Supply Chain Management - MCQs

Supply Chain Management - MCQs

• Minimal defects in manufacturing: A relevant goal, but not readily achievable in all areas, and often a target of Total Quality Management (TQM)
• LEAN principles: Focus on reducing waste, rather than advanced statistics. Lean principles developed over time, are crucial for supply chain management.
• Bullwhip effect: Inventory oscillations increase through a supply chain due to small changes in customer demands.
• Reverse logistics: A U.S. manufacturer switching to a Chinese supplier for steel forgings is an example of a trend in operations and supply chain management, specifically less expensive supplies/increased competition/globalization.
• Demand-driven system: A pull system, a system in which production is triggered by customer demand.
• Decision phases in a supply chain: Key phases that include production scheduling, customer relationship management and other elements.
• Benchmarking: A method of continuous measurement of products and processes against a recognized industry leader.
• Information systems decisions: Important decisions need to be made during the supply chain design phase.
• Inventory types: Beauty products can be examples for different types of inventory: Make to Order, Configure to Order, Make to Stock, and Engineer to Order.
• Product life cycle: Maturity is a period of market acceptance and increasing profits
• Brand identification: A name, term, sign, symbol, design, or a combination thereof that identifies a product or service—like labels, co-branding and brands.
• New product development: When a company investigates new product expansions (like Nestlé conducting surveys to assess consumer appeal for new food products), they are in the Idea Generation Phase of new product development.
• Product life cycle stage: The most expensive product life cycle stage is often Introduction.
• Vertical marketing systems: Contractual vertical marketing systems are independent firms at different channel levels integrating their programs on a contractual basis to achieve systemic economies and increased market impact,.

Other Key Concepts

• Continuous improvement (Kaizen): A Japanese term stressing continuous improvement in processes and workflows.
• EOQ (Economic Order Quantity): Relevant costs include holding costs and ordering costs.
• Layout type: Product layout is used to manufacture a standard product in large quantities, when materials are fed into the first machine and finished products come out of the last machine.
• Supply chain management (SCM): Originated in related disciplines like Production Management, Logistics Management, Marketing, and Operations Management.
• Vendor managed inventory (VMI): A system where suppliers control inventory levels for their customers.
• Supply chain order fill rate: A measure that represents the frequency of satisfying customer orders with available stock.
• Supply chain flexibility: The ability of a system to change quickly and adapt to changes.
• Cash-to-cash cycle: The time period between paying for raw materials and getting paid for services.
• Inventory management: Aims for an optimal re-order level
• Inventory costs: Costs associated with inventory include costs like purchase price and re-order costs and holding costs.

Additional Details

• Supply Chain Operations: The flow of raw materials, work-in-progress (WIP), and finished products in a forward direction. Raw materials and information flow in both directions in a supply chain.
• Supply chain segment identification: B2B and B2C are segment types for online retailers like eBay and Amazon.
• Segmentation types: AIO (activities, interests, opinions) questions are used for analyzing demographic segmentations.
• Packaging and sorting: Re-arranging of goods and re-packing are functions of supply chain operations.
• Promotional strategies: Rational selling, push, and pull strategies are promotional tools to use in sales strategies.
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM): CRM focuses on acquiring the right customer, using the correct processes and motivating employees.