Definition of Supply Chain Management & Logistics
Definition of Supply Chain Management & Logistics Wil Lim Introduction Supply chain management and logistics is rapidly becoming the most important aspect of business success. Those who manage their supply chain and logistics effectively will flourish and prosper, however those who do not may not be around in a few years. Just what is the definition of supply chain management and logistics? Often than not, supply chain management has been confused with the term 'logistics' and 'procurement'. The term supply chain management has been around for the past twenty years and has had a major influence on today's business societies. The term logistics originated seventy years ago from the French word "logistique", (Wilton, 2005) which is derived from the word "loger" meaning quartering troops. However, in today's age, these terms are often used by various industries, associations and academics, each with their own definition of the terms. These terms are often derived from the perspectives of the author's background, skill, exposure and experience to the industry. Supply chain professionals offer different definitions that rightly evolve over time. With the magnitude of different definitions of these two terms, one poses the question on what the proper definition of supply chain management and logistics. Evolution of Logistics Surely, the definition of logistics has evolved
Lean, flexible and agile in manufacturing and public sector
Lean, flexible and agile --- in manufacturing and public sector --- by Raymond As we all know, the world constantly changes, and thus, the business environment does also. As technology changes and people's thinking changes, so must the business organisation. If a company does not keep up with its competitors who do find ways to improve their processes, it may not last too long. Lean, flexible and agile are newly developed concepts to help the organisation succeed in such a competitive environment. Lean, flexible and agile in manufacturing Lean Production, also as the Toyota Production System, is initially promoted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The driving force behind this adoption is to provide value to its customers in the form of high quality, low cost, and on-time delivery. Primarily, lean production integrates product design, supply, distribution, manufacturing, accounting, marketing, and management under an umbrella of concurrency. Other related topics are identified as political, legal, and social concerns. Key areas of lean production are improving quality and eliminating waste, which including five principles: a) Build products that meet customer requirements at the exact rate of customer orders; b) Practice just-in-time techniques for obtaining, using, and distributing resources; c) Think of workers and machines as separate and don't tie one
Economies of scale
ECONOMICS ESSAY 2 To a firm, it aims at maximize profit. When firm increasing the scale of production during long run, it can experience the economies of scale in which average cost is decreasing. Although increasing size can bring many advantages, it also brings disadvantage like diseconomies of scale. In this essay, I am going to talk about how economies of scale are mostly technical, tangible and visible and how diseconomies of scale are mostly human, intangible and invisible in the first part. Since diseconomies of scale arise from managerial problem, so in the second part, I am going to discuss the implication of business management. For example, how to get benefit of economies of scale and to decrease the diseconomies of scale. The economies of scale that is focusing in this essay is internal economies of scale. 'Internal economies of scale are those which arise from the growth of the firm independently of what is happening to other firms. They are not due to any increase in monopoly power or to any technological innovation; they arise quite simply from an increase in the scale of production in the firm itself.' (Stanlake & Grant P.64) When a firm increasing the output and make the average cost lower. This firm experiences the economies of scale. Economies of scale only arise in long run because all factors are variable. In the theory of economies of scale, it assumes
Can Stalin's economic policies be justified in relation to the human cost?
Laura Mallin History essay Can Stalin's economic policies be justified in relation to the human cost? Stalin's dramatic change in economic policy has led to much debate. While some historians view this change as political opportunism, others argue that it was a pragmatic response to the economic difficulties caused by the NEP. The first Five Year Plan introduced in 1928, was aimed to overhaul the economical of the advanced industrial state in the shortest possible time. It mainly concentrated on the development of iron and steel, machine-tools, electric power and transport. Stalin set the workers high targets. He demanded an 1115 increase in coal production, 200% increase in iron production and 335% increase in electric power. He justified these demands by claiming that if rapid industrialization did not take place, the Soviet Union would not be able to defend itself against an invasion from capitalist countries in the west. The plans were set up by Gosplan who set the targets for industry to achieve. The full force of the state and party machine was mobilised to ensure that the Plans succeeded. Urban workers were forced to migrate to the rural towns and cities to be trained in new skills for the Plans. Collectivisation was Stalin's answer to his belief that Russia's agriculture was in a terrible state. Stalin believed that Russia had to be feed itself hence
Tesco Production and Quality Systems
Production and Quality Systems 5.0 Production Process Tesco is very large successful food retailer and as well as selling other companies branded products they also produce their very own branded products to meet the needs of their consumers. For Tesco their production process is important because it changes inputs into outputs to sell and produce goods that meet the needs of their customers. Production takes place when resources, such as raw materials or components, are changed into goods or products. Tesco carry out extensive market research to evaluate the likely success of a product before production takes place. Once Tesco have decided to on what new product they would like to produce it then organises its production process. It is possible to classify production into a number of headings. Most businesses use one of the following methods of production - project, job or batch production. Tesco production process is concerned with mainly batch production. Batch production is where a number of identical or similar items are produced in a set or batch. The items need not to be for any specific customer but are made are regular intervals in specific quantities, but if stock is very low more products are produced. Batch production involves work being passed from one stage to another. Tesco each stage of production is highly planned. A key feature of batch
Chocoholics PLC Factory Floor Plan
Chocoholics PLC Factory Floor Plan Chocoholics employ 70 staff and over half of these work in the production department. From this, I can assume that there are 30 production staff, plus supervisors. As chocoholics has only 30 staff, there is a limitation to how much chocolate they can produce. The way Chocoholics currently operates is by producing chocolate on their production lines for 4 and a half days, and then the machinery is turned off and hand made chocolate is produced for half a day. This way of producing chocolate is very inefficient because for half the day, the machinery is not being used. The same applies to the area for making the hand made chocolate, as this is not used for 4 and a half days. If chocoholics were to make itself as efficient as possible then the machines should be all used at the same time and so should the area for hand made chocolates. This could be done by employing more staff. These new staff that are employed would be put on the machines as they have little experience and skills and the more skilled workers would make the handmade chocolates. Chocoholics produce its product on six different product lines, which are laid out, by product. This way of producing chocolate is dangerous, as a breakage on 1 production line will affect the whole business. If there is a reduction in 1 type of chocolate it will be very expensive to change the
Describe the main features of the American Economic Boom.
Describe the main features of the Economic Boom The USA was a vast country, rich in natural resources, with a growing population. It didn't need to import many raw materials, and it didn't need to export all its goods. The home market was large and was growing. During the 1920's the USA experienced increasing economic prosperity - a boom - in which many Americans, though certainly not all, shared. A plentiful supply of raw materials, the boost provided by the First World War and the policy of protection all helped America become the richest country in the world. Mass production helped boost the number of goods made. The principle behind the system of mass production was simple and effective. Huge new factories were built in towns of America. In factories, assembly lines were set up. The parts of the product being made travelled along the lines so that a worker did the same small job in fitting the part for which he was responsible on to the product. By the end of the assembly line the product was complete. The job was quick and straight forward and production rose dramatically. The motor car industry was one g the first to use the method of mass production. One of its pioneer's was Henry Ford. Ford had the idea of making a car for the ordinary man and his family. In 1911 the first Model T was produced by methods of mass production. The use of mass- production methods meant
Assess the main criticisms which may be made of the orthodox theory of consumer behavior. Briefly Comment on any modifications to the theory that you would suggest.
Assess the main criticisms which may be made of the orthodox theory of consumer behavior. Briefly Comment on any modifications to the theory that you would suggest. Word Count: 1631 Consumer behavior is the way that consumers choose to spend their incomes. The orthodox theory of consumer behavior assumes that consumers choose their expenditures to maximize their utility subject to constraints imposed by their preferences and budget. Under this theory, consumption behavior is independent of the consumption of others, consumer's tastes are fully known, and information available to the consumer is free, complete, and reliable. Orthodox economics assume that consumers are rational and sovereign whilst making their decisions. The failure of the orthodox theory of consumer behavior to evaluate the impact of advertising, network externalities, social restrictions imposed by the environment of the consumer, and the limitations of human cognitive capacity that causes individuals to consume in an irrational manner are the main criticisms of that microeconomic model. The orthodox theory assumes that people's demands for a good are independent of one another and that the consumption behavior of any individual is independent of the consumption of others.1 When the theory of individual behavior is applied to the behavior of many individuals in the market, however, it is important
The functions of consumer organisations.
Task 6 The functions of consumer organisations Consumer organisations may carry out on or more functions, e.g.: * Advisory: those that give advice to customers, for example Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB). * Regulatory: ensuring that organisations operate according to specific regulations, for example rail regulatory which oversees train operating companies such as Virgin. * Promotional: those involved in promoting and advertising consumer rights, such as the Office of Fair Trading. * Investigator: those that investigate reports of breaches of regulations, e.g. the Trading Standards officers. * Lobbying: those processing the government for changes in the law to further protect consumers, e.g. the Consumers' Associating. * Representation: those that represent consumer interest on committees or in consumer groups, e.g. the National Consumer Council or the Consumers' Associating, or represent consumers in court, e.g. Citizens Advice Bureau advisers. Consumer organisations The Office Of Fair Trading (OFT) The role of OFT is to: * Identify trading practises, which are against consumer interests. * Put these rights, wherever possible. * Regulate the provision of consumer credit. * Investigate and remedy activities by industry and commerce, which are against the interests of consumer (such as fixing prices or limiting the supply of an item.) The OFT produce a consumer
A definition of a normal and an inferior good.
ESSAY 1: CATHERINE ROBINS 03008113 ----------------------------- ALEXANDROS ZANGELIDIS MONDAY 12 - 1 pm (i) A normal good is a commodity for which an increase in income increases consumption, ceteris parabus1. Conversely, a decrease in income decreases consumption. As their name suggests, most goods (and services) - such as televisions, houses and restaurant meals - are normal goods. An inferior good is one for which an increase in income decreases consumption, ceteris parabus2, and vice versa. Inferior goods are generally cheaper poorer quality substitutes for some other good, such as supermarket own brands. With higher income a consumer can afford to switch from the cheaper but poorer quality product to a more expensive but preferred alternative. As a result, less of the inferior product is demanded at higher levels of income. A way of distinguishing between normal and inferior goods is to look at income elasticity of demand. This is a measure of the responsiveness of demand for a commodity to changes in consumers' incomes3. For a normal good, income elasticity of demand is positive. Normal goods can be classified into necessities and luxury goods, with luxury goods having higher income elasticity than necessities. For any inferior good, income elasticity is negative. (ii) There are axioms and 'sensible rules' in relation to consumer preferences. The