United Parcel Service (UPS) Worldport is the largest automated package handling facility in the world. More than 300 flights arrive and depart daily, and the hub processes roughly two million packages a day. The operation area of Worldport is 5.2 million square feet, while its sort capacity can be 416,000 packages per hour. The efficient operation relies on 33,245 high-speed conveyors reaching a length of 250 kilometres, 17,220 tilt trays within 19 loop sorters totalling four kilometres of track, as well as "smart labels" namely MaxiCode read by overhead cameras. MaxiCode is a machine-readable symbol system suitable for tracking and managing the shipment of packages. It resembles a barcode, but uses dots arranged in a hexagonal grid instead of bars, as shown below:

Management of Worldport expects the current turnover to increase by 10% to 20% in the next 1 to 3 years (UPS, 2017). You have been hired as an IT consultant to help UPS improve the efficiencies of the Worldport operations.

Compare the differences between MaxiCode and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies. You should formulate two (2) advantages and two (2) limitations of MaxiCode as well as two (2) advantages and two (2) limitations of RFID.

Worldport employs approximately 1,000 employees doing job types including forklift drivers and helpers, shifters moving containers between stations, tug drivers moving cargo from ramp to freight facilities, along with freight sorters and handlers. Recommend to management whether the RFID system needs to be introduced in order to improve labour efficiency.

A typical customer data flow of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system at Worldport is shown as follows:

One of the toughest challenges at Worldport is aggregating and cleansing data from various systems into a single repository or data warehouse. Appraise how RFID and Maxicode can improve the CRM system with single clean record for each customer. You should explain the aggregation and cleaning of data before the applications of RFID and MaxiCode.

SML Isuzu (SMLI) Ltd is a light commercial vehicle manufacturer based in India where foreign promoters, i.e., Japanese Sumitomo Corporation and Isuzu Motors, respectively have 44% and 15% shareholding, while local public organisations and individuals have 41% shareholding in the Company.

SMLI experienced lack of coordination, since each stage in the supply chain wanted to optimise its local objectives without considering the impact on global supply chain. Before SMLI utilised the information system to directly collect customers' orders online, they overproduced 18.38% vehicles in a fiscal year because of the bullwhip effect (Hasan et al., 2013).

(a) Show the importance of the bullwhip effect at SMLI. In your answer, you should explain the bullwhip effect and illustrate its consequences. Offer your views as to how the information system helped SMLI to reduce the impact of the bullwhip effect.

The outbound supply chain in SMLI extends from the factory to the zone offices, the dealers, and then ultimate customers. An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system and a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system were adopted to coordinate all aspects of SML's supply chain so as to improve operations. Examine two (2) potential risks of ERP implementation at SMLI.

Suggest one (1) possible strategy to help SMLI management reduce the risks of implementing the ERP system.

Consider the organisation that you are currently working for or one that you are familiar with. This organisation should be involved in the storage or transport of products by land, air or sea modes, and should highly value the ability to track and trace the shipments for its customers. You have been tasked to relate suitable asset tracking technologies that can enable (or has enabled) this organisation to improve its security, efficiencies, and visibility of operations.

(a) Relate this organisation you have chosen in terms of the supply chain it supports and the role that it plays in the supply chain.

(5 marks)

(b) The control tower provides the capability for tracking information and product flows along with costs by monitoring critical processes in the supply chain. Discuss the functions of a control tower. Your answer should include three (3) functions.

(9 marks)

(c) Although an integrated information system improves the operation efficiencies in the supply chain, companies are suspicious about new technologies and hesitant to share data with other parties. Particularly, issues such as information security arise with the use of data exchanges. Evaluate three (3) advantages and one (1) risk of implementing blockchain technology.

Mobile e-commerce in Singapore expected to surpass US$850M in 2017

Slower economic outlook or not, more than a third (38%) of online adults in Singapore interviewed in a 2016 study by PayPal say they will be spending more online this year, largely attributing it to the convenience it brings. Notably, another 78 percent who predicated an increase in their online spend also cited convenience as the reason.

Specifically, survey results showed that Singaporeans are turning their attention to spending on day-to-day items, with predicted growth for household goods (21%), groceries, food and beverage, and alcohol (15%), and baby and children's supplies (12%) topping the list.

Results indicate an increasing growth in mobile spend as Singaporeans spend more time on their mobile devices, with mobile shopping spend predicted to increase by 42 percent this year over 2016. This amounts to more than S$1.2 billion (US$848M), almost a third of the forecasted total online spend of S$3.5 billion in the country.

Source:https://www.enterpriseinnovation.net/article/mobile-e-commerce-singapore- expected-surpass-us850m-2017-131396547

(a) The growth in online shopping continues unabated. This poses great challenges for logistics service providers engaged in the last-mile delivery. From the service provider's perspective, recommend two (2) feasible solutions that may be used to overcome the challenges of last-mile delivery for goods and services ordered online.

(13 marks)

(b) An appropriate navigation system assists in accurate and efficient last mile delivery in e-commerce in which destinations are widely spread out due to numerous end customers. The invisible costs including complaints of late delivery, fuel costs in finding destinations, redundant capacities of vehicles and incomplete deliveries, become a nightmare for traditional 3PL operators.

Propose two (2) applications of geographic information system (GIS) and two (2) applications of global positioning system (GPS) technologies for planning and executing physical distribution services in a supply chain.