Question: A large construction company has recently won the contract for routine inspection and maintenance of the Channel Tunnel linking the UK to France. Obviously, routine maintenance and repair work, unless carefully planned, will have adverse consequences on traffic flows through the tunnel and on operating revenue. You have been asked to investigate alternative policies that might be appropriate for stock control in terms of the building and construction materials that will be required to support these routine maintenance and repair operations. Effectively you have been asked to investigate appropriate policies for such items as cement, steel girders, rail track, electrical wiring and the like.

Draft a management report discussing in detail the alternative stock-control approaches that might be appropriate under such circumstances and recommend the type of policy that you think should be investigated in more detail with regard to feasibility. Your report should include a discussion of the data that would be required, the practical difficulties of implementing and operating stock-control policies and the potential contributions of the MRP and JIT approaches to stock control.