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 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.

Rubric

1- Thoroughly determined the types of inventories these companies currently manage; Thoroughly described their essential inventory characteristics.

2- Thoroughly analyzed how each of their goods and service design concepts are integrated.

3- Thoroughly evaluated the role their inventory plays in the company’s performance, operational efficiency, and customer satisfaction.

4- Thoroughly compared and contrasted the four (4) different types of layouts found with each company; Thoroughly explained the importance of the layouts to the company’s manufacturing or service operations.

5- Thoroughly determined at least two (2) metrics to evaluate supply chain performance of the companies; Thoroughly suggested improvements to the design and operations of their supply chains based on those metrics.

6- Thoroughly suggested ways to improve the inventory management for each of the companies without affecting operations and the customer benefit package. Thoroughly provided a rationale to support the suggestion. Exceeds number of required references; all references high quality choices.

• The number of computing devices has been growing to a degree where it is difficult to choose between them. What devices do you currently use on a regular basis? If you could only have one device, which device would you choose and why? If you had to give up one of the devices you currently use, which one would it be and why? If you could add a new device, what would it be and why?

“Writing Skills” Please respond to the following: (Address ALL questions)

Are we quickly becoming a society that cannot write correctly?

In A Visit from the Goon Squad (which won the 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction), the author, Jennifer Egan suggests we will turn in to a texting society that spells phonetically using capital “A” to represent a long “A” and lowercase “a” to represent a short “a”. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/books/21book.html?_r=0 .

Here are a couple of examples from the book. Pls wAt 4 me, my bUtiful wyf. -and- No 1 nOs abt me. Im invysbl.

Do you see this happening? Would someone in NYC still be able to communicate with someone from Georgia?

As a child, I can remember being told to use my “telephone” voice. That meant to enunciate my words properly and not speak in the vernacular. You never know where the person on the other end of the phone is located. You want to be sure you are understood despite that strong southern accent. Here is an example of how using your “telephone” voice would have been more profitable.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCuUaUHjcXo Was this fair?

Some students get offended when I say your peers and your professors form opinions of you by the way you write in an online class because that’s all we have. How important is it that you write well in a professional or educational setting? Am I just behind the times in requiring you to write properly?

For this first written assignment, you will select one of the vulnerable groups identified in the text that will serve as your target population of interest.

Choose one among the following groups from Chapter 1:

• • Vulnerable mothers and children
  • Abused individuals
  • Chronically ill and disabled people
  • People diagnosed with HIV/AIDS
  • People diagnosed with mental conditions
  • Suicide- and homicide-liable people
  • People affected by alcohol and substance abuse
  • Indigent and homeless people
  • Immigrants and refugees
  • Groups for special consideration (you may propose a different vulnerable population at the consent of the instructor)

Once you have selected a group of interest, write a three- to- four page paper that covers the following:

1. Describe the impact that at least two of the factors below have on the vulnerability of your chosen group:
   1. Age
   2. Gender
   3. Culture/Ethnicity
   4. Income
2. Analyze the intersection of social, political, and economic factors affecting vulnerability (must address all three factors).
3. Draft the design of a new model program, not currently existent within your community. Provide a two- to- three paragraph statement that introduces your proposed community program. This section is tentative and might change as you conduct more research. At a minimum, however, items to address should include:
   1. Identify the health needs of the group and select a proposed continuum of care level focus (preventive, treatment, or long-term care) based on the group’s stated risk factors and needs.
   2. Discuss your justification for the proposed level with supportive research/evidence.
   3. A description of one- to- two proposed services your program will include.

Your assignment should be a minimum of three- to- four pages in length (excluding title and reference pages), and should include a minimum of three scholarly sources cited according to APA guidelines as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.