E1 235  SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

                  QUIZ - 1    September 8, 2000


    1. In a supply chain with high fluctuations in demand volumes
       but hardly any fluctuations in demand varieties, which of
       the policies is best suited:

       (a) make-to-order              (b) make-to-stock
       (c) assemble-to-order          (d) all of the above


    2. The following will not help reduce lead time in a supply chain
       process:

       (a) load balancing             (b) scheduling orders properly
       (c) increased buffer space     (d) additional capacity  
       (e) none of the above


    3. Safety stock in supply chain warehouses will depend primarily on:

       (a) supply variability         (b) demand variability
       (c) inventory holding cost     (d) scheduling and routing policies


    4. Suppose a particular resource (say, an inbound logistics vehicle)
       is the bottleneck in a supply chain process. If we increase the
       capacity of this bottleneck resource by twice, the average supply
       chain lead time will :

        (a) reduce by exactly twice   (b) reduce by less than twice 
        (c) reduce by more than twice (d) all the above are possible


    5. You are given a choice among three suppliers A, B, and C. 
       A can deliver in 2 days average with standard deviation 2; 
       B can deliver in 3 days average with standard deviation 1; 
       C can deliver in 4 days average with standard deviation 0.
       Which one do you select if your target date is 3 days.

        (a) A      (b)  B      (c) C    (d) all are equally good

    
    6. In a supply chain, the total average inventory in the entire
       system is observed to be 10000 product units. The total average 
       value adding time is 10 days per each product. If the supply chain
       delivers a throughput of 100 product units per day (on an average),
       estimate the average non-value adding component of the total
       supply chain lead time.

        (a) 100 days   (b) 90 days    (c) 10 days  (d) 110 days


7. Consider the following three stage, linear supply chain process:

          -------         --------       ---------
           Inbound        Assembly       Outbound
           Logistics                     Logistics
          ---------       --------       ---------

   Assume the cycle time process in the individual stages to be normally
   distributed with parameters (mu1, sigma1), (mu2, sigma2), and (mu3, sigma3)
   respectively. Let the cycle times be denoted as X1, X2, and X3, 
   respectively. Let Y be the supply chain lead time, i.e. Y = X1 + X2 + X3.
   Assume the following nominals and tolerances for the processes:

                     Nominals (taui)       Tolerances (Ti)

             X1         10                  2
             X2         20                  4
             X3          5                  1

   Given the limits (30, 40) for the supply chain process and that
   X2 is a six sigma process, what capabilities would X1 and X3 need to
   have to make the overall supply chain process six sigma?