Supply chain questions for a beer wholesaler

Question 1: Focus on Beer as an end item for the consumer. And you have to become familiar with part of the supply chain with you as a wholesaler. You will also experience the Bull-Whip Effect as you practice in the simulation. Consider the idea of feedback within a system, feedback as some form of information that is used to make decisions about controlling rates of flow.

How does feedback, or the absence of it, help to create the bull-whip effect? What feedback would you like to have, specifically, as you determine your weekly orders for Kentucky Swamp Brew? How would get such information? When would you like to have it?

Question 2:

Continue with analyzing feedback within your supply chain as a beer wholesaler. Consider that a forecast is a specific type of feedback, based on projecting historical information into the future to provide some type of goal or expectation for system performance. How would you use forecasting to help you determine your weekly ordering decision of Kentucky Swamp Brew?

Question 3:

Based on your reading/knowledge about system dynamics, you have seen that in a system, different entities flow into and accumulate in stocks and then flow out, sometimes into another stock. This is similar to items in a queue or waiting line. But there are some aspects that are different from queues when comparing to system dynamics. For example, water cannot be analyzed using queuing theory, since you would have to track each molecule as you would track a person in a waiting line. Identify how queues are different than items flowing into and out of stocks as characterized by system dynamics.

Question 4A,B:

Besides making decisions about which piece of equipment to buy or which process to use, productivity is also analyzed in terms of Productivity Measure or ratio of Outputs / Inputs. For example, for the beer wholesaler, one productivity measure that could be used is Shipment productivity. The outputs to consider are the number of items that are shipped during a week, and the inputs would be the number of hours worked by the shipping crew during that same week. So the Shipment productivity would be items shipped per hour worked. Instead of items shipped, you could use the number of pounds shipped as the output.
A. Consider Shipment productivity. Think of one way that you could improve shipment productivity and explain.
B. Think of one other Productivity Measure you might use at the beer wholesaler/distributor and explain how you would calculate it. And then how would use it to improve productivity?

Question 5A,B,C:

Using the following concepts to answer the below questions:
-Extended enterprise supply chain theories to develop an optimal ordering strategy
-Forecasting methods
-Apply linear programming to optimize inventory and costs
-Apply queuing theory to analyze logistics issues with waiting lines
-Apply breakeven analysis to decide best options to improve logistics productivity
- Shipment productivity

Looking for your personal thoughts on the below questions:
A. What two concepts do you think are the most relevant to the field of logistics and why?
B. Which one or two concepts do you think are the least relevant to the field of logistics and why?
C. Which concepts did you find particularly difficult to learn and why?