In today’s context of intense global competition, customers (whether in the Western or the Eastern part of the world) are demanding more and more variety, with better quality and service at lowest cost. This means that in order to be successful, firms need to develop supply chain strategies and logistical capabilities that serve the needs of their customers whilst maximizing overall profitability.

Specific objectives:

On successfully completing this course you will be able to:

• Understand the importance of supply chain and its involved processes and actors
• Analyse the level of uncertainty associated with the supply of products and services to targeted customer segments and justify the choice of a supply chain strategy and its fit with competitive strategy.
• Explain the role of facilities, inventory, transportation and information as drivers of supply chain performance and the trade-offs associated with a responsive (agile) or efficient (lean) strategy.
• Understand the impact of lack of information sharing and coordination in the supply chain. Apply the principles of demand forecasting and inventory management. Analyze the way that demand management tools, such as pricing or promotion, can impact a company’s ability to ensure steady supply.
• Apply the principles of process involved in making a supply chain lean with less inventory
• Analyze key factors influencing the design of logistics networks.
• Recognize the importance of collaboration between supply chain partners, whether in a context of interdependence between two firms or in the context of network relationships.

At the end of the course, students should have the skills set to analyze an individual corporation’s current supply chain practices, to compare those with best industry practices and provide a road-map for improvement.

ORGANIZATION

Majority of these sessions of 90 Minutes will be divided into two parts:  Theoretical presentation and case study.

Participants will work in a groups decided in class. All exams, assignments, Quizzes would be done individually. The teaching approach includes a mix of exercises for applying the course concepts and case studies.

For each session, two groups of people will prepare the assigned case study questions and will expose and discuss with others the result of their work and viewpoint on a particular case.

All students should read the assigned text materials and cases before each session.

Case Preparation

Included in the course are few “Harvard like” cases and book case studies. You should thoroughly read the assigned article and cases before class.  Effective preparation of those materials by every member of the class is essential for both individual and collective learning. In your preparation you may work in study groups. Finally, it is emphasized that group preparation of a case should enhance, not substitute for, individual preparation. 

Students’ group and date for presentation would be decided in class. 

COURSE ASSESSMENT

Minor:-1:                                                                                                15%

Minor-2:                                                                                                 15%

Major:                                                                                                    30%

Internal Assessment:                                                                               40%

(Mainly based on Regular class attendance, Assignment  and a Research Article)

TEXT BOOK

D. Simchi-Levi, P. Kaminsky, E. Simchi-Levi, and Ravi Shankar, (2019 Reprint) Designing and Managing the Supply Chain concepts, Strategies and Case studies, Third Edition, McGraw Hill, New  Delhi.                                                            

                                 SLIDES OF TEXT BOOK

Other Reference Books

1. Richard B. Chase, Ravi Shankar, and F. Robert Jacobs: Operations & Supply Chain  Management (15th Edition: SIE), McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Ltd, New Delhi (2018)
2. Sunil Chopra and Peter Meindel. Supply Chain Management: Strategy, Planning, and Operation, 6th Edition, Prentice Hall, 2018.

Journal(s):

1.      Supply Chain Management: An International Journal (Available on www.emaraldinsight.com)

2.      Supply Chain Management Review

3.      Purchasing World

4.      International Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management

5.      International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

SESSION 1-3: INTRODUCTION - AGENDA

 1.      Context of today’s supply chains

 2.      Understanding and defining the supply chain

-         The concept

-         E1: Decisions involved at different stages of a supply chain

-         Relating Operations Management with Supply chain concepts

-         The importance of supply chain flows involving material, money, information and ownership

3.      Supply chain complexity

-         Key issues in supply chain decisions

-         Configuration of a typical supply chain

-         Concept of an MRP system (push-based) and JIT (pull-based) systems

-         Concept of Lead time, cycle time and implications to reduce that?

-         Supply Chains during natural disasters

-         Cold chains: Additional complexity

-         E2: Understanding the special features of Dell’s supply chain

 4.      Discussion on Few Supply Chains in India (students participation is expected)

5.      Decision phases in a supply chain

Readings:

Levi (2019), Chapter 1

Additional Reading

What is the right supply chain for your product?

Competency Building Exercise: Read About Value Stream Mapping and Develop an Example. Submit by Next Class (Marks= 02) 

SESSION 4-6: DEMAND MANAGEMENT IN SUPPLY CHAIN
Concept of Demand Management
Supply chain agility and demand management

CASE 1: HP (To be supplied and discussed in class): To be Presented by Instructor

Case questions:

-                      Map HP’s supply chain for PCs

-                      How does HP forecast demand for different computers

-                      What are the advantages of Aggregate forecast

-                      How to judge the goodness of a forecaster

-                      What are the different forecasting methods

-                     How does demand information affect procurement, production planning and distribution

2. Forecasting methods and Error calculation
3. Role of Forecasting in Supply Chain Planning
4. Concept of Stock-out, Inventory and Demand Management and relationship with Forecasting Accuracy

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 SESSION 7-9: INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

 1 Understanding Inventory Management

-                      E3: Assess how much to order and when to order

-                      Effect of demand uncertainty

-                      Purpose and implication of inventory

-                      Pressure for low inventories

-                      Types of  inventory

-                      Identifying critical inventory items with ABC analysis

-                      The EOQ model

-                      Concept of Reorder point

-                      Practical exercises

 CASE 2: Risk Pooling (Chapter 2: Levi (2019): To be Presented by Instructor

Case questions:

-         Understanding the concept of centralized and decentralized ware houses; which is better? Why?

-                      Concept of Risk pooling- advantages

-                      Different ways to implement the risk pooling in a supply chain

Case 3: Sport Obermeyer (In Chapter 2 of Levi (2019)

Case Questions: Refer the Questions at the end of the Case study

Reading:

Levi (2019), Chapter 2

Inventory driven Costs (HBR: March 2005)

 SESSION 10-13: APPROACH TO DESIGN LEAN SUPPLY CHAINS

        Strategies to configure a lean supply chain for (i) Fast Moving Items, (ii) Slow moving Items and (iii) Dead Stocks

-         Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI)

-         JIT System

-     99% Syndrome

-         Standardization

-         Service Level: How to manage

-         Lean Logistics

-         Staggered supplies

-         E4: Relating the concepts of Lean Supply Chain in Local context

Reading:

Decoding DNA of Toyota Production System (HBR: Sept-Oct 1999)

SESSION 14-17: MANAGEMENT OF INFORMATION FLOW IN SUPPLY CHAINS

Case 4: Barilla Spa (Chapter 5 of Levi (2019)

Case questions

1) Diagnose the underlying causes of the difficulties that the JITD program was created to solve

2) What conflicts or barriers internal to Barilla does the JITD program create? What causes these conflicts? As Giorggio Maggiali, how would you deal with these?

3) As one of Barilla's customers, what would your response to JITD be? Why?

4) In the environment in which Barilla operated in 1990, do you believe that JITD (or a similar kind of program) would be feasible? effective? If so, which customers would you target next? How would you convince them that the JITD program was worth trying? If not, what alternatives would you suggest to combat some of the difficulties that Barilla operating system faces?

 Supply chain coordination and the bullwhip effect

–                     E5: The Beer game (Self Exercise: Use Online Resource for Levi (2019)

–                     Understanding Reasons of Bullwhip Effect

–                     Obstacles to coordination

–                     Managerial levers to achieve coordination

–                     How to counter Bullwhip Effect

Reading:

Levi (2019), Chapter 5

 SESSION 18-19: NETWORK PLANNING & LOGISTICS PROVIDER IN SUPPLY CHAINS

Network Planning in a Supply Chain

• Importance of Network Planning
• Design of Logistics Network using Heuristics/optimization (Exercise 3.4 Levi (2019)
• Concept of 3PL/4PL in a Supply Chain
• Case Study: TBA

Reading:

• Levi (2019), Chapter 3

  SESSION 20-21: DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY IN SUPPLY CHAIN

• What are different distribution options?
• Direct shipment distribution strategies.
• Traditional ware houses
• Cross docking
• Transshipment
• Milk run and Hub-spoke models
• Supply chain Redesign

-         E6: Postponement strategies in local and global supply chains

Reading:

Levi (2019) Chapter 7

Go Downstream (HBR Article)

Class Notes

 SESSION 22-23: STRATEGIC ALLIANCES IN SUPPLY CHAIN

Case 5: Maruti Udyog Limited (Levi (2019); Chapter 8)

Video of talk by Supply Chain Head of Maruti

Case questions Maruti

(1)               Why Maruti took initiatives for Vendor Rationalisation?

(2)               How was VMI Implemented?

(3)               What is the purpose of eNagare System?

(4)               What is the role of information technology in supply chain?

Case 6: Toyota (Video)

Case questions Toyota

1)      Why Toyota took initiatives for Vendor Development?

2)      What are the complexities of Global supply chains?

3)      What is Kanban system (JIT-based)?

4)      How is continuous improvement (TQM) implemented?

5)      What is the importance of cutting the lead time in a supply chain?

 3              Types of supply chain relationships

–                     3PL

–                     Retailer supplier partnership

–                     Vendor development

4          Why form inter-company relationships?

Reading:

Levi (2019) Chapter 8

Greg Bounds: Toyota Supplier Development (Article)

SESSION 24-25:  INTEGRATION AND COORDINATION IN SUPPLY CHAINS

 1          Push-pull (Leagile) supply chains

·  Concept of decoupling point

·  Impact of Lead time

·  Information Technology in a supply chain

Reading:

Class Notes

The Triple A Supply Chain by Hau L Lee (HBR: Oct., 2004)

SESSION 26:  REVERSE LOGISTICS

 1 Issues Involved in Reverse Logistics

·  Concept of different Reverse Logistics Issues

·  Product Recall Examples and Implications

2  Recent Trends in Supply Chain Management

SESSION 27-28:  SERVICE SUPPLY CHAINS & HUMANITARIAN SUPPLY CHAIN