INVENTORY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

Activity Objective

The objective of this discussion is to aid you in mastering the following course competencies:

• Develop innovative and sustainable solutions to strategic and global operations management challenges.
• Apply theories, models, and practices of global operations management to address business problems.

More specifically, you will:

• Develop approaches to operations management to respond appropriately to strategic business needs.
• Formulate solutions to inventory management problems.

Activity Instruction

For this discussion, refer to Chapter 13 of your Operations Management: Creating Value Along the Supply Chain textbook, and review the case study Scientific Glass, Inc.: Inventory Management (2011) by Wheelwright and Schmidt. Respond to the following questions:

1. Identify the two basic decisions addressed by inventory management and discuss why the responses to these decisions differ for continuous and periodic inventory systems.
2. What were the problems facing Scientific Glass, Inc. in January 2010?
3. How much external funding would have to been raised in 2010 in order to finance operations?
4. How do Scientific Glass, Inc.'s problems illustrate the relationship between the number of warehouses and inventory levels?
5. What alternatives are available for dealing with the inventory problems? How would you evaluate the alternatives?
6. What actions should Eva Beane have proposed to Eric Gregory and Melissa Hayes?