Chapter 9 - Supply Chains

Question 1

What is sourcing?
What is procurement?

Answer 1

Sourcing - finding and choosing suppliers
Procurement - entire process of buying and receiving goods and services

Question 2

What is a supply chain?

Answer 2

System that coordinated all the activities performed by supply chain members into a seamless process, from the source to the point of consumption
* the flow of goods, information and money

Question 3

What other cost should be considered in addition to the base cost when purchasing items?

Answer 3

Inventory
Management
Technology
Transaction
Quality
..etc

Question 4

What is outsourcing?

Answer 4

When a company hires another firm to perform tasks it could do itself

Question 5

Why would a business outsource?

Answer 5

• lower operational costs
• to focus on core competencies
• to access specialized expertise or better technology.

Question 6

What are some ways to minimize risks in the supply chain?

Answer 6

• product testing
• on-site audits and permanent staff placement with suppliers

Question 7

What are some important social responsibility and sustainability considerations for companies?

Answer 7

• Ethical sourcing
• Fair trade practices
• environmental sustainability
• insourcing (to improve quality and control)
• outsourcing choices that align with customer expectations and product positioning

Question 8

What is lead time?

Answer 8

The amount of time takes for customers to receive a good or service once it’s been ordered

Question 9

What methods can be used to manage demand and balances?

Answer 9

External - price and lead time management
Internal - inventory and production flexibility

Question 10

What is just time inventory systems?

Answer 10

Where are firms keep very little inventory on hand

Question 11

What is an electric product code?

Answer 11

It is a electric code, make it possible to distinguish between two identical items 

Question 12

What is an electronic data interchange?

Answer 12

A special electronic format that companies used to exchange business documents from computer to computer

Question 13

What are some challenges in transportation?

Answer 13

• growth of offshore manufacturing
• increased demand for smaller and more frequent deliveries
• bottlenecks create delays in transit times
• government regulations

Question 14

What does intermodal mean in transportation?

Answer 14

Utilizing many different types of transportation (truck, air, water, train, etc)

Question 15

What are the types of inventory and which is most expensive to hold?

Answer 15

Raw materials, work in process, finished goods
Finished goods

Question 16

What is vendor managed inventory?

Answer 16

Where the vendor (retailer) manages inventory. Ex Walmart

Question 17

What are some ways to better supply chain security?

Answer 17

• back up transportation
• inventory balance management
• planning ahead of time
  Etc