international logostics exam 1

Control decisions

are about executing and monitoring the plan

Design decisions

are about what to make and how to make it

Open systems

Changes in the business environment affect operations, competitors can get at similar resources, and customers have choices.

Predictive logistics

Companies use predictive logistics to ship goods ahead of purchase orders in the next three to five years

Service operations

can't be shipped or inventoried, but still require inputs and processes

Supply chain tiers

-Tier 1: Module or system supplier

-Tier 2: Manufacturer supplier

-Tier 3: Raw materials supplier

Supply chain vs value chain

-Supply chain focuses on logistics and production and ends with the customer

-Value chain looks for ways to enhance the product's value as it moves along that supply chain

Value chains

Enhancing the product at each stage to gain competitive advantage

Customer service, satisfaction and success

-Customer service: focus is on what the firm can do; customer service measures internal service levels. The firm hopes that by performing well along these internal measures customers will be please

-Customer satisfaction: focus is on understanding what the customer views as important; measures of customer satisfaction are externally oriented. The firm seeks feedback from its key customers and uses this feedback to design its value-added processes and measurement system.

-Customer success: focus is on helping customer succeed

The eight quality factors

-Performance

-Features

-Reliability

-Conformance

-Durability

-Serviceability

-Aesthetics

-Perceived quality

The four utilities

o - Form (acquiring products and services to transform to value)

o - Possession (translating needs, promoting, and facilitating the exchange)

o - Time (when product needs to arrive)

o - Place (Delivering item where it needs to be)

Offshoring and Outsourcing

o They are not the same thing

o Offshoring involves moving production on your own or a suppliers from a domestic location to another country. 

o Outsourcing involves moving from make to buy, asking a supply chain partner to perform a specific task that the company itself used to do.

The Pareto principle

o Says that all customers are not equal, and they don’t necessarily fall in a strict 80/20 split

Balanced score card

-Scorecards translate vision into actionable behavior

-Scorecards communicate vision

-Scorecards are forward-looking

-Scorecards impose discipline

Critical success factors

essential elements for achieving goals

Key performance indicators

metrics to measure performance (industry standards, bench marks, customer feedback)

Four phases of project management 

o Initiating 

o Planning 

o Delivery

o Closure 

Dependencies

Some of the tasks have to be done before others 

Gantt charts

o A bar chart that shows schedule information. 

o Lists activities on the vertical axis and dates on the horizontal axis

Steps: 

▪ List all of the activities for a work package 

▪ Build you work breakdown structure 

▪ Create an activity schedule 

▪ Display activities in a bar chart format 

Work breakdown structures

o Show all the major tasks that need to be completed and how they relate to  one another 

o Divide was has to be done into the smallest tasks possible 

The five focusing steps (theory of constraints)  

o Step 1: identify; easily spotted 

o Step 2: exploit; remove any non-value adding work or interruptions o Step 3: subordinate; synchronize all other activities in the process to the  bottleneck, so they are aligned with the support the bottleneck needs o Step 4: elevate; make investments to improve how the bottleneck process  works or to increase its capacity 

o Step 5: Repeat; constantly improve, aggressively removing one constrain  and then moving on to the next 

 Process maps

o Step 1: define the process 

▪ Ask why develop a process map 

o Step 2: identify the trigger 

▪ Ask what triggers or starts the process 

o Step 3: identify key activities 

▪ Observe the process and how it really works 

o Step 4: show flows 

▪ Connect linked activities  

o Step 5: define the ending point 

▪ Follow the process through 

Process maps (flowcharts) 

o Double arrow: arrival into process 

o Single arrow: process direction flow 

o Ovals(Beginning/end): show input to start the process or output at the end of the  process 

o Boxes: show task or activity performed in the process 

o Triangle: waiting

o Diamonds: process where a yes/no question is asked or a decision in required

The product process matrix

o Links a product’s life cycle to the OSCM capabilities needed to produce the product

o Matrix points out that product variety and product volume define process efficiency and depocts five process structures along the diagonal: project, job shop, batch, assembly line, and continuous flow

Days of inventory outstanding 

The amount of days you have left of inventory if you stopped producing  right now 

Kaizan (continuous improvement)

 tells people to focus on continuous incremental  waste elimination, improving the flow and quality of the work 

Kanban (visual sign or card)

visual communication to show what is needed in the different stages of production. If it gets low, someone refills it 

Muda

not doing processes well

Mura

uneven processes

Poka-yoke

basically dummy proofing a project 

Takt time

how long does it take to complete a process