Hanna Marie C.

Lumpay May 17, 2023

BSA 2nd Year Mrs. Chanda C. Tiu

Operations Management
Task 11
1. Explain the term supply chain, describe its flows, and the organizations that
participate in a typical supply chain.
Supply Chain refers to the group of organizations that are linked
together by their participation in order to fulfill a customer order from the
sourcing of raw materials through the production of goods to distribution and
sale.
There are three types of main flows that happen in any supply chains:
flow of materials/goods, flow of money/cash, and flow of information. There
is a forward flow of materials/goods for the regular flow that happens all the
way from higher tier suppliers (upstream) to the end-consumer
(downstream).
Flow of money (cash flow) happens from downstream to upstream.
Flow of information happens both ways in the supply chain since
organizations will need to share different type of information with each other
so that the whole supply chain can make better decisions to improve overall
performance.
The organizations that participate in a supply chain include suppliers,
manufacturers, transporters (also known as carriers), distribution centres,
wholesalers, retailers and end-consumers.

2. Identify types of inventory in the supply chain and reasons for carrying inventory.
The types of inventory in the supply chain are finished goods, raw
materials, purchased components and operating supplies, and work-in-
process.
Manufacturers often build up inventories throughout the year
because of seasonal demand. At the same time, a manufacturer may carry
large amounts of inventory if they have some uncertainty or risk in their
supply base. Firms may be tempted by extra discounts often provided by
purchasing large order sizes. Retailers carry inventory to ensure that they do
not run out of what they anticipate their customers may want. It is a
challenge to synchronize incoming flow of materials and goods in order to
meet production schedules and ship to customers as promised. As a result,
inventory may be stored at many locations along the supply chain.

3. Define the term logistics and give advantages and disadvantages to

various forms of transportation.
 Logistics refers to the activities of coordinating and moving resources,
particularly inputs into the transformation process, and finished goods out
to customers.
Modes of transportation:
Trucking is the most flexible of all modes of transportation. The serious
issues this faced includes drivers in demand and highway congestion.
Rail can be a very cost effective and energy efficient means of
transporting bulkier goods that need to travel long distances. Compared
to trucking, shipping by rail is very energy efficient, and removes many
trucks from congested highways.
Airfreight is generally used when speed is more important than cost.
Shipping by air is very reliable. However, firms may want to consider the
environmental impact of regular use of air shipping.
Waterway is common and an ideal for low cost shipping on heavy
products.
Pipelines is very inexpensive. However, spills and leaks that may
contaminate land and waterways are a grave matters.
Multimodal/Intermodal shipping is efficient. The goods are shipped
under a single contract with a carrier, and can be easily tracked. There’s
an increase of the security, reduce of loss and damage, and increase in the
speed of shipment.

4. Describe the various forms of communication and technology in the supply

chain.
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the computer-to-computer
exchange of business documents, such as purchase orders and invoices, in
a standard electronic format between business partners, such as retailers
and their suppliers, banks and their corporate clients, or car-makers and
their parts suppliers.
Barcodes have been used extensively and have become the norm in
retail operations allowing for pricing accuracy and easy price changes. This
data provides point-of-sale information to allow retailers to track items
being sold, update inventory, identify fast and slow moving products and
assist in forecasting.
Quick Response is using bar codes and EDI to make sales data
available to vendors so that vendors can quickly replenish goods in the
correct quantity. The goal is to reduce out-of stock incidents, as well as
using smaller more frequent deliveries to reduce inventory and operating
expenses.
Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) is a technology that uses
radio waves to passively identify a tagged object. Unlike barcodes, the
RFID tag and reader do not require line of site in order to transmit the
information.