MBA: SUPPLY CHAIN ANALYTICS

There are 2 assignments in this document: they are INDIVIDUAL assignments

ASSIGNMENT 1

1.0 Garments Industry in India

Indian garments industry is mainly based on cotton. The country has about 1800 organized
textile mills, and 4 million handloom and powerloom units, together employing 35 million
people and producing 57,500 million sq. metres of fabric annually. The distribution channel
comprises of wholesalers, distributors and a large number of small retailers selling garments and
textiles. There is an emerging large format retail that stores large volumes and variety at single
location In the upstream chain, there is a strong presence of ‘agents’ who secure and consolidate
orders for producers. The entire supply chain is dotted with small entrepreneurial units who serve
as suppliers or manufacturers.

2.0 Insights from Illustration of Garment Manufacturer

To gain insights into responsiveness and coordination aspects, we conducted interviews with
babies’ dress manufacturer. These garment manufacturers purchase the fabric from the open
market, manufacture the dress and supply to distributors and retailers of dresses. The interviewee
was the proprietor of the organizations. The interviewee was also involved in planning the
functioning and the day-to-day operations of their organization. As such, the interviewee was
well-acquainted with the issues in procurement of raw materials, manufacturing, and finished
product distribution and appreciated the need for coordination and benefits of responsiveness.
Open-ended questionnaires and in some cases, unstructured questions were used to understand
the constructs of interest – responsiveness and coordination. The time duration of the production
processes were also noted. The use of two sources of evidence – interviews and observation -
helped us to develop converging lines of inquiry and follow a corroboratory mode. The
information obtained from the illustrations is presented in the form of flowcharts and then into
different arrays. All through the illustrations, we consider the inbound, production, and outbound
part of the supply chain from the garment manufacturer’s standpoint.

3.0 Illustration: Babies’ Dress Manufacturing

The unit manufactures babies’ dress – a singular cotton dress for kids, with designs and cartoon
characters printed on them. The entire process of procurement of raw materials, manufacturing,
and upto packing and dispatch of the finished garments is given in figure below:

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Fig 1: Process diagram of babies’ dress manufacturing

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4.0 Process Times

Notations: M=average time taken; SD=variation in average time; for calculation purpose, this
number is divided by 3 to get the actual standard deviation

Stage 1: sample reaches factory M=5 days; SD=2 days

Stage 2: designer picks up sample; M=1.5 days; SD=0.5 days
Stage 3: design reaches the factory M=5 days; SD=1 day
Stage 4: normal supply chain delay; M=3 days; SD=1 day
Stage 5: cutting of fabric; M=1.5 days; SD=0.5 day
Stage 6: embroidery; M=1.5 days; SD=0.5 day
Stage 7: printing of cartoon pictures; M=1.5 days; SD=0.5 day
Stage 8: quality checking - embroidery; M=1 day; SD=0.125 day
Stage 9: rest of the processes; M=1.125 days; SD=0.125 day

The same is represented as a diagram in page 4:

Assignment:

Many of you may not be carrying your laptops with you. So cumbersome calculations in excel
may be a bit problematic. This aspect has been kept in mind while preparing this assignment.

1. Decide on the maximum number of days the product can remain in the upstream supply
chain and yet maintain profitability
2. Can you apply lean thinking for this upstream supply chain? If YES, then how much
reduction in days (or hours) can you achieve? If NO, then why?
3. Is it possible to ascertain at what sigma level this upstream supply chain is operating? If
YES, then what is the sigma level? If NO, then why?

Submission:

One-two pages as word document in soft copy form. Hand-written and picture/scan of the same
is also welcome. I will let you know on the modalities of submission (Moodle/google drive) in a
day or two.

LAST DATE OF SUBMISSION: 3RD MAY 2020

Please go through the diagram below:

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 ASSIGNMENT 2

Consider the case of a natural disaster like an earthquake. Assume that you are the coordinating agency
assigned with ‘immediate relief’ work. Relief has arrived and is further scheduled to arrive from different
destinations as well as from outside the country.

1. Frame a mathematical model for humanitarian relief operations, using assumptions wherever
necessary.
2. How do you estimate the required quantity of relief materials in such a situation?

Many of you may not be carrying your laptops with you. So cumbersome calculations in excel
may be a bit problematic. This aspect has been kept in mind while preparing this assignment.

Submission:

One-two pages as word document in soft copy form. Hand-written and picture/scan of the same
is also welcome. I will let you know on the modalities of submission (Moodle/google drive) in a
day or two.

LAST DATE OF SUBMISSION: 3RD MAY 2020

Marks Allotted: 20 + (15+5)