Chain and Operations

Managing Supply Chain and Operations An Integrative Approach Second Edition S.Thomas Foster Scott Sampson Cindy Wallin Scott Webb New York, NY Solution Manual for

Managing Supply Chain and

Operations Mahesh Srinivasan 1 / 4

©2019 Pearson Education, Inc.Chapter 1 Solutions Manual Integrative Learning Exercises During this first exercise, students discuss how SC&O is relevant to their areas of study, such as finance, marketing, or the like. The purpose of this exercise is to help the students understand how SC&O is relevant to their careers. Let the students spend 5– 10 minutes in groups to discuss this and then open up class discussion.Integrative Experiential Exercises In this exercise, students go into a company and identify a couple of key processes. They discuss process design and process control. They also find out how the companies are improving processes. Usually, the assigned teams make about a 10-minute PowerPoint presentations with their findings.Discussion Questions 1.How is operations management different from supply chain management?Supply chain management is cooperation between different firms to create value for customers. Operations management is the administration of transformation processes that create value for customers by meeting their needs or enabling them to meet their own needs.

2.Why have organizations combined supply chain and operations management into SC &O?Combining the terms “supply chain” and “operations” emphasizes the linkages between firms that tie the operations of those different firms together with the goal of satisfying customers. The move to SC&O management from just operations management externalizes the view of a productive firm in a way that is healthy for the world, individual firms, and their global competitiveness.

3.Identify some of the strategic factors associated with the decision to bring manufacturing back on-shore (e.g., nearshoring).Nearshoring is the act of moving production from far away to a closer location. For example, when Apple announced the production of Mac computers in the United States instead of China, it was nearshoring.The strategic factors associated with the decision to bring manufacturing back on-shore can be separated into two categories: those related to the physical environment and those related to the task environment. Important strategic aspects of the physical environment include access to physical resources and suppliers, as well as sustainability initiatives and costs . Strategic aspects of the task environment include economic structures, skills of the employees, compensation structure, technologies, and government agencies.Another concept similar to or related to nearshoring, is nearsourcing which occurs when production of a product is moved from a supplier that is far away to one that 2 / 4

• Foster/Sampson/Wallin/Webb • Managing Supply Chain and Operations

©2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

is closer. For example, when one American firm moved its production from a supplier in Malaysia to a supplier in Mexico, it was nearsourcing. Again, this decision to nearsource is associated with similar strategic factors as discussed above.

• What is meant by a process? Why do business students need to understand

processes?Processes are the means by which all work is performed. Business students must understand processes because all managers are responsible for the management of processes.

• What are the phases involved with process design? How can process design be

expedited?The phases of process design are concept design, preliminary design, implementation, and post-design review. This process is expedited through concurrent engineering.

• What is process improvement, and how is it related to customer needs?

Process improvement is a proactive effort to enhance process performance.Specifically, it means to enhance the ability of the process to provide products or services that are aligned more closely with customer needs.

• What is meant by globalization? Why is this concept of importance to SC&O

managers?Globalization is the establishment of production and marketing facilities in foreign countries. This concept is important for SC&O managers given the global nature of supply chains in most industries. SC&O managers must recognize that through globalizing, processes are disrupted as there are significant changes to the physical environment, the task environment, and the social environment in which they operate.

• Briefly list and define three mechanisms that firms use in globalizing their

operations.Firms license their products overseas which gives them market penetration without spending money to globalize. Firms enter into joint ventures and find partners to help them navigate difficult foreign markets. Firms can also globalize which involves investing in international operations.

• What is meant by the statement “companies no longer compete against one

another; supply chains compete against supply chains”? Why is this statement important to understand? 3 / 4

Chapter 1 Introduction to Supply Chain and Operations Management 3 ©2019 Pearson Education, Inc.This statement means that a supply chain must compete with supply chains of other firms that follow their own supply paths. The supply chain that performs the most efficiently wins the customer. This is important to understand because the each step of the chain must be managed to deliver the most value to the customer. A firm’s performance is no better than the weakest link in its supply chain.

• How do value chain activities differ from support activities? What are a firm’s

core activities?Value chain activities are the core activities that a firm performs. These core activities are process steps that enhance products in a way that makes them more valuable to customers because the products are better suited to meet customer needs. The core activities are inbound logistics, production, and outbound logistics.

• Identify the three primary flows found in a supply chain. Why is it important

for an SC&O manager to understand these flows?The three primary flows of a supply chain are (1) product flows, (2) monetary flows, and (3) information flows. These flows are important to understand because they directly affect the ability of a supply chain to compete in providing value to end customers.

• In what fundamental way do information flows differ from monetary and

product flows in a supply chain?Information flows are fundamentally different from monetary and product flows because they are bidirectional, meaning that information flows move both upstream and downstream in the normal conduct of supply chain commerce.

• What makes service supply chains more complex to manage than product

supply chains?Service supply chain management is often even more complex than manufacturing management because the customers are also the suppliers. The fact that the customer is also the supplier makes services supply chains especially bidirectional, meaning that product resources flow from customers to producers and then back to those same customers.

• Briefly describe two basic feedback loops found in operations management.

The first feedback loop occurs when information is gathered about processes in order to monitor and to improve their efficacy. We term this monitoring activity as the control process. Control activities may take the form of process control, cost control, labor control, inventory control, or quality control. The second feedback loop is where information is gathered from customers, either by the firm or a third party.

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