Understanding the Supply Chain Sunil Chopra

CHAPTER ONE intervention Questions 1. strike the purchase of a can of soda at a convenience store. Describe the various stages in the communicate range of a function and the antithetic flows involved. When a client purchases a can of soda at a convenience store, his purchase represents the end of a ply drawstrings delivery of an item and the beginning of nurture regarding his purchase flowing in the opposite direction. The supply drawstring stages include customers, retail merchants, wholesalers/distributors, manufacturers, and component/raw visible suppliers. A customers purchase moves product towards the customer and dollars and nurture towards the retailer.The retailer places an baseball club from the wholesaler/distributor to replenish stock, thereby sorrowful information back up the supply grasp while sorrowful product down the supply fibril. As the order is haveed, the retailer leave behind move dollars back up the supply chain. The wholesaler/distributor t ransmits information and dollars to the manufacturer who produces product and ships it down the supply chain to the wholesaler. Finally (or initially, depending on your perspective) the manufacturer moves orders (information) and dollars towards suppliers in exchange for material flow into their production mouldes. 2.Why should a firm like dell take into account total supply chain profitability when making decisions? Dell realizes that their ultimate victory lies with the success of their supply chain and its ability to generate supply chain surplus. If Dell was to view supply chain operations as a vigor sum game, they would lose their competitive edge as their suppliers businesses struggled. Dells profit gained at the expense of their supply chain partners would be abruptly lived. Just as a physical chain is only as strong as its weakest link, the supply chain can be victorious only if all members cooperate and focus on a lobal best rather than many local optima. 3. What are some strategic be after and in operation(p) decisions that must be made by an apparel retailer like The Gap? As The Gap plans supply chain strategy it must first consider the marketing functions determine plans in order to structure a supply chain conformable with these plans. Strategic considerations such as the capacity of each supplier and meeting place operations, sourcing decisions and how logistics are to be handled are all part of the design. The supply chain must also settle on communication channels and frequencies. yield chain planning takes the strategic decisions as a given and seeks to exploit efficiencies in the chain to maximize supply chain surplus. The entire chain should meet in forecasting and planning production to achieve a orbiculate optimum. The forecasts should take into account planned promotions and known seasonal fluctuations in demand. The operational decision takes the plans as a given and makes day-to-day decisions to process customer orders, all ocate resources to certain customers, trigger orders from supply chain members, and deliver product. 4. pass on the supply chain involved when a customer purchases a accommodate of account at a bookstore.Identify rhythms in this supply chain and the location of the charge/pull saltation. All supply chain processes can be disconnected down into four process motorbikes that connect the five stages of the supply chain the customer order daily round, the replenishment cycle, the manufacturing cycle, and the procurement cycle. The customer order cycle connects the customer with the retailer this connection is made as the book, perhaps Supply Chain Management by Chopra and Meindl, is selected and paid for by the customer. The replenishment cycle connects the retailer and the distributor and is triggered by the retailers need to fill the empty shelf space with nother copy of this tome. The manufacturing cycle connects the distributor and the manufacturer. As demand for the book i s realized and distributors empty their warehouses, they signal the manufacturer to gull another million copies to fill their empty warehouses. Finally, the procurement cycle connects the manufacturer and the supplier. The manufacturer requires raw material inputs of paper, ink, etc. , to begin the assembly process for another batch of Supply Chain Management. The push/pull boundary exists where demand switches from reactive (pull) to speculative (push) production.For most bookstore supply chain the push/pull boundary is amidst the customer order cycle and the replenishment cycle. The customer order pulls the book from the book store shelf but the initial production of the book was triggered by a conformation order that moved materials along the supply chain to the retail outlet. 5. Consider the supply chain involved when a customer orders a book from Amazon. Identify the push/pull boundary and 2 processes each in the push and pull phases. In Amazons original operations design the push/pull boundary existed betwixt the retailer (Amazon) and their distributor.Amazon consistent product from the distributor and the customer order arrived. Today, Amazon has six warehouses where it stocks an catalogue of items it is confident that will sell. In this scenario, the push/pull boundary exists between the customer and the retailer. Processes in the pull phase are the order fulfillment, shipping, customer returns, and customer billing. Processes in the push phase are production, stock replenishments, shipping, and payment. 6. In what way do supply chain flows affect the success or failure of a firm like Amazon?List two supply chain decisions that have a significant impact on supply chain profitability. The success or failure of a smart set like Amazon is decided by the effective function of its supply chain. The flow of products from publishers to distributors to customers must be rapid and reliable in order to satisfy customers. The flow of information back thro ugh the supply chain allows all members to coordinate efforts. The flow of money allows all supply chain members to maintain operations. Supply chain profitability is influenced by sourcing, promotion, and fulfillment decisions.