AIMS 3770 – Dr. Leon
Reading Assignment #3 – Supply Chain Management
Text Reading:
o Chapter 11, pp.418-432, Chapter 7, pp. 254-255
o Articles posted in MyLMUConnect
* Study Guide Questions:
1. In Table 11.1, the three operations management strategies identified are
a.
b.
c.
2. For each strategy in Table 11.1, what should the supplier’s goal and primary
selection criteria be?
a.
b.
c.
3. For each strategy in Table 11.1, what are the lead-time and inventory
characteristics that the supply chain decisions support?
a.
b.
c.
4. Based on your analysis of Table 11.1, which strategy do you think applies to
Apple, Inc.? Why do you believe this to be the case?
5. Read the New York Times article “In China, Human Costs Built into iPad” posted
in MyLMUConnect. Based on statements made in this article, what appears to be
Apple’s main selection criteria for its suppliers? How do these criteria tie into the
strategy you identified in question 4? What do you think Apple should do
differently? How will your suggestion impact their operations strategy?
6. Read the OM in Action titled “A Rose is a Rose”. Describe two challenges that
supply chains for roses face:
a.
b.
7. List the three categories of supply chain risk. For each one, provide an example
of a company who encountered problems as a result of a disruption in the
category or who developed a strategy to reduce the risk of a potential disruption in
the category:
a.
b.
c.
8. Read the WSJ article “Is This Toy on Your Kid’s List? Santa Tried Hard, But….”
posted in MyLMUConnect. What category of supply chain risk is being
illustrated in this article? Describe the impact of this disruption on the different
stages in the supply chain for Magna-Tiles. What could Magna-Tile have done to
reduce these negative impacts?
9. What is the “many-supplier” strategy? Why would a company want to implement
this strategy?
10. List three advantages of implementing a strategy of a few suppliers:
a.
b.
c.
11. List two disadvantages to the few supplier strategy:
a.
b.
12. Describe three issues that can result in a supply chain not operating as efficiently
as it should and that could create a Bullwhip effect. (Issues in an Integrated
Supply Chain on pg. 428 in text)
a.
b.
c.
13. Describe how each of the following opportunities in an integrated supply chain
(starting on page 429) helps reduce the uncertainty in the supply chain and
therefore improve the potential performance of the overall chain:
a. Point of sale systems and accurate pull data
b. Lot size reduction
c. Single stage control of replenishment and radio frequency identification
tags
d. Vendor-managed inventories
e. Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment (CPFR)
f. Blanket orders
g. Standardization
h. Postponement
i. Drop shipping
14. Explain how ebags.com uses drop shipping to survive in business. (article on
MyLMUConnect). What other retailers depend heavily on this strategy?
15. What is mass customization? Provide examples of companies that are
implementing mass customization for their products and/or services. Mass
customization suggests a system in which products are BTO. What is BTO?
What are some supply chain challenges for implementing mass customization?
16. The BMW Fast Cars article on MyLMUConnect describes how BMW designed
their supply chain processes in the Spartanburg, South Carolina plant to
implement a JIT/mass customization system. What strategies did BMW
implement to reduce its supply chain risk?