It would seem at this point that OHFC is too committed to its outsourcing strategy to re-locate its manufacturing efforts back to the United States. The company has grown too much, and aside from that, its pricing strategy depends heavily on the ability to use cheap labor overseas. Likewise, with American labor becoming more expensive and with the machines to make the furniture not getting any cheaper, the company would have a difficult time breaking from its Chinese strategy. What this means, then, is that the company must find ways to refine its existing strategy without having to totally revamp what it is doing.

One of the chief issues the company faces is the quality problem with humidity. While many things can be fixed with monitoring and the like, this particular issue is more difficult. Likewise, it is critically important. OHFC is not a cheap furniture supplier. Instead, it is a high-end supplier and customers are paying high prices for the goods. If the creaking continues, the company’s brand will suffer damage from which the company will have no chance of recovering. One of the potential options for OHFC at this point is to utilize a humidity control system in its plants overseas. A humidor could easily fix the issues and ensure that the items were being produced at the same relative humidity as the places where the items were being received by consumers. This would bring about an up-front cost to install the el technology in factories, but it would eliminate a massive quality control issue.

The company must focus on things that are within its control rather than trying to deal with things outside of its control. For instance, the company claims that one of its chief problems currently has to do with products going obsolete because of delays in the supply chain. The company can either expect many variables in the supply chain to change or it can alter its own strategy. There is no reason why the company cannot alter its behavior to stop with the constant re-creating of new product lines. In a situation of this nature, when something has to change, there is going to be no easy fix. Changing what the company can control is the best of many poor options, as it will make the existing supply chain issues a bit easier.

Part of the shipping inefficiency currently suffered by the company is due to the odd shapes of the furniture the company is selling. The company should spend money investing in shipping containers that are more appropriately fitted for its product lines. Given the amount of money the company stands to lose from delays in shipping and general slowness, it would make sense to invest some money in this venture. The company could contract with a shipping container company to either find an existing shipping container better suited for more efficient loading or to create a container different than the existing containers.

Because the most important thing for the company is being able to fill orders without delay, keeping an inventory is a good idea. The facts suggest that this is expensive, but the bulk of the expense is tied up in the lost inventory when items become obsolete over time. The company will not have to deal with this problem if it takes longer before phasing out its product lines. As mentioned, this is a relatively easy fix that may even enhance the company in the eyes of consumers. The company sells classic furniture; it is not in the iPod business. In light of this, the company’s choice to keep its product lines longer could allow for more stockpiling of inventory, which would remove some of the need for expedited shipping.