(a) Draw two process flow diagrams. The first is for the "initial receipt of new fashion product and distribution to retail outlets" process, and the second is for the "retail outlet replenishment and style close-out" process for coats.
(b) Identify where the push-pull interface is located in the total supply chain that originates at the suppliers and goes through to the end customer. You must state your reasons for determining its location.
(c) One of The Pampered Puss's primary performance measures is inventory turnover, which they calculate as the cost of goods sold during a year divided by average inventory value during that year. Currently, as measured by The Pampered Puss, inventory turnover is a little more than two times per year. Given that coat and other fashion products have a life time of about six months, does the current inventory performance as measured by The Pampered Puss make sense? Explain your answer in terms of what is measured,
how it is measured and what this might imply about their overall inventory holdings.
Is there a better measure of inventory performance that The Pampered Puss should be using?
(d) Buyers are able to segregate outlets using a Pareto analysis based on product groups. A particular outlet may be an A outlet for winter coats, a B outlet for food and a C outlet for collars. What impact is this likely to have on inventory management?
(e) If you were in charge of Operations and Supply Chain at The Pampered Puss, what changes would you recommend to further improve both efficiency and effectiveness, of what is a successful business?
Additional Requirement
The question is a part of Operations Management and it is a scenario analysis of The Pampered Puss, a company operating in Melbourne, Australia with 35 retail stores that sell fashion clothes for cats. The company wants to venture into the markets of Europe and America. And the case study discusses about the supply chain and distribution channel for the same.
Word Limit 1800