Question: Unit 1 - Discussion Board - 2
Primary Task Response: Within the Discussion Board area, write 400-600 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions with your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.
The Director of Operations for your company has been trying to introduce logistics and supply chain management principles to your management team without much success. She has excitedly called you into her office to discuss a seminar she attended last week. During the seminar, she participated in a distribution simulation, referred to as "The Beer Game" (see supporting materials below). She commented that the simulation gave her a complete understanding of what the supply chain is, the dynamics of a supply chain, and how it operates. She also found several articles that explain logistics and supply chain management very well. She requested that you conduct research to provide her with talking points that cover the fundamentals of logistics and the supply chain. She asked that you include the following in your talking points:
• Provide an overview of a supply chain, including the elements that make up a supply chain.
• What are the "flows" within a supply chain, and why are they important?
• What are supply chain coordination and supply chain disruption, and how are these manifested in a supply chain?
Unit 2 - Discussion Board
Primary Task Response: Within the Discussion Board area, write 400-600 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions with your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.
Watch the following videos:
• Story of an iPhone: Analytics in Supply Chain Decisions (by Jigsaw Academy)
• SUBWAY Story: Supply Chain, Farming & Logistics (by YSN Your Success Now)
• How Amazon Receives Your Inventory (by FulfillmentbyAmazon)
After watching the videos, discuss the following:
• Provide a definition of 4 of the following techniques:
o Distribution center
o Public warehouse
o Common carrier
o Private fleet
o Backhauls
o Deadheading
o Freight equalization
• After defining the techniques, how do the organizations in the videos above apply or practice your chosen logistics techniques?
Provide citations and references to support your discussion.
Unit 3 - Individual Project
Key Assignment: The assignment must be a completed paper, with APA formatting, references, and error-free spelling and grammar.
Write a paper of 500-700 words on metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) used in logistics and supply chain operations. Include the following:
• Explain the importance of developing metrics and KPIs in logistics and supply chain operations.
• Complete research on a company of your choice, and provide at least 2 metrics used by this organization.
o Focus your research on the logistics and SCM departments of your selected organization.
o Support your research with a table, chart, graph, or any other graphical item that communicates the metrics that you identified.
• Explain what the metrics indicate and how they can benefit the organization.
• Lastly, how can your company develop KPIs that track ethical performance? Why is this important to business success?