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1.Explain how material flow information helps in work centre decision. Consider theexample of a shopping centre to illustrate your answer.

The decision which involves during uses of material flow information is mentioned belowby considering the example of a shopping centre:

A work center (E.g. Shopping Center) is a production facility comprising of one or moremachines and one or more workmen considered as a single unit for purposes of estimationof capacity. This shopping center may have a single operation/ process or a number ofthem conducted on the input items. In the pipeline of receiving the material to supplyingto customers, each work centers contribution is vital as materials are scheduled, routedand loads to be sent to it.

They are even considered as cash centers. Location trust means relative position ofdifferent centers so as to minimize the movement of materials, meet technologicalsequences, to reduce congestion, maximize throughput, improve part tracking ability andavoid repetitive movements. In addition another consideration is to provide for expansionof production

Each work center receives information along with material that enters it in a shoppingcenter; the material also leaves the shopping center with information. The route sheetcontains information about the material, process, quantities, and inspection procedures.Etc. the drawings or instructions tell the condition of the material of entry and therequired condition at exit

In this sense every operation consists of material transformation occurring on the basis ofinformation. Activities conducted are on the basis of information that flows with material.Different locations have to accommodate the constraints of the basis of darning maximums

benefit of the information that is available. Basically, each location is determined on thebasis of from and to: where does it receive material goes. Some centers have to close as amatter of necessity, some need not to be and some need to be as far away as possible.This aspect has been given a rating scale in terms of alphabets as under:

Absolutely necessary to be closeEssential to be closeImportant that they are closeOrdinary closenessUnimportant that they are close or not

Not desirable that the centers are close It can be seen that this is only a guide for Indian

location as the work centers as there will many competing factors that have to beaccommodated.

2 . What are the reasons for failure of a project? Give suitable examples.

Before knowing the reasons of failure we have to know about project. Project is a set ofactivities which are networked in order and aimed towards achieving goal of a project.

The reasons are project failure:

A. General

Incidence of Project failure Higher cost of capital Projects being initiated of random at all levels

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Project objective not in line with business objective Project management not observed Project manager with no prior experience in the related project Non- dedicated team Lack of complete support from clients Misuse of financial resources Business strategy superseded Overspends in excess of agreed budgets

A. Management Reasons Ability to adapt to new resource combinations Differences between management and client Insufficient risk management Insufficient end-user management Insufficient training of users Inappropriate procedures and routines Lack of management judgement

Lack of software development metrics Loss of key personnel Poor communication between stakeholders Poor contract management Poor financial management Project management capability Poor delegation and decision making Unfilled promises to users and other stakeholders

A. Technical reasons Inappropriate architecture Insufficient reuse of existing technical objects

Inappropriate testing tools Inappropriate coding language Inappropriate technical methodologies Lack of formal technical standards Lack of technical innovation (obsolescence) Misstatement of technical risk Obsolescence of technology Poor interface specifications Poor quality code Poor systems testing Poor data migration

Poor systems integration Poor configuration management Poor change management procedures Poor technical judgement

A. Factors contributing to project success not emphasized: Project objective in alignment with business objective Working within the framework of project management methodology Effective scoping planning, estimation, execution, controls and reviews,

project bottlenecks Communication and managing expectations effectively with clients, team

merits and stake holders

Prior expectance of PM in a similar project

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A.Overview of information and communication Technologies (ICT)project:

Involve information and communication technologies such as the worldwide web, e-mail, fibre-optics satellites

Enable societies to produce, access, adapt and apply information ingreater amount, more rapidly and at reduce costs Offer enormous opportunities for enhancing business and economicviability Common problems encountered during projects No prioritization of project activity from an organizational position One or more of the stages in the project mishandled Less qualified non-dedicated manpower Absence of smooth flow of communication between the involved parties

These basic reasons lead a project to failures. In the project failures business

management and project management is directly involved. From themanagement point of view it is basic things to care above topics to success of aproject. Project is the core business of a company

3.Explain the various phases in project management life cycle?

This is the initial phase of any project. In this phase information is collected from thecustomer pertaining to the project and the requirements are analyzed. The entire projecthas to be planned and it should be done in a strategic manner. The project managerconducts the analysis of the problem and submits a detailed report to the top projectjustification, details on what the problem is a method of solving the problem, list of theobjectives to be achieved, project budget and the success rate of completing the project.

The report must also contain information and the project feasibility, and the risksinvolved in the project.

Project management life cycle is the integrated part of management. It is attach withproject responsibility or failure of a project.

The important tasks of this phase are as follows:

Specification Requirements Analysis (SRA): It has to be conducted to determine theessential requirements of a project in order to achieve the target.

Feasibility study: To analyze whether the project is technically, economically andpractically feasible to be undertaken. Trade off analysis: To understand and examine the various alternatives which could beconsidered. Estimation: To estimate the project cost, effort requires for the project andfunctionality of various process in the project. System design: Choose a general design that can fusil the requirements. Project evolution: Evaluate the project in terms of expected profit, cost and risksinvolved marketing phase.

Phases in Project Management Life Cycle:

Marketing Phase:

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A project proposal is prepared by a group of people including the project manager. Thisproposal has to contain the strategies adopted to market the product to the customers.

Marketing phase This phase involves the study of inputs and outputs of the various project stages. Inputs received, consist of project feasibility study, preliminary project evaluationdetails, project proposal and customer interviews. Outputs produced, consist of system design specifications, functional specifications ofthe project, design specifications of the project and the project plan.

Execution Phase:In this phase the project manager and the team members work on the project objectivesas per the plan. At every stage during the execution reports are prepared.Control, Inspection, Testing & Delivery Phase:During this phase, the project team works under the guidance of the project manager. Theproject manager has to ensure that the team working under his, implements the project

designs accurately. The project has to be monitored or tracked through its cost,manpower and schedule. The project manager has to ensure ways of managing thecustomer, perform quality control work.

Closure and post completion analysis Phase

Upon satisfactory completion and delivery of the intended product or service the staffperformance has to be evaluated. Document the lessons from the project. Prepare thereports on project feedback analysis followed by the project execution report.

General practices involved in the above phases are:

The preparation stage involves the preparation and approval of project outline, projectplan and project budget.

The next stage involves selecting and briefing the project team about the proposalsfollowed by discussions on the roles and responsibility of the project member and theorganization.

The feasibility or research stage will establish whether the project is feasible or not andestablishes the risk factors likely to be faced during the course of project execution andthe related key factors to overcome the problems.

A detailed definition and plan for the project and its execution is prepared by the teamand coordinated by project Manager.

The final stage involves satisfactory delivery of the product/service to the customers.Upon completion of the project, review is to be conducted by the project team along withthe sponsors and customers to discuss about the progress, performance and hurdles.

4. What are the Seven Principles of SCM?

1.Group customer by needs- Effective SCM groups, customer by distinct service needs,

regardless of industry and then tailors services to those particular segments.

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2.Customize the logistic network- In designing their logistics network; companies need tofocus on the service requirement and profit of the customer segments identified.

3.Listen to signals of market demand and plan accordingly- Sales and operations plannersmust monitor the entire supply chain to detect early warning signals of changing customerdemand and needs. This demand driven approach leads to more consistent forecast andoptimal resource allocation.

4.Differentiate the product closer to the customer- companies today no longer can affordto stock pile inventory to compensate for possible forecasting errors. Instead, they needto postpone product differentiation in the manufacturing process closer to actualconsumer demand. This strategy allows the supply chain to respond quickly and costeffectively to change in customer needs.

5. Strategically manage the sources of supply- by working closely with their key suppliersto reduce the overall costs of owning materials and services; SCM maximizes profitmargins both for themselves and their suppliers.

6.Develop a supply chain wide technology strategy- as one of the cornerstones ofsuccessful SCM information technology must be able to support multiple levels of decisionmaking. It also should afford a clear view and ability to measure the flow of products,services and information.

7. Adopt channel spanning chain performance measures- Excellent supply chainperformance measurement system do more than just monitor internal functions. Theyapply performance criteria to every link in the supply chain-criteria that embrace bothservice and financial metrics, including each accounts profitability.

5.Explain what is meant by bullwhip effect and how it could be prevented?

An organisation will always have ups and downs. It is necessary that the managers of theorganisation keep track on the market conditions and analyze the changes. They must takedecisions on the resources and make necessary changes within the organisation to meetthe market demands. Failing to do so may result in wild swing in orders. This mayadversely affect functioning of the organisation resulting in lack of coordination and trustamong supply chain members. The changes may affect the information and may lead todemand amplification in the supply chain. The bullwhip effect is the uncertainty causedfrom distorted information flowing up and down the supply chain. This has its effect onalmost all the industries, poses a risk to firms that experience large variations in demand,and also those firms which are dependent on suppliers, distributors and retailers.

A bullwhip effect may also arise because of:a. Increase in the lead time of the project due to increase in variability of demand.b.Increase in the stocks to accommodate the increasing demand arising out of complicateddemand models and forecasting techniques.c. Reduced service levels in the organisation.d.Inefficient allocation of resources.e. Increased transportation costs.

Measures to prevent bullwhip effect:Bullwhip effect may be avoided by one or more of the following measures:a. Avoid multiple demand forecasting.

b.Breaking the single orders into number of batches of orders.

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c. Stabilising the prices, avoid the risk involved in overstocking by maintaining a properstock.d.Reduce the variability and uncertainty in Point Of Sale[POS] and sharing information.e. Reduce the lead time in the stages of the project.f. Always keep analysing the past figures and track current and future levels ofrequirements.g.Enhance the operational efficiency and outsourcing logistics to a capable and efficientagency.

5.What do you understand by line balancing? What is the importance of order pickingin material handling? Give suitable examples.

Line Balancing: Productivity increases when product moves the various operations towardcompletion without any holdovers. Balancing a variety of operation is the major concernwhich is addressed by design and allocation of machines at workstations.

Material handling has become one of the important functions of operations management

owing to the necessity of making them efficient and economical. The necessity is theoutcome of worldwide outsourcing and meeting demands of a global market. Assembliestake place at various locations and distribution is across the world. Many companies do nothave main stores at their manufacturing facilities. Suppliers deliver the requiredquantities to the places where they are required for further processing or assembly. Toreduce the inventory only required quantities have to be made and delivered atappropriate times.

This necessitates that the flow lines are smooth. Balancing flow lines, differentequipments to achieve the same is the objective of line balancing.

Production lines have a number of work enters in particular sequence so that the material

that gets processed has to move further without encountering any bottlenecks. Thequantities processed the rate of production at each centre, the number of operations andthe total production required are factors taken into account.

The purpose of balancing is to see that no shortages occur between work centres andminimum inventory gets created. The principles of Linear Programming, JIT and LeanManufacturing are used to achieve these.

The importance of order picking in material handling:

Order picking is a process by which items or products for which supply is to be made have

to be retrieved from specific storage locations. It is found to take 60% of labour activitiesin a warehouse. Since it is critical to the business to meet customers demands accurately,lot of attention is being given to this aspect of operations. In the manufacturing arena, wedesire to move towards small lot sizes, point of use delivery and cycle time reductions.Efficient order picking is necessary for being competitive. In the supply chain, storage,retrieval, and delivery do not add value to the product, but are necessary.

Types of equipments that help in bring efficiency to the process:

a. Horizontal Travel These are in the aisle, picker to part systems. The picker, a workerwalks or rides a vehicle and pickers the item or product and puts into the vehicle, orconveyor. The storage system could be pallet racks, shelves or gravity racks.

b.Person Abroad- In this system the picker is on a platform of a vehicle he can move up

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