Inventory management and replenishment
The supporting Excel and Word files (see above) provide Normally distributed usage data and other key information relating to the inventory management and replenishment of components within a furniture assembly operation.
Tutors’ Answers to the Most Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Please could you clarify the deliverables for this assignment? What do I need to submit?
A: The task sheet asks you to submit the following things:
a) A graph of the expected inventory level (known as an inventory profile) for Item H1, covering weeks 1 – 20 of 2015. You may produce this graph in Excel, or construct it in Powerpoint, or draw it by hand and submit it as a .pdf file. You will have to carry out some intermediate steps before you will be able to construct the graph, so please make sure that any key replenishment parameters are highlighted.
b) The average quantity (no. units) and value (£) of stock expected to be held for each of the 40 components (items A1 – H5), during the 52 weeks of 2015.
c) Details of a lower cost inventory management/replenishment policy, covering all of the 40 components (items A1 – H5), along with the total value (£) of the savings. Please show how you arrived at this figure.
d) Three full MRP records (one for each of items, H1, K3 and M4), covering weeks 1 – 26 of 2015. Items K3 and M4 are not included among the 40 components listed in the weekly usage file, but this should not prevent you from developing their respective MRP records.
Q: Which lectures/seminars cover the learning required to do this assignment?
A: All of the learning required for this assignment was covered in lectures 8 – 10 (i.e. the two inventory management lectures and the ERP/MRP lecture) and their related seminars. All of the materials used during these three weeks are posted on Studentcentral, and all are relevant to this assignment in one way or another. Please study these materials, along with the relevant chapters in the textbook and your own notes from the teaching sessions.
Q: I have read all of the relevant learning materials, but I still don’t know what to do. Please will you help me get started?
A: We are willing to help you clarify your understanding of the assignment task, but one of the things being assessed is the “ability to interpret quantitative data in context, in order to support business planning and decision processes”. It’s a problem-solving assignment, so part of the challenge for students is to work out how to tackle the problem.
One tip you may find helpful in tackling problems of this nature is to start at the point you are trying to reach (i.e. the deliverable), and then to work back towards the start (i.e. the data and other information you are provided with). Ask yourself questions, such as “What information do I need to enable me to construct the inventory profile for Item H1?”. If some of the information you require has not been provided, you will then need to work out how to derive that information. Keep working backwards until you need nothing more than the data provided in your ‘Component Data’ and ‘Weekly Usage Data’ files. Then, if you execute the intermediate steps correctly, you should reach the solution.
Other than these comments, however, the provision of further guidance is not appropriate.
Q: Will you look at what I have done, to check that I’m on the right track?
A: Given the problem-solving nature of the assignment, and with approximately 300 students on the module, it is neither appropriate, nor feasible for the tutors to look at draft work, or to provide 1:1 guidance in this case. Also, we must remain fair to all students.