Questions Related To The Nebraska Furniture Mart
1. Answer the following questions related to the Nebraska Furniture Mart:
a) Explain if you think near-shoring would be an appropriate supply chain management strategy for NFM. If you believe it would be appropriate for NFM, explain why. If you do not believe it would be appropriate for NFM, explain why.
I don’t think near-shoring would be an appropriate supply chain management strategy for NFM. Near-shoring is defined as having moved production within the home country or to a nearby country like Canada and Mexico. However, it is not a good choice for NFM. Because the labor cost still very high in these countries, and they don’t have enough low cost labor.
I think off-shoring will be an appropriate supply chain management strategy for …show more content…
NFM. Off-shoring for NFM means moving the production outside the United States (Caniato, Golini & Kalchschmidt, 2012).
As we know, in the late 1980s, US furniture begin production in China. And in recent years, furniture manufacturers are moving out of China to the other countries like Thailand, Vietnam and Philippines because of the low cost labor and access to the younger worker. So it is easy to found that, furniture manufacturers are trying to finding a country which can help them manufacturing products with low cost labor, and provide enough labor. In addition, China, Thailand, Vietnam and Philippines are not a nearby country for the United States. So I think off-shoring will be an appropriate supply chain management strategy for NFM.
b)
Sustainability
I think sustainability would be appropriate for NFM. Sustainability is defined as “meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainability is indispensable when both present and future generations depend upon the same set of limited resources” (Sanders, 2012). In NFM, they reduce waste by reusing and recycling their packaging. Almost all of their packaging are using the recycling materials. For example, the boxes and pallets in NFM are recycling. What’s more, the foamed plastics board which are using to protect the furniture are recycling and reusing. Chinese factories using these foamed plastics board to protect the furniture during the transportation, then NFM will melt away the foam to make it become small and send back to China. So Chinese factories can reuse it.
For Sustainability, NFM is also placing right product at the right place at the right time. They using the Universal Product Code (UPC) for the inventory records. When they receiving products, they will update inventory records by using UPC, and placing the items in their proper location for appropriate inventory organization and management. By this way, their process can be more efficiency and increase their asset utilization.
They also taking care of the domestic fuel consumptions, they are managing their delivering process, planning the route, and trying to make sure that the truck is full capacity. All of the above shows that NFM using and taking care about the sustainability. So I think sustainability would be appropriate for NFM.
Sustainability has many benefits such as reduce carbon footprint, reduce energy, and reduce resource consumption. For example, NFM reduces many resource consumption, and save money by using recycling and reusing boxes, pallets, and foamed plastics board. And they don’t have to waste time and pay for producing packaging materials. So sustainability also can help the company improve productivity. Moreover, it can enhance relationships with customers, suppliers and communities. Because customers prefer the company which have environment responsibility.
However, there are also have some costs associated with sustainability such as the cost of control and costing system. For example, the cost of control in NFM is the cost which pay for identifying and reducing the damages of the furniture. Moreover, sustainability needs some costs to run the process or system, which is costing system. For example, NFM must have adequate costing systems to account for environmental costs if they want to strive for sustainable performance.
Risks associated with sustainability in NFM might be the requirement of considerable commitment of corporate assets and attention. Because “sustainability implementation requires a concerted effort from top leadership and cuts across all aspects of a supply chain” (Sanders, 2012). If they don’t have enough corporate assets and attention, they might fail.
2. Select any two of these and discuss the benefits and risks associated with each.
UPS Access Point
UPS Access Point is working with thousands of local grocery stores and the UPS Store locations. They provide lockers for customers, and it is secure. Customers can pick up their packaging at the UPS Access Point which is near their delivering address. In addition, most UPS Access Point are accessible 24 hours a day. So customers can pick up their packages when they are available (UPS, 2017).
I think the biggest benefit of using UPS Access Point is solving the last mile problems.
First of all, delivering packages to individual customers and business is costly than send cases of products to wholesalers and retailers. In addition, if the individual is unable to receive the package at that time, it will cost more for multiple delivery attempts. Some package will be left on the doorsteps when the customers are unable to receive, however, this solution will increase the possibility of packages lose. All of these are included in the last mile problems (Punakivi, et al., 2001; Frost & Strauss, 2013). UPS Access Point can solve all of these problems. They don’t have to deliver packages to individual customers and business, almost all of the packages can be sent to the UPS Access Point. So it won’t happen the situation like customers are unable to receive the package and multiple delivery attempts. So it can help UPS save a lot of money. Packages at USP Access Point is secure, so it won’t be left or losing. And it provides convenience for …show more content…
customers.
However, it also has some risks. For example, if the customers leave their packages at UPS Access Point for a long time, so UPS need to pay for the storing. And they need more lockers. If the lockers are not enough, it might cause the problems like customer’s dissatisfaction.
Drones
John Wees mentions the UPS drone deliveries with high-tech truck in his presentation.
When an order is given by the employee, a drone will leave the truck and drop off the package to the destination, and then return to the truck. During these time, the driver can continue to the next destination.
So I think the benefits of drones are helping UPS to make their delivering process become efficiency and sustainability, and it can also help UPS to improve the customer’s satisfaction. And it can reduce emissions at the same time. For example, drones can “traverse very difficult terrain (mountains, jungle, etc.) with relative ease and take a much shorter route in many cases. It is not restricted to the way the transportation infrastructure was laid out” (Pitman, 2015). So when UPS are delivering in rural locations which the road condition is bad, drones can help them to save time and shorter route.
However, there are some risks associated with drones. For example, drones can only flight under the weather of low winds and good visibility during the day. So it may bring some risks if the weather is bad. And drones may also have the possible to harm the people on the ground if the drone was damaged. Hackers also will be one of the risks, because hackers can invade the drone system and change the route. Overall, there are many risks will happen when we using drone delivery (Draper,
2016).
a) Explain if you think near-shoring would be an appropriate supply chain management strategy for NFM. If you believe it would be appropriate for NFM, explain why. If you do not believe it would be appropriate for NFM, explain why.
I don’t think near-shoring would be an appropriate supply chain management strategy for NFM. Near-shoring is defined as having moved production within the home country or to a nearby country like Canada and Mexico. However, it is not a good choice for NFM. Because the labor cost still very high in these countries, and they don’t have enough low cost labor.
I think off-shoring will be an appropriate supply chain management strategy for …show more content…
NFM. Off-shoring for NFM means moving the production outside the United States (Caniato, Golini & Kalchschmidt, 2012).
As we know, in the late 1980s, US furniture begin production in China. And in recent years, furniture manufacturers are moving out of China to the other countries like Thailand, Vietnam and Philippines because of the low cost labor and access to the younger worker. So it is easy to found that, furniture manufacturers are trying to finding a country which can help them manufacturing products with low cost labor, and provide enough labor. In addition, China, Thailand, Vietnam and Philippines are not a nearby country for the United States. So I think off-shoring will be an appropriate supply chain management strategy for NFM.
b)
Sustainability
I think sustainability would be appropriate for NFM. Sustainability is defined as “meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainability is indispensable when both present and future generations depend upon the same set of limited resources” (Sanders, 2012). In NFM, they reduce waste by reusing and recycling their packaging. Almost all of their packaging are using the recycling materials. For example, the boxes and pallets in NFM are recycling. What’s more, the foamed plastics board which are using to protect the furniture are recycling and reusing. Chinese factories using these foamed plastics board to protect the furniture during the transportation, then NFM will melt away the foam to make it become small and send back to China. So Chinese factories can reuse it.
For Sustainability, NFM is also placing right product at the right place at the right time. They using the Universal Product Code (UPC) for the inventory records. When they receiving products, they will update inventory records by using UPC, and placing the items in their proper location for appropriate inventory organization and management. By this way, their process can be more efficiency and increase their asset utilization.
They also taking care of the domestic fuel consumptions, they are managing their delivering process, planning the route, and trying to make sure that the truck is full capacity. All of the above shows that NFM using and taking care about the sustainability. So I think sustainability would be appropriate for NFM.
Sustainability has many benefits such as reduce carbon footprint, reduce energy, and reduce resource consumption. For example, NFM reduces many resource consumption, and save money by using recycling and reusing boxes, pallets, and foamed plastics board. And they don’t have to waste time and pay for producing packaging materials. So sustainability also can help the company improve productivity. Moreover, it can enhance relationships with customers, suppliers and communities. Because customers prefer the company which have environment responsibility.
However, there are also have some costs associated with sustainability such as the cost of control and costing system. For example, the cost of control in NFM is the cost which pay for identifying and reducing the damages of the furniture. Moreover, sustainability needs some costs to run the process or system, which is costing system. For example, NFM must have adequate costing systems to account for environmental costs if they want to strive for sustainable performance.
Risks associated with sustainability in NFM might be the requirement of considerable commitment of corporate assets and attention. Because “sustainability implementation requires a concerted effort from top leadership and cuts across all aspects of a supply chain” (Sanders, 2012). If they don’t have enough corporate assets and attention, they might fail.
2. Select any two of these and discuss the benefits and risks associated with each.
UPS Access Point
UPS Access Point is working with thousands of local grocery stores and the UPS Store locations. They provide lockers for customers, and it is secure. Customers can pick up their packaging at the UPS Access Point which is near their delivering address. In addition, most UPS Access Point are accessible 24 hours a day. So customers can pick up their packages when they are available (UPS, 2017).
I think the biggest benefit of using UPS Access Point is solving the last mile problems.
First of all, delivering packages to individual customers and business is costly than send cases of products to wholesalers and retailers. In addition, if the individual is unable to receive the package at that time, it will cost more for multiple delivery attempts. Some package will be left on the doorsteps when the customers are unable to receive, however, this solution will increase the possibility of packages lose. All of these are included in the last mile problems (Punakivi, et al., 2001; Frost & Strauss, 2013). UPS Access Point can solve all of these problems. They don’t have to deliver packages to individual customers and business, almost all of the packages can be sent to the UPS Access Point. So it won’t happen the situation like customers are unable to receive the package and multiple delivery attempts. So it can help UPS save a lot of money. Packages at USP Access Point is secure, so it won’t be left or losing. And it provides convenience for …show more content…
customers.
However, it also has some risks. For example, if the customers leave their packages at UPS Access Point for a long time, so UPS need to pay for the storing. And they need more lockers. If the lockers are not enough, it might cause the problems like customer’s dissatisfaction.
Drones
John Wees mentions the UPS drone deliveries with high-tech truck in his presentation.
When an order is given by the employee, a drone will leave the truck and drop off the package to the destination, and then return to the truck. During these time, the driver can continue to the next destination.
So I think the benefits of drones are helping UPS to make their delivering process become efficiency and sustainability, and it can also help UPS to improve the customer’s satisfaction. And it can reduce emissions at the same time. For example, drones can “traverse very difficult terrain (mountains, jungle, etc.) with relative ease and take a much shorter route in many cases. It is not restricted to the way the transportation infrastructure was laid out” (Pitman, 2015). So when UPS are delivering in rural locations which the road condition is bad, drones can help them to save time and shorter route.
However, there are some risks associated with drones. For example, drones can only flight under the weather of low winds and good visibility during the day. So it may bring some risks if the weather is bad. And drones may also have the possible to harm the people on the ground if the drone was damaged. Hackers also will be one of the risks, because hackers can invade the drone system and change the route. Overall, there are many risks will happen when we using drone delivery (Draper,
2016).