Hong Kong manufacturer would have a distribution centre that carries its inventory and hire a shipping line to help in the logistics function. The retail stores and department stores would communicate with the manufacturer and the shipping line through an Electronic Data Interchange system. Bar codes and scanners have certain advantages over traditional keyboard coding, but also have some drawbacks.
Hong Kong manufacturer would have a distribution centre that carries its inventory and hire a shipping line to help in the logistics function. The retail stores and department stores would communicate with the manufacturer and the shipping line through an Electronic Data Interchange system. Bar codes and scanners have certain advantages over traditional keyboard coding, but also have some drawbacks.
Hong Kong manufacturer would have a distribution centre that carries its inventory and hire a shipping line to help in the logistics function. The retail stores and department stores would communicate with the manufacturer and the shipping line through an Electronic Data Interchange system. Bar codes and scanners have certain advantages over traditional keyboard coding, but also have some drawbacks.
1/ There two recommendation for the Hong Kong manufacturer in setting its own
order processing system:
The manufacturer would have a distribution centre that carries its inventory and hires a shipping line to help in the logistics function. The retail stores and department stores will communicate with the manufacturer and the shipping line through an Electronic Data Interchange system, which shows information like inventory levels, shipment tracking, demand forecasts, etc. Through this system, the manufacturer saves cost on sharing information, which leads to better inventory controls and forecast. However, the capital costs to set up such a system would be unjustified to those small retail stores. The manufacturer can choose to directly ship its products to the stores. Due to the fact that these stores are small and limited in number, the manufacturer can go back to the basic and allow order through phone and e-mail. Communications may take longer, but it is cheaper and more reasonable for the stores.
2/ Bar codes and scanners have certain advantages over traditional keyboard coding, but also have some drawbacks. Ads: The speed of capturing the information onto the system is faster for bar codes. The accuracy of scanners is better compare to human computer type. The operators can learn how to use the system in a short period of time and the barcode label is cheap, can be read by most of the handheld devices, and can be printed universally. Disads: The code can be damaged and hence, unable to be read. System break down could slow down the process.
3/ The whole system processing time can be cut down by processing the orders simultaneously. The implementation of EDI will be helpful in achieving that goal. The customers orders are electronically transcribed and their credit are checked and registered on the system to be checked automatically when they place the order. The managers and the warehouse can see the data instantly and hence adjustments and order fulfilment can be made at the same time.
4/ a. For patients who are seeking services at a clinic, depend on how many doctors and nurses in that clinic that can attend to the patients, they can be treated at the same time or one by one. The priority would of course goes to those who are in critical conditions. The accuracy of the operation must be precise since it is a requirement of the clinic to see their patients get better. There would be batching and consolidation of this clinic provide child care or infants care services for moms.
b. Steel procurement orders can be grouped and process as batches to load and consolidate on trucks for economies of scale. The order can be processed sequentially if the volume of the order is big. Sometimes, there will be processing priorities. Highly profitable orders will be processed first, while low priority orders may be held for later processing.
c. The restaurant rule is first come first served. However, McDonald has several counters to which customers can order at the same time. The accuracy of the order has to be exactly what the customers want. McDonald utilizes modern technology to process big batch of burgers or fries to cater multiple orders.
d. Stock replenishment orders can be a parallel process as the supermarket can place multiple orders to different suppliers for different products. The suppliers can practice shipment consolidation by having trucks run to different location and load its maximum capacity. The priorities can be distance and time from the location of the supermarket to the suppliers. Between suppliers that are close and those that are far away, process the order to those who are close first to get the stock on shelves as quickly as possible.
5/ a. The information system would consist of information that comes from both internal and external parties. For the internal part, information on the financial status of the company, the existing logistics system and relevant marketing strategy would be some of the important data. For the external environment, customers credit information; vendors stock availability, and carriers capacity would be helpful in assisting logistics relevant decision. b. The type of information that needs to be retained for later access is dependent on 4 variables: How critical the information is for decision-making. The rapidity of information retrieval. The frequency of data access. The effort required for manipulating the data into the form needed. Information such as frequent customers information, major suppliers data, warehouse status, or carriers report would be information that needs to be retain for later use. The remainder of the information would (1) go into company record and then deleted after a period of time, or (2) deleted out of the system to save space for more important information. c. The system would assist the manager in three major areas that is: order management, warehouse management. In order management, information regarding stock availability; customer credit, etc. will help the manager to sequence the order processing procedure, with major customer would be allocated with stock almost immediately for better profit, while other customers may be put on hold and back order to manufacturers. In warehouse management, information on stock level and picking and packing sequence and routing will help managers to decide the inventory policies of the warehouse. How much inventory should be kept or what is the economic order quantity, reorder point are some of the logistics relevant decisions. Moreover, the managers will face the inventory sorting decision, like performing an ABC analysis on the items. In transportation management, information on shipment, modes of transportation, and relevant documents will be important on deciding the economies of scale for the shipment size. Furthermore, the managers can decide how the distribution pattern will look like. d. Enterprise resource planning model will be most suited for data analysis due to the capability of handling numerous mathematical and statistical problems.
6/ a. A hospital would need information on the medical suppliers information, stock availability, order cycle time and sometimes the logistics information of carrying patients in ambulances to the hospital. b. A city government who is doing projects on civil engineering would need information regarding construction material suppliers, shipment delivery and quantity. c. A tire manufacturer would need information on the customers credit and purchasing, suppliers stock and shipment delivery. d. A retailer of general merchandise would need information on customers, inventory level and shipment delivery. e. An ore-mining company would need information on the logistics pattern, customers orders, and warehouse capacity. Most of these companies would need a decision support system that could help them making important decisions, optimizing procedures and provide solutions for the problems at hand.
7/ The information that Toy R Us needs is product sales, current inventory levels, and data for receipt of goods, and dead stock and returns. The information will help the suppliers to perform a continuous replenishment procedure, where Toy R Us is in charge of their own inventory at the retailer, deciding what and when to ship.
9/ There are two options in setting up an e-commerce business model: The company can choose to own its logistics system. The company can choose to outsource the logistics part to a third-party service provider. Nevertheless, in both scenarios, the company still has to manage its own inventory and even its own warehouse. A warehouse management system would help the company to decide inventory policies, picking and packing orders according to online purchases. If the company decides to own a fleet, then a transport management system would be incorporated with the WMS to carry out the order shipping.