First part
please provide the warehouse manager a summative report of the main points of focus you wish to communicate regarding the module experiences you just encountered. What realizations did you come to and when? Please respond with 200–300 words to the following questions:
- When scheduling production of your products, what were the key factors considered?
- Why is the reputation of an organization so important?
- How do your customers differ from one another?
- What are holding costs and why is it important to manage them?
- Based on your overall performance, what are your thoughts on your overall experience of the simulation program? Did application of the skills you have learned help you to maximize your ability to meet your customer needs?
Responses to Other Students: Respond to at least 2 of your fellow classmates with at least a 100-word reply about their Primary Task Response regarding items you found to be compelling and enlightening. To help you with your discussion, please consider the following questions:
- What did you learn from your classmate’s posting?
- What additional questions do you have after reading the posting?
- What clarification do you need regarding the posting?
- What differences or similarities do you see between your posting and other classmates’ postings?
Notes
You can read the student posts first to get the idea of the good answer. I will include 3 students posts to read all of them and answer the first part. for the student responses you just have to write a response to two students only.
POSTS
Post 1
Supply chain Management relies on the five basic functions of plan-source-make-deliver and return according to Board, E (2015). Within the five basic functions exists the need for management of the processes each function requires. There are important factors that must be considered to achieve the best return on investment and profit maximization. Some of those considerations include the scheduling of production, the different needs of the end use customer, and holding costs associated with inventory or raw product.
During the process of scheduling production, there are several factors that should be taken into consideration. Key considerations are the availability of the proper quality and quantity of product, equipment availability for production that will take place (McGraw Hill, 2015) and having properly trained employees in the correct position to execute the production. Properly prioritizing production jobs to maximize the output of the equipment and personnel is another important part of the production process according to (McGraw Hill, 2015).
Earning a great reputation yields additional business. In research from McGraw Hill (2015) customers who receive the proper quantity and quality of product when they receive their order on time, will give you return business and increase a positive reputation. Conversely, incorrect quality, missing items and late delivery will cause a loss of sales and increase the sales of your competitors.
Customers are not the same. Some customers place a premium on quality products while others want a less expensive lower quality product. There is not a one size fits all way of supplying product to customers, however customers are not dissatisfied when they receive a higher quality product for the same price they were quoted on the contract for the lower quality product. When this occurs, the customer receives value, and the reputation of the supplier increases.
Holding costs are expenses derived from the storage of excess inventory. According to research (McGraw Hill, 2015) expenses that derive from holding inventory include increased taxes (that some governments charge for inventory on hand), Loss by theft or damage to inventory during storage, storage costs of space rental or physical plant purchases to hold the excess inventory, and opportunity costs that are the result of the expenses spent on holding the inventory. Holding inventory can cause a reduction in cash that could be used to better the business in other areas.
Reflecting on my experience of the simulation program, the principles operations management were put into action with an overview that permitted me to see how each part of the supply chain actions worked in synchrony to achieve the best results. Balanced skills in all areas of the production process are necessary to optimize success in completing the production process. There are a lot of moving parts in the supply chain process, and if one part is not working properly, there is an effect on the entire process. Understanding the entirety of the process will help me maximize my customer needs.
References
Board, E. (2015). 21st Century Complexities of Operations Management. [Colorado Technical University (CTU)]. Retrieved from https://coloradotech.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781938390999/
McGraw Hill. (2015). Practice Operations Student Manual.pdf. In Practice Operations Student Manual (pp. 1–25). https://www.mhpractice.com/files/Practice_Operatio…
Post 2
- When scheduling production of your products, what were the key factors considered?
The key factors considered when scheduling the production of products were the expected delivery time and the size of the order. If there was an order for 400 units 4 weeks out, and and order for 400 units 8 weeks out, the order 4 weeks out is going to be prioritized. If there was an order for 400 units 4 weeks out and an order for 2000 units 8 weeks out, the production management might choose to work on both orders at the same time because an order for 2000 units might take 8 weeks to produce.
- Why is the reputation of an organization so important?
There are many aspects that affect the reputation of an organization. Some of those aspects are the way an organization brands themselves, their relationship with customers, and their relationship with their vendors. In the case of the simulation, the reputation was important because you could only deal with companies of equal “star” reputation, unless you gave the higher reputation companies a discounted bid offer.
- How do your customers differ from one another?
The delivery, quality, and quantity expectations differed in every customer.
- What are holding costs and why is it important to manage them?
Holding costs are the costs associated with storing unsold inventory. It is important to manage holding costs because holding materials inefficiently can create waste.
- Based on your overall performance, what are your thoughts on your overall experience of the simulation program? Did application of the skills you have learned help you to maximize your ability to meet your customer needs?
I had a great experience with the simulation program. I found that it had a great workflow. There were a couple times where I wish I had more production information but that just goes to show difficult tracking production can be. Taking notes throughout the simulation provided valuable support.
Post 3
Michele Funches
This unit showed us that when scheduling production of products, some of the key factors to be considered are bidding on contracts, purchasing (raw material and/or machinery), manufacturing, shipping and receiving. The supply chain manager must have these factors working together for customer satisfaction, company reputation and company profit. The reputation of an organization is important for maintaining customer trust, competitive advantage and gaining new customers.
The customers in this lesson differ from one another in what they consider priorities. Where quality was a top priority to some customers (Shield & Serendipity), timeliness (Perfect Mountain) was important to another. Also, a company like Stallion had one star reputation and low price was their priority, while Down Under had 2 star reputation but large orders were a priority. It appears that the higher the reputation (Gold Button, Shield and Serendipity), quality is the high priority.
According to a definition on www.investopedia.com, Holding costs are associated with the storing of unsold inventory. A firm’s holding costs include storage space, labor and insurance. Holding costs can also include the price of damaged or spoiled goods. Minimizing costs is an important part of supply chain management strategy. During one of the simulation tries, holding costs were incurred when a shipment of denim came in that was not ordered and there wasn’t a customer to absorb the material. I let it sit in inventory while putting in a bid. The bid was rejected so the material sat in the warehouse while I tried more bids. The denim should have been returned or sold back immediately since I did not put the order in for it.
My overall simulation performance was horrible. I would feel like I was on the right tract, then when I went to check production, there were too many red dots. Figuring out why the red dot showed was not hard but actually fixing the problem took more time than what was left. At one point, 5 bids were accepted, material was bought but the production floor was stopped. So what was in the warehouse, I shipped and the machinery that was needed bought. Again, time ran out and no contracts were complete.
I have come to the conclusion that my overall experience with the simulation program showed me that I would not like to be a supply chain manager at all. At one point by the time I figured out what had to be done, it was too late and there was a negative cash flow. Once the supply manager fails one part of the process it can affect the whole supply chain. I was not able to meet customer needs.
References
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