During the semester, we looked at many articles on how lean supply chain concepts were tossed aside and retailers built up large inventories to stay ahead of shortages. In the article “Did the pandemic really kill just-in-time? Experts weigh in,” (https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/just-in-time-supply-chains-dead/637492/ Links to an external site.) How could re-shoring/near shoring (https://www.reshorenow.org/ Links to an external site.) help the supply chains get leaner and bring the industry closer to “just in time? (250 words minimum) 2. You have just taken over as City Manager of Colorado Springs. The mayor wants to drive more sustainability in city operations. One of the city staff has convinced the mayor that the city could really green up road maintenance efforts with the use of some solar powered equipment. The mayor has directed you to come up with a plan to possibly acquire some of the solar powered road maintenance equipment. You know there aren’t a lot of vendors in this market, but the city needs a business-case decision to go forward. Using the green sourcing model in chapter 13, devise a plan to help the city decide whether or not they should do this. (250 word minimum) 3. You are the operations manager of a small electrical distribution company. Currently, your organization manages the inventory in through a Fixed-Time Period Model, which involved monthly counts of hundreds of types of electrical components. In your operations management class, you learned about the benefits of Fixed-Order Quantity Models. You feel this would a big benefit to the company and would help in growing operations. A Fixed-Order Quantity Model costs about $50K – but you feel it will pay for itself easily. The company owner isn’t quite so sure. Come up with a plan to convince the owner to make the jump to a Fixed-Order Quantity inventory system. (250 words minimum)
