TNK124 Exams - Theory

Question 1

The six distribution channels objectives that are common for most companies.

Answer 1

1. Making products available on the right market.
2. Expanding the sales prospects.
3. Striving for rewarding collaborations considering distribution.
4. Reaching determined service levels.
5. Minimizing logistics and total costs.
6. Getting fast and accurate information and feedback.

Question 2

One of the six distribution channels objectives that are common for most companies are “Making products available on the right market”. What does it mean?

Answer 2

It is important to know your market and know what is in demand.

Question 3

One of the six distribution channels objectives that are common for most companies are “Expanding the sales prospects”. What does it mean?

Answer 3

Does the distributor arrange the goods in the store? Are special display units used? Does the product need to be installed, displayed, or explained? Is there a special promotion for the product?

Question 4

One of the six distribution channels objectives that are common for most companies are “Striving for rewarding collaborations considering distribution”. What does it mean?

Answer 4

Minimum order quantities, product handling, etc.

Question 5

One of the six distribution channels objectives that are common for most companies are “Reaching determined service levels”. What does it mean?

Answer 5

Something that customers give greate importance to. “A delayed delivery is a missed delivery”.

Question 6

One of the six distribution channels objectives that are common for most companies are “Minimizing logistics and total costs”. What does it mean?

Answer 6

Costs are reflected in the final price and conseqently in sales volumes and profitability.

Question 7

One of the six distribution channels objectives that are common for most companies are “Getting fast and accurate information and feedback”. What does it mean?

Answer 7

Distribution is largely based on accurate and easily accessible information exchange between the parties.

Question 8

According to Azzi et al. (2012), five areas drive packaging design. Name these areas?

Answer 8

1. Safety
2. Marketing
3. Logistics
4. Sustainability
5. Ergonomics

Question 9

According to Azzi et al. (2012), five areas drive packaging design, one of them is safety. Explain the area.

Answer 9

The aspect of safety is related to the content, enviroment and user. Content safety is about preservation of the content and the package itself and is the most important function of packaging. Enviroment (ecosystems) and user is about if the packaging is made out of dangerous material (unsafe packaging compontnes) for the enviroment and/or humans. It also includes the content and if that is hazardous and how that is handled.

Question 10

According to Azzi et al. (2012), five areas drive packaging design, one of them is marketing. Explain the area.

Answer 10

The marketing aspect is about visual appeal to the costumer. For example, if the package should be transparent or not, if it is theft proof, and information about the product. The package should also somehow represent the product inside to not confuse the costumer. It is also important to consider moral factors as well when designing a package. What the product is and how it supposed to be used also matters, for example foods that are microwave ready maybe should be packed in a microwave safe container.

Question 11

According to Azzi et al. (2012), five areas drive packaging design, one of them is logistics. Explain the area.

Answer 11

The aspect of logistics is material handling and how the design of the package can improve efficiency in the supply chain. It is important that the product is easy to store and maybe be possible to stack. How it is supposed to be transported (mode choice) might also matter, for example height restrictions.

Question 12

According to Azzi et al. (2012), five areas drive packaging design, one of them is sustainability. Explain the area.

Answer 12

Sustainability for packaging includes all three aspects of sustainability: economic, enviromental and social. The economic aspect is about things like the cost of the package and its production. It is also common with overpacking and excessive packaging materials. Waste from packaging is expensive and an economic aspect. The enviromental aspect is about design, material choices, amount of packaging and how recycle friendly it is etc. The social aspect is about, for example, if the package represent the product for the customer, making sure that the package follows regulations, promote hygiene, promote recycling, and ethical dimensions of innovations in packaging.

Question 13

According to Azzi et al. (2012), five areas drive packaging design, one of them is ergonomy. Explain the area.

Answer 13

The ergonomy aspect is about the package physical characteristics like weight and size and its adaptation to how it is supposed to be handled. If the package is mainly handled manually or industrial will matter and require different designs. This will go into the safety as well and protect the workers as well as improving the efficency. The aspect also includes accessibility of the content for the customer and the use of the product for example medical supply might require lots of packaging for hyigene purposes but must be quick to open.

Question 14

Name all VRP-aspects mentioned in the course related to the e-trade.

Answer 14

1. Time windows
2. Fleet
3. Transportation and delivery modes
4. Routing
5. Multi-dimensional planning
6. Return logistics
7. Inventory management

Question 15

One of the VRP-aspects mentioned in the course related to the e-trade is time windows. What does the aspect mean and elaborate on their characteristics.

Answer 15

Two critical time windows are delivery time windows and access time windows. Customers can order at anytime but only be available for delivery at certain times. Due to traffic etc it might be hard do decide a specific time for delivery but it must fit both parties. There are also sometimes limitations to parking and streets availability that must be considered.

Question 16

One of the VRP-aspects mentioned in the course related to the e-trade is fleets. What does the aspect mean and elaborate on their characteristics.

Answer 16

This aspect is about fleet mix and vehicle choice which depend on the product characteristics and distance for the transport. The vehicles and mix of fleets should be optimized to suit the needs while still trying to reduce delays and costs. For example, using trucks is suitable at longer distances but the last part of the transport within a city (city logistics), smaller vehicles might be prefered or needed. This also includes the use of distribution centers and consolidation.

Question 17

One of the VRP-aspects mentioned in the course related to the e-trade is transportation and delivery modes. What does the aspect mean and elaborate on their characteristics.

Answer 17

Depending on which mode that is chosen, the restrictions will change. For example, using lorries will have more capacity than a drone or bike but it will require access to parking and the routes are limited to the roads. A bike will likely have more route choice and require less access to parking but the capacity is limited, even more so for drones. This must consider costs, time and product.

Question 18

One of the VRP-aspects mentioned in the course related to the e-trade is routing. What does the aspect mean and elaborate on their characteristics.

Answer 18

This aspect is about shortest path in a city. The actual shortest path might only be accessible using certian modes or at specific times. There might be additional costs associated to certain routes. It is also important to consider the way “back” which in a city might be very different. Some areas will have heavy congestion at certain times which likely is desired to be avoided, then which route should be used?

Question 19

One of the VRP-aspects mentioned in the course related to the e-trade is multi-dimensional planning. What does the aspect mean and elaborate on their characteristics.

Answer 19

Multi-dimensional planning is about vertical transports in high buildings. Time when transporting is not only about the time in the vehicle, for example if someone orders furtniture online with door delivery. Then it is important to know if there is an elevator and its capacity or the if the stairs are large enough. There might also be time restricitons within buildings, especially coorporate building or in apartments where the code does not work at night times. Again, this will also likely require parking and additional fees.

Question 20

One of the VRP-aspects mentioned in the course related to the e-trade is return logistics. What does the aspect mean and elaborate on their characteristics.

Answer 20

E-trade often leads to returned goods and the customer not wanting to keep what they have ordered. This aspect is about how to get the goods back to for example the retailer. Things like who pays for it and organize the transport, enviromental impacts and consolidation must be considered. Also, retailers must organize how they handled goods that has been returned and what happens to it.

Question 21

One of the VRP-aspects mentioned in the course related to the e-trade is inventory management. What does the aspect mean and elaborate on their characteristics.

Answer 21

This aspect is mainly about when a company or seller should order new products and at what amount where we need to know the actual demand and have an estiamted demand for the furutre to maintain better service with shorter lead time. For e-trade, it is important to also considered the returns which affect the inventory level and production rate. The returns will also require to be handled which will require specific activities within the warehouse and likley also administrative.

Question 22

What are the two main problem classes for Urban transportation network design problem (UTNDP)? Explain the class.

Answer 22

Road Network Design Problem (RNDP) - Consideres street network but does not distinguish categories of flow.

(Public) Transit Network Design and Scheduling Problem (TNDSP) - Considers public transit network topology, service frequeny and timetables.

Question 23

One of the main classes of Urban Transportation Network Design Problems (UTNDP) is Road Network Design Problem (RNDP). What are the subclasses? Explain each subclass.

Answer 23

Discrete Network Design Problem (DNDP) - Considers cosntructing physical aspects of the network, for example new roads, lanes and one-way streets. It deals with discrete design decisionis.

Continuous Network Design Prolem (CNDP) - Consider more of the control systems, like traffic lights scheduling, capacity of the streets, and tolls. It deals with continuous design decisions.

Mixed Network Design Problem (MNDP) - Combines discrete and continous aspects in the decision making.

Question 24

One of the main classes of Urban Transportation Network Design Problems (UTNDP) is (Public) Transit Network Design and Scheduling Problem (TNDSP). What are the subclasses? Explain each subclass.

Answer 24

Transit Network Design Problem (TNDP) - Considers the routes of transit lines which includes the origin, destination, and visited links.

Transit Network Design and Frequency Setting Problem (TNDFSP) - Considers, in addition to the route, the service frequency of each transit line.

Transit Network Frequencies Setting Problem - Considers the frequency setting for a given route structure.

Transit Network Scheduling Problem - Considers the timetable and the frequency of the transit lines for a given route structure.

Question 25

Looking at a solution tree from a branch and bound solution, how to know if it is maximization och minimization?

Answer 25

Maximization: Objective function value decreases when the tree branches

Minimization: Objective function value increases when the tree beanches

Question 26

Upper and lower bounds for a minimization problem

Answer 26

Upper bound is the best solution found so far. Look at all nodes in the tree and select the lowest found upper bound that has a feasible solution.

Lower bound is the potential at the bransch. Look at the nodes that has not yet been pruned and select the lowest value.

Question 27

Benefits of outsourcing logistics to a 3PL?

Answer 27

They are likely more specialized on transport and logistics while the company that outsources can focus on being specilist on their specific produc. It is often cost beneficial since they can use consolidations with other companies that we maybe do not know of, split costs on the routes… Often possible to reach more global networks (international distribution channels) that we else wouldn’t be able to afford or have enough knowledge about. Fixed costs are turned into variable costs and it reduces for example equipment and labour costs. Inventory levels, order cycle times and lead times may be reduced. It will in almost always cases be beneficial.

Question 28

Risks of outsourcing logistics to a 3PL?

Answer 28

Some of the customer contact will be lost which is usually negative. It might be difficult to change based on customer demands, handle emergency situations and it might disrupt inbound flow. It is not always the 3PL IT systems are in line with what is used in-house which might require extra work around.

Most companies feel that losing control over their logistics is difficult and negative but it will mostly be beneficial for almost everyone and should be prefered.

Question 29

What are success factors for 3PL partnerships as investigated and reported in the literature. (Name at least six of them)

Answer 29

• Common goals and compatible interests
• Compability of information systems
• Compability of organisational culture and routines
• Customer orientation
• Expert knowledge in specific markets/products/processes
• Financial stability of service provider
• Frequent communication and information exchange
• Joint investment for achievin relationship objectives
• Joint planning, management and cotrnol of 3PL relationship
• Mechanisms for dispute reoslution
• Power balance between contracting parties
• Provider ability to stay updated with respect to new techonologies
• Risk and reward sharing
• Service level improvement/reduction of distribution costs
• Service provider flexibility and responsiveness
• Top management support
• Understandning client’s supply chain needs

Question 30

What does sustainability mean according to Brundtland (1987)?

Answer 30

Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs.

Question 31

How many dimensions does sustainability and sustainable development have?

Answer 31

Dimensions of sustainability: Enviroment, economic, and social

Dimensions of sustainable development: Envirotmental (planet), social (people), and economical (profit)

Question 32

What does the dimensions of “enviroment” and the planet mean in sustainability and sustainable development?

Answer 32

Enviromental aspects in sustanability inlcludes things like pollution, climate change and the use of natrual resources. Looking more at the development aspects it include things like energy use, water, and biological diversity.

Question 33

What does the dimensions of “economic” mean in sustainability and sustainable development?

Answer 33

Economic aspects in sustanability inlcludes things like employment, financial strength, corporate profitability. Looking more at the development aspects it include things like taxes, employment, profitability, and corruption.

Question 34

What does the dimensions of “social” mean in sustainability and sustainable development?

Answer 34

Social aspects in sustanability inlcludes things like reduced poverty, living standard, and work standard. Looking more at the development aspects it include things like human rights, education, and availability of products and services.

Question 35

How does e-trade affect different sustainability dimensions, is the effect positive or negative or both?

Answer 35

Negative for retail which provides economic and social sustainability in terms of employment and social interaction. It is also likely good for both aspects that people has a job. It is positive since products might become more available and maybe also cheaper since some storage in retail and the cost of retail can be reduce and products can be sent from a warehouse or distribution center. Enviromental benefits includes consolidation to reduce trips to retailer and then the end customers. Also enviromental benefits of less stores.

Question 36

Is the location of customers (living in rural areas vs. in urban areas) an important factor when evaluating e-trade and sustainability?

Answer 36

It is important to provide as equal service as possible. Sometimes (less common now) it is not possible to order things to certain areas which is bad in a social asepct. It might also become more expensive in shipping cost for people in rural areas.

Question 37

As indicated by Gracia-Arca et al. (2017), “packaging is one element that can support and promote improvements and innovations in sustainable management of supply chains.” In the context of sustainable supply chain management, why should we pay attention to packaging?

Answer 37

Packaging connects the flow of materials and information along the supply chain. It has a strategic role. To be efficient in transportantion and material handling, the package must be adapted. From an enviromental persepctive, we cannot use too much packaging and be careful with the material choices. Social aspects is about the customer and what the package promise about the product etc, size of things to suite different households.

Question 38

What does multimodal transport mean?

Answer 38

Using several transports to complete one. Often one transportation is divided in subparts to optimize the efficiency in smaller parts of the total transported distance. This may inlcude using diffrent modes at different parts.

Question 39

What are the usual steps when using multimodal transport?

Answer 39

The three usual steps are:
1. Unload inbound goods
2. Inspect goods and sort
3. Reload goods and send off

All multimodal transports will require unloading and loading at least once, else it isn’t a multimodal transport by definition. The goods may or may not be registered in the invernory.

Question 40

What are the potential benefits of multimodal transport and what type of products can be most benefited from it?

Answer 40

Time saving in total and it will likely save money which in the end increases customer satisfaction. Products that are transported a long distance will benefit if the cost can be reduced. It is also good for perishable products that are time sensitive and should be delivered as fast as possible.

Question 41

Name, and explain, three approaches in cross-docking.

Answer 41

Trans-shipment: Order will be delivered to the customer as it is. The order is received ready.

Flow-through: Order is received but must be broken up (break down bulk) or sorted in some kind of way before it is delivered to the customer.

Merge-in-transit: Items from different sources are combined (for example current inventory and incoming order) and then added together before it is delivered to the customer.

Question 42

What is required to ensure reliability of delivery to the customer when cross-docking is used?

Answer 42

A supply chain infomration system is required. The control of incoming flow, outgoing flow, current inventory and preferably somewhat real-time customer demand are important factors.

Question 43

According to Pålsson and Hellström (2016), there are different packaging levels.

What are the levels and the role?

What are the most important criterias for the levels and whole supply chain?

Answer 43

Primary packaging: Packaging closest to the product and often the consumer or sales packaging. The most important criterias are product protection, right amount and size, and product information.

Secondary packaging: A package that contains several primary packages, often called grouped or retail packaging. The most important criterias are product protection, flow information, volume and weight efficiency, right amount and size, and handleability.

Tertiary packaging: A packade that contains several secondary packages and often referred to as transport or distribution packages, for example pallet or a roll container. The most important criterias are product protection, flow information, volume and weight efficiency, right amount and size, and handleability.

The most important criteria for the whole supply chain is product protection.

Question 44

How should packaging be integrated into the supply chain to achieve the best outcome, that is, what areas/aspects should be considered or improved?

Answer 44

There is a need for more collaboration in the supply chain so that parts can adapt to each other so everyone benefits in the end. There must be trade-offs since different parts of the supply chain will have different requirments. Currently, there is no holistic development process. Communication within the distribution channel is important where parties can give feedback and also take others opinions in consideration.

Question 45

What does urbanization mean, including its positive and negative aspects, and what are the relationships between urbanization and facility location? Elaborate and use Farahani et al. (2019) as your starting point!

Answer 45

Urbanization, considered to be the process of people migrating from rural to urban areas.

Positive effects - Employment opportunities, quality of education systems, acess to health service.

Negative effects - Pollution (air, water, noise), congestion, crime, slum development, waste-disposal.

Relation to facility location - See the positive effects and locate facilities in urban areas but maybe not too close because of the negative effects. Maintain good coverage. Social aspects and social sustainability may require areas outside of the direct urban are to have certain services too.

Question 46

Planning a system can be done on three different horizon levels. What are these levels, generally for how long are they planned, and how often do they need to be reviewed? Give an example for each of the levels.

Answer 46

Strategic: Horizon level is long-term, 3-5 years or more, and reviewd annually/bi-annually. A strategic problem is who is responsible for transportation - should we use 3PL? Set broad goals. -> How to get our goods to our customer.

Tactical: Horizon level is mid-term, 1-2 years, and reviewed quarterly or semi-annually. A tactical problem is fleet management, for example which and how many vehicles that are available. Set specific objectives. -> Actually getting the goods to the customer.

Operational: Horizon level is short-term, daily to 1 year, and reviewed daily or weekly. An operational problem is assigning specific orders to a specific vehicle and route - actually scheduling the transportation. Set granular tasks. -> The needed task so the goods can be delivered.

Question 47

Planning a system can be done on three different horizon levels. Consider main processes across a supply chain and different planning horizon levels. Give four examples and clearly indicate to which process and planning level it belongs.

Answer 47

Strategic network planning (for example location of facilities) is at strategic level.

Demand forecasting is at a tacital level but also a more broad perspective might be needed where we look at long-term trends which is more at the strategic level.

Capcity requirements planning and production sequencing is at operational level.

Question 48

According to Pålsson and Hellström (2016), there are different packaging levels. Which ones?

Answer 48

Primary, secondary and tertiary

Question 49

Describe sea as mode choice

Answer 49

Considered as cheap per travelled distance and goods size and weight. The delievy accuracy in terms of time is low and the delivery time is slow. The flexibility in scheduling and route choice is considered as high but limited to harbor locations. Often suitable for bulk products, large or heavy products and large quantities and long distances which often leads to a high amount of tied up capital.

Question 50

Describe rail as mode choice.

Answer 50

Considered as second cheapest per travelled distance and goods size and weight. Low variable costs (for example loading and unloading) but higher fixed cost (maintenance). The delievy accuracy in terms of time is low but the delivery time is fast. The flexibility in scheduling and route choice is considered low and limited to railways and stations. Often suitable for larger quantities of product, long transports which often leads to a high amount of tied up capital.

Question 51

Describe road as mode choice.

Answer 51

Considered as second most expensive per travelled distance and goods size and weight. High variable costs (for example fuel) but higher fixed cost (terminals and fleet maintenance). The delievy accuracy in terms of time is high and the delivery time is fast. The flexibility in scheduling and route choice is considered high and limited to roads and regualtions for drivers. Often suitable for smaller quantities, shorter distances which gives a smaller amount of tied up capital.

Question 52

Describe air as mode choice

Answer 52

Considered as expensive per travelled distance and goods size and weight. The costs are high and the goods must be valued enought to justify the expesnive costs. The delievy accuracy in terms of time is high and the delivery time is fast. The flexibility in scheduling and route choice is considered low and limited to airports and given routes for flights. Often suitable for small quantities, small product, long transports. Due to the low quantities the amount of tied up money is often low but there could be one unit of something really expensive too (organs?).

Question 53

Consider a situation where you live slightly outside the city center, and buy some goods online. Give a couple of different situations where your online purchase would lead to higher environmental pollution, than if you had gone to a store in the city center to buy it.

Answer 53

I would likely buy things that I didn’t think was worth the work to go to a store to get.

Returns because I missjudged something online. Bought something to get free shipping that I do not want.

Use a worse veh than my private one because it is supposed to be able to consolidate but in this area there might not be anyone else.

Extra packaging to hold my order together which I else could have carried on my own.

Question 54

Consider a situation where you live slightly outside the city center, and buy some goods online. Give a couple of different situations where your online purchase would lead to lower environmental pollution, than if you had gone to a store in the city center to buy it.

Answer 54

Consolidation

They might have been able to afford a more eco-friendly veh

Deliver at better times to avoid congestion which maybe wasn’t even an option to me (off peak delivery or becuase a warehouse has “open” at ottehr times than a store)

Transport from a warehouse closer to me

Question 55

E-trade generally tends to reduce the number of levels in the supply chain, e.g., by removing the need for stores. Give an example of a logistical advantage (other than environmental) of not having to have stores and an example of a logistical disadvantage (other than environmental) of not having a stores – and explain why they are an advantage/disadvantage.

Answer 55

Advantages: Less parties in the supply chain which might make trading easier and more effective, less parties to communicate with and agree with. Trade offs will be easier, for example packaging design will not have to consider the retailer as well which has different demands than a warehouse. There is also a reduction in LT since one party is taken out and it will also reduce the risk for errors.

Disadvantages: The increase of returns make intventory management difficult, it might be hard to predict and to know the timing. Also the quality of the returned goods might be an issue. It adds administrative work too and the IT system must be able to handle returns. There might also be social aspects that are not fully connected to logistics that still matters and maybe should be taken into consideration when deciding on logistics, for example employment and the value of human interactino.

Question 56

Give an example of 2 things to consider/evaluate that would be
very hard to include in a mathematical Strategic Network Planning (SNP) -model, that you still would need to consider when deciding where to locate the factories in your Supply Network, in the long time horizon.

Answer 56

Political stability
Available infrastructure

Question 57

What is city logistics?

Answer 57

All the good that are transported in, out, through, and within urban areas. It also includes service transports. It is also definied as the process of optimizing logistics and transport activities within in urban areas.

Question 58

What are some of the problems with city logistics?

Answer 58

Usually a lot of problems occur due to the limited space. There are a lot of people in the area meaning there are lots of buildings, other vehicles and people that are going somewhere.

Transportation contributes to emission, congestion, noise, accidents and reduction in city attractiveness.

Question 59

In the article about Sustainable Packaging by Morashti et al. (2022) name the six topics, five keywords, and the 4R principles.

(Not from exam)

Answer 59

Six topics are:
Consumer behaviour
Environmental pollution
Circular economy
Waste management
Resource conservation
Operational management

The five keywords are:
Production
Transportation
Consumer
Food
Eviromental impact

The 4R principle: Reuse-reduce-recycle-renew

Question 60

The articel about Sustainable Packaging Logistics by García-Arca (2017) has four hypothesis, what are they and what was the conclusion about each one?

(Not from exam)

Answer 60

Hypothesis 1: The greater the role each different requirement or sub-function has in the packaging design process, the better the sustainability performance. In conclusion, multifunctional view of packaging seems to be a way to improve sustainability.

Hypothesis 2: The greater the coordination and internal collaboration on packaging design between departments, the better the sustainability performance. In conclusion, sharing responsibilities for packaging design widely among the different departments show greater results.

Hypothesis 3: The greater the coordination and external collaboration between companies (packing companies with packaging suppliers, raw materials suppliers and retailers), the better the sustainability performance. In conclusion, likely companies that previously had better results have achieved a greater knowledge of the impact of certain packaging design decisions, and likely searching for collaboration throughout the supply chain.

Hypothesis 4: Finally, the greater the predisposition towards change, improvement and innovation in packaging, the better the sustainability performance. In conclusion, this is about understanding of how decisions on packaging impact others.