Why are second- and third-tier suppliers important to the focal firm?
> Lindner Congress Bookstore sells a unique calculator to college students. The demand for this calculator has a normal distribution with an average daily demand of 15 units and a standard deviation of 4 units per day. The order lead time for this calculat
> Paris Store stocks a part that has a normal distribution demand pattern during the order lead time period. Its average demand during the order lead time is 650 units and the standard deviation of demand during the order lead time is 60 units. What is the
> Frankfurt Electronics produces a component internally using the state of the art technology. The operations manager wants to determine the optimal lot size to ensure that the total annual inventory cost is minimized. The daily production rate for the com
> Using the Steamy Speedboats problem above, assume that the holding rate has dropped from 32 percent to 15 percent. What are the (a) optimal order quantity, (b) annual purchase cost, (c) annual holding cost, (d) annual order cost, and (e) total annual inv
> Use the Steamy Speedboats problem above and assume that the order cost has dropped from $300 to $50. What is the optimal order quantity, annual purchase cost, annual holding cost, annual order cost and total annual inventory cost?
> Steamy Speedboats has an annual demand of 1,500 speedboats. Its supplier offers quantity discounts to promote larger order quantities. The cost to place an order is $300, and the holding rate is 32 percent of the purchase cost. The purchase cost for each
> Icy Snowmobile Inc. has an annual demand of 1,200 snowmobiles. Their purchase cost for each snowmobile is $2,500. It costs about $250 to place an order, and the holding rate is 35 percent of the unit cost. Compute the EOQ, annual holding cost, annual ord
> The monthly demand for a part is 1,500 units. The order cost is $285 per order, the holding cost is $56 per unit per year and the part cost is $850 per unit. The firm operates twelve months per year. Compute the (a) EOQ, (b) annual holding cost, (c) annu
> The annual requirement of a part is 360,000 units. The order cost is $120 per order, the holding rate is 12 percent and the part cost is $2,500 per unit. What are the (a) EOQ, (b) annual holding cost, (c) annual order cost, and (d) annual total inventory
> How does a merchant differ from an industrial buyer?
> Given the following information, compute the economic order quantity, annual holding cost, annual ordering cost, and total annual inventory cost. Annual requirements (R) = 50,000 units Setup cost (S) = $150 per order Holding rate (k) = 15% Unit cost (C)
> Given the following information, what is the annual inventory turnover ratio? Revenue $2,2000,000 Cost of Revenue $1,250,000 Quarter 1 Ending Inventory $85,000 Quarter 2 Ending Inventory $98,000 Quarter 3 Ending Inventory $125,000 Qua
> The revenue for a firm is $2,500,000. Its cost of revenue is $850,000 and its average inventory value for the year is $62,000. What is the inventory turnover?
> Why is inventory management important to SCM?
> What is the order quantity when the annual order or setup cost equals the annual holding cost in the (a) EOQ model, (b) quantity discount model, and (c) EMQ model?
> Use the inventory turnover ratios in Table 7.2 to comment on which firm is the most efficient in deploying its inventory to generate sales.
> Assume that you have used the EOQ model to compute the order quantity for an item, and the answer was twenty units. Unfortunately, the minimum lot size for the item is twenty-four units. Discuss how this is going to impact your annual holding cost, annua
> Discuss whether the EOQ model is still useful if a small error was made while estimating one of the cost parameters used in the EOQ computation.
> How is the EMQ model related to the classic EOQ model?
> How is the quantity discount model related to the EOQ model?
> What are the four foundation elements of supply chain management? Describe some activities within each element.
> What are the two major costs considered in the EOQ model? Why is the total purchase price not a factor affecting the order quantity?
> What are the assumptions of the EOQ model?
> Explain why item-level tagging is more expensive than case-level tagging in RFID.
> Briefly describe how RFID can be used to manage inventory.
> What is the electronic product code (EPC)?
> Why is it important to conduct cycle counting?
> Describe inventory turnover and how is it used to manage inventory.
> What is the ABC inventory system, and how is it used to manage inventory?
> Explain why many ERP implementations have failed to yield the expected benefits over the last ten years.
> What are the advantages of an ERP system over the legacy MRP system?
> You are given the following information: Costs Make Option Buy Option Fixed cost $125,000 $5,000 Variable cost $15 $17 a. Find the breakeven quantity and the total cost at the breakeven point. b. If the requirement is
> Why is it important to learn the fundamentals of the traditional MRP system even if it is considered an out-dated, legacy system?
> Why are production planning and capacity planning important to SCM?
> How are the various capacity plans (ERP, RCCP, CRP) related to the material plans (APP, MPS, MRP)?
> What is the difference between an MRP explosion and a DRP implosion?
> What is the difference between scheduled receipts and planned order releases?
> How are manufacturing and purchasing lead times considered in the MPS and the MRP?
> What are the crucial inputs for material requirements planning?
> What is the purpose of low level coding?
> Why is it important to balance production with capacity?
> What is demand forecasting?
> What roles do “collaboration” and “trust” play in the practice of supply chain management?
> What is demand management?
> West Marine identified ten performance improvement steps in their successful implementation of CPFR. Is West Marine’s approach unique or can their experience be duplicated at another company? What are the key challenges that other companies might face in
> What are three measures of forecasting accuracy?
> What are the main components of a time series?
> What are qualitative forecasting techniques? When are these methods more suitable?
> What is a common method for developing second-tier suppliers?
> What is the difference between supplier management and alliance development?
> What is sourcing’s role in value engineering, and what benefits does this give to the firm?
> What advantages do company-designed supplier certification programs have over industry certifications like ISO 9000?
> How could the supply chain members reduce total inventory and back order costs in the future?
> What are the benefits of obtaining ethical and sustainable certifications? Why would a buyer want its suppliers to have these certifications?
> What is supply base rationalization, and what are its advantages and disadvantages?
> Where do ethical and sustainable sourcing policies come from, in an organization?
> Can firms buy functional products in an ethical way? Sustainable way? What about innovative products?
> What are some common practices or activities of ethical sourcing?
> What is ethical sourcing and why do firms do it?
> What is the difference between purchasing and sourcing?
> What are the similarities and differences in capabilities of SRM software offered by i2, Oracle, and SAP?
> Why do organizations have supplier awards program?
> Research ISO’s Web site (http://www.iso.ch) and discuss the growth of ISO 9000 and 14000 certification by regions of the world such as Africa/West Asia, Central and South America, North America, Europe, Far East, and Australia/New Zealand.
> Describe and draw a supply chain for a bicycle repair shop.
> Describe the disadvantages of global sourcing and how it can adversely affect a firm’s competitiveness.
> How can global sourcing enhance a firm’s competitiveness?
> What is a carbon footprint and how can firms reduce theirs?
> It has often been pointed out that 60 percent of strategic alliances fail? What are the reasons for this?
> What are the key factors that contribute to a lasting supplier partnership?
> What does process integration mean and what does this have to do with SCM?
> Why do firms purchase from foreign suppliers? What are the risks involved in global sourcing?
> What are 3PLs and what role do they play in SCM?
> What are micro-purchases? How can they be used to improve public procurement?
> Briefly describe the terms lean and Six Sigma systems.
> What happened to the current inventory levels as we move backward, up the supply chain from retailer to manufacturer? Why?
> Describe the different types of bid bonds.
> What role do information systems play in supply chainmanagement? Give some examples.
> How can an organization manage its suppliers effectively?
> Describe how blanket orders and blanket order releases can be used to manage the procurement system of a business that owns a dozen large restaurants in a city.
> Compare and contrast the arm’s-length/adversarial and partnership approaches to the customer-supplier relationship.
> Do you think the proper way to choose a supplier is to always find the one that will give you the lowest price? When might this not be a good idea?
> You are given the following information: Costs Make Option Buy Option Fixed cost $25,000 $3,000 Variable cost $8 $12 a. Find the breakeven quantity and the total cost at the breakeven point. b. If the requirement is 4
> What are the reasons to use a single supplier? Is this the most efficient way to purchase materials in general?
> What factors should be considered while choosing suppliers?
> The bills of materials for two finished products (D and E), inventory status, and other relevant information are given below. Compute the planned order releases and projected on-hand inventory balances for parts D, E, and F. /
> Can a small business like a local sandwich or bicycle shop benefit from practicing supply chain management? What should they concentrate on?
> If a firm’s cost of goods sold is $2.5 million and its average inventory is $500,000, what is the inventory turnover?
> Could a firm have more than one supply chain? Explain.
> Using the formula for productivity, (outputs/inputs), what are all the ways that productivity can be increased?
> Do you think there is a relationship between performance measurement and a firm’s competitiveness and profitability? Explain.
> Which model do you think is best suited to measure supply chain performance—the Balanced Scorecard or the SCOR? Why?
> What are the five process categories of the SCOR model and which one do you think is most important?
> What is perfect order fulfillment? Cash-to-cash cycle time?
> What are demand driven supply networks and what role do performance measures play in these networks?
> If a firm’s net income (profits before taxes) is $120,000 and it has total assets of $1.5 million, what is its return on assets?
> What do you think a good labor utilization would be for a factory? A restaurant?
> How could you increase labor productivity without increasing labor utilization?
> What types of supply chains are most likely to be impacted by risk and security problems? Why?
> Why should reducing the length of the supply chain also reduce the bullwhip effect?
> Describe an incidence either personally or at work, where you have been involved in shortage gaming.
