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IFB 109TC: Supply Chain Innovations and Technologies

Coursework

Individual Assignment

Deadline for submission: 12PM on 10 April, 2024 (Beijing time).

INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS

1. This coursework comprises 100% of the module mark and the total marks available are 100. There are three questions in this assignment. The first two questions are quantitative and no wordcount is requited. The third question is verbal and the total wordcount is suggested between 500 and 800.

2. Assignments must include the cover page with module code and title, and your student ID.

3. Working individually. Students are required to submit a single MS Word file, font size 11/12. Please ensure that you do a spell check and grammar check of your work using the functionality of MS Word before submission.

4.  Please note that your submission will be checked in Turnitin for plagiarism. Please ensure that you: (i) provide an answer using your own words, (ii) paraphrase the work of others, (iii) use quotation marks if you are using a direct quote from another source, (iv) cite all the sources of information you provide in the body of the text, and (v) list all the information sources you have used in a list of references at the end of your report.

5. Mathematical equations should be typed in Microsoft equation editor or similar tools.

6. Systematic infringements against good academic practice and integrity may lead to a score of 0 for the assessment.

7. You may wish to check for potential plagiarism using the functionality of Turnitin before you submit your work.

8. To submit your assignment, please (i) use the link that will be given to you via the Learning Mall Online (LMO).

9. Please note that work submitted after the deadline above will be subject to the university’s policy on late submissions.

10. When the work is submitted, the file name must be as follows: IFB109_CW_studentID.

11. It is the student’s responsibility to check that the online submission of coursework to the Learning Mall Online (LMO) has been successful by downloading a copy of their submission.

▪ Aims and Fit of Module

The module aims to introduce some of the important tools and techniques of contemporary operations management. This module also addresses one of the most important topics that will increasingly occupy students time as they progress in their careers and are called up on to respond to the challenges posed by uncertain, complex and dynamic business environments.

▪ Learning Outcomes

A. demonstrate understanding of and critically examine some of the creative approaches to supply chain management

B. determine an appropriate creative system design and implementation strategy and approaches

C. apply new technologies to significantly improve the supply chain management.

Description of Assignment 

This assignment aims at applying the concepts and methods introduced in this course to solve mini business problems, and analyze applications of intelligent technologies in real-world supply chains.

In this assignment, each student needs to answer three questions. The first two questions are based on the basic inventory theories, and the third question is based on a recent research paper.   

Note that this coursework contributes 100% to the final mark of this module.  

Question 1:  Newsvendor (20%)

A gift shop places orders for Christmas items during a trade show in July. One item to be ordered is a dated handbag. The handbag will sell for $50. The best estimate for demand is:

The handbag cost $30 when ordered in July.  Handbags unsold by Christmas are marked down to $20 and always sell during January.  How many handbags should be ordered? What is the total expected profit?

Question 2: Order-up-to (20%)

You are the store manager at a large furniture store. One of your products is a study desk. Weekly demand for the desk is normally distributed with mean 40 and standard deviation 20. The lead time from the assembly plant to your store is two weeks and you order inventory replenishments weekly. You use the order-up-to model to control inventory.

a. Suppose your order-up-to level is S = 220. You are about to place an order and note that your inventory

level is 100 and you have 85 desks on order. How many desks will you order?

b. Suppose your order-up-to level is S = 220. You are about to place an order and note that your inventory level is 160 and you have 65 desks on order. How many desks will you order?

c. What is the optimal order-up-to level if you want to target a 98 percent in-stock probability?

Question 3 Food safety and adulteration (60%)

This question is based on the following paper:

Cangyu Jin, Retsef Levi, Qiao Liang, Nicholas Renegar, Stacy Springs, Jiehong Zhou, Weihua Zhou (2021) Testing at the Source: Analytics-Enabled Risk-Based Sampling of Food Supply Chains in China. Management Science 67(5):2985-2996.

The above paper illustrates how supply chain (SC) analytics could provide strategic and operational insights to evaluate the risk-based allocation of regulatory resources in food SCs, for management of food safety and adulteration risks. The integrated and structured data set is used to conduct innovative analysis that identifies the sources of adulteration risks in China’s food SCs and contrasts them with the current test resource allocations of China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA).

Students are advised to carefully read the paper and answer a set of short questions. Please answer them in a concise way.

(a) In China, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) and China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) are the two main regulatory agencies that oversee most food safety testing. In the case of freshwater aquatic supply chain, which one of MARA and CFDA regulates the environment, breeding, manufacturers, wholesale market, retail/supermarket, and restaurant, respectively? And, in the paper, why only the testing conducted by CFDA was investigated by the project team, and how did they obtain the data for this project? (10%)

(b) The wholesale market (WSM), which is often absent from the developed countries, plays a unique role in the Chinese aquatic supply chain. Why is this WSM necessary in the Chinese market and why is it important in the aquatic supply chain. (10%)

(c) By sampling, CFDA tests broadly throughout the aquatic supply chain to detect food safety and adulteration risks. In practice, see Table 1 in the paper, high proportions of the tests are conducted at retail/supermarkets. From the test frequencies and failure frequencies in Table 2, what is the drawback with current sampling approaches by CFDA in terms of the test frequency proportions along the supply chain entities. (10%)

(d) In risk source analysis, it is found that various adulterants have different sources throughout the aquatic supply chain. Which resources are heavy metals, antimicrobial, preservative and sweetener possibly coming from?  (10%)

(e) Suggest possible applications of Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, and robot in the aquatic supply chain in China. You need propose the real-world scenarios that applying these technologies adds value to the business process. (20%)  

Assessment Criteria and Marking Rubric

Ø Check the solution file.

Performance Descriptors