Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Assignment Brief
Supply chain challenges
Background
Supply chain leaders must invest in developing their team’s skills to meet growing expectations about how procurement can support the business.
A survey of 750 senior supply chain professionals by SCM World, found they are facing five major issues.
Kevin O’ Marah, Chief executive officer at SCM World and co-author of the report, said: “Supply chain needs to catch up to the bigger role we have claimed
for ourselves in recent years. Unfortunately, we still seem to struggle with developing the skill sets required among our teams.
“Too little systematic talent development and too hazy a measurement system may be confounding our efforts and investments at exactly the time they are
needed most.” (O’ Marah, 2013)
The five issues cited by The Chief Supply Chain Officer Report 2013 were:
• The need to continue to reduce costs while improving customer service and supporting expansion in new markets and product lines. Some 68 per cent of respondents said operating cost reduction is “very important”, compared with 64 per cent in 2012.
The need to manage the “complexity of ‘omnichannel’ selling and customer fulfilment”. More than half (55 per cent) said the demands of ecommerce and mobile-enabled consumers are increasing the number of stock keeping units they have to support. Almost 55 per cent reported
they are building new distribution centres, and 48% are building direct-tocustomer fulfilment capabilities.
• The fact, boards expect lower costs and greater efficiency. Nearly half (47 per cent) agreed this was the case this year, up from 43 per cent last
year, and 32 per cent in 2011. Following the horse meat scandal, safety and quality incidents are at the
top of the risk index, with 37% reporting that they are “very concerned” about this for 2013-14 and 35 per cent are “concerned”
• Facilitating career progression, developing new production skills and demonstrating a return on investment are further issues. Three-quarters
(76 %) said providing compelling career options for talented supply chain staff is “challenging”, this is up from 66% in each of the previous two years. Some 53% believe new product introduction and launch
capabilities are now “essential” for supply chain, up from just 18 per cent in 2011. Finally, 53% of respondents – and 31% of those spending 5 per
cent or more of their personnel costs on training and development – say they don’t track return on investment.
Assignment Tasks:
Select an organisation and attempt the following tasks:
1. The above article highlights five major issues or challenges faced by the supply chain professionals. For a company of your own choice, analyse the impacts of each of the above raised issues on the profitability of your chosen company. (LO1)
2. Evaluate the role that e-business and e-commerce can play in providing a solution to the issues / challenges raised in the above article. (LO2)
3. The chosen organisation aims to develop a low cost and high efficiency supply chain. Recommend best practices aimed at enabling the chosen organisation to achieve its objectives. You should ensure your
recommendations are supported by robust argument and evidence.
Instructions
• Please include:
o Cover page
o Table of contents
o Introduction (report)
o Introduction (chosen organisation)
o Conclusion
• Please highlight the relevant tasks (above) before answering every
question
• Provide at least 9 to 10 references
READING LISTS:
Please use the following sources to write this assignment for this module.
We recommend that you buy the Core Text listed below and in addition consider obtaining other books from the list. You may wish to form a study group with other students to facilitate the sharing of non-core texts.
The core and key texts are also available in library
Core Text Logistics Management
Author: David B. Grant. Pages: 305 Size: 192.86 MB Format: PDF Publisher: Pearson
Education M.U.A.
eISBN-13: 9780273731382
Books and Texts
Logistics and Supply Chain Integration
Author: Ian Sadler.Pages: 289 Size: 1.81 MB Format: PDF Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd
eISBN-13: 9781848604735
Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Author: Martin Christopher.Pages: 288 Size: 4.44 MB Format: PDF Publisher: Pearson
Education M.U.A.
eISBN-13: 9780273731139
Further reading
• Bangle, C. (2001) The ultimate creativity machine: how BMW turns art into profit,
Harvard business Review, Jan, 47-55. (A good description of how good aesthetic
translates into business success)
• Bruce, M. and Bessant, J. (2002) Design in Business: Strategic innovation through
Design, FT Prentice Hall and The Design Council, Harlow
• Brandimarte, P. and Ville, A. (1999) Modelling Manufacturing Systems: From
Aggregate Planning to Real Time Control, Springer, New York.
• Hopp, W.J. and spearmen, M.L (2000) Factory Physics, 2nd edn, McGraw-Hill, New
York
• Emmet, S. and Granville, D (2007) Excellent in Inventory Management: How to
minimise Costs and Maximise Service, Cambridge Academic, Cambridge.
• Flores, B.E. and Whybark, D.C. (1987) Implementing multiple criteria ABC analysis,
journal of Operations management, vol.7. no.1.
• Andersen, M. and Skjoett-Larsen, T (2009) cooperate social responsibility in global
supply chains, supply chain management
• Chopra, S. and Meindl, P (2009) Supply Chain Management, 4th edn, Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper saddle River, NJ
• Bradford, M. (2010) Modern ERP: Select, Implement & Use Todays Advanched business system, lulu.com
• Ahlsrom, P. (2004) Lean service operations: translating lean production principles to service operations.
ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL ARTICLES AND ONLINE RESOURCES
• www.cfsd.org.uk
• www.conceptcar.co.uk
• www.bis.gov.uk/policies/employment-matters/strategies
• www.worksmart.org.uk/index.php
• www.inventorymanagement.com
• www.myomlab.com
• www.cio.com/topic/3207/Supply_Chain_Management
• www.gsb.stanford.edu/scforum
• www.rfidc.com
• www.bpic.co.uk
• www.erpfans.com
• www.apics.org
Students will be strongly encouraged to use journal articles relevant to their areas of research.
These may include articles extracted from the following sources, which are not exhaustive:
• Harvard Business Review
• Journal of Business Communication
• Personnel Today
• CIPS.
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