proportions, to produce a total of 28 finished products. Different customers require various grades of this product. There are two blending plants, one of which is in Pearland, TX. This site also has a drumming facility attached to it where the blended product is packed in drums to ship out to customers. The product can also be shipped via bulk from this facility. Another blending site is in Calgary, AB, that supplies a group of customers in that vicinity in a bulk mode of transportation.

There are three terminal locations:

Houston and Texas are bulk terminals but the one in Deer Park is a packaging facility. Bulk mode of transportation includes tank truck, bulk vessel, Intermodal (IM) ISO, and rail tank car, while packed mode includes drums put in containers loaded on to a rail, ship, truck or as air freight.

Raw material suppliers can supply to blending facilities only in tank trucks. Production, blending, and drumming facilities are connected through the rail. Bulk terminals can receive the products by rail and tank truck and ship out to the customers in tank truck within North America (USA, Canada, and Mexico). Overseas customers are served in both bulk (mode of transportation used—IM ISO and vessel) and packed/drummed mode (mode of transportation—IM 20 FT). Customers within North America which need product in drums are served by FTL (Full Truck Load). Here is a schematic to show the complete operation:

Global Customer Base

A Close Look at the Facilities

North America Supply Chain Network

The relative cost of transportation is currently:

Optimizing DOW's supply chain network both at strategic and tactical levels is key to achieving 30 percent lower cost to serve goals by 2010. The challenge, however, is balancing multiple objectives, i.e., minimizing cost and minimizing GHG emissions, while maintaining or improving customer service levels for DOW's global supply chains.

(BOWERSOX 470-472)

BOWERSOX. Supply Chain Logistics Management, 4th Edition. McGraw-Hill Learning Solutions, 01/25/2012. VitalBook file.