Tag: Supply Chain Management / Operations Management

1. Project Selection:
Based on your personal/professional experience or an area of interest, choose a technology project that meets the following constraints:
Budget: $1.5 million
Team Size: 15 people full-time equivalent (FTE)
Duration: 1 year
2. Project Phases and Activities:
For the following generic phases (initiation, design, development, quality assurance, deployment) of the project, define specific activities to be carried out using a detailed work breakdown structure (WBS) or user stories format. The activities should reflect a comprehensive understanding of the project lifecycle. Include innovative tasks that reflect current trends in technology (e.g., AI integration, cybersecurity measures, user experience enhancements).
3. Team Breakdown by Job Type:
Define the team composition by job type, including fully and partially dedicated roles. Consider the following:
Roles: Senior developer, junior developer, designer, QA, project manager, business analyst, technical writer, system architect, etc.
Skills Required: Highlight any specialized skills required for your project, such as AI expertise, cybersecurity, UX/UI design, or data analytics.
4. Team Assignment and Justification:
Assign team members to the activities identified in step 2. Justify your choices by critically discussing the following topics:
Team Composition: Explain the rationale behind the number of people in each role and how their skills and expertise contribute to the projects success.
Phases’ Relevant Risks: Identify and analyze at least five significant risks relevant to each project phase. Discuss potential mitigation strategies for each risk.
Critical Success Factors: Identify and elaborate on at least three essential success factors for the project. Explain how these factors influence the project’s outcomes and how they will be achieved.
5. Real-World Integration:
Incorporate real-world scenarios by interviewing at least one professional who has managed a similar project. Summarize the key insights from the interview and reflect on how they can be applied to your project. Include a picture of the interview in the assignment.
6. Ethical and Social Considerations:
Analyze your project’s ethical and social implications. Discuss potential impacts on stakeholders, data privacy concerns, and regulatory considerations

Write a research proposal on any type of marketing. It should clearly explain:i) WHAT the research question isii) WHY this research is important or worth doingiii) HOW the research will be conductedThe proposal must present the following details:
1) Title of the research
2) An introduction to your chosen research area. Background to the research(context of the research). Give a brief outline of appropriate literature or yourapproach to literature on your topic. This may include explanations of keyterms and ideas and/or key writers and theoretical backgrounds. (10% of themark)
3) What are the aims and/or objectives of this research? Explain what yourresearch question is. Remember that an unclear, inaccurate, and non-focused research question will affect the entire proposal.
4) Explain the rationale for your research. That is, explain why answering theresearch question could or should be important. What is the importance ofthe research you propose?
5) Methodology: this section should cover the following:
a. Research philosophy: Outline your research philosophical andmethodological underpinnings and your research approach.
b. Data collection: How do you plan to collect your data? Using whatresearch design? And using what research methods? Describe andjustify your choices (a justification of their appropriateness, strengthsand weaknesses in relation to your study, including relevantreferences to the literature)
c. Sampling: What is the sampling technique you are going to use?Why? Describe and justify your choice. What is your proposedsample? What is the proposed size of your sample?
d. Analysis: How will you analyse the data collected?
6) Consideration of problems you might anticipate (e.g., in access or sampling,etc.) and how you might resolve these.
7) A consideration of any ethical issues raised by your proposal.
8) A research timetable (this can go in an appendix if preferred).
9) Reference List for ALL sources used in the text. Harvard style (Reference Listis not part of the word-count).
The report should written in the 3rd person using academic English

Which of the following combinations of actions will likely provide the biggest competitive benefits in helping a company achieve a differentiation-based competitive advantage over some/many of its rivals?
Using 90% superior materials to produce branded footwear at all of the company’s production facilities, spending aboveaverage amounts on search engine and brand advertising in all four geographic regions, delivering orders to branded footwear retailers in 2 weeks, immediately (year 11) constructing additional facility space in North America and the AsiaPacific to eventually produce up to 10 million pairs of footwear without the use of overtime in both locations, and offering free shipping to online buyers in all regions
Offering 400 models/styles to buyers in all four geographic regions, spending above-average amounts on brand advertising in all four geographic regions, maintaining a celebrity appeal rating of 180 or higher in all four geographic regions, selling branded footwear with a 6.8 -star S/Q rating in all four geographic regions, and delivering orders to branded footwear retailers in 1 week
Building production facilities in all four geographic regions, spending heavily on best practices training for production workers, maintaining the lowest reject rates of any company in the industry at each of the company’s production facilities, and using 75% superior materials in producing branded footwear
Raising worker base pay by 10% or more each year at all of the company’s production facilities, charging prices for branded footwear that are $5 under the industry-average in both the Internet and Wholesale segments in all four regions, and having the largest global production capacity of any company in the industry
Delivering orders to branded footwear retailers in 1 week in all four geographic regions, spending above-average amounts for search engine advertising in all four geographic regions, offering a mail-in rebate of $7 in each geographic region, and charging prices for branded footwear that are $2 per pair lower than the industry-average in both the internet and Wholesale segments in all four geographic regions

Nordlund Boat Company has been repairing, refitting, and building custom boats in the Pacific Northwest for over 60 years. One of the engine’s most critical components is the exhaust manifold, and TJ, as the buyer in charge, plays a pivotal role in managing this item. The company purchases this item from the best manufacturers in the world, which is a testament to our commitment to quality. Under the current ordering practice, TJ’s purchasing agent submits an order for the exhaust manifold every 4 weeks, aligning with the company’s monthly demand of 50 units (2 units per working day). Despite its low volume, Nordlund emphasizes quality over quantity discounts, ensuring its commitment to delivering top-notch products. The supplier’s commitment to deliver within one week of order placement has ensured that Nordlund never experiences a shortage, a key factor in the company’s inventory management. Accounting has generated the following inventory-related costs. The procurement costs are $50 per order, including labor, transportation, receiving, inspection, and moving costs. The holding cost is $20 per item per year, considering storage, damage, insurance, taxes, etc. The company president has assigned TJ, who recently graduated with an MBA, the responsibility of conducting a thorough assessment of the exhaust manifold procurement process, focusing on enhancing supply chain efficiencies. This directive highlights the potential for substantial cost savings, which is crucial for ensuring the company’s financial well-being.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS (MAKE NO ASSUMPTIONS). (Keep two decimals)
How many units are ordered under the current practice?
What is the total annual inventory cost of ordering LCDs every 4 weeks?
What is the annual inventory cost if orders are released according to the optimal order quantity model?
What potential cost savings can be achieved by ordering every 4 weeks vs. the optimal quantity model?
What is the LCD’s (ROP) reorder point?
Clearly and accurately label the answer for each question and show detailed work.

Consider the following network for answering the following parts.(a) Suppose that the nodes represent cities where the distributors of a certain firm are located, and the values on the arcs denote distances (in miles) between the cities. Formulate a mathematical model that will yield the shortest route for a sales representative of the retail distributor in City 1 to travel to City 10 , in which a meeting will be held with the attendance of all sales representatives.(b) Apply the total enumeration approach to solve the problem mentioned in part (a).(c) To find the shortest route mentioned in part (a), an equivalent network with reduced size can be obtained by decreasing the number of cities. This is possible by removing some of the cities without disturbing the connections among the cities. Make this reduction, draw the new network, and write the revised mathematical model for solving the same problem in part (a).(d) The firm is now considering a communication system between the firm’s center in City 6 and each retail distributor. Considering the original given network, formulate a mathematical model to determine a single interconnecting path to all distributors that will result in the smallest number of miles. What type of network problem is described above?(e) Now assume that the values on the arcs in the given original network denote the flow capacities (maximum number of units of a product that can be sent) between cities. Formulate a mathematical model to determine maximum number of units that can be sent from City 1 to City 10. What type of network problem is described above? Without solving the mathematical model, examine the given original network and determine the maximum number of units that can be sent from City 1 to City 10.Note: In formulating the mathematical models, first define the decision variables, next write the objective function and constraints in OPEN mathematical form and finally explain them clearly.

Please help with this optimization problem. I need a full mathematical model (Task 1) and a spreadsheet setup using Excel Solver (Task 2).
A company is planning its production and distribution network to serve five customer regions at the minimum total cost. The cost to be minimized includes:
the fixed cost of opening plants,
the variable transportation cost of shipping units from plants to demand regions, and
a shortage penalty cost of $200 per unit for any unmet demand.
Note: Unlike your previous assignment, this model includes shortage (unmet demand) penalties. Demand does not need to be fully satisfied. Instead, you must model and penalize any unmet demand. Pay close attention to this change when writing your model and setting up Solver.
Four cities labeled A, B, C, and D are considered for setting up production plants. Each city can host only one plant. The objective of this problem is to determine which plants to open and how much to ship to each customer region in order to minimize total cost, which includes the cost of building production plants, the cost of shipping goods from plants to regions, and the unmet demand (shortage) penalty cost for any unmet customer demand.
Note: The total production capacity across all four plants is 800 units, while the total customer demand is 700 units. However, opening all plants may not be cost-effective. Therefore, the model should evaluate whether meeting all demand is cost-effective, and allow for unmet demand when it minimizes total cost.
Task 1: Model Formulation
Write the complete optimization model for this problem, using the following structure:
Write a complete mathematical model using Microsoft Word.
You must typeset all equations using Insert → Equaton (do not paste images or handwritten work).
Clearly define decision variables and parameters in a table
State the objective function (minimize total cost)
List all constraints:
Demand constraints
Capacity constraints
Non-negativity and binary constraints

Part C – 30 Points
The Ministry of Public Works, in collaboration with local organizations, is planning a project to implement a potable water network in various rural communities across the country. Given the complexity of the initiative—which includes technical, administrative, and social tasks—it has been decided to use the PERT approach to better plan and control the uncertainty in execution times.
In Sheet C of your dataset (image), all project activities are listed along with their respective precedencies and duration distribution (in days): optimistic time (OT), most likely time (MLT), and pessimistic time (PT).
Questions
Develop the project diagram according to the PERT methodology.
Determine ES (Early Start), EF (Early Finish), LS (Late Start), and LF (Late Finish). Indicate the critical path, its estimated duration, and variance.
Calculate the probability that the project will be completed in 90 days or less. Now, if it is required that the project be completed by day 75 with 95% confidence, what should be the maximum allowed variance (of the critical path) to meet that requirement?
There is an opportunity for an international financing contract that offers a $100 bonus if the potable water network implementation project is completed on or before a specific date, and a $240 penalty if it is completed after that date. On which day should the project be completed to be indifferent to the contract terms? Now, if the contract sets the completion date as day 81 and applies the same bonus, what penalty should be set to remain indifferent?

Round Tree Manor Problem
Round Tree Manor is a hotel that provides two types of rooms with three rental classes: Super Saver, Deluxe, and Business. The profit per night for each type of room and rental class is as follows.
Profit per night (dollars)
Rental Class
Super Saver
Deluxe
Business
Room Type I
$30
$35
—
Type II
$20
$30
$40
Round Tree’s management makes a forecast of the demand by rental class for each night in the future. A linear programming model developed to maximize profit is used to determine how many reservations to accept for each rental class. The demand forecast for a particular night is 150 rentals in the Super Saver class, 50 rentals in the Deluxe class, and 40 rentals in the Business class. Since these are the forecasted demands, Round Tree will take no more than these amounts of each reservation for each rental class.
Round Tree has a limited number of each type of room. There are 100 Type I rooms and 120 Type II rooms.
(a)
Formulate and solve a linear program to determine how many reservations to accept in each rental class and how the reservations should be allocated to room types. (Assume S1 is the number of Super Saver rentals allocated to room type I, S2 is the number of Super Saver rentals allocated to room type II, D1 is the number of Deluxe rentals allocated to room type I, D2 is the number of Deluxe rentals allocated to room type II, B2 is the number of Business rentals allocated to room type II. Write your answers expressing the amount allocated in dollars.)
Report the number of reservations of each type management should accept for each rental class room type combination to maximize profit.
Allocation of reservations
Rental Class
Super Saver
Deluxe
Business
Room Type I
—
Type II
What is the profit (in dollars) obtained through this allocation of room reservations. $
(b)
For the solution in part (a), how many reservations can be accommodated in each rental class?
Super Saver
Deluxe
Business
Is the demand for any rental class not satisfied? If demand materializes as forecast, there will be rooms not reserved in the – Super Saver Deluxe Business class.
Help with part A and B

Perot Corporation is developing a new CPU chip based on a new type of technology. Its new chip, the Patay chip, will take two yearsto develop. However, because other chip manufacturers will be able to copy the technology, it will have a market life of two years afterit is introduced. Perot expects to be able to price the chip higher in the first year, and it anticipates a significant production costreduction after the first year. The relevant information for developing and selling the Patay2 is given as follows:
Assume all cash flows occur at the end of each period.
What are the yearly cash flows and their present value (discounted at 10 percent) of this project? What is the net present value?
Note: Enter your answer in thousands of dollars. Perform all calculations using Excel. Do not round any intermediatecalculations. Negative value should be indicated by a minus sign.
Answer is complete but not entirely correct.
Net present value $ 8,125
Perot’s engineers have determined that spending $10 million more on development will allow them to add even more advancedfeatures. Having a more advanced chip will allow them to price the chip $50 higher in both years ( $870 for year 1 and $700 for year2). What is the NPV of the project if this option is implemented?
Note: Enter your answer in thousands of dollars. Perform all calculations using Excel. Do not round any intermediatecalculations. Negative value should be indicated by a minus sign.
Answer is complete but not entirely correct.
Net present value17,175
If sales are only 256,000 the first year and 128,000 the second year, what would the NPV of the project be? Assume thedevelopment costs and sales price are as originally estimated?
Note: Enter your answer in thousands of dollars. Perform all calculations using Excel. Do not round any intermediatecalculations. Negative value should be indicated by a minus sign.
Answer is complete but not entirely correct.
Can you please use Excel to answer these?

PromotionThe Marketing in 5 Part Harmony team has traditionally emphasized more in the direct contact with the target segment, from the thought that to “get what we do, you need to experience our product.” The current social change business owner/entrepreneur is more involved in the digital marketing arena so the team found a need to feature the lifestyle and healthy behavior change aspects and direction of its target market. To increase brand awareness and visibility in the digital marketing realm, the team developed an “edutainment” style campaign to highlight the unique nature of impacting healthy behavior change. The edutainment campaign would be geared toward emphasizing the social and healthy change aspect in the promotions to connect with the specific needs of the segment. PriceTo ensure effective strategies for value pricing that factor in the product’s actual cost in relation to the perceived value of the product, the team would need to find a price point that makes the product appealing to the segment, as well as profitable for the Harmony team. The price would need to reflect similar costs already being incurred by this segment for similar products and how it will meet their needs. Since the product will address the segment’s lack of marketing expertise and personnel, as well as their potential misconception of marketing as an effective activity for them the price needs to reflect a stronger value for the money. 3. Activity Please answer the following questions related to the above scenario.When considering value pricing for a product, you shouldMultiple Choicecalculate the actual costs of the production of the product and add the standard industry markup.price it at the low end to maximize sales since it is a product that can be generated online.price it just above your competitors’ prices to create higher value.consider production costs, industry pricing standards, and how the customer will perceive the benefits of the product in meeting their needs.None of these answers are correct.