Helping Hand Questions for L4M7

Explanation

Delphi method is a structured forecasting technique using a panel of experts and a number of rounds of questioning. Responses are shared after each round and the experts encouraged to recon-sider their own responses. It is intended to achieve a consensus view.

Explanation

Dependent demand is the requirement for stock item which is directly related to and therefore de-pendent upon the rate of production (examples are: raw materials, components, energy).

Independent demand is the requirement for stock item which is not directly related to, and is therefore independent of rate of production.

'Number of independent demand items may be derived from the forecast': Although independent demand is called thus, it can still be influenced by economic factors external to the demand-supply model such as general consumer sentiment and consumers' available disposal income. However, businesses that need to predict the number of products with independent demand needed to sate their customers have it easier than businesses that must calculate the demand for products with dependent demand because there are fewer factors to consider.

'Dependent demand items are not directly correlated with production rate': As mentioned above, dependent demand items are directly correlated with production rate.

'All indirect supplies are independent demand items': Though most indirect supplier are inde-pendent demand, some are determined by the production rate, i.e. energy consumption of a major machinery.

'Car engine is an example of independent demand items in a car assembly plant': Car engine is a component in car which is the finished good of a car assembly plant, it is a dependent demand item.

LO 2, AC 2.1

Explanation

A 'U' flow occurs when the goods receipt and dispatch functions are located at the same end of a warehouse building.

Products flow in at receiving, move in to storage in the back of the warehouse, and then to shipping, which is located at the adjacent to receiving on the same side of the building.

Items with higher throughput level are located closer to the loading bays. An example of a 'U' flow design can be seen in the diagram below.

Diagram Description automatically generated

Advantages of 'U' Flow

- Excellent utilization of dock resources because the receiving and shipping processes can share dock doors

- Facilitating cross-docking because the receiving and shipping docks are adjacent to one another and may be co-mingled

- Excellent lift truck utilization because put away and retrieval trips are easily combined and be-cause the storage locations closest to the receiving and shipping docks are natural locations to house fast moving items

- Yields excellent security because there is a single side of the building used for entry and exit