Reference no: EM133123877

M453 Strategic Logistics

Problem 1: Critical reflective essay on Ocado

Write a short individual critical essay on how the operations in Ocado's Distribution Centres (warehouses) could be enhanced. Ocado Groupis a technology-led online grocery store. It should include the following:

• Brief description of Ocado and its operations
• Analysis of the warehouse, inventory and distribution practices of Ocado and how they compare with those in the commercial sector (using your knowledge of best practice and illustrating using specific examples).
• Evaluation of how Ocado's operations could be enhanced

Your essay should include references which have been cited in the text (mainly academic). The report should be between 1000-1250 words (excluding references).

Problem 2: Transportation problem

A company wishes to transport goods from three supply points to four demand points. The per unit costs, supply point capacities, and demand point requirements are given in Table 1:

	Demand point 1	Demand point 2	Demand point 3	Demand point 4	Total Capacity
Supply point 1	£9 + a	£11	£8 + 3b	£22 - b	18+4a
Supply point 2	£10 + c	£6 + 2d	£15	£11	49+2b+4c
Supply point 3	£12	£12	£17	£10	30+4d
Total Demand	11	30	17	22

where
a = The third digit of your student ID number
b = The fourth digit of your student ID number
c = The fifth digit of your student ID number
d = The sixth digit of your student ID number

(e.g. Student ID number 356713 gives a=6, b=7, c=1, d=3)

a) Formulate this problem algebraically as a balanced transportation problem to minimize the total cost.

b) Give the tabular form of the resulting balanced transportation model and hence find a basic feasible solution via the North-West Corner method. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using this method?

c) Use the transportation simplex method starting from the basic feasible solution found in part b) to find an optimal solution.

d) From your findings, make recommendations to the company with regards towhat they should do in non-technical language [maximum 200 words].

Problem 3: Group PowerPoint presentation

Prepare a group powerpoint presentation of how Ocado's operations could be enhanced and how utilising mathematical techniques could help with this.

The presentation should have no more than 20 slides (including a title page, description of how the group has functioned with each individual member contributionstated and a list of references). (Groups will be allocated and listed on Moodle). Please ensure you include a script for each slide of the presentation in the ‘Notes'section. Marks will be awarded for the content, layout and delivery (as seen in your script) of your slides as well as evidence of effective group work.

Attachment:- Strategic Logistics.rar