supply chain ch1-4

9/5


General Info: 

  • Don’t need to buy textbook (can look online for older version)

  • 6 hw assignments (usually have a week to finish) 

    • Can copy definitions or notes from slides 

  • 3 non-cumulative tests (after every 4 ch) & 50 Q 


Intro: 

  • Strategic perspective set by C-office (ceos, etc) → long term perspective how they’ll move company forward 

    • Is long term 

  • Tactical: day to day actions company takes → then push ideas down to employees 

    • Is short term 

    • Need to execute tactical to get strategic 

Ch 1 


What’s supply chain? 

  • Any org offering product or services a supply chain 

  • Products & services created from materials, equipment, labor, time, money, other resources 

    • Producing & delivering requires suppliers, manufacturers, & customers (all of which make up a supply chain) 

    • Suppliers supply raw materials to other parts of supply chain 

      • Often materials are raw

    • manufacturers are guts of supply chain bc they collect all materials from diff companies worldwide 

  • Can be very simple or complex

    • Ex: simple supply chain: mcdonalds cook line (process making burger in store and giving customer food) 

    • Complex supply chain: mcdonalds get potatoes from farm & meat suppliers & where condiments come from 

  • Exist in orgs that’re 

    • Large or small

    • Public or private

    • For-profit or not-for-profit 


  • Supply chain Facilitated through use of logistics → Ex: steve job figured out economics of using planes to get consumers products by holidays → what made apple overtake nokia or blackberry 



Simplified supply chain-candy bar ex: 

Supply chain disruption: (candy bar ex)

  • Unexpected shortage of cocoa beans → won’t impacts customer immediately (bc wholesale will still have candy bars on hold) 

    • Manufacturer impacted 1st 

      • Leads to excess inventory of other supplies 

      • Be forced to stop production and tell companies to stop sending other suppliers (ex: sugar) 

  • Ex: during covid, ppl hoarded supplies (ex: toilet paper, paper towels), bc they knew supply chain disrupted (limited materials available) 


9/9


Supply chain flow (important for test) 

  • Product & services flow: Product and service flow from point of origin to point of consumption → flowing down supply chain

  • Information flow: Information flows back & forth 

    • Ex: requirements, orders, confirmations, shipping notice, invoice, etc 

    • Most important entity is consumer bc they give feedback on product (recommendations, improvements, etc) 

  • Payment flow: where money is originated 

    • Only place where revenue is produced in supply chain is point of consumption 

    • Money goes back up supply chain bc they are advancing funds on intuition that customers will pay for their products 

  • Returns flows: reverse logistics 

    • Ex: when u get phone, and it works for 2 days, so you exchange it or they refurbish it → take item back into supply chain & do something with it 





Relationships between links in supply chain

  • Every link in the supply chain is both a customer of their supplier & a supplier to their customer 







Example: supply chain of boiling egg

  • Water for boiling 

  • Pan or pot 

  • Farm the chicken hatch egg (regulatory) → inspectors check to ensure chickens are healthy

    • Regulations across supply chain are very important

  • Electricity → pipeline for gas, 

  • Carton packaging 

  • Transportation of eggs 


Example of fresh produce supply chain: 




- each note/link in supply chain may be separate independent firm 
















supply chain management: (exact definition of test) 

  • Coordination of the network of otherwise independent trading partners who create a desired product or service, and then move it through supply chain to customers & when and where the customer wants it  

    • Proximity to customer is extremely important → covid showed how customers wanted products as close as possible 

  • Supply chain management is way business gets done → it's the execution process of all businesses 


Supply chain Based on 2 ideas: 

  1. Cumulative effort of many orgs 

  2. Many orgs focus on what's happening within  their own 4 walls 

    1. Ppl used to use Silo effect: let me just worry abt what's going on with my org → is the wrong way to thing 

      1. Ex: nike wants to make these new sneakers but can’t do it bc they never talked to suppliers (abt supply of rubber) 


Value of supply chain management

  • Supply chain management creates value 

    • Through collaboration & trust 

  • Value creation is managing all these trading partners so they can collab in an efficient, effective & cost-conscious way 


Goals of supply chain management (on exam)

  1. Want increased customer satisfaction

    1. Getting products & services that customers want to them, when & where they want hem, at the lowest possible cost 

      1. If customer satisfied they'll buy product and you'll be able to retain them over long period of years 

  2. Reducing inventory and operating costs 

    1. Achieving #1 (above) while keeping your inventory and cost as low as possible 


 the 2 main reasons that companies implement supply chain management are to:(On test)

  1. Achieve cost saving 

  2. Better coordinate resources 


Supply chains in service industry 

  • Service firms offer intangible products that can't be physically be touched 

    • Ex: consulting firms are selling brain power, knowledge they learned 

    • Or you must go to class in college to learn the info from professor 

  • Customer must go to get the service done 

  • On exam: Many services require Facilitating goods, which are tangible elements used  along w/ the service provided 

    • Ex: going to fancy restaurant you expect, nice atmosphere → nice table,chair,  cutlery, (restaurant is service industry → not product) 

    • Example: Add slide pic of table 


SCOR model 

  • Each trading partner must plan, source, make, and deliver 


Scor model-Plan: 

  • Planning establishes parameters of how supply chain will operate 

  • Companies need strategy (involves c-suite level) 

  • Includes determining marketing and distribution channels 

    • Understanding how much of a product to make 

    • Timing of marketing 

    • Inventory policies of a company 

    • Replenishment policies: how soon should you replenish when inventory starts to go down fro sales 

    • Whens production policies for making things 


Sourcing: 

  • Where you find the products you need 

  • Identifying suppliers to deliver product to customers

    • Identify reliable suppliers → suppliers you can count on 

    • Building solid relationships 


Make: 

  • What do we make? How its made? 

  • Process to ensure its high quality product, packaged, tested, & scheduled for delivery 

  • Measure productivity 


Deliver: 

  • Aka logistics phase

  • Necessary to get products out to customers where they are and there they're needed 

  • Meet customer requirements 

  • Ex: filling orders, selecting carriers to carry products 


9/12


Return: 

  • Returns against poor 

  • Aka reverse logistics

  • Critical part of supply chain bc if we couldn't return effective products to correct  errors in quality issues 


enable

  • Where sophisticated tech (AI, machine learning, python) used to enable all other parts of supply chain 

  • Ex: GPS system: used effectively so drivers delivering products can take most efficient route 

    • If there's traffic then gps can help save time so delivery is sent on time 

  • With AI, can create metric of what they’re looking for in suppliers and analyze all data sent in → shorten vetting process & due diligence from months to min 

  • Performance measures important bc tell how well your org is doing in relation to others 

  • Ex: ask to loan $1000 → need to document things (written contract), need paper agreement 

    • If in breach of contract (didn't pay on nov 1st), there's cure period (ex: 30 days to replace) 



Origins & evolution of supply chain management 

1950’s &1960’s 

  • Goes back to 1950’s when the discipline was limited to materials management & logistics (of moving materials) 

    • Goal was to produce manufacturing at lowest possible cost and as fast as possible 

    • Were internally focused → silo effect 


1970s & 1980’s → emergence of new computer technology used in business 

  • Material requirements planning: time phase method of determine what materials and when needed to support production plan 

    • Using computer technology 

  • Manufacturing resource planning: large manufacturer linked together materials needed with production 

    • Ex: what workforce needed, plant needed 



1990’s & 2000’s → connected to new concepts & methodologies 

  • Collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment

    • Collab planning: Planning goals, strategies for yr 

    • Forecasting: ex: nike will make more of a new sneaker (bc competitor) 

    • Replenishment: if ppl rly love product, they’ll buy off shelves, so need to know how soon you'll be sending new inventory forward 

      • Need to know how much time it'll take to bring forward, what to do not to have excess inventory 

  • Sales & operations planning 

    • Sales are prima donna of company (revenue producing) 

    • Often misalignment with product/operations department 

    • Tell sales how much they can literally produce with assets they hv 

  • Just in time 

    • Something coming to u just when u need it 

    • Based on elimination of waste → aka lean 

    • Continuous improvement: idea that whatever you do, always working to do it better 

    • Ex: didn’t work during pandemic bc ppl weren’t there 

  • Total quality management

    • Idea that all members of org take ownership of quality of product 


2010’s & beyond → core competencies (something u do better than anyone else) 

  • Companies started to say we need to do what we do best → what you don’t do well you should outsource it 

  • Old paradigm: buy up customers, short term company performance (doesn’t always work)

  • New paradigm: outsourcing, help solidify company 

    • Ex: apple locked down supplier of foxconn and implemented business strategy that gave them competitive advantage →  1st mover advantage 

  • Strategic partnership: companies remain separate, but there's material benefit from working together 

    • Ex: apple and foxconn 

  • Corporate social responsibility: companies have responsibility to society 

    • Ex: Nelson Mandala was put in jail, ppl started going to Coca-cola (and other major companies) saying we’ll tell public we don’t like your product unless you put pressure on government to release him 

    • Ex: RWJ invested in community bc employees were not living in new brunswick area (unsafe) so contract for new building include building new road

  • Supply chain industry 

  • Risk and opportunity management 


  • Supply chain management is abt all activities company must do when bringing product to company 


Operations management elements 

  • Forecasting & demand planning

    • Demand is looking at perception of how much customer will buy of the product 

  • Planning system: system to manage 

  • Inventory management: managing every single item that goes into making something 

  • Process management: 

    • using lean looking at that particular vertical to see how can you eliminate waste 

    • Six sigma: (philosophy) goal is to eliminate defects & drive them to 0 (reduce variability) → externally & internally 


Supply management

  • Purchasing management: aka procurement: responsible to finding things that give best value (not too expensive, but not too cheap)

  • Strategic sourcing: identifying companies that can provide product materials I need to make products to sell to consumer 

  • Supplier relationship management: process to manage all relationships with suppliers 


Logistics 

  • Warehousing: 

  • Transportation

  • Distribution 

  • Internal trade management: need to translate documents that have regulations 

  • Customer relationship management: someone tasked with managing relationship with companies they work with 

  • Service response logistics 


Integration elements: 

  • Enabling system: aka microsoft office suite, 99% use ERP  

  • Sup chain risk & security management: 

  • Performance management: how can we improve 

  • Project management: how to run projects 


2 supply chain capability models (on exam) 

  • Efficient model 

    • Ex: toothpaste and detergent → everyday products, can be different brand but same chemicals make up product 

    • Add info from slides 

    • Maximize output eitha min input level at lowest possible cost 

    • Maximum efficiency → economies of scale (when you produce more, cost per unit goes down) 

      • If overhead is constant, then per unit cost goes down as you produce more 

  • Responsive model 

    • Proximity to customer 

    • Responsive to customer 

      • Ex: fast fashion (H&M, Zara) chasing what demand is in styles, don't use plants in 100% capacity (80%), so when demand shifts they can shift what they’re making 

      • Is more flexible and fast to respond quickly to dynamic market demand 


Push business model 

  • 95-99% companies use it 

  • Somebody standing behind model and pushing it forward 

    • Ex: making sneakers in advance 

  • Benefit is Product is available immediately when they need it 

  • Manufacturers hv better plan for utilization of resources 

  • They can take advantage of economies of sale 

  • Disadvantages: 

    • Can build up high inventory (ex: made lots of sneakers but now ppl aren’t wearing them)

    • Highly dependent on accurate forecasting 

    • Forecasting errors can lead to inventory shortages or excesses 


Pull business order 

  • Ex: boeing aircraft only make airplanes once order has been put down 

  • All products are highly customizable 

  • Advantages: 

    • High level of customer service 

    • Not really dependant on forecasting 

    • Very low inventories

  • Disadvantages 

    • Customers want order asap (every order is rush order) 

    • Manufacturing issues 

    • No ability to take advantage of economies of scale 


9/16


Supply chain planning diagram: 











  • Supply chain management challenge → maintaining balance between supply & demand 


Benefits of SCM: 

  • Improved customer service

  • Increased revenue

  • Lower costs

  • Better asset utilization

  • Adds customer value / retain customers

  • Minimize delays / shorter lead times

  • Elimination of rush (unplanned) activities

  • Reduced uncertainty throughout the supply chain

  • Lower inventory levels throughout the supply chain

  • Ability to effectively respond to disruptions and conflicts

  • SCM delivers value for both internal & external stakeholders 


Whats next for SCM

  • Companies must adapt to emerging technology & strategies as supply chains emerge 


Companies will continue to be concerned with ongoing trends in: 

  • AI helping business speed up certain performances 

    • Ex: companies can do due diligence on companies they want to work with, prior they used to manually analyze (take months), now can take a day to analyze several companies

  • Internet of things: 

    • Ex: alexa, smart device are collecting data on you 

  • Blockchain

    • Technology (emerged 10 yrs ago) to secure documents and secure confidence in transactions (documents secure but also accessible) 

    • Ppl worried about private transactions: when buying house documents only kept between buyer and seller, but if having issues, then nobody else can assess documents 


Logistics labor shortages: 

  • There's lots of shortages in labor today 

    • Ex: labor, transportation 


Warehouse operations labor shortages: 

  • They're using autonomous mobile robots in warehouses 


Supply chain risk management: 

  • Views risk as a threat to be minimized and concerned with identifying vulnerabilities & avoiding disruptions 


How did the pandemic affect the supply chain? (know slide for exam)

Ch 2- forecasting & demand planning 

  • Business decisions are made from facts (not feelings) 



  • Forecasting: forecast is developed through data analysis and judgment

    • How many of this should we make for our product  

  • Demand planning: combines statistical forecasting techniques and judgment to construct demand estimates for products & services 


Key terms (on exam) 

  • demand : the need for a particular product or component. 

    • The demand could come from various sources, such as a customer order, a forecast, the manufacturing of another product, etc


  1. Independent demand: 

    1. is the finished product 

    2. Ex: bicycle 

  2. Dependent demand: 

    1. Dependant on other items to complete it 

    2. unfinished item 

    3. Ex: seat, pedals, handels (for bike)


  • Forecast: an estimate of future demands 

    • Forecasting is business function that estimates future demand for products so they be purchased or manufactured in appropriate quantities in advance of need 

      • Process of mathematically predicting future demand 

      • Also uses historical data to determine future of data 

  • Simple terms: forecasting is is the attempt to predict future outcomes based on past events and management insight


The role of forecasting: 

  • Accounting & finance use forecasts as basis for budgeting and cost control 

    • Manage everything so you don’t have cost overrun 

  • Marketing relies on forests bc they have to make decisions about key market planning & personal compensation

    • Ex: Hv to know what will offset clothing discounts 

  • Production used to pick suppliers, determine capacity requirements ??? 




Forecasting horizon 

  • Short term: forecasting less than 3 months 

    • Mainly used for tactical decisions 

  • Medium term: 3 months to 2 yrs 

    • Used  to develop strategy over 6-18 months 

  • Long term: greater than 2 yrs 

    • What trends is the economy turning? 

    • Used to detect general trends and identify major turning points 

  • Forecasting is generally wrong → however is an indicator and can help plan 

  • Forecasting serves as a benchmark


Forecasting considerations

  1. Stastcially speaking forecast will be incorrect → (but although incorrect) its still useful 

  2. Is basis for most “downstream” supply chain planning so critical to be as accurate as possible 


  • Good forecasting = benefit a company by facilitating more effective planning,reducing inventories, costs, and stockouts & improving customer service

  • Bad forecasting = root cause of creating just the opposite. A familiar adage applies to forecasting:“garbage in = garbage out.”

    • If a forecast is terrible, everything else (i.e., the supply plan) based on that forecast will also be wrong.


Forecasting error: on exam 

  • Goal of forecasting & demand planning process is to minimize forecast error 

  • Factors influencing demand must be considered when forecasting 

    • Ex: market changes, seasonality (ex: seasonal shops or hotel industry), competitive activity, pricing, changing consumer preferences 


  • Doppler effect: the closer you are to an event, the easier it is for you to predict what it is 

    • Ex: if standing on subway platform, the further away it is, the sound is loopy and can’t hear, but the closer the subway comes to me the waves less loopy, but sound more compressed → is very loud 

    • Ex: sleeping on train platform, the closer the train is, the more likely you can hear it 









Forecasting process: 





The simpler, the model, the accurate it is 














Forecasting technique: 

  1. Qualitative forecasting: based on opinion & intuition 

    1. Generally used when data is limited, unavailable, or irrelevant

      1. Ex: best used for new product, new market segment  

  2. Quantitative forecasting: is mathematical, more statistical based 

    1. Time series 

    2. Cause and effect 


9/19 (missed class) fill in notes (read slides) 


Qualitative forecasting: 

  • Personal insight: forecast is based on insight of most knowledge, experienced person 

    • Advantage: Is fastest & cheapest forecasting technique 

    • Disadvantage: relies on 1 persons insight or judgment, 

      • That person can have prejudice 


  • Jury of personal opinion: ppl who know the most about the product & the marketplace would likely form a jury to discuss & determine forecast 

    • Advantages: component enriches decisions, and companies don’t have to spend time &  resources collecting data by survey 

    • Disadvantages: bias & groupthink 


  • Delphi method: collected so that ppl aren’t influenced by another 

    • Advantages: reduces group think & enriches decisions 

    • Disadvantages: bias & time & resources confidential info can be lost to external experts (best for long term) 


  • Historical analogy: judgemental forecasting technique based on identifying a store's history comparable to the present situation

    • Advantages: 

      • Significant amt of info that can be used initial to create forecast 

      • Is inexpensive 

    • Disadvantages: 

      • May not find historical comparison advantage 

      • Ineffective bc not everything will be identical 


  • Customer survey: directly approach consumer & get feedback 

    • Advantages: 

      • Primary source 

      • Simple to get & understand 

      • No bias or value judgment 

    • Disadvantages: 

      • Poor questions = unreliable info & customers might not answer & time consuming and costly due to large population 

Trend variations in quantitative forecasting: 

  • Trend variations are observable patterns where sales increase if liked and decrease if not liked 


Common trend types in quantitative forecasting: 

  • Linear 

  • S-curve 

  • Asymptotic 

  • Exponential 


How do random variations affect sales: 

  • Random variations are caused by unexpected occurrences and can lead to short-term changes in sales 

    • Example of random variation in sales: spike in sales of wood to repair a house damage during a storm 


Seasonal variations in quantitative forecasting:  

  • seasonal variations: repeating patterns of demand

    • Example: such as snow shovel sales in winter 


Characterizations of cyclical variation in sales: 

  • Cyclical variations: wave-like patterns that last longer than 1 year and can extend over multiple years 

    • Cyclical variations can include business cycles & growth in GDP 

Cyclical vs seasonal variation: 

  • Cyclical variations last longer than 1 year while season variations are repeating patterns within a year 



Time series forecasting: 

  • Time series forecasting: collect & study past data to make future predictions. Future demand depends on paar demand 


Models: 

  • Time series–Naive: Sets the demand for the next period the same as the demand in the last period 

    • Advantages: 

      • Works w/ mature products and with stable demand 

      • Very easy to determine 

    • Disadvantages: 

      • Only for mature mature products (newer products = no) 

      • Variation → inventory issues 


Simple moving average:

  • Simple moving average: Calculated average of historical demand during a specified number of the most recent periods to generate forecast 

 

(amt of months in formula depends on whats asked → not set to be 4 months) 


Advantages: 

  • Best for short term 

  • Smoothes out random variations 

Disadvantages: 

  • Fails to identity trends season effects 

  • Will create shortages if demand increases & excess when demand decreases bc lags behind demand 


Weighted moving average:

  • Is similar to moving average but not all periods are valued and weighted equally 

Advantages: 

  • More accurate than simple moving average if demand changing 

  • Allows unequal weighing of prior periods 

Disadvantages: 

  • Better than simple moving but lags somewhat behind demand 

  • More inconvenient and costly than exponential smoothing 

Exponential smoothing: 

  • Better than weighted moving average 

  • Requires: last periods actual demand, previous period’s forecast, and a smoothing factor

    • Advantage

      • More responsive to trends 

    • Disadvantage 

      • Log behind trends, especially upward trend, since smoothing factor need to be greater than 1.0 to approach an accurate forecast 














Linear trend forecasting: 

  • Best fit-line across demand data for entire time series 

  • Used as basis for future FC by extending the line past the existing data and out into the future while maintaining the slope of the line 



Cause and effect forecasting simple linear regression: 

  • Model relationship between single independent and dependent variable (demand) by using a linear equation 

  • Relationship = straight line 

    • Example: more money spent → higher demand if company invests more in ads, it might increase forecast & vice versa 


Cause and effect forecasting multiple linear regression: 

  • 2 or more x and y (demand) values by fitting a linear equation 

    • Examples: 

      • demand might depend on ads & selling price of the product 

      • if ads increase price lowered → demand goes up  

      • If ads increase and price increase —> demand impact is unnoticeable 

Fundamentals of forecasting (on exam) 

  1. Forecast is inaccurate but how wrong is the forecast? 

  2. More “granular” the forecast, the less accurate 

    1. An annual forecast for product family is likely more accurate than weekly forecast for an individual with the family 

  3. Easier to forecast recent things than later out 

  4. Simipler forecast better than complex 

    1. → higher danger in complex and hide critical assumptions while simple is easy to understand 

  5. Correct forecast does not prove your forecast method is correct 

  6. If don't use data regularly, trust it less 

    1. More experience → notice patterns & see where it went wrong 

  7. All trends end. Many forecasts will affect the pattern so variables will change 

  8. Can't eliminate bias 

  9. Tech is not the solution to better forecasting but sound methodology 

  10. **forecasting is blend of art & science using quantitative and qualitative methods*


Social media on forecasting: 

  • Evaluate health of a brand 

  • Improve brand prediction

  • Address a crisis 

    • Recall bad stuff  

  • Research the competition 


Forecast error: 

  • Measure the size and type of forecast error 

  • Tracks forecast accuracy 

  • Difference between actual demand and forecast → demand error = absolute value 




















MAD: fill in from slides 

  • Measure size of forecast error in units 










MAP: fill in from slides

  • Measure size of forecast error in percent 


Forecast bias: 

  • is a consistent deviation from the mean in one direction, either high or low

    • bias exists when the demand is consistently over or under Forecast → A good forecast is not biased

  • if the sum of the forecast error is not zero → there is bias in the forecast

    • A negative result → actual demand was consistently less than the forecast

    • A positive result →  actual demand was greater than forecast demand


Bullwhip effect (on exam) → fill in from slides 

  • Because customer demand is not perfectly stable, businesses must adequately forecast demand to position inventory and other resources.

  • Forecasts are based on statistics and are rarely 100% accurate. Therefore, companies often carry an inventory buffer called safety stock

  • Bullwhip affect: In the absence of any other information or visibility, individual supply chain participants second-guess what is happening with ordering patterns and potentially over-reacting,

How to alleviate bullwhip effect: 

  • Collaboration: 

    • Sharing information through electronic data interchange (EDI), point of sale (POS) data, and web-based systems can facilitate collaboration.

  • Syncronizng the supply chain: 

    • Supply chain participants coordinate planning and inventory management to minimize the need for reactionary corrections

  • Reducing inventory:

    • Through the use of just-in-time (JIT), vendor-managed inventory (VMI), and quick response (QR), all of which will be discussed later in this course

  • Bullwhip effect can be sginfigantly reduced if the participantswork together to get closer to customers through collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment (CPFR).


collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment (CPFR): 

  • CPFR requires a fundamental change in how buyers and sellers work together.

    • real value of CPFR comes from the sharing of forecasts among firms rather than firms relying on sophisticated algorithms and forecasting models to estimate demand


Supply chain agility: 

  • Supply chain agility: orgs ability to quickly & efficiently respond to changes in demand or supply without sacrificing quality or cost 

9/23

Ch 3-supply chain planning   (spend time) 

  • Supply chain planning: responsible for determining how to satisfy requirements created by demand plan 

    • Objective is to balance supply and demand to realize company's financial and service objectives 

    • Combo of all process used in supply chain 


  • Central guiding principle is used standardized and simple approach to supply chain 

    • Is top down 


supply chain planing-levels & horizons

  • Long range: planning for things like construction of facilities and major equipment purchase 

    • Included in aggregate production plan:

    • Ex: exec level→ ford motor company wants to grow market share by 5% over 1-3 yrs  (strategic)

  • Intermediate range: shows quantity and timing of end products you need 

    • Master production schedule → connected to time 

    • Ex: Mid-level → Ford Motor Company wants to make 1,000 F-150 pickup trucks/week for the next 3-18 months.

  • Short range: is abt the materials you need 

    • Material requirement planning 

    • Ex: Planner, 1st line Supervisor → 1,000 engines, 1,000 transmissions, seats, windows, etc. each week over the next 1-12 weeks.


Planning tasks and horizon:















business planning: 

  • Everything must be signed off & agreed to by top execs 









Business planning: 

  • Provides company directive and directions for next 2 years (to 10 yrs) 

  • Business plan is abt profitability 

  • Usually used to set production plan or aggregate production plan 


Aggregate production plan (APP): 

  • APP: Hierarchical planning process that translates annual business plans, marketing plans, and demand forecasts into a production plan for a Product Family in a plant or facility.

  • Product family: toyota makes a corolla and lexus (different levels of luxury) but if mechanic you’d find common car parts that were similar → use product family bc don’t have a lot of variability at plants drives down cost and creates efficiency 

    • Planning horizon of APP  is at least 1 year****  (on exam) 


Aggregate planning-purpose & goals: 

  • Purpose is to establish production rates that'll satisfy  manager requirements by lowering or maintaining or raising inventories while attempting to keep workforce relatively stable 

    • Is not easy to keep inventory lower . 

Goals:  

  • Minimize costs

    • labor

    • Inventory

    • Plant and Equipment

    • Subcontractor (i.e., 3rd parties) 

  • Meet demand

  • Use capacity efficiently

  • Meet inventory policy


APP strategies: 

Demand adjustments 

  • Influence demand (customers/consumers): so that it aligns with available production capacity 

    • Walmart usually opens big store but often drives local businesses out → (they buy in bulk and drive prices down)

      • stores will limit hours bc they don’t have enough staff to satisfy customers 

    • Often influence through advertising, promotional plans (match capacity to demand side), pricing (lowering pricing, depending on competitors price) 

  • Backordering: when someone comes into store to buy something that's not in store they’ll put your name down and offer to call u as soon as its in stock 

    • Accept demand greater than supply capabilities 

  • Counter-seasonal: product mixing 

    • Example: Go into home depot they'll sell you combo of lawn mower and grass cutter → to get rid of old inventory (but what’s considered “old” depends on location of store) 

Supply adjustments (always abt production): 

  • Change inventory levels 

    • Increase inventories → to build stock in advance of demand to use available capacity → aka front loading

    • Decrease inventories: temporarily reduce below normal safety stock  

  • Change capacity 

    • Change production output through idle time or overtime 

      • To meet demand side, they’ll work longer hours or in manufacturing will bring another shift 

    • Vary workforce by hiring or layoff

      • Will sometimes layoff ppl during off-season with intent to rehire when busy season returns 


Sales & operations planning :

  • Sales vs operations goals are not always aligned 

    • Operations viewed as cost centers in business 

    • Sales is profit generating (prima-donna) 

  • Planning allows management time to to achieve competitive advantage continually by integrating customer focused marketing plans for new & existing products***

    • Plan looked at every single month 

  • Alignment is very important


Know for exam: 

  1. If capacity and demand are nearly equal → emphasis will be placed on meeting demand 

  2. If capacity exceeds demand → firm will choose promotion & advertising to increase demand 

  3. If capacity less than demand → firm might consider subcontracting work from 3rd party 


Monthly S & OP cycle: 


Master production scheduling  

  • Reps what company plans to produce, express in specific product configurations, quantities, and dates 

  • Is a statement of production (not a statement of demand) 

  • Must consider the forecast, production plans, backlog, availability of materials & capacity, and management goals & policies 

    • Ex: if materials coming out of ukraine must know might be backlogged 

  • Takes 3-18 moths (medium range) 



aggregate production plan (critical)


Master production schedule and rough cut schedule plan (go through on own/on hw/exam) 


Master production scheduling (MPS)

  • represents what the company plans to produce, expressed in specific product configurations, quantities, and dates

    •  plan that drives the business.

    • a detailed disaggregation of the aggregate production plan (APP).

    • a set of planning numbers that provide the major input for material requirements planning

  • Ex: in service industry MPS may be represented by the appointment book where capacity (skilled labor & professional service) is balanced against demand  

  • Is a statement of production and not a statement of demand 




Time fencing 

  • Firmed time period: from current date to several weeks into the future 

    • Established outer time of up from immediate time period to point out when changes can’t be made automatically by planning system system 

      • Ex: somebody writing paper and always saying i'll never get it done but they have all the info needed to do so 



  • Planned time period: end of the Firmed Time Period to the end of the planning horizon.

    • The planning system is free to create or make changes to planned orders in this time period based on the data and planning logic determined by the company


Basic production strategies: 

  1. Level production strategy: 

    1. Leveled: straight line → maintains constant production rate & allows inventory & backlog to vary according to fluctuating demand 

  2. Chase production strategy 

    1. “Chase” → whatever the orders are we’ll chase them and try to fill whatever the orders 

      1. If demand too low don’t need as much workers so layoff 

    2. Adjusts production rate and capacity to match demand 

  3. Hybrid production strategy 

    1. Sets baseline production rate based on a stable core workforce and then uses other short-term means, such as overtime, subcontracting, and part-time labor, to manage short-term fluctuations in demand.



Level production strategy : 3rd bullet critical

  • Constant production regardless of demand 

  • The company allows finished goods inventory and backlogs to fluctuate up and down to meet demand

  • Used when the skill level, training required, or the cost of hiring and terminating people is high


Chase production 

  • Production set to match demand Exactly 

  • Finished goods inventory remains constant → with no backlogs 

    • But production costs fluctuate up and down bc you layoff ppl but the startup cost-up costs are high 

  • Works well for make to order items 

  • Used when the skill level, training required, or the cost of hiring and terminating people is high


Hybrid production strategy: 

  • Production is set to match demand as closely as possible 

  • Uses options like varying production rate, building & temporarily holding inventory, working overtime to achieve the demand plan 

    • Might hire 3rd party when ppl get sick of overtime 


9/26

  • Know top 2 info/facts abt each plan 


Material requirements plan: add pic 

  • Is computer based management tool that calculates the exact quantities, needs dates & planned order releases for all the parts & materials required to manufacturer finished products 

    • Only focused on materials 

  • Advantages: 

    • On time availity for right materials 

    • Facilitates lower inventory levels 

    • Helps optimize use of production resources and lower costs 

      • Helps plan how many ppl and production 

  • Disadvantages: 

    • Ignores capacity —> focuses on what’s needed & when  regardless of capacity (somebody else must figure out those resources)

    • Loss of visibility for products with Bill of materials (BOM) & items used in multiple finished products 

    • Works well for make to stock orders but not as well for make to order or engineer to order products 


MRP requires: 

  1. Finished product production schedule 

  2. Bill of materials data 

  3. Item master data 

  4. Inventory status 

  5. Any planned or scheduled receipts for any components & materials needed 


bill of materials (BOM):

  • Document that lists all of raw materials, compliments parts and assemblies make up ifnal product 

    • Assemblies are things u need to put other raw materials together 

  • Single level: display of components that are directly used in a parent item together w/the quantity required for each component. Shows only the relationship 1 level down 

    • Parent item: 

  • Multilevel: display of all components direct or indirectly used in a parent item together with the quantity required for each component (ex: the planning factor)

    • If a component is a subassembly, blend, intermediate, etc → all its components and all their components will also be exhibited, down to purchased parts and raw materials


Single level BOM: 

  • Table on top is the finished product, and what's below is components needed to make finished product (are dependent demand items), 


  • Independent demand: external demand for an item unrelated to the demand for other items → Ex: finished product

  • dependent demand: internal demand for items that are assembled or combined to make up the final product → ex: component parts

  • Planning Factor is quantity amt of all items needed to make finished product 


Multilevel BOM: insert pic 


Terms used in MRP memorize them (copy from slides) 

  • Gross requirement: A time-phased requirement before netting out on-hand inventory and lead-time

  • Net Requirement: The unsatisfied item requirement for a specific period.

    • Gross requirement for the period - current on-hand inventory.

  • Projected Available Inventory: projected closing inventory at end of a Period.

    •  Beginning inventory - gross requirements  + Scheduled receipts + planned receipts from planned order releases.

  • Planned Order Release: A specific order for a particular item and quantity to be released to the shop or the supplier.

  • Firmed Planned Order:  A planned order that can be frozen in quantity and time so that the MRP computer logic cannot automatically change when conditions change. 

    • Established by the Planner or Supply Chain Manager to prevent system nervousness. This can aid planners working with MRP systems in responding to material and capacity problems by firming up selected planned orders.

  • Scheduled Receipt: A committed order awaiting delivery for a specific period.

  • Lead Time: The time it takes to process and prepare material, produce the product, and transport it to the customer.

  • Time bucket: Unit of time/period used in MRP

    • ex: days, weeks, month

  • Parent: Item generating demand for lower-level components.

  • Components: parts demanded by a parent

  • Planning Factor: The number/quantity of each component or material needed to produce a single unit of the parent item

  • MRP Explosion: The process of converting a parent item’s planned order releases into component gross requirements

  • Pegging: Relates the gross requirements for a component part to the planned order releases of the parent item to identify the source(s) of the item’s gross requirements.

    • Pegging can be thought of as active where-used information.

  • Lot Size: order size for MRP logic

  • Safety Stock: a quantity of stock planned to be in inventory to protect against fluctuations in demand or supply.

    •  Over-planning supply versus demand can be used to create safety stock.


Capacity planning: 

  • Max amt of work an org can complete in a given period 

  • Determines production capacity needed by an org to prudence goods or services its customers require 

    • Orgs must balance production plan with capacity 

    • Ex: mcdonalds must know how much burgers their customer requires so the supplier knows how many buns per month is needed 


Capacity planning tools 

  • Resource requirement planning: long range capacity planning tool used to check whether aggregate resources are capable of satisfying aggregate productions plan

    • Aggregate resources: labor and manpower  

  • Rough cut capacity planning: medium range planning module used to check feasibility of meeting master production schedule

    • Can u meets dates, quantities needed 

  • Capacity requirement planning: short range capacity planning module used to check feasibility of materials requirement plan


Distribution requirements planning: 

  • Is time phased finished goods inventory replenishment plan in a distribution center 

    • Time phased: time schedule to inventory destruction centers/warehouses

    • Process of determining how and where to deploy the finished goods inventory that's produced 


Enterprise requirement planning systems (ERP) ***(on exam) 

  • Organized plan to move product out where and when the customer wants it 

  • ERP: information system connecting an orgs functional areas and operations via a common software infrastructure and database 


ERP software application and providers: 

Major ERP applications include:

  • Accounting and Finance

  • Customer Relationship Management

  • Human Resource Management

  • Manufacturing

  • Supplier Relationship Management

  • Supply Chain Management


The three major ERP providers are: (based on ranking)

  1. SAP

  2. Oracle

  3. Microsort 


Configuration of ERP systems: 

  • ERP provides a conduit for supply chain members to share info so that scarce resources can fully utilized to meet demand while minimizing supply chain inventories 


Implementing ERP systems: 

  1. Best of breed: 

    1. Like going to a restaurant a la carte → you can choose whatever you like

    2. Like cherry picking what you want 

  2. Single integrator service  

    1. Is a package deal → like microsoft office where everythings included like getting excel, powerpoint, word 


Common implementation problems: 

  • Lack of top management commitment 

  • Lack of adequate training 

  • Lack of proper training 

  • Lack of communication 

  • Incompatible system environment 


Advantages: 

  • Visibility 

    • See things across supply chain much more clearly 

  • Helps standardize manufacturing processes 

  • Measures performance and communicates via standardized method 


Disadvantages 

  • Substantial time & capital investment 

  • Completiy to run & implement 

  • Firms may adapt processes just to meet ERP system requirements


Data management & analytics 

  • Data management: provides the foundation for data analytics

    • Collecting, storing, organizing, and securing data, ensuring that data is accurate, complete, and accessible


  • Data analytics: helps you get ahead of the market 

    • the process of analyzing, exploring, and transforming data to find patterns and trends that can provide insights and help decision-making

    • It can also help organizations  and systems act based on automated analytics in real time


Supply chain digital transformation: 

  • starts with aligning all processes and data on one platform, automating key processes, and using technologies such as artificial intelligence to collect and analyze massive amounts of data to identify, predict, and prevent problems

    • Ex: Align all of processes & data into 1 platform 

Ch 4-inventory management

  • Inventory is an asset (balance sheet-tells whats owned by company) 

  • Maintaining adequate finished product important so you can satisfy customer orders immediately → just in time 

  • Materials (raw materials, etc) also part of inventory → must maintain adequate to support manufacturing functions 

  • Failure to manage inventory causes: Increased effect on cost 



  • Inventory: quantities of goods and materials that’re held in stock 


Inventory as liability: 

  • Having too much inventory  can be significant liability 

  • Having too much inventory ties up capital → cash sitting around isn’t being invested 

  • More inventory company holds = more space is needed → space costs money 

  • Company has to pay for security insurance, tax, etc 

    • During pandemic there was less security & loss of products 

  • Inventory can become liability if unusable 



***categories of inventory (can list 4 for exam): 

  1. Raw materials 

  2. Work in process 

  3. Finished goods 

  4. MRO 


Raw materials: 

  • Purchased items or extracted materials converted via manufacturing process into components & products 

  • Every companies has product that starts w some raw material, part or starting material 

  • Buy from supplier & hv delivered just in time 

  • Potential strike of dock workers → if this happens will expect shortage of items on shelf so company might try to get ahead and order more raw materials to negate effect 

  • If there's scarcity in some area that may send prices up company might try to buy up before that 


Work in process: 

  • Work that's not complete yet 

  • Due to range of potential stages of completion and materials in WIP may be in state of contiguous transformation → many companies view this stage as a black hole 

    • This stage can cause lots of money loss 

    • Ex: Companies can stones order too much inventory that sits around & never used 


Finished goods: 

  • These are finished goods 

  • Make to order: little to no finished goods inventory is maintained 

  • Make to stock: significant amts of inventory of finished goods inventory can be maintained 


Maintenance, repair, & operating (MRO): 

  • Needed for manufacturing but not end up as part of finished products 

  • Ex: brooms & mops: if manufacturing must have broom to sweep shop floor 

    • Other example is oil u need to oil gears in capital equipment so when something happens you have product to run materials again 

  • Can facilitate admin 

    • Coffee in break room considered MRO bc helps ppl carry out roles & responsibilities 


Inventory in service inventory:  

  • Service inventory: activities carried out in advance of customers arrival 

  • There’s no tangible inventory only items used to carry out service 

  • Facilitating the service provided 

    • Ex: go to restaurant you’re there for food, but also expecting tangible items of cutlery, table, 


Functions of inventory-why hold inventory : 

  1. To meet customer demand (cycle stock)

    1. Cycle stock: when you go to  retail & buy shampoo → somebody else buys right after 

  2. To buffer against uncertainty in demand or supply (safety stock)

    1. There's always some additional stock → aka safety stock 

  3. To decompile supply from demand (strategic stock) 

    1. Buffer against supply 

    2. Ex: dock worker go on strike so order more supply

    3. Separating supply from demand → decouple = separate 

      1. Ex: decoupling train car that’re attached 

    4. Strategic decisions made at senior level  

  4. To decouple dependencies in supply chain (strategic stock) 

    1. Separating operations in process 


Inventory management 

  • Function of planning & controlling inventories 

  • Goal of inventory management is to help company be more profitable by lowering cost of goods sold and increasing sales 

    • Ex: can be hiring more ppl in production & laying off IT jobs bc not needed as much anymore → focus on areas they want to bulk up 

  • To achieve stated goal balance: 

    • Reducing amt of inventory held in stock while….

    • Ensuring there's enough inventory to satisfy customer demand 

  • So what's the right amount of inventory? 

    • It depends on supply chain 

      • depends on the supply chain strategy and set-up

        • the type of product(s), customers’ expectations, customer service objectives, product shelf life, etc


Inventory stock levels (add pic)

  • There are three levels of internal inventory that companies may hold to:

    • Meet customer demand

    • Buffer against uncertainty in demand and supply

    • Decouple supply from demand

    • Decouple dependencies in the supply chain

  • There may also be inventory held external to the company by downstream supply chain trading partners.


  • Cycle stock: regular inventory 

  • Safety stock: smaller than cyle stock bc addressing fluctuations you can't predict 

  • Strategic stock bc company only spend money periodically making decisions 

  • External inventory: its materials that might be on ship coming to USA or inventory on truck 

    • Also inventory held by wholesalers, retailers, etc 


Cycle stock 

  • Depeletes gradually & is replenished cycle  

    • Ppl have different schedules for buying things 

    • Ex: most injuries in august so hospital stocks up 


Safety stock 

  • Is bluffer stock against fluctuations in demand or supply 


Strategic stock 

  • Is hedge against currency fluctuations

  • Company uses: 

    • Hedge currency fluctuations → 

    • Protect against short term disruptive event in supply 

      • Ex: hurricane season in florida 

  • Aka seasonal stock, anticipation stock or build stock 


Stock levels & replenishment (add pic/chart) 

  • Top left = 100% in inventory ( day 1 & month 1) 

  • In month 2 orders flying so must go into safety stock 

    • Ex: When they reorder they have excess inventory bc sports team doing well so anticipate needing more inventory → guess is correct and they must backorder bc don’t have enough inventory → then they have stockout when they cant fill any order bc they don’t hv raw materials to make product 


Obsolete inventory 

  • Stock that's expired, damaged or no longer needed 

    • Ex: floor models are considered used items bc they’ve been touched → shoes on display (everyone tries on) so they sell on discount 

  • Will never be used or sold at total value 

  • Write of as all or part of the outdated products value maybe lost → reducing company’s profit 

  • Some companies donate this inventory to non-profit org and take tax benefit 


MRO supplies 

  • Not part of finished products but help facilitate manufacturing


Costs related to inventory  

  • direct : 

    • ex: cost of material that goes into product 

      • Cost of labor to product product making 

  • Indirect: work done is helping business indirectly 

    • Exec that has nothing to do w production of product 

  • Variable: the cost of utilities (light, energy) 

    • Peak vs non-peak times in manufacturing 

  • Fix costs: upfront, advanced costs to produce product & independent of unit volume produced 

    • Aka sunk costs 

  • *Carrying cost: costs for physically having inventory held on site

    • Space cost, insurance, etc 

  • *Order cost: labor costs associated with placing & receiving order for inventory 

    • costs you don’t think abt 


Hidden costs of inventory: 

  • Having too much inventory: 

    • Having too much inventory ties up working capital 

      • Only CFO & financial calculating 

    • Underlying problems hidden rather than exposed 

      • Ex: Manager knows delivery driver is always late so he keeps extra inventory to cover for driver lateness → struggle to tell him that he needs to fix issue instead of fixing root issue 

  • Having too little inventory: 

    • Loss of revenue 

    • Production disruptions creating the need for expediting and additional costs.

    • Longer delivery replenishment lead times.

    • Reduced responsiveness


Inventory investment: 

  • Absolute inventory value

    • Value of inventory at either its cost or market value 

    • Generally found on balance sheet 

  • Inventory turnover 

    • # of times an inventory cycles or “turns over” during the year 

    • The more turns the better






Exam 1:

  • 50 questions (2 pts each)

  • On computer

  • Combo of short answer (definitions), fill in the blank (will give options), True/false (will test how well you know what you’re talking abt → read questions properly) 


10/3


Inventory policies-set target inventory levels 

  1. When to review inventory? → To know how much is there 

  2. When to order inventory? → Date 

  3. How much inventory to order? 




Periodic review system: 

  • Inventory levels are reviewed at set frequency 

    • At time of review if stock levels are below predetermined level, order for replenishment is placed 

    • Periodically will look at inventory (on set date) 

Advantages: 

  • Reduces the time spent analyzing inventory.

  • Less expensive to implement and operate than a Continuous Review System

Disadvantage 

  • Difficult to determine what date is best for periodic reviewing 

  • Can make inventory less accurate bc don’t hv good number 

    • Don’t know exactly how much inventory is leaving overtime (bc not monitoring all the time)

    • There's greater risk of inventory falling well below reorder point 

      • If something happens that causes more inventory to leave you’d be unaware bc review period is later out 

    • More safety stock required 


Continuous review system: 

  • Inventory is continuously reviewed 

    • As soon as inventory falls below par-determined level,  replenishment order is automatically triggered 

      • Ex: walmart designed so always aware of how much inventory and always reorders when below 

Advantages: 

  • Allows for real-time updates of inventory 

  • Facilitates accurate accounting bc system can generate relate time of cost of goods sold (COGS) 

  • Potentially requires less safety stock bc inventory constantly considered and replenishment actions taken more quickly 

Disadvantages: 

  • Is very costly bc requires automated system 

    • Need to make sure everyone has most update version of software 


When to order inventory: 

  • Reorder point: lowest inventory level when a new order must be placed to avoid stockout 

    • ROP is set at the level that it provides enough inventory so demand is covered during the lead time (L) needed to replenish inventory.

  • ROP = demand during lead time (DL) 

  • Look at slide for  math (slide 27)




reorder point without safety stock: add slide pic 


Reorder with safety stock: add slide pic 


How much to order: 

  1. Fixed time period system

    1. Inventory checked in fixed periods against target inventory level 

      1. *if inventory is less than target level then quantity needed to bring inventory back up to target level is ordered 

        1. Ex: if hv 500 (target stock), and down to 100 stock → order 400 replenishment 

      2. Amt of inventory will vary from [period to period based on remaining inventory at time checked 

  2. Fixed order quantity system: 

    1. Continuous review system uses same order quantity from order to order 

    2. When inventory position drops to predetermined reorder point → predetermined fixed order quantity is placed 


Fixed time period system: add slide info 

  • order quantity is the difference between the on-hand stock On the review day and the predetermined target inventory level

    • Q = R – IP 

      • Order Quantity = target inventory level - inventory position 

  • order quantity in this system will differ from one order to another depending on the on-hand quantity on the day of the review

    • A target inventory level (R) is established

    • Inventory levels are checked/reviewed in fixed periods (T)

    • If (IP) < R → (Q) is ordered, and (R) is restored when each new order is received


Fixed order quantity system: 1st sentence from slide 

  • If the review determines that an order should be placed, then the order for a pre-defined quantity for that item is placed


Economic order quantity model (EQQ) 

  • Fixed order quantity model 

  • Model is used to examine trade-off between what annual cost of holding inventory vs annual cost of placing many orders 

    • Helps make decision if you should just hv lots of inventory or order as orders are placed 

  • Where the sum of the annual order costs & the annual inventory carrying costs is minimized

  • Order cost: incurred each time an order is placed

  • carrying costs: costs that are incurred for holding inventory in storage


Inventory order costs & carrying costs (on exam) 

  • Order costs: incurred everytime order is placed 

    • Order prep costs 

    • Order transportation costs

    • Order receipt processing costs

    • Material handling costs

  • Carrying costs: incurred for holding inventory 

    • Cost of capital - specified by senior management

    • Taxes - on inventory held in warehouses

    • Insurance - based on estimated risk or loss over time and facility characteristics

    • Obsolescence - deterioration of product during storage and shelf-life

    • Storage - facility expense related to product holding rather than product Handling


Example EQQ add slide

  • Trying to determine what's cheaper: holding inventory or placing inventory orders


  • Check hw problem 

Constraints on practical use of EQQ (know for exam) 

  • limited Capital:

    • The model may generate an order quantity that the company doesn’t have sufficient available funds to purchase at one time.

  • Storage Capacity:

    • The model may generate an order quantity that the company does not have sufficient storage capacity to handle at one time.

  • Transportation:

    • The item being ordered and transported may require specialized or dedicated transportation, impacting the quantity per order.

  • Obsolescence:

    • The model may generate an order quantity that would create spoilage or obsolescence.

  • Production Lot Size: 

    • The supplier may require the company to order an item in full production lot sizes.

    • Production locks up bc trying to take advantage of economies of scale 

  • Unitization:

    • The supplier may require the company to order an item in full pack, case, or pallet configurations


Other types of inventory systems: 

ABC system: 

  • ABC system: classifies inventory based on degree of importance 

    • Rather hv A than B grade & rather hv b than C grade 

  • A items: given highest priority (80/20 rule) 

    • 20% total # of items & 80% total inventory cost 

    • Ex: LV bags 

  • B&C items:  80% total # of items & 20% total inventory cost 

    • B items: need to pay more attention bc more expensive per unit → require more effort to purchase + make & may be more prone to obsolescence

    • C items: lowest value = lowest priority  


Bin system: 

  • Example: warehouses hv box 1 (all socks) → then once orders come all items are emptied and then moved to back → bin 2 becomes bin 1 

    • What's in bin 1 is 1st bin that fills order, then empties → bin 2 is next 

  • When the inventory in the first bin has been depleted, an order is placed to refill or replace the inventory






Base stock level system 

  • Issue an order whenever a withdrawal is made from inventory 

  • Replenishment order quantity = quantity withdrawn from inventory 

  • Form of just in time 

  • mostly used for costly items 

    • Ex: planes 


Single period item 

  • inventory is only ordered for a one-time stocking

  • Ex: christmas trees: ppl don’t go back and order more trees → once sell out you don't order more 


Inventory level controls: 

  • Use linear barcodes 


Barcodes: 

  • Linear (1D): allows you to see 85 characters 

    • Company buying product wants to know where product came from (where packaged, harvested, etc)

    • Allows supplier to type in electronically where it came from 

      • Ex: important for foods bc contamination 

  • 2D barcodes: allows you to see 2000 characters 

    • Allows more information 

    • Allows you to see where its sourced from

      • Ex: blood diamonds → child labor 

  • Barcode reader: allows you to read all barcodes 


Radio frequency identification 

  • Wand that automatically reads everything that comes in & leaves warehouse 

    • Scan trucks coming in and out 

    • Ex: scanners for IDS that’re used for college entrance 

    • Mostly used only in warehouse bc easily hacked 

  • does not require a direct line of sight to read a tag, and the information on the tag is updatable


  • RFID automates the supply chain: 

    • Materials management 

    • Manufacturing 

    • Distribution center

    • Retail store 





Measuring inventory performance: 

  • Every unit/dollar of inventory that you can reduce drops right to the bottom line as pure savings


Common metrics for inventory: 

  • Units: number of units available

  • Dollars: amount of dollars tied up in inventory

  • Weeks of Supply: (avg. on-hand inventory) / (avg. weekly usage)

  • Inventory Turns: COGS /avg. inventory value


  • .