Question

Supply Chain

1 Aims

The aim of this question is for you analyse the Bullwhip and examine it in relation to issues in Service and Supply Chain Management.

2. Goal

For this question, you should submit

A written report of maximal 1250 words

You might include diagrams from the excel figures in the report and additionally submit the excel file.

Credit will be given for

A thorough Analyses of the beer game data (Part 1) (3)

Interpretation of the results and exploration beyond material presented in this module (3) A clear structure and clarity (1)

Part 1: Interpretation of the beer game (See Data in Excel File - http://www.filedropper.com/beergamedata​ )

Analyse the provided beer game data using Excel. In doing so, you might follow these steps:

a.     Plot the orders for every supply chain role in one graph (x-axis: weeks, y-axis: orders, all four roles in one graph).

b.     Plot the inventory (backorder is negative inventory - x-axis: weeks, y-axis: inventory/backorder, all four roles in one graph)

Plot the cumulative costs (x-axis: weeks, y-axis: cost, all four roles in one graph)

Discuss the data:

1.     Using your analysis, what do you observe about the degree of fluctuation in the order quantity (and inventory levels) for each role? Explain the effect you observe (refer to your data plots).

What do you think contributes to this effect?

3.     What are the implications for the retailer and the factory at the two ends of the supply chain, e.g. how does it affect their business in real life?

Answer 1

1. Degree of fluctuation:

	Variance (Degree of Fluctuation)
	Order	Inventory	Net Inventory	Backorder
Retailer	56.4	27.5	735.9	582.5
Wholesaler	69.2	30.0	2623.3	2251.1
Distributor	231.1	33.8	1499.3	1223.3
Factory	296.5	306.5	1499.3	358.8

The degree of fluctuation has been increasing from retailer to factory which is also clear from the table of variance given above. The fluctuation in order of retailer, wholesaler and distributor is mainly due to backorder. But in the case of the factory, this fluctuation is explained by the inventory.