Q.1.

In July 2017, Jane Camara joined National Fedds Service (NFS) organization as its Executive Director. Camara was hired to turn around an organization that had gone through a complex consolidation process the year before, in which its 202 customers had left the organization. Labor costs were high as was absenteeism and turnover. Customers were dissatisfied with the quality of service and some were taking their business to NFS's chief competitor. There was a lot to fix, and Camara wondered whether to focus first on people or operations? ''We were caught in a negative feedback loop. We were so focused on productivity and getting the next call answered instead of thinking about how I can better assist this caller so it decreases the amount of calls. There wasn't time to think about if there was a better way." - Jerry Namukasa, Supervisor, NFS

a)As a student of Operations Management advise which the human resource practices may beundertaken to improve performance at HFS ( 15 marks )

b)How should the following issues be addressed in the above situation

i)Job enrichment ( 5 marks )

ii)Job rotation ( 5 marks )

Total 25 Marks

Q.2.

Nike is one of the most recognized athletic brands in the world, Nike has a lot of goods to manage. And as a result, it has had difficulty keeping inventory under control. In the early 2000s, the company adopted an updated inventory management practices after losing around $100 million in sales due to issues with tracking goods. The inventory management methods helped Nike predict items that would sell best and prepare the company to meet demands, but bugs and data errors resulted in incorrect forecasts and led to millions more lost.

a)Of what relevancy is to Nike to exercise effective inventory management. ( 6 marks )

b)Recommend any four strategies/ methods which Nike cold have adopted to address the challenges of inventory management. ( 12 marks )

c)Using relevant examples describe the types of inventories found in organizations today. (7marks)

Total 25 Marks

Q.3.

The quality improvement process of Xerox an American company does not fit neatly in any school of thought of Total Quality Management, it is very much a Xerox process. The emphasis of the process is on customer needs and doing everything of its quality improvement effort to allow it to become the first American company to regain market share from Japanese competitors without the aid of tariff protection or government help. Xerox offers the following products office printing solutions, document management solutions, production print solutions among others.

a)Describe the determinants of quality (both goods and services ) of Nike . ( 5 marks )

b)What may bestrategies/ methods applied by Xerox in its process to enhance quality of

Its products. (15 marks)

c)As an expert in Operations Management, explain the relevancy of Total Quality Management to an organization like Xerox.( 5 marks )

Total 25 Marks

Q.4.

Most Organizations begin with the best intentions to achieve successful and sustainable supply chain cost management, but somehow seem to lose momentum, only to see costs increase again in short order.

Starbucks is pretty much a household name, but like many of the most successful worldwide brands, the coffee-shop giant has been through its periods of supply chain pain. In fact, during 2007 and 2008, Starbucks leadership began to have severe doubts about the company's ability to supply its 16,700 outlets. As in most commercial sectors at that time, sales were falling. At the same time, though, supply chain costs rose by more than $75 million.

Supply Chain Cost Reduction Challenges:When the supply chain executive team began investigating the rising costs and supply chain performance issues, they found that service was indeed falling short of expectations. Findings included the following problems

1. Fewer than 50% of outlet deliveries were arriving on time.
2. Several poor outsourcing decisions had led to excessive expenses.
3. The supply chain had, (like those of many global organizations) evolved, rather than grown by design, and had hence become unnecessarily complex

The Path to Cost Reduction:Starbucks' leadership had three main objectives in mind to achieve improved performance and supply chain cost reduction. These were to:

1. Reorganize the supply chain.
2. Reduce cost to serve.
3. Lay the groundwork for future capability in the supply chain.

To meet these objectives, Starbucks divided all its supply chain functions into three main groups, known as "plan" "make" and "deliver". It also opened a new production facility, bringing the total number of United States plants to four.

Next, the organization set about terminating some partnerships. It then began managing the remaining partners via a weekly scorecard system, aligned with renewed service level agreements.

Supply Chain Cost Management Results:By the time Starbucks had completed its transformation program, it had saved more than $500 million over the course of 2009 and 2010, of which a large proportion came out of the supply chain, according to Peter Gibbons, then Executive Vice President of Global Supply Chain Operations.

a)Of what importance is Supply Chain Management to anorganization like Starbucks?

(5 marks)

b)Having attended Operations Management classes, supposing the Starbucks management team consults you to create its effective supply chain, what advice would you give it?(10 marks)

c)Explain some other reasons why '' making decision '' was undertaken to improve supply chain main management at Starbucks? (10 marks)

Total 25 Marks