Thursday, July 9, 2020
Kia's Home Run
When Kia debuted the Telluride, the company set production capacity at
60,000 units. Demand was so high that the company upped production to
100,000 units, but one couple has already waited 9 months
for their SUV and they were told to expect another 5-6 month wait. A
production shutdown due to COVID-19 has slowed delivery and once
production restarted, a parts shortage still limited manufacturing.
Obviously, sales of the Telluride is a best-case scenario for Kia,
although production difficulties means the best-case has been limited to
date. One other thing we want you to note is terminology. The article
states that the turn rate was 11 days for most of the year, but it is
currently at 0 days. The turn rate is the same as the days' sales in
inventory ratio we discussed in the textbook.