Question 2 Alpha Electronics (AE) is a large manufacturer of electronics products. The company sells about 1,000 high-value products to 10,000 customers all over the world. Market competition forces AE to commit to a short order fulfilment lead time to its customers and the committed lead time is typically much shorter than its manufacturing lead time. AE is looking for a suitable supply chain integration strategy for improving its operations. Discuss the pros and cons of the three common supply chain integration strategies and suggest the most appropriate one for AE. (a) (b) AE is planning to reduce the number of distribution centres in its distribution network from 10 to 5. Estimate the minimum number of decision variables for AE's distribution problem and suggest an approach that AE can simplify the mathematical model for optimizing the distribution network. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the approach. (c) AE is exploring the feasibility of forming a strategic alliance with its biggest customer, a mega retailer. AE's logistics manager has found that the size of weekly orders placed by the retailer varies from 500 to 10,000 units, with mean of 3,000 units and standard deviation of 6,000 units. Discuss the reasons for the huge fluctuations of the retailers' order sizes.

Purchasing and Supply Chain Management
6th Edition
ISBN:9781285869681
Author:Robert M. Monczka, Robert B. Handfield, Larry C. Giunipero, James L. Patterson
Publisher:Robert M. Monczka, Robert B. Handfield, Larry C. Giunipero, James L. Patterson
Chapter2: The Purchasing Process
Section: Chapter Questions
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Question 2
Alpha Electronics (AE) is a large manufacturer of electronics products. The company sells about
1,000 high-value products to 10,000 customers all over the world. Market competition forces AE to
commit to a short order fulfilment lead time to its customers and the committed lead time is typically
much shorter than its manufacturing lead time.
(a)
AE is looking for a suitable supply chain integration strategy for improving its operations.
Discuss the pros and cons of the three common supply chain integration strategies and suggest
the most appropriate one for AE.
(b)
AE is planning to reduce the number of distribution centres in its distribution network from
10 to 5. Estimate the minimum number of decision variables for AE's distribution problem
and suggest an approach that AE can simplify the mathematical model for optimizing the
distribution network. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the approach.
(c)
AE is exploring the feasibility of forming a strategic alliance with its biggest customer, a
mega retailer. AE's logistics manager has found that the size of weekly orders placed by the
retailer varies from 500 to 10,000 units, with mean of 3,000 units and standard deviation of
6,000 units. Discuss the reasons for the huge fluctuations of the retailers' order sizes.
Transcribed Image Text:Question 2 Alpha Electronics (AE) is a large manufacturer of electronics products. The company sells about 1,000 high-value products to 10,000 customers all over the world. Market competition forces AE to commit to a short order fulfilment lead time to its customers and the committed lead time is typically much shorter than its manufacturing lead time. (a) AE is looking for a suitable supply chain integration strategy for improving its operations. Discuss the pros and cons of the three common supply chain integration strategies and suggest the most appropriate one for AE. (b) AE is planning to reduce the number of distribution centres in its distribution network from 10 to 5. Estimate the minimum number of decision variables for AE's distribution problem and suggest an approach that AE can simplify the mathematical model for optimizing the distribution network. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the approach. (c) AE is exploring the feasibility of forming a strategic alliance with its biggest customer, a mega retailer. AE's logistics manager has found that the size of weekly orders placed by the retailer varies from 500 to 10,000 units, with mean of 3,000 units and standard deviation of 6,000 units. Discuss the reasons for the huge fluctuations of the retailers' order sizes.
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