CIPS L4M7 Whole Life Asset Management Exam Practice Test

Explanation

Holding extra stocks will always improve customer service levels, or at least reduce the risk of them falling. This implies that if an organisation aims at higher service levels, they should have larger safety stock. However, increasing safety stock is not the only solution to improve service level. The widespread adoption of just-in-time (JIT) techniques particularly in the automotive industry has greatly reduced costs with increased service levels as well as the additional benefit of increased problem visibility.

The correct answer should be 'A safety stock is not always required to achieve a required service level'.

Explanation

Net present value (NPV) is the 'today' net value that deprives from 'future' cash flow of an invest-ment or a capital purchase.

The following formula is used to calculate NPV

Chart Description automatically generated with low confidence

Where:

Rt is the net cash flow (cash inflow - cash outflow) during the period t

i is the discount rate

t is the number of time periods

As you can conclude from the above formula, the net present value increases when the numerators (net cash flows) increase and/or denominators (1+i) decrease. So the correct answer should be "Net cash flow during a time period increases"

The purpose of this exercise is to help you identify the factors that influence the net present value and how to increase/decrease NPV in real-world scenario.

Explanation

The ISO 14000 family of standards are developed by ISO Technical Committee ISO/TC 207 and its various subcommittees. For a full list of published standards in the series see their standards catalogue. ISO 14001 provides requirements with guidance for use that relate to environmental systems. Other standards in the family focus on specific approaches such as audits, communications, labelling and life cycle analysis, as well as environmental challenges such as climate change.

ISO 27000 family of standards concerns information technology, with the goal of improving security and protecting company assets. Started in 2005, the two most popular standards are ISO 27001:2013 and 27002:2013. 27001 is management-based system, whereas 27002 is a technical document, focused on the individual and putting a code of conduct in place. Organizations can choose either standard; ISO 27001 has over 22,000 certifications worldwide. It is a broad standard, and for this reason the certification can be customized to fit the needs of the organization, and is not mandatory.

ISO 22000 sets out the requirements for a food safety management system and can be certified to it. It maps out what an organization needs to do to demonstrate its ability to control food safety hazards in order to ensure that food is safe. It can be used by any organization regardless of its size or position in the food chain.

ISO 9001 is a family of quality management standards, there are fourteen in total. Of these, ISO 9001:2015 is the only one that can be certified to. It was first published in 1987, and has since been updated about every 7 years. The standard details how to put a Quality Management System (QMS) in place to better prepare your organization to produce quality products and services. It is customerfocused, and places an emphasis on continuous improvement and top management processes that extended throughout the organization.

Explanation

According to L4M7 study guide, acquisition costs in procurement are the costs associated with the activities involved in a purchase. A buying organisation incurs acquisition costs in low-value purchases as well as high-value purchases. The following purchases tend to have lower acquisition costs:

- Straight re-buy from a current supplier

- Purchase of standard catalogued products

Otherwise, any purchases of high value, high-risk items generally require greater attention of buying organisation and thus, they are likely to have higher acquisition costs. Spot purchase of a technically complexed machinery, Purchase of ERP system and Procurement of construction projects are examples of high-value, high-risk purchases.

Explanation

If the planning and mitigation measures fail and redundant or obsolete stock is identified, it needs to be removed from the current inventory location as quickly as possible. There are some methods to dealwith these types of stock. The worst case scenario is disposal to landfill, which is inadvisable if it can be avoided, both from environment point of view and the financial costs of such disposal.

For example, the problem of obsolete pesticides remains extremely serious and urgent. Many of the stocks identified continue to deteriorate thereby giving rise to an ever escalating source of severe pollution and posing a threat to human health, the environment and development in particular. To reduce the impact of obsolete pesticides on environment, FAO initiated a project in Yemen in which a total of 262 tonnes of obsolete pesticides were removed from 20 different sites and successfully disposed of between March and June 1996. The major field operation was completed in six weeks during which period almost all obsolete pesticides were brought to a central location and subsequently shipped to the United Kingdom for incineration.

Explanation

Radio frequency identification (RFID) are items which use radio technology to identify itself and its location subject to having appropriate hardware and software.

RFID tags are made of three different components: an RFID chip, which is an integrated circuit (IC), an antenna, and a substrate.

A RFID Reader is a device that uses radio-frequency waves to wirelessly transfer data between itself and a RFID tag/label in order to identify, categorize and track assets. When combined with the right RFID software, a RFID reader can identify objects quicker, more accurately, at a reduced overall cost, and at various points of the object’s lifecycle.

Passive RFID systems use tags with no internal power source and instead are powered by the electromagnetic energy transmitted from an RFID reader. Passive RFID tags are used for applica-tions such as access control, file tracking, race timing, supply chain management, smart labels, and more.

Active RFID systems have three essential parts – a reader or interrogator, antenna, and a tag. Ac-tive RFID tags possess their own power source – an internal battery that enables them to have ex-tremely long read ranges as well as large memory banks.

Explanation

Tail Spend is derived from ABC Analysis, Class A high value suppliers, Tail Spend is formed from class B & C suppliers, equates to 20% of the total spend, B is Mid Tail and C is Long tail. Effective Spend Analysis and tail spend management, ensures that procurement can focus on creating an optimum and efficient sourcing strategy.

Procurement Spend Analysis

Procurement organisations effectively identify and manage suppliers using a sourcing strategy. Tail suppliers normally have low strategic value and makes the category management, very difficult . SpendAnalysis and Category Management are very closely aligned, Spend Analysis including ABC, provides the category manager, with spend visibility.

Spend Analysis and procurement metrics are used to create category plans, build supplier relation-ships, to maintain service levels and deliver the best possible price and quality for goods and ser-vices bought. The acquisition of Spend data and subsequent Spend Analysis, provides Category Managers access to a well-structured procurement process,

Explanation

Material requirement planning (MRP) is a production planning and material (inventory) control system used in manufacturing. Objectives of MRP are to ensure materials are available for production while minimising inventory and to plan production and procurement activities.

MRP process is described in the graph below:

Text Description automatically generated

Explanation

It would be really convenient if we could just hand our products directly to the customers, but that’s not possible. Packaging needs to be done for several reasons. Here are some of the most prominent ones:

1. Safety: Packaging is used to keep your product safe from external factors. It also prevents human tampering. If you want to sell fruit juice, you just can’t hand it over to customers. It should be packaged in something, like a stand up pouch.

2. Brand visibility: You provide the best product in your category and you want your customers to remember that. How else will you do that without using the right kind of creative food packaging?

3. Bundling it together: If you want to sell an ounce of something, you need to create a packet so that the right amount is bundled together.

4. Theft prevention: If you sell your product loose, there are chances that the retailer doesn’t give the right amount to the customer and saves some part for himself. There are other cases too where theft can be done in the absence of packaging.

Apart from these four, there are many other reasons why you should package your products.

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

RFID tags are made of three different components: an RFID chip, which is an integrated circuit (IC), an antenna, and a substrate. RFID Antennas are necessary elements in an RFID system be-cause they convert the RFID reader’s signal into RF waves that can be picked up by RFID tags. Without some type of RFID antenna, whether integrated or stand-alone, the RFID reader cannot properly send and receive signals to RFID tags.

Explanation

In inventory management, service level is the expected probability of not hitting a stock-out during the next replenishment cycle or the probability of not losing sales.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) can be used to analyse data based on performance objectives and set actionable goals for improvement. KPIs can be developed in conjunction with suppliers as well as others, and can be used to measure the essential elements of the process.

Safety stock is the amount of inventory a business needs to have to achieve a certain level of risk mitigation when it comes to stockouts.

Reorder level (or reorder point) is the inventory level at which a company would place a new order or start a new manufacturing run.

Explanation

ABC analysis is an approach for classifying inventory items based on the items’ consumption val-ues. Consumption value is the total value of an item consumed over a specified time period, for example a year. The approach is based on the Pareto principle to help manage what matters and is applied in this context:

- A items are goods where annual consumption value is the highest. Applying the Pareto principle (also referred to as the 80/20 rule where 80 percent of the output is determined by 20 percent of the input), they comprise a relatively small number of items but have a relatively high consumption value. So it’slogical that analysis and control of this class is relatively intense, since there is the greatest potential to reduce costs or losses.

- B items are interclass items. Their consumption values are lower than A items but higher than C items. A key point of having this interclass group is to watch items close to A item and C item classes that would alter their stock management policies if they drift closer to class A or class C. Stock management is itself a cost. So there needs to be a balance between controls to protect the asset class and the value at risk of loss, or the cost of analysis and the potential value returned by reducing class costs. So, the scope of this class and the inventory management policies are determined by the estimated cost-benefit of class cost reduction, and loss control systems and processes.

- C items have the lowest consumption value. This class has a relatively high proportion of the total number of lines but with relatively low consumption values. Logically, it’s not usually cost-effective to deploy tight inventory controls, as the value at risk of significant loss is relatively low and the cost of analysis would typically yield relatively low returns.

LO 2, AC 2.1

Explanation

Organisations often create their own stock keeping unit (SKU) numbering system, which may or may not have a meaningful structure. Stock keeping unit is a number that is assigned to a product for the purpose of inventory management and is of tracking. In other words, a stock keeping unit is a unique identifier assigned to each product for easier and more efficient record keeping.

An FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) product code describes a specific product and contains a combination of five to seven numbers and letters. The product code submitted with each FDA line item should match the actual product name and/or invoice description of the product.

The International Standard Book Number is a numeric commercial book identifier which is in-tended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.

The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, also known as the Harmonized System (HS) of tariff nomenclature is an internationally standardized system of names and numbers to classify traded products.

Explanation

Work in progress is the stock part-way through a manufacturing process; in the service sectors the term is also used for anything between order and delivery.

Explanation

Below is a formula from Toyota you can use to make an informed decision.

1. Start with the basic right-angle stacking width

2. Add the load length

3. Add 12 inches for clearance

The basic right-angle stacking width is the smallest amount of space a forklift needs turn in order to insert its forks into a pallet. You can find basic right-angle stack measurements in the equipment manual or by contacting TMHNC if your business is located in Northern California. This measurement does not include the length of the load or room need for clearance.

Load lengths vary depending on your application, products, etc. As a starting point, a standard pallet has a 48-inch load length. Always check your forklift’s data plate for the rated capacity (which is affected by attachments and other factors).

Adding 12 inches for clearance ensures you have enough room for your forklift’s turn radius and helps protect against damage from operator error and/or product that may hang over the edge of the pallet.

Explanation

Many codes have integrated check digits. These are additional numbers or characters added to codes that a computer uses to verify the number is valid. The intention is to reduce the likelihood of miskeying an item and hitting an alternative live item. More often, a system is devised which a computer can calculate using combination of numbers.

Barcode is a graphic symbol used to convey data. Typically the characters in a barcode symbol consist of bars/space pattern. Barcode is the method of representing data in a visual, machine-readable form. Initially barcodes represented data by varying the width and spacing of parallel lines.

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects.

A prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word or a string. A product code may have prefix which indicates its group, country, origins, etc.

Explanation

Net present value (NPV) is the 'today' net value that deprives from 'future' cash flow of an invest-ment or a capital purchase. Net Present Value is a helpful tool for assessing the total lifetime value of an investment. Procurement professionals or investors can base on this value to make decision to achieve value for money. Generally, an organisation should select the offer which has the highest NPV among their options. Preferably, the NPV of an capital investment should be positive, which means the investment eventually adds value to the business.

Explanation

Consignment stock is stock legally owned by one party, but held by another, meaning that the risk and rewards regarding to the said stock remains with the first party while the second party is re-sponsible for distribution or retail operations. Ownership of consignment stock is passed only when the stock is used (issued or sold in the case of a shop). Unused stock in a warehouse may be returned to the supplier when it concerns standard manufactured products. With customer specific items, agreements concerning returning products, should be negotiated.

Explanation

Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) is a business model where the buyer of a product provides in-formation to a vendor of that product and the vendor takes full responsibility for maintaining an agreed inventory of the material, usually at the buyer's consumption location.

Floor-Ready Merchandise can be defined as the merchandise that is pre-tagged, pre ticketed and pre-occupied with all the necessary details and information such as marked to their specifications for style, size, type, color and price, this information is required in the retail store and is done before it reaches the retail store.

Economic order quantity (EOQ) is the ideal order quantity a company should purchase to minimize inventory costs such as holding costs, shortage costs, and order costs. This production-scheduling model was developed in 1913 by Ford W. Harris and has been refined over time. The formula assumes that demand, ordering, and holding costs all remain constant.

The full definition of reverse logistics, as according to The Council of Logistics Management, is the process of implementing, controlling, and planning the cost-effective flow of finished goods, raw materials, and in-process inventory. The flow is from the point of consumption (i.e. the customer) to the point of origin (i.e. the manufacturer), to properly dispose of these or to recapture value.

In the scenario, XYZ solves the current situation by letting the supplier to management the inventory and sharing stock level information with the supplier. Vendor managed inventory is the most suitable answer.

Explanation

The core idea of lean manufacturing is actually quite simple…relentlessly work on eliminating waste from the manufacturing process. Waste is defined as any activity that does not add value from the customer’s perspective. According to research conducted by the Lean Enterprise Research Centre (LERC), fully 60% of production activities in a typical manufacturing operation are waste – they add no value at all for the customer.

On the other hand, agile manufacturing places an extremely strong focus on rapid response to the customer – turning speed and agility into a key competitive advantage.

Explanation

Decisions regarding stores and warehouse locations involve a complex range of issues that are unique to each business. Most storage facilities and location decisions are based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis.

Qualitative analysis uses subjective judgment to analyze a situation based on non-quantifiable in-formation, such as potential markets for new products, forecast on possible risks that may happen, etc.

Quantitative analysis (QA) is a technique that uses mathematical and statistical modeling, meas-urement, and research to understand behavior. Quantitative analysts represent a given reality in terms of a numerical value. This may include the following:

- Cost analysis for the current premises and future predictions based on current premises

- Cost analysis for routine operations

- Current inventory performance measures: lead times, service levels, rate of stock turn, stock-outs in a given period and stock cover

To get a big picture of current situation and future demands, organisation should combine both qualitative and quantitative methods so that useful information is achieved and well-informed decisions are made.

Explanation

Where stock turn (inventory turnover) is low and there are potential risks of redundancy or obsolescence, the buying organisation may adopt vendor owned stock. In this system, a supplier (vendor) maintains a stock of items ready to be used at the point of customer consumption. The supplier owns the stock until it is used by the purchaser; only then is the purchaser invoiced for it.

Just in case and larger safety stock would significantly increase the stock level, which may cause redundancy or obsolescence.

Forrester effect (or Bullwhip effect) is a distribution channel phenomenon in which forecasts yield supply chain inefficiencies. It refers to increasing swings in inventory in response to shifts in customer demand as one moves further up the supply chain.

Explanation

ABC analysis is applied to stock and its management. It is based loosely on the Pareto principles, better known as 80/20 rule. Pareto principle is the theory that 80% of outcome results from 20% of inputs. For example, 80% of sales are to the top 20% of customers; 80% of spend on inventory is accounted for by the top 20% of stock items.

The ABC concept is based on Pareto's law. The following steps are carried out for the ABC analy-sis.

- Step 1: Compute the annual usage value for every item in the sample by multiplying the annual requirements by the cost per unit.

- Step 2: Arrange the items in descending order of the usage value calculated above.

- Step 3: Make a cumulative total of the number of items and the usage value.

- Step 4: Convert the cumulative total of the number of items and usage values into a percentage of their grand totals.

- Step 5: Draw a graph connecting cumulative % items and cumulative % usage value. The graph is divided approximately into three segments, where the curve sharply changes its shape. This indicates the three segments A, B and C.

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

Explanation

Temporary warehousing (or 'Very short-term warehousing') is offered in the market where organ-isation makes their requirements for space open online to offers or bids for available space. This appears to be an emerging market and service providers in the UK and USA typically quote a price per pallet per week with some also requiring a 'transaction fee' for movements of each pallet in and out.

Consignment stocking is a facility offered by a supplier to a buyer to allow a delivery of stock to the buyer with payment only after it is used or sold to a customer.

Double-deep pallet racking and carousel-style storage are two tools that leverage space within a warehouse:

Double-deep pallet rack

Carousel style storage

Explanation

Material requirement planning (MRP) is a production planning and material (inventory) control system used in manufacturing. Objectives of MRP are to ensure materials are available for production while minimising inventory and to plan production and procurement activities.

MRP software combines the master production schedule, the bill of materials and the inventory information to work out the net requirements (net MRP) of what to purchase or produce and when.

These net requirements are worked out using the following equation:

Net requirements = Total requirements - Available inventory

Where:

Total requirement = Gross requirements (gross MRP)

Available inventory = Inventory on hand + Units on order

In the other words, Gross MRP = Net MRP + Available inventory, so the answer should be "The gross MRP includes consideration of available inventory, whereas the net MRP does not"

LO 2, AC 2.3

Explanation

Obsolescent stock is stock, usually finished goods, which is in good condition and satisfactory working but for which demand is irreversibly falling towards zero. Once this demand reaches zero the stock can be considered 'obsolete'. It cannot be used or sold in its current state. Food ingredients (like candy canes) which are out of date are another example.

Explanation

For single items, an extra investment in inventory (higher levels of safety stock) will always in-crease customer service levels. Conversely, higher service levels imply larger quantities of safety stocks and an increased investment in inventory. (Procurement and Supply Chain Management - 9th Edition)

Explanation

In the scenario, the buying organisation (investment bank) must conduct various types of testing before the deployment of the software system. These tests can be functional testing, factory ac-ceptance testing and/or user acceptance testing. The costs for all these types of testing are classified as acquisition costs with regards of total cost of ownership.

Explanation

Total productive maintenance (TPM) is an innovative concept in the manufacturing industry that evolved from the idea of preventive maintenance to adopt practices of productive maintenance, maintenance prevention, and reliability Engineering. What we now refer to as TPM, has become aningenious approach to achieve overall equipment effectiveness by involving the workforce behind the machines (i.e. the operators).

8 pillars of TPM

1) 5S - Sort, straighten, shine, standardize, and sustain

Just like a physical structure starts with a grounded framework, building a strong TPM process requires a strong foundation in the form of the principles of 5S. This is a workplace organization method that is simplified into 5 basic steps:

Sort tools, equipment, and materials to identify which of these can be discarded

Straighten and set things in proper order to reduce unnecessary motion and efficiently travel be-tween working groups and locations

Shine refers to performing necessary housekeeping to clean up the work area

Standardize and schedule activities to systematically form the habits to keep the workplace orga-nized

Sustain the process and principles for long-term applications

The 5S approach provides a systematic approach to cleaning the workplace, thereby uncovering underlying problems and challenges.

2) Autonomous maintenance

Maintenance tasks and caring for equipment should start with the people using the equipment. The empowerment of operators to work on small maintenance tasks effectively allows the maintenance teams to focus on more specialized assignments.

3) Continuous improvement

Also known as the Japanese term Kaizen, Continuous Improvement promotes the attitude of pro-gressing towards zero losses and zero defects. Through small but continual tweaks to processes, the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the organization is developed.

4) Planned maintenance

Planned maintenance activities are essential to the prevention of equipment breakdown. Planned maintenance is performed by periodically evaluating the condition of equipment to proactively prevent deterioration and mechanical failures.

5) Quality maintenance

To ensure the satisfaction of the customer, manufacturing processes aim for zero-defect production. Standards for superior quality, and checks on whether the standards are being met, should be in place. The goal of quality maintenance is to identify any possible causes of deviations from zero-defect production.

6) Training

The idea of TPM is that everyone does their part to contribute to the overall productivity of the production process. In order to achieve optimum performance, and to build each member’s competence, proper training is required to equip each one with the theoretical and practical know-how of working with machines and equipment.

7) Office TPM

A key role that is often overlooked is the administrative department that works behind the scenes. Like the rest of the production teams and processes, the management and administrative functions are also subject to productivity improvement. Tins includes identifying and eliminating losses, and contributing to the overall performance of the plant.

8) Safety, health, and environment

The last of the eight pillars focuses on creating a safe workplace. The essence of this pillar is real-ized when actively applied to each of the other pillars. The successful implementation of this pillar will contribute to a secure and hazard-free workplace.

Explanation

The normal breakdown in a manufacturing organisation would be raw materials, components, work in progress and finished goods.

Following are the different types of inventory:

Raw materials are the basic materials that a manufacturing company buys from its suppliers, and that is used by the former to convert them into the final products by applying a set of manufacturing processes. For example, aluminum scrap is the raw material for a company that produces aluminum ingots. Flour is the raw material for a company that produces bread or pizza. Similarly, metal parts and ingots are the raw materials bought by a company that manufactures cars, and crude oil is the raw material for an oil refinery.

Work in progress inventory can also be called semi-finished goods. They are the raw materials that have been taken out of the raw materials store and are now undergoing the process of their conversion into the final products. These are the partly processed raw materials lying on the production floor. And they have also not reached the stage where they have been converted into the final product.

Finished goods are indeed the final products obtained after the application of the manufacturing processes on the raw materials and the semi-finished goods discussed above in the article. They are saleable, and their sale contributes fully to the revenue from the core operations of the company.

Explanation

Raw materials are basic input materials - they are only processed limitedly or have not been pro-cessed at all. Their values are equal to acquisition cost and are the lowest value of stock held.

Secondary components are the products that are combined with others to produce the finished goods. They are acquired in the processed state. Their value is higher than raw materials, but still at acquisition cost.

Work in progress is the stock part-way through manufacture that has not been finished. It is typically not completed yet, so it doesn't have full value. But the costs of processing already carried out makes it more valuable than materials and components.

Finished goods are completed and ready to be used or sold. Finished goods are the most expensive and need to be stored in good conditions.

Explanation

Price setting mechanisms fall into two main categories: fixed and variable. A fixed price mecha-nism is a straightforward concept which typically results in a relatively stable budget that can be forecast. Variable mechanisms have an element of variable pricing per unit bought.

Setting a fixed price mechanism is in theory a relatively simple and straightforward concept, where the collector and the buyer agree on a fixed price for a specific material or mix of materials, for a certain length of time.

All other pricing mechanisms that are not fixed have an element of variable pricing per unit bought.

The most common variable pricing mechanisms can be divided into two groups:

1. Where the benefit accruing to the buyer from acquiring the material is used to calculate what the payment to the seller should be; or Approaches to Materials Sales: A guide for local authorities

2. Where the price paid is indexed to a published source of market price information. The above scenario demonstrates variable pricing mechanism using published sources on inflation rate and exchange rate. CIPS also refers this mechanism as adjustable prices.

Explanation

Lean thinking aims to remove wastes from work processes. Before diving into the 8 wastes, it is important to understand what waste is. Waste is any action or step in a process that does not add value to the customer. In other words, waste is any process that the customer does not want to pay for.

The original seven wastes (Muda) was developed by Taiichi Ohno, the Chief Engineer at Toyota, as part of the Toyota Production System (TPS). The seven wastes are Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Overproduction, Overprocessing and Defects. They are often referred to by the acronym ‘TIMWOOD’. The 8th waste of non-utilized talent or ‘Skills’ of workers was later introduced in the 1990s when the Toyota Production System was adopted in the Western world. As a result, the 8 wastes are commonly referred to as ‘TIMWOODS’.

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Source: The lean way

Multiple approval levels for a small purchase request is an example of over-processing since this adds more unnecessary work to users and procurement professionals.

Explanation

Direct and indirect costs of holding inventory include the following:

- Acquisition costs: preparing the requisition, supplier selection and approvals, time and costs of the procurement process, etc.

- Holding costs

- Costs of stockouts

LO 2, AC 2.2

Explanation

JIT, often referred to as the Toyota production system (TPS), originated in Toyota’s manufacturing plants in Japan in the early 1970s. It was first introduced by the organisation's owner, Taiichi Ohno. The prime goal of JIT is the achievement of zero inventories.

The just-in-time objectives of eliminating waste can be summarised in the 'five zeros: zero defects, zero set-up times, zero inventories, zero handling and zero lead times.

Explanation

Warehouse dock is a feature of warehouse design - used for unloading and loading vehicles. It is crucial to carefully design where they are externally located in a facility and choose the best type of dock depending on the available space.

In many cases efficient and effective loading and unloading is achieved by a dock design that places the loading and unloading vehicle' rear platform at the same height as the warehouse floor.

Slopes in docking areas must always be as small as possible: the gentler the slope, the less chance of errors and accidents. If a warehouse is going to be used by large volume vehicles, such as high cubes, it may be necessary to install special devices, such as hydraulically adjustable docks or ground level lift platforms.

Current trends indicate that vehicles that are longer and wider and have a greater volume will be increasingly common. Therefore, when planning the location of the docks, it would be useful to ensure that there is a large area for the approach, manoeuvring and build-up of large vehicles.

One option to increase the efficiency of the docks is to combine reception and dispatch into a single area (dual use). This solution drastically reduces costs and, above all, increases the use of handling equipment and personnel. However, if this is justified by the volume of material flows, there can also be separate access points for each function (some for reception and others for dispatch - 'sole use').

Explanation

Implementing a full ERP system is not an easy option. They are complex systems and the disad-vantages include the following:

- The installation of the ERP system is costly. ERP consultants are very expensive take approxi-mately 60% of the budget.

- The success depends on the skills and experience of the workforce, including education and how to make the system work properly.

- Resistance in sharing internal information between departments can reduce the efficiency of the software.

- The systems can be difficult to use.

- Change of staff, companies can employ administrators who are not trained to manage the ERP system of the employing company, proposing changes in business practices that are not synchro-nized with the system.

- Having an ERP system has many advantages, but does not guarantee the total success of the company. Organizational culture, know how to involve staff and anticipate changes that will suffer the organization using this system of administration, are important elements for the completion of the implementation.

- The effectiveness of the ERP system may decrease if there is resistance to share information be-tween business units or departments. Due to strong changes that implementation of the ERP system brings in the culture of work, there may be poorly trained or disinterested in making use of the same staff...

- The benefits of having an ERP system are not presented immediately with the implementation of the software, they will be evident long after the system is running.

- The culmination of the implementation depends on the ability and skill of the workforce, also involves education and training, to make the system is correctly applied.

Explanation

The most common subjective forecasting techniques include the following:

- Market surveys

- Employee surveys

- Expert knowledge (Delphi method is a method using expert knowledge)

- Test marketing

Cycle counting is a periodic analysis of inventory in a storage location which is conducted through the counting of samples instead of physically counting the entire inventory available, so as to quickly have an accurate estimate of the inventory available without causing a stop to the day to day working as is the case with physically counting every unit.

The Pareto principle (also known as the 80/20 rule, the law of the vital few, or the principle of fac-tor sparsity) states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

Weighted moving averages assign a heavier weighting to more current data points since they are more relevant than data points in the distant past. The sum of the weighting should add up to 1 (or 100 percent).

Explanation

The triple bottom line is a sustainability framework that examines a company’s social, environment, and economic impact (or People, Planet, Profit).

Explanation

All risk management processes follow the same basic steps, although sometimes different jargon is used to describe these steps. Together these 5 risk management process steps combine to deliver a simple and effective risk management process.

Step 1: Identify the Risk. You and your team uncover, recognize and describe risks that might affect your project or its outcomes. There are a number of techniques you can use to find project risks. During this step you start to prepare your Project Risk Register.

Step 2: Analyze the risk. Once risks are identified you determine the likelihood and consequence of each risk. You develop an understanding of the nature of the risk and its potential to affect pro-ject goals and objectives. This information is also input to your Project Risk Register.

Step 3: Evaluate or Rank the Risk. You evaluate or rank the risk by determining the risk magni-tude, which is the combination of likelihood and consequence. You make decisions about whether the risk is acceptable or whether it is serious enough to warrant treatment. These risk rankings are also added to your Project Risk Register.

Step 4: Treat the Risk. This is also referred to as Risk Response Planning. During this step you assess your highest ranked risks and set out a plan to treat or modify these risks to achieve acceptable risk levels. How can you minimize the probability of the negative risks as well as enhancing the opportunities? You create risk mitigation strategies, preventive plans and contingency plans in this step. And you add the risk treatment measures for the highest ranking or most serious risks to your Project Risk Register.

Step 5: Monitor and Review the risk. This is the step where you take your Project Risk Register and use it to monitor, track and review risks.

Explanation

A cost-benefit analysis is a process businesses use to analyze decisions (such as capital investment). The business or analyst sums the benefits of a situation or action and then subtracts the costs associated with taking that action.

A cost-benefit analysis (CBA) should begin with compiling a comprehensive list of all the costs and benefits associated with the project or decision.

The costs involved in a CBA might include the following:

- Direct costs would be direct labor involved in manufacturing, inventory, raw materials, manufacturing expenses.

- Indirect costs might include electricity, overhead costs from management, rent, utilities.

- Intangible costs of a decision, such as the impact on customers, employees, or delivery times.

- Opportunity costs such as alternative investments, or buying a plant versus building one.

- Cost of potential risks such as regulatory risks, competition, and environmental impacts.

Benefits might include the following:

- Revenue and sales increases from increased production or new product.

- Intangible benefits, such as improved employee safety and morale, as well as customer satisfaction due to enhanced product offerings or faster delivery.

- Competitive advantage or market share gained as a result of the decision.

An analyst or project manager should apply a monetary measurement to all of the items on the cost-benefit list, taking special care not to underestimate costs or overestimate benefits. A conservative approach with a conscious effort to avoid any subjective tendencies when calculating estimates is best suited when assigning a value to both costs and benefits for a cost-benefit analysis.

Finally, the results of the aggregate costs and benefits should be compared quantitatively to deter-mine if the benefits outweigh the costs. If so, then the rational decision is to go forward with the project. If not, the business should review the project to see if it can make adjustments to either increase benefits or decrease costs to make the project viable. Otherwise, the company should likely avoid the project.

Explanation

One-dimensional (or 1D) barcodes systematically represent data by varying the widths and spac-ings of parallel lines. These include some of the most traditional and well-recognized barcode types, such as the UPC and EAN codes. 1D barcodes are also commonly referred to as linear barcodes.

Two-dimensional (2D) barcodes look like squares or rectangles that contain many small, individual dots. QR codes, Data matrix and Aztec codes are examples of 2D barcodes

Numerical code contains all numbers, no letters

There are two different scan engine types (laser scanner versus imager) for interpreting the infor-mation provided in the barcode. Many companies producing the technology capable of reading the barcode data uses the term “scanning” regardless of the type of scan engine used. For the purposes of these FAQs, we are trying to draw a clearer distinction for you.

Linear (1D) codes can be scanned with a traditional laser scanner. A laser scan engine uses a laser and mirror to create the bar that scans the information. 1D barcode scanners will only interpret the linear barcode scanning technology. 1D barcode scanners are typically less expensive since the type of encryptions they can decode is limited.

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LO 1, AC 1.2