NMIMS Semester 3 December 2024 Supply Chain Assignments
Operations and Supply chain strategies
1. Mr. Ranga is a store manager at Pmart Ltd one of the leading retail firm. To penetrate the market, he was using a low-price strategy. Due to competition, he also plans to use technology in the supply chain to reduce the cost. In such a scenario, every business requires some competitive edge to sustain in the market. Discuss different supply chain drivers with Mr. Ranga that ultimately helps Mega Mart to enable the entire supply chain.
2. Your artisanal ice cream company produces small batches of unique flavours sold in local shops. A large supermarket chain wants to carry your top five flavours nationwide, requiring a consistent and high volume of production. Considering your current small-batch production process, how would you adapt to fulfill this order? Would you switch to a mass production or continuous production process, or choose another method? Explain your decision, taking into account factors such as maintaining product quality, scaling up production, cost efficiency, and logistical challenges in distributing your ice cream across a national market.
Nikaa Ltd is leading e commerce company sells beauty, wellness and fashion products through its website, mobile app, and over physical stores. Company holds items bought directly from manufacturers in its warehouses, where they are supplied whenever there are online or offline purchases. Due to high demand company is not able to concentrate on the core business. E-commerce business has experienced significant growth, leading to challenges in managing inventory, order fulfilment, and timely deliveries. You are considering partnering with a third-party logistics provider to handle these logistics functions.
a) How would you evaluate the decision to outsource to a 3PL? Discuss the potential benefits and risks, including cost savings, efficiency improvements, loss of direct control over logistics, and potential impacts on customer satisfaction.
b) What criteria would you use to select a 3PL provider, and how would you ensure a smooth transition to maintain service quality during this change?
Procurement management
1. GeoLinks is a medium-sized supply chain management company that operates in e- commerce industry. Describe the evolution of e-procurement, including its various stages and technological advancements and explain how understanding this evolution can guide GeoLinks in developing a robust e-procurement strategy. Also, recommend pricing models that GeoLinks can adopt to ensure competitiveness and profitability in the e-procurement marketplace.
2. XYZ Infra is a construction company specializing in large-scale infrastructure projects. The company often engages in contracts with government agencies to build roads, bridges, and public facilities. Evaluate the factors that XYZ Infra should consider when determining its pricing strategies to manage and negotiate government influences on pricing while maintaining a fair and mutually beneficial partnership. Also, suggest a contingency plan and contractual clauses that XYZ Infra should include to mitigate risks associated with contract cancellations and unexpected project disruptions.
3. GeoTronics is a multinational electronics company that sources components and materials from various countries for its manufacturing operations. It wants to source a wide range of products from multiple suppliers of south Asia and distribute them to various markets in the gulf.
a) Explain the legal authority and responsibilities of a purchasing manager and discuss the importance of ethical considerations in global sourcing decisions for GeoTronics.
b) Describe different methods of global sourcing that GeoTronics can adopt to procure products from international suppliers and outline the factors that they should consider when evaluating potential global suppliers.
Total Quality management
1. As a leader of new product development team, you are asked by the management of your organization to comprehend the expectation of the customers and design product and services in view of that. Discuss a valuable methodology you would adopt that can significantly enhance the new product development process and thereby meet customer satisfaction.
2. You are appointed as head of quality department and told it is utmost priority for your department to monitor defects and control quality. Discuss the seven basic quality control tools which may help your department in controlling quality and minimizing defects. Give examples for each tool.
3. After entering global market, Maxx Industry which had implemented TQM, wants to change from its traditional performance measure based on cost accounting information to performance measured against the result delivered to customers. In TQM, measuring performance requires a conceptual framework.
a) Discuss the criteria Maxx Industry should follow for measuring and evaluating performance under TQM framework.
b) Explain the four perspectives based on which Strategic Performance Measurement (SPM) is measured.
Enterprise resource planning
Q.1 Maketyre is a tyre manufacturing company which makes tyres for various tyoes of vehicles. With the vast growing business across the Country, they decided to implement ERP system in their organization. Discuss the various factors for successful ERP implementation which Maketyre will follow and explain the challenges which Maketyre may face while ERP implementation.
Q2. Thakur Das Jewellers are into gem business based in Mumbai. Thakur Das Jewellers have expanded their branches with in different cities and have various departments such as Finance, Sales, Purchase etc. With the extending number of business processes, discuss using which technology Thakur Das Jewellers can integrate their processes to smoothen and streamline the business processes of their business. Discuss the features of Finance, Sales and Purchase modules with reference to the gem business of Thakur Das Jewellers.
Q.3 PeopleCare Technology is new IT Company with the motive of providing solutions to different Organisations by catering to their specific product requirements. They have decided to implement SAP software in their organization to integrate the various business processes and to enhance the efficiency of the organization. Considering the above scenario, discuss the following:
a) Discuss the benefits of SAP implementation by PeopleCare Technology.
b) Discuss the SAP architecture which PeopleCare Technology has used for implementation.
Warehouse Management
1. Discuss Different Product Movement activities considering example of an Ecommerce warehouse.
2. Form a safety charter for employees of a warehouse to create awareness about Occupational safety and health considering points such as Fire safety, working at heights etc.
3. You are the warehouse manager of a pharmaceutical distribution center responsible for storing and distributing a wide range of medical products. The warehouse has been facing challenges in meeting increasing demand, maintaining temperature- sensitive products, and ensuring accurate order fulfillment. The management is considering investing in robotics and automation to improve warehouse efficiency and ensure product integrity. Your task is to analyze the situation and propose a plan for implementing robotics and automation in the pharmaceutical warehouse.
a. Conduct a thorough analysis of the current pharmaceutical warehouse operations. Identify the key pain points and inefficiencies that arise from manual material handling, order picking, and inventory management processes. Discuss the impact of these challenges on order processing times, inventory accuracy, and compliance with regulatory requirements.
b. Develop a comprehensive plan for implementing robotics and automation technologies in the pharmaceutical warehouse to enhance operational efficiency and maintain product integrity. Propose specific robotic solutions for various warehouse tasks.
Supply Chain Management
1. ABC Manufacturing is a mid-sized company specializing in producing eco-friendly home appliances. The company has been experiencing significant fluctuations in demand, which have led to inventory surplus at times and stockouts at others. These inconsistencies have resulted in increased costs, customer dissatisfaction, and operational inefficiencies. Recently, the management team has decided to invest in advanced demand forecasting methods to address these challenges. You are the newly appointed Demand Planning Manager at ABC Manufacturing. Your task is to implement and suggest demand forecasting methods to improve the company’s performance.
2. How does the vendor managed inventory help Walmart India in improving performance? Explain the challenges faced by Walmart India during VMI implementation.
3. Transportation Plays an important role in the success of a supply chain. It’s the link that connects suppliers to manufacturers, manufacturers to distributors, and ultimately gets products into the hands of consumers. Efficient transportation ensures that goods move swiftly through the supply chain, reducing lead times and minimizing delays.
a) Describe the different transportation methods that soft drink companies can utilize to distribute their products.
b) You are the newly appointed Logistics Manager and your primary task is to suggest and resolve the transportation challenges the company is facing.
