Operations Management Chapter 15

Incident

An unscheduled event requiring immediate resolution

Chance Event

A distinct source, cause, or issue of uncertainty

Known unknown

A source of uncertainty known to a decision maker, usually evident in past experience or data

Probabilistic

Variable or not well known in advance; subject to randomness. This represents some uncertainty in planning

Future States of Nature

A set of distinct conditions associated with a chance event only one of which will actually occur

Expected Value

The mathematical expectation of a random variable, calculated as the weighted average of all possible values that may occur

Unknown Unknown

Uncertainty omitted from planning because the decision maker is unaware of its presence.

Black Swan

An incident of extreme consequence, unexpected or considered highly improbably

Disruptive Innovation

A technological change that profoundly alters an existing market unexpectedly

Framing

Adopting too narrow a view in the analysis of a problem

Outcome Bias

A tendency to assume a process is acceptable if its output is acceptable

Normalization

A tendency to accept anomalies as normal events, particularly over time

Confirmation bias

A tendency to favor information that supports a hypothesis and to suppress or neglect information that refutes it

Groupthink

A tendency to neglect full critical evaluation of a decision in favor of minimizing conflict within a group of decision makers

Risk

The possibility of loss or the source of such a possibility

Proaction

Avoidance of preventable risk, the first and most basic stage of risk management

Crisis

The critical time prior to an impeding change of great significance

Propagate

To increase or spread elsewhere

Resilience

The ability of a system to adjust to or recover from a shock or sudden change

Business continuity plan

Guidelines and arrangements for response to disruption of critical business functions to restore and maintain operation

Contingency Plan

An alternate plan developed in anticipation of a possible obstacle to the original plan

Reliability

The probability that an element or a system will perform as specified

Redundancy

Duplication of an element within a system

Robustness

Providing stable reliability despite changing conditions

Triage

A priority rule creating sequences intended to yield the most value from distinctly limited resources

Yield Management

Policies and practices to maximize the benefit of a perishable resource such as service capacity

Overbooking

Commitment or sale of resource in excess of its actual availability

Newsvendor Problem

Choosing a quantity to meet a single period of uncertain demand, weighing the costs of ordering too much and too little

Incident Command System

A predetermined structure that organizes available parties into one temporary organization to resolve an incident

Centralized organizational policy

Assigning decision making and authority to one individual or set of individuals within a larger organization

real-time

The present point in time, now

Workaround

A temporary solution developed in response to an unexpected loss or obstacle

Bricolage

A creation from what happened to be available during its formation

Sense-making

Assigning meaning to experience

Situational Awareness

An individual or organization's comprehension of the surrounding environment and its potential near-future states

Iterative Planning

Deliberately adjusting plans at short intervals, to reflect emerging information

Optimization

identification of the best alternative

NGO

A nongovernmental organization, understood to be a nonprofit organization as well

Safety Stock

Inventory held to protect against uncertain supply or demand

Staging

Retrieving or positioning inventory or other resources before they are required

Last-mile problem

The challenge of completing delivery of a good or a service, especially if the destination is remote or disrupted by disaster

Supply Chain

A sequence of organizations-their facilities, functions, and activities-that are involved in producing and delivering a product or service

Supply Chain Strategy Alignment

Aligning supply and distribution strategies with organizational strategy and deciding on the degree to which outsourcing will be employed.

Network configuration

Determining the number and location of suppliers, warehouses, production/operations facilities, and distribution centers.

Information technology

Interfrating systems and processes throughout the supply chain to share information, including forecasts, inventory status, tracking of shipments, and events.

Products and services

Making decisions on new product and services selection and design.

Capacity planning

Assessing long-term capacity needs, including when and how much will be needed and the degreee of flexibility to incorporate.

Strategic partnerships

Partnership choices, level of partnering, and degree on formality.

Distribution Strategy

Deciding whether to use centralized or decentralized distribution, and deciding whether to use the organization's own facilities and equipment for distribution or to use third-party logistics providers.

Uncertainty and risk reduction

Identifying potential sources of risk and deciding the amount of the risk that is acceptable.

Factors typically covered by a supplier audit are?

Management style, quality assurance, materials management, the design process used, process improvement policies, and procudures for corrective action and follow up.

Other factors that can contribute to the bullwhip affect are?

Forecast inaccuracies, overreaction to stockouts , order batching to save on ordering and transportation costs, sales incentives and promotions, and service and product mix changes, which can create uneven demand patterns , and liberal return policies.

Avoidance

Finding ways to minimize the number of items that are returned.

Bullwhip effect

Inventory oscillations becomes progressively larger looking backward through the supply chain.

Supply Chain Management

The strategic coordination of the supply shain for th epurpose of integrating supply and demand management.

Logistics

The movement of goods, services, cash, and information in a supply chain.

Resiliency

the ability of a vusiness to recover from an event that negatively impacts the supply chain.

Supply chain visibility

A major trading partner can connect to its supply chain to access data in real time.

Event-response capability

The ability to detect and respond to unplanned events.

Purchasing cycle

Series of steps that begin with a request for purchase and end with notification of shipment received in satisfactory condition.

Centralized purchasing

Purchasing is handled by one special department.

Decentralized Purchasing

Individual departments or separate locations handle thier own purchasing requirements.

Vendor Analysis

Evaluating the sources of supply in terms of price, quality, reputation, and service

Strategic partnering

Two or more business orgaizations that have complementary products or services join so that each may realize a strategic benefit.

Inventory velocity

The speed at which goods move through a supply chain.

Vendor-managed inventory

Vendors monitor goods and replenish retail inventories when supplies are low.

Order fulfillment

The processes involved in responding to customer orders.

Logistics

The movement of materials, services, cash, and information in the supply chain.

Traffic management

Overseeing the shipment of incoming and outgoing goods.

Radio frequency identification (RFID)

A technology that uses radio waves to identify objects, such as goods in supply chains.

Third-party logistics

The outsourcing of logistics management.

Strategic sourcing

Analyzing the procurement process to lower costs by reducing waste and non-value-added activities, increase profits, reduce risks, and improve supplier performance.

Information velocity

The speed at which informations is communicated in a supply chain.

Fill rate

The percentage of demand filled from stock on hand.

Reverse logistics

The process of transporting returned items.

Gatekeeping

Screening returned goods to prevent incorrect acceptance of goods.

Closed-loop supply chain

A manufacturer controls both the forward and reverse shipment of product.

Cross-docking

A technique whereby goods arriving at a warehouse from a supplier are unloaded from the supplier's truck and loaded into outbound trucks, thereby avoiding warehouse storage.

Delayed differentiation

production of standard components and subassemblies, which are held until late in the process to add differentiating features.

Disintermediation

Reducing one or more steps in a supply chain by cutting out one or more intermediaries.

What are some recent trends in supply chain management?

Recent trends in supply chain management include measuring ROI, "greening" the supply chin, reevaluating outsourcing, integrating IT, managing risks, and adopting lean principles.