Think of the last project in which you participated that did not go as well as planned (e.g., this could be a team assignment for a class). Were the causes of failure mainly social or technical in nature? Explain.
> Derek had a busy summer ahead of him. It was February 1, and Derek was planning out a summer full of activities that included a backpacking tour of Europe, doing some work for his father, and completing an online summer course offered by his university.
> The Casual Furniture Company (CFC) makes a variety of bookshelves for homes and businesses. The shelves come in various heights, widths, materials, and finishes. Effective requirements planning is essential for CFC’s performance, and it
> Adam Rodriguez, the vice president of supply chain management for QP Industries, sat in his office, contemplating what he had to tell the executive leadership team at tomorrow’s meeting. During the last two years, lead times for transmitting orders betwe
> The following case is based on one of the coauthor’s experiences with an actual company and its management. Fiona Richey knew that she had been given the opportunity of a lifetime. She had just been hired to be an internal troubleshooter and consultant b
> Bill Smith, director of business planning for C&F Apparel, chewed on a pencil as he looked out the window of his fourth-story office. These bad forecasts are killing us, he thought. Forecast errors for the fall season’s sales had ranged from 50 to 200 pe
> Rachel Kirkpatrick thought to herself, “What a waste,” as she threw away three bags full of unsold items and spoiled ingredients. “I have to get better at estimating how much food to order and prepare
> How would you define capabilities within a school or business?
> Lear Corporation, headquartered in Southfield, Michigan, is one of the world’s 10 largest independent automotive suppliers and the leading player in the $45 billion global auto interiors market. This market consists of such items as seating systems, inte
> Elise Lovejoy, the new logistics coordinator at Spartan Plastics, was looking at the stack of papers and the two computer screens in front of her. It was Friday afternoon— the Friday before the long weekend—and she sti
> The five-year dining services contract at Midwest University, a residential campus with 20,000 students located in Ohio, is expiring in three months. The supplier must be able to perform all aspects of dining services operations including menu planning,
> Trail Frames Chassis (TFC) of Elkhart, Indiana, is a major manufacturer of chassis for the motor home and van markets. Two unemployed truck-manufacturing engineers founded TFC in 1976. Since then, the company has grown into one of the largest suppliers o
> Karen Williams, the new director of supply management at Best Banks, was excited to be working at her new job. After gaining over 10 years of experience in various supply management positions at a first-tier automotive supplier, she was looking forward t
> Harry Chamberlain, vice president of Tiler Industries, closed the phone call by saying, “Well thanks, Jim. We appreciate the call even though it was bad news. We’re sorry we didn’t get the contract for the SRW installation from Phoenix, but we understand
> It was a tough year for Western Telephone Manufacturing (WTM) of Canton, Michigan. Until this year, WTM had been the darling of Wall Street. This company had become one of the first to wholly embrace the concepts of Six Sigma and Total Quality Management
> Jane Polski, the newly hired director of university purchasing, took one final look at the report from her purchasing manager, removed her glasses, and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Surely, she thought, things could not be that bad. According to the rep
> Good Guy Hospital Supply (GGHS) was founded in the 1960s to serve the hospital and nursing home industry. Since then, its sales have grown an average of 26 percent per year, through both geographical expansion and increased existing-market penetration. K
> Dexter pored over the table of data he had compiled using inputs from purchasing, internal inventory managers, accounting, and Disco (Dexter’s Chicken’s purchasing co-op and sole distributor). He hoped that he had enough information to make a well-founde
> Apply the corporate/SBU/functional planning hierarchy introduced in this chapter to your university/college or business. What would be the equivalent to corporate planning? SBU planning? Functional Planning?
> Tasty Treats is a distributor of candy and snack products serving customers in a six-state region of the Midwest ern United States. Bill Jones, chief operations officer, has been concerned about inventory levels and inventory performance at Tasty Treats
> Champion Electric, a regional supplier of electrical and electronic components, keeps thousands of SKUs (stock keeping units) of various products on hand for its customers. A new operations manager, Barb Patterson, has just been hired to replace Bob, who
> As he stopped to refill his coffee mug, Roger Terry began to recall some of the comments he had heard from various members of the single-block product development team (see the comments reproduced below). The following comments were gathered from informa
> The ALPHA single-block timer development project had not gone exactly as planned. The product development time-to-market was 48 months instead of the planned 30 months, and capital expenditures for the project were at least 30 percent over budget. On the
> Roger Terry hurried down the hallway toward the planning meeting for the ALPHA timer product development project. Terry had served as project manager for the initial stage of the ALPHA single-block product development, and he was now preparing to start t
> I can’t see why you have to spend so much time looking at our processes. Hey, we have everything under control. It has been over five years since we got our last EPA inspection and nearly six years since we got our last major citation a
> To: Brad Hadley, President, American Vinyl Products (AVP) From: Bev Trudeau, Director of Purchasing, American Performance Car, CA Subject: Customer Service at American Vinyl Products Our two companies have basically had a good relationship ov
> You are the purchasing director for Midas Gold Juice Company, a small Midwestern fruit-juice company that produces a line of premium, limited-run fruit juice (Slogan: Midas Juice—you’ll be touched by the Gold). As one of your responsibilities, you review
> The top managers of Evergreen Products of East Lansing, MI, have asked you to act as a consultant on a problem plaguing the entire company. Evergreen Products manufactures decorated containers and care tags for a market consisting primarily of small- to
> Steinway pianos have long been the premier brand among serious pianists. Franz Liszt called his Steinway “a glorious masterpiece.” Gioacchino Rossini, a 19th-century com-poser, described the Steinway sound as “great as thunder, sweet as the fluting of a
> Why should the firm never outsource its core capabilities? What happens if the firm is approached by a supplier who is willing to supply goods and services based on these core capabilities at a significantly lower price? What should the firm do?
> Otis Toy Trains of Minneapolis, Minnesota, was a land-mark company in the toy business. Since the 1900s, it had been responsible for building electrical and steam-driven toy trains. Since the 1950s, Otis trains had developed a major presence on children’
> It was late on Friday, and Lisa Jacobs, the CEO of Lil’ Me Dolls, re-read the document before her. It was a proposal from the MOT (Millions of Toys) retail toy chain offering to carry the Lil’ Me line of dolls. At first glance, this seemed to be too good
> The American South and the American Midwest experience natural disasters on a regular basis (hurricanes such Hurricane Katrina in the American South and tornados in the American Midwest). Whenever such a disaster takes place, organizations such as the Am
> One common approach that companies use to protect human rights is a supplier code of conduct. How can you increase the effectiveness of a code of conduct?
> The Triple Bottom Line can be viewed as a three-legged stool in that each element must be present or, if one or more elements are removed, then the entire structure collapses. To what extent do you agree with this approach? Why is it important that each
> Why is it that some managers are not willing to pursue more aggressively environmental sustainability even when presented with compelling reasons for its need? (HINT: think about issues such level of resources available, risk of failure, and how the mana
> What are some operations/supply chain management strategies that can be used to deal with the challenges of diminishing natural resources?
> In a recent study by MIT, it was found that the Toyota Prius, a hybrid, was less environmentally responsible than a Hummer SUV. How could this be? You might want consider using the AT&T Environmental Assessment Matrix in addressing this question.
> What would the business model look like if we were to compete primarily on environmental sustainability?
> Why does the concept of “cradle to grave” no longer make business and environmental sense?
> Using a SWOT analysis, can the operations management system be a strength? Can the operations management system be a weakness? Provide examples.
> Have you ever stayed at an Air BnB? If so, why? To what extent was your decision influenced by the price, the location, or the experience that the Air BnB offered?
> Have you ever used social media to decide what products to buy or even where to go for a vacation? Provide some examples. Have negative reviews on social media ever caused you to avoid buying a certain product? Why?
> How could the Internet of Things affect such activities as you visiting a store to buy a product?
> Recently, companies such as Verizon, Automatic, and Zubie have introduced a module that plugs into the diagnostic port of most cars. This module keeps track of the status of the car and informs the user of any problems (explaining the problems in plain E
> Review the new strategic direction for Unilever, as presented at the beginning of this chapter. What are the economic rationales for these seven key strategic imperatives? What are the risks? To what extent are these initiatives driven by concerns of env
> What are the differences between a project objective statement, a project charter, and a project business case?
> What strengths do you possess that would make you an excellent project manager? In what areas do you need to improve?
> Suppose that you are the leader of a project aimed to quickly develop and explore radical new business opportunities that exploit the company’s strengths in supply chain management. What types of personnel would you want on your team? How would you organ
> At what point in the life of a project does the project manager have the greatest ability to influence the success of the project? Name three things you would try to get executive sponsors of a project to agree to before you accepted the job as project m
> In this chapter, you were introduced to Huffy Bicycles. You were also told that the critical customers were store managers and purchasing managers. Now, assume that Huffy decided to target first parents and then children as their critical customers (usin
> What are some of the assumptions underlying the critical path method (CPM)? Can you think of situations in which the CPM assumptions would not be valid?
> What impact will a supplier’s quality and delivery problems have on a company using MRP? Why?
> How do L4L, FOQ, and POQ ordering policies impact set-up/ordering costs and inventory costs? Why?
> As an organization increases its level of outsourcing, what will be the impact on its bill of materials? Why?
> What problems can MRP create for suppliers as you go upstream in the supply chain? Why?
> What types of companies are likely to benefit the most from using MRP? Why?
> What is the relationship between cumulative lead time and changes in the MPS? Why?
> The planning process involves a rolling time horizon. What does this mean to a planner?
> Why is collaboration within an organization and the supply chain important when using DRP and MRP?
> How have advances in computer technology changed the planning process? Why? What changes do you expect in the future?
> Elm Furniture Company, a medium-sized, publicly traded manufacturer of wood-based office and home furniture systems, has agreed that its major goal should be to “Become recognized as a value and social leader in the wood furniture industry.” Consistent w
> In what ways are DRP and MRP similar and how are they different?
> Why are spare parts and service parts considered to be independent demand, not dependent demand?
> In one of this chapter’s “Get Real” stories, you read about the experiences of Nintendo in planning production of its Switch system. If you were on the aggregate planning team for the Switch, would you plan for average demand or for peak demand, and why?
> In most companies that are considered to be successful users of the S&OP process, the resulting plans and commitments are treated, essentially, as “quasi-contracts.” That is, the agreement reached between the various parties cannot be unilaterally broken
> If most aggregate production planning problems include assumptions and ignore many needs of the company that are difficult to quantify, then what is the benefit of the process?
> Explain why the following is not necessarily a true statement: “If a company is chasing demand, then it is overinvesting in balance-sheet assets since inventories will be high.”
> Suppose your firm is using a level production planning approach to manage a seasonal demand. Your production manager is evaluated on lowest production cost but the logistics manager is evaluated on the amount of inventory the firm holds. Explain the issu
> What are the key cost advantages of level production strategy over a chase strategy? Of a chase strategy over a level production strategy?
> Do you think chase strategies might be more appropriate in some industries than in others? Give some examples and explain why.
> Explain in your own words the typical differences in objectives for production managers and sales managers.
> As North American firms increasingly turn to product innovation, the management and protection of Intellectual Property becomes an important issue. Discuss how intellectual property considerations can affect such areas in supply chain strategy as: a. Sup
> What is the value of the S&OP process to an organization? Why should it be a dynamic process rather than a one-time annual event?
> What arguments would you use in order to justify tightening the limits used on a tracking signal control chart? How about for loosening the limits?
> As the regional manager of 27 Burger Queens, you are thinking about expanding the number of outlets in your area. What types of forecasts would you want to create in order to support your decision?
> Assume that you are the regional operations manager responsible for 27 Burger Queen restaurants. What types of demand forecast models do you think you would need for your short-term planning? What decisions would each forecast support? Identify the users
> Your firm is considering reducing staff and your forecasting department has been mentioned as a prime candidate for this treatment. Outline a brief memo to defend the value of your department’s services to the firm. How could you quantify your claims?
> Your boss has less training than you have in business statistics. She asks you to explain the logic of the least squares regression method for determining a trend line. What would you tell her?
> In what way is an exponential smoothing model really a moving average model?
> Someone in your organization suspects a causal relationship between statistics on corrugated board shipments reported in BusinessWeek and your company’s shipments using the boxes. How would you test this assertion? If you were to verify the relationship,
> Your boss wants you to explain the term exponential smoothing. How do you reply?
> Describe the likely effects of the following business trends on demand forecasting processes. How would you modify your firm’s demand management or demand forecasting processes in response to these trends?
> Why is there a need for the four dimensions of the balanced scorecard?
> Think of four instances in your life when you confronted sellers’ demand management practices. As a value-conscious customer, do you think that each of the four sellers served you well?
> What are the two types of trade-offs that are of concern to logistics managers? Provide examples of each type of trade-off, beyond those given in the text.
> What are some of the primary ways that the design of a DC and a FC may differ? Why?
> What types of logistics capabilities are needed to address the problem of the “last mile”?
> Why do you think so many firms are concerned about logistics issues when they move into new markets such as China and Russia?
> Which mode of transportation would you use for the following products? Why?
> What is transportation consolidation? How do consolidation strategies take advantage of the basic economic characteristics of transportation?
> What is the role of government in transportation? Do you believe economic deregulation is positive or negative for the overall economy?
> Why has the importance of logistics management been growing over the past few decades?
> Which digital technologies will have greatest effect on logistics? Why?
> What is the impact of sustainability on the business model? How does it affect issues such as the Order Winners, Order Losers, and Order Qualifiers? How does it affect the identification of the critical customer? When addressing this question, look up su
> Think about the increasing importance of environmental sustainability. What do you think the impacts of these changes will be on logistics management?
> What factors are to be considered when deciding if logistics should be outsourced to a 3PL?
> Based on the information contained within this chapter, what are the critical linkages between the logistics management system and other functions such as operations and supply management?
> Think about a recent online order that you made. Did it have all of the components of a “perfect order”? Why or why not? If there was a problem with the order, which logistics activities most likely contributed to the problem? Why?
> When evaluating a supplier’s financial stability, what are some key indicators to consider? Why?
> Why don’t companies seek full partnerships with all of their suppliers?
