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Assignment 2: Inventory Management

(Due Week 8 and worth 300 points)

Research two (2) manufacturing or two (2) service companies that manage inventory and complete this assignment.

Write a six to eight (6-8) page paper in which you:

1. Determine the types of inventories these companies currently manage and describe their essential inventory characteristics.
2. Analyze how each of their goods and service design concepts are integrated.
3. Evaluate the role their inventory plays in the company’s performance, operational efficiency, and customer satisfaction.
4. Compare and contrast the four (4) different types of layouts (see pages 160 – 164 of the textbook) found with each company; explain the importance of the layouts to the company’s manufacturing or service operations.
5. Determine at least two (2) metrics to evaluate supply chain performance of the companies; suggest improvements to the design and operations of their supply chains based on those metrics.
6. Suggest ways to improve the inventory management for each of the companies without affecting operations and the customer benefit package. Provide a rationale to support the suggestion.
7. Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Evaluate the processes used in designing and producing goods and services.
• Determine four layout patterns and when they should be used.
• Utilize the concept of supply chain management.
• Employ the concept of capacity management.
• Evaluate the management of inventories and resources.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in operations management.
• Write clearly and concisely about operations management using proper writing mechanics.

In your report, you need to support your answers with at least 3 credible resources and cite them using the APA style.  Failure in including references or following the APA style will cost you some grade points.  I have prepared an APA template (to be posted in the week-4 area at the Blackboard site and emailed to you) for you to use.  Hopefully it could be helpful. 

I have made “Turn It In” available to you, and you need to submit your writing to check for plagiarism before you submit it to me.  You can log in the Web site at https://www.turnitin.com/newuser_type.asp and use class ID: 9763740 and the password is bus430spr15k.  You will earn zero grade point if you do not submit your assignment to “Turn It In” to check for plagiarism before you upload it to the Blackboard course shell. After the “Turn It In” report is generated, you need to read the report and revise your assignment as needed. You then submit your revised copy to “Turn It In” and generate a new report.  Repeat the process until you cite (paraphrase) or quote resources properly in your draft.  At the Web site of “Turn It In”, you need to use Resubmission Box 4, Resubmission Box 5, and Resubmission Box 6 when you resubmit your work because each box can accept your work only once. In general, you need to achieve a similarity index of 35% or lower. If you submit your assessment with a score higher than 35%, you will receive up to 60% of full credit points as the final result for your assessment provided that your plagiarism is unintentional and the first violation as well as you answer each question properly with the work done by others.  Therefore, if you can earn up to 300 points for the assignment, you may receive 180 points, depending on the situation.

Please submit your assignment to the Blackboard site (not by email) by 9:00 a.m. (EST), Monday, 6/1/15.  Quality work complied with this guideline is required to receive full credit; grade points will be deducted for poor quality or the lack of format and comprehensiveness. You will lose 40 points if this assignment is submitted within 7 days after the submission deadline and 80 points if it is submitted between 8 and 14 days after the submission date.  Any assignment submitted beyond 14 days from the due date is not acceptable, and you will receive a grade of zero. In your submission, please include your name and save your MS WORD file as “BUS430 Assignment 2 – Last Name”.  To be successful, you need to pay attention to details, do your best, and let me know if you have any questions.  Thank you.