Supply Chain

Question 1

What is the essence of supply chain management?

Answer 1

Every organization must make a product or provide a service that someone values.
Most organizations function as part of larger supply chains.
Organizations must carefully manage their operations and supply chains in order to prosper and, indeed, survive.

Question 2

What is operations management?

Answer 2

The planning, scheduling, and control of the activities that transform inputs into finished goods and services.

Question 3

What is a supply chain?

Answer 3

A network of manufacturers and service providers that work together to create products or services needed by end users. These manufacturers and service providers are linked together through physical flows, information flows, and monetary flows.

Question 4

What is supply chain management?

Answer 4

The active management of supply chain activities and relationships in order to maximize customer value and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.

Question 5

What is upstream?

Answer 5

Activities or firms positioned earlier in the supply chain.

Question 6

What is downstream?

Answer 6

Activities or firms positioned later in the supply chain.

Question 7

What is a first-tier supplier?

Answer 7

A supplier that provides products or services directly to a firm.

Question 8

What is a second-tier supplier?

Answer 8

A supplier that provides products or services to a firm’s first-tier supplier.

Question 9

What is the SCOR Model?

Answer 9

Supply Chain Operations Reference Model
- Plan, Source, Make, Deliver

Question 10

What is “Plan” from the SCOR Model?

Answer 10

Planning activities, which seek to balance demand requirements against resources and communicate these plans to the various participants.

Question 11

What is “Source” from the SCOR Model?

Answer 11

Sourcing activities, which include identifying, developing, and contracting with suppliers and scheduling the delivery of incoming goods and services.

Question 12

What is “Make” from the SCOR Model?

Answer 12

“Make,” or production, activities, which cover the actual production of a good or service.

Question 13

What is “Deliver” from the SCOR Model?

Answer 13

Delivery activities, which include everything from entering customer orders and determining delivery dates to storing and moving goods to their final destination.

Question 14

What are the return activities in the SCOR Model?

Answer 14

The activities necessary to return and process defective or excess products or materials.

Question 15

What is logistics?

Answer 15

Transport and storage solutions.
- Part of the Supply chain

Question 16

What are operations?

Answer 16

• Similar to Supply Chain
• Has a sense of immediacy (day-to-day)
• Often used in job titles (operations manager, operations director, …)

Question 17

What is a mission statement?

Answer 17

A statement that explains why an organization exists. It describes what is important to the organization, called its core values, and identifies the organization’s domain.

Question 18

What is a strategy?

Answer 18

A mechanism by which a business coordinates its decisions regarding structural and infrastructural elements.

Question 19

What is a business strategy?

Answer 19

The strategy that identifies a firm’s targeted customers and sets time frames and performance objectives for the business.

Question 20

What is a core competency?

Answer 20

An organizational strength or ability, developed over a long period, that customers find valuable and competitors find difficult or even impossible to copy.

Question 21

What is a functional strategy?

Answer 21

A strategy that translates a business strategy into specific actions for functional areas such as marketing, human resources, and finance.

Question 22

What are the structural decision categories?

Answer 22

1. Capacity
2. Facilities
   - Services/Manufacturing, Warehouses, Distribution hubs
   - Size, location, degree of specialization
3. Technology
   - Services/Manufacturing processes, Material handling equipment, Transportation equipment, Information systems

Question 23

What are infrastructural decision categories?

Answer 23

1. Organization
   - Structure, Control/reward systems, Workforce decisions
2. Sourcing decisions and purchasing process
   - Sourcing strategies, Supplier selection, Supplier performance measurement
3. Planning and control
   - Forecasting, Tactical planning, Inventory management, Production planning and control

Question 24

What are the 3 primary objectives?

Answer 24

• Help management choose the right mix of structural and infrastructural elements based on a clear understanding of the performance dimensions valued by customers and the trade-offs involved.
• Ensure that the firm’s structural and infrastructural choices are strategically aligned with the firm’s business strategy.
• Support the development of core competencies in the firm’s operations and supply chains.

Question 25

What are the four performance dimensions?

Answer 25

Quality
Time
Flexibility
Cost

Question 26

What is quality as a performance objective?

Answer 26

1. Performance Quality – Addresses the basic operating characteristics of a product or service.
2. Conformance Quality – Addresses whether a product was made or a service performed to specifications.
3. Reliability Quality – Addresses whether a product will work for a long time without failing or requiring maintenance.

Question 27

What is time as a performance objective?

Answer 27

1. Delivery Speed – How quickly the operations or supply chain function can fulfill a need once it has been identified.
2. Delivery Reliability – The ability to deliver products or services when promised.

Question 28

What is flexibility as a performance objective?

Answer 28

1. Mix Flexibility – The ability to produce a wide range of products or services.
2. Changeover Flexibility – The ability to produce a new product with minimal delay.
3. Volume Flexibility – The ability to produce whatever volume the customer needs.

Question 29

What is cost as a performance objective?

Answer 29

Labor costs
Material costs
Engineering costs
Quality-related costs

Question 30

What is a delivery window?

Answer 30

The acceptable time range in which deliveries can be made

Question 31

Operations and Supply Chain Strategies

Answer 31

• Translate business strategy into operations and supply chain actions
• develop supporting operations and supply chain actions