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Essay Instructions: Supply chain management is the careful attention paid to the process that sees materials, information, and finances move from supplier to manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer. Supply chain management focuses on efficiently and effectively coordinating the flows of the supply chain process both within and between companies. Often, the main goal of supply chain management is to reduce inventory thus resulting in better efficiency and reduced costs. Here are a couple of general descriptions of the inventory control problem:

Almyta Systems (2009) Overview of inventory control. Retrieved Feb. 21, 2009, from http://systems.almyta.com/Inventory_1.asp and http://systems.almyta.com/Inventory_2.asp

Since 1986, the Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Solutions Association (VICS) has worked to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire supply chain...VICS is made up of companies who have proven that a timely and accurate flow of product and information between trading partners significantly improves their competitive position. It has been demonstrated that cross-industry commerce standards facilitate better customer service while reducing costs. VICS' participation with hundreds of small and large companies, has established that the implementation of VICS' business processes and standards achieve excellent returns that go far beyond initial expectations."

The VICS Collaborative Planning, Forecasting & Replenishment (CPFR?) Committee has had as its mission:

"... to develop business guidelines and roadmaps for various collaborative scenarios, which include upstream suppliers, suppliers of finished goods and retailers, which integrate demand and supply planning and execution."

You can read a summary of their work here:

VICS (N.D.) Overview of Collaborative Planning, Forecasting & Replenishment (CPFR?). Retrieved Feb. 21, 2009, from http://www.vics.org/committees/cpfr#f1

Now let?s consider a real-world description of an application of forecasting to inventory control:

Murphy, J. (2002) Enabling its field sales managers to collaborate on forecasts allowed Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated to slash inventories in half while absorbing 150 new products. Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies ? November. Retrieved Nov. 8, 2010, from http://www.glscs.com/archives/11.02.coke.htm?adcode=5

When you've had a chance to read these articles and to review other information from the background and other sources you may come across, please prepare a 3-4 page paper on the topic:

"True or false: Coca-Cola's experience with inventory forecasting supports the principles set forth by CPFR"

If so, how? If not, why not? Be sure to take a clear stand.

Essay Instructions: Supply chain management is the careful attention paid to the process that sees materials, information, and finances move from supplier to manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer. Supply chain management focuses on efficiently and effectively coordinating the flows of the supply chain process both within and between companies. Often, the main goal of supply chain management is to reduce inventory thus resulting in better efficiency and reduced costs.

Since 1986, VICS, the Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Solutions Association, has worked to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire supply chain...VICS is made up of companies who have proven that a timely and accurate flow of product and information between trading partners significantly improves their competitive position. It has been demonstrated that cross-industry commerce standards facilitate better customer service while reducing costs. VICS' participation with hundreds of small and large companies, has established that the implementation of VICS' business processes and standards achieve excellent returns that go far beyond initial expectations."

The VICS Collaborative Planning, Forecasting & Replenishment (CPFR?) Committee has had as its mission:

"... to develop business guidelines and roadmaps for various collaborative scenarios, which include upstream suppliers, suppliers of finished goods and retailers, which integrate demand and supply planning and execution."

http://www.vics.org/committees/cpfr/

Jean Murphy (2002) Enabling its field sales managers to collaborate on forecasts allowed Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated to slash inventories in half while absorbing 150 new products. Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies ? November. http://www.glscs.com/archives/11.02.coke.htm?adcode=5

When you've had a chance to read these articles and to review other information from the background and other sources you may come across, please prepare a 2 page paper on the topic:

"True or false: Coca-Cola's experience with inventory forecasting supports the principles set forth by CPFR"

If so, how? If not. why not? Be sure to take a clear stand.

Essay Instructions: Supply Chain Management

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Individual Business Report
You are required to select an organisation of your own choice. This can be an organisation you currently work for, one you have worked for in the past or any other organisation on which you have access to information. The assignment must address the following two questions:

1. What are the main strategic supply management challenges facing the organisation?
2. How would you suggest that the organisation tackles these challenges?

The two questions should be addressed in a 2000-word report.
Your analysis and report must build on appropriate theory as covered in the handbook, textbook and broader reading and research. Your answers should include a broad range of reference material including academic journal papers.

Main Assessment Criteria: (very very important)
Content:
Clear and concise identification of challenges
Challenges are supported with clear evidence
Application of concepts and models to challenges
Clear and logical recommendation plan
Realistic implementation plan, including timeline and risk analysis

General:
Breadth of relevant reading
Presentation of report: structure, clarity of writing, referencing and bibliography

Structure (very important)
The word count excludes title page, bibliography and appendices (the standard 10% allowance also applies but do not go beyond that limit). Sticking to a strict word limit is difficult and an important skill for you to acquire, so make sure that you write in a concise and focused manner.

An essential feature of the reports is to illustrate how theoretical constructs or models can help to explain the actions of organisations in practice. You are therefore advised to read widely. In fact, unless you have read and referenced at least 10 discrete references, it is unlikely that you have done sufficient reading. Beware of sources from the Internet: apart from reputable and academic references that can be downloaded through the Internet, most Internet references are not considered reliable for an academic piece of work. Academic journals generally offer a better source than textbooks.

Essay Instructions: SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Scenario -
Assume that you are a new consultant hoping to work in the Supply Chain Management area. The major service you intend to offer is a “Supply Chain Analysis” of clients’ systems, followed by recommendations for improvement.

Assume that your intention, as a consultant, is to be able to make initial recommendations to clients after a short “audit” of (maximum) two days (during which you will have full access to managers and information at all levels in the supply chain – but of course you won’t have time to access them all, so you will have to choose carefully). You would hope that your short-audit findings would convince your client to contract you to undertake further, more detailed analysis, but regardless of this, you aim to have a clear strategic direction for your clients after the short “audit”.

Whilst some aspects of a clients needs will be unique, many will be generic, so you have decided to put considerable forethought into the nature of your analysis methodology and what it will focus on.

Brief –
Create a generic, supply chain analysis methodology for the short duration “audit” and discuss this methodology in a structured assignment report. Provide a rationale for each part of your methodology. The reader should be able to ascertain what things you intend to investigate, what measures you will try to obtain and why each of these things are important. (For the purposes of this exercise assume that the “typical” supply chain you will be investigating is that of a vertically integrated company which owns multiple manufacturing sites, some of which feed others with components, and which also owns a distribution system prior to retail).

Please note – you are NOT required to audit an actual supply chain, rather you are to design a methodology generic to many supply chains and provide a rational for it.

Report –
A structured assignment report is expected – i.e. should consist of sections and subsections (eg Summary, Introduction, Conclusions etc) and you should use subsection headings which are meaningful to the topic under discussion.

Related Topics –
*The meaning of the term “Supply Chain Management” and its scope in a modern system
*Supply Chain management as a tool for gaining competitive edge
*Reduction of Supply Chain lead times
*Systems Concepts and time in business

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