L4M7 Whole Life Asset Management Questions and Answers

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

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 main improvements from ERP to ERP II are the following:

- ERP II is web enabled as compared to Conventional ERP Which is not.

- ERP is restricted to provide selected exhaustive or rigorous or wide-spread coverage in its mod-ules. But as compared to ERP, ERP II provides the true and accurate blend of the macro and the micro and affords customers with curative actions/measures after identifying the slip-up/error or fault;

- ERP was embattled more headed for manufacturing or industrialization and the dilemma or difficulty is conquer in ERP II by endowing clarification for all kind of industries and sectors.

- ERP is not in the position or could not possibly integrate/incorporate diverse functions from di-verse departments/divisions but ERP II could possibly do so as well as from different industries as compared to conventional ERP.

- For WEB and WAP connectivity ERP II grip CRM and SCM Functionalities.

- ERP II be obliged the function and purpose to an external/outdoor one and smooth the progress of better networks than remaining as internal/interior application.

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:

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Explanation

The purposes of stores and warehouses are:

1. Maximum use of space.

2. Ready access to all items.

3. Efficient movement of goods.

4. Effective utilization of labour & equipment’s

5. Maximum protection of items

6. Good-house-keeping.

Explanation

Mounting or embedding RFID tags on metal can be tricky. Metal surfaces reflect energy emitted from RFID readers and create interference for RFID tag antennas, which means the tag isn't able to receive power and transmit information; however, specific RFID tags will work around metal sur-faces. RFID companies have patented technology that allows RFID to work when attached to metal surfaces and even embedded within metal products. As long as you choose the correct RFID equipment for your environment and application, you won't need to worry about interference from metal.

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

Holding costs (carrying costs) are the costs associated with the storage and handling of physical stock. There are two different types of holding costs:

- Costs related to the value of the goods: financial costs (i.e. the interest on the working capital tied up in inventory, which may be the bank borrowing rate or the company's target for return on capital); cost of insurance; losses due to product deterioration; losses due to obsolescence and redundancy of inventory; losses due to theft, accidental damage etc.

- Costs related to the physical characteristics of the inventory include the following: storage space; power, heat and lighting of the store; movement equipment; labour costs; administration costs.

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). The com-ponents in the scenario are dependent demand items.

Independent demand is the requirement for stock item which is not directly related to, and is therefore independent of rate of production.

Explanation

Along with Jidoka, Just-in-time (JIT) production is one of the pillars of the two Toyota Production System. It is a production method that fundamentally changed the way large-scale production oc-curred in the 20th century, and is the basis for Lean Manufacturing (Lean for short), which is the school of thought many modern companies have modeled themselves after.

JIT production is often called a pull system because instead of using traditional push production where scheduling is done based on historical data and demand forecasting, production is scheduled based on actual customer orders. Rather than predicting demands from customers, the JIT method requires that actual customer demand exists. Production doesn't begin before an order triggers it. This system not only reduces the amount of extra inventory, but also reduces the amount of work in progress at one time.

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

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

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

Material Requirements Planning (MRP) software manages material requirements for manufacturing processes.

LO 2, AC 2.3

Explanation

Kanban (看板) (signboard or billboard in Japanese) is a scheduling system for lean manufacturing and just-in-time manufacturing (JIT).

Poka-yoke (ポカヨケ, [poka yoke]) is a Japanese term that means "mistake-proofing" or "inadvertent error prevention". A poka-yoke is any mechanism in any process that helps an equipment operator avoid (yokeru) mistakes (poka). Its purpose is to eliminate product defects by preventing, correcting, or drawing attention to human errors as they occur.

Kaizen is a concept referring to business activities that continuously improve all functions and involve all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers. Kaizen (改善) is the Sino-Japanese word for "improvement". Kaizen also applies to processes, such as purchasing and logis-tics, that cross organizational boundaries into the supply chain.

Muda (無駄, on'yomi reading) is a Japanese word meaning "futility; uselessness; wastefulness", and is a key concept in lean process thinking, like the Toyota Production System (TPS) as one of the three types of deviation from optimal allocation of resources (the others being mura and muri). Waste reduction is an effective way to increase profitability.

Explanation

RFID tags have very limited range. The following table was extracted from Wikipedia:

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RFID tags can be used to do the following:

- Track individual items

- Track boxes of products, cages of products and pallet

- Track containers with multiple loads

- Locate equipment within a building

- Trigger alarms should equipment or stock be removed without authorisation.

RFID tags are made of three different components: an RFID chip, which is an integrated circuit (IC), an antenna, and a substrate. RFID chips are very small integrated circuit incorporating a small memory capability - many are smaller than 2mm square and 2mm thick. Despite its size, many can hold 2000 characters of data. Many retailers simply use the tag as a thick label and print both sides with product information and perhaps a barcode.

It is important to note that there are multiple standards in use for RFID - some of these are standardised for industries but there are also national standards in operations. These standards need to be investigated before investment as not all readers work with all cards. GS1 is a non-for-profit organisation which make the standards for barcodes and RFID.

Explanation

Drum is the container for stock, which is usually cylindrical and can be made from a variety of materials. Contents are usually loose material or liquids

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Tote box is the reusable storage box. These can be open or have lids or flaps to close them and come in a large variety of sizes and weight loadings.

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A tote is ideal for holding and hauling items such as: tools, fasteners, bark dust, dry cement, cords, wires, smaller boxes,...

For larger and bulkier items, industrial containers make it easy to keep things stored and in one spot for transportation. Due to the metal interior, an industrial container is more appropriate for items that — unlike tools and small pieces of machinery — lack any surface sensitivity.

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Solid containers like bins and totes are far from the only storage devices for the various materials that are needed in abundance at factories and warehouses. Another option is the storage bag, which can be used to hold bulk supplies of items until they’re needed for the department shelves or assembly lines.

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LO 1, AC 1.1

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

The product code is often the key to obtaining documentation relating to products.

Product codes are often use to link to internal processes. Some computerised inventory systems trigger alerts when specific items or volume are ordered - this could be an out-of-stock warning or potential volume errors.

In many cases, an organisation will use its own product code system. The organisation constructs a code that is effective and fits with its software and the variety of items covered. So these codes may or may not comply with any international standards (such as GS1 specifications, ISO standards, etc.). As organisations make up the code themselves, the codes may look identical to others. For example, SKU414675 reveals that it is used for many items, including the following:

- A UK wholesaler's six-pack of branded cola

- An Australian snack food

- UK flower seeds

- An Italian desk sold in Japan

- A Brazilian light fitting

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

Stockout is a situation where an inventory item is not available when required. The costs associated with a stockout include the following:

- Lost of production output - there will be no production until the stockout is resolved (new stock is acquired). For factory operating 24/7 with no spare capacity, this lost output will not be able to be recovered.

- Costs of machine downtime and of overhead spread over a reduced level of output

- Costs of any action required to deal with the stockout...

- Loss of customer goodwill through inability to supply or late delivery

- Loss of sales or new orders

- Loss of market creditability

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

There are different types of maintenance that organizations use to increase the uptime of their assets and utility of their facilities. Based on an organization’s budget, amount of resources, level of combined experience, and maintenance goals, one or more maintenance types are used.

Proactive types of maintenance

Preventive maintenance

Preventive maintenance is the most popular type of proactive maintenance. To start conducting preventive maintenance tasks (PMs), an organization does not need to purchase new technology if it already has a CMMS. This is not the case with predictive maintenance which requires condition monitoring sensors and new software integrations. However, with preventive maintenance, the or-ganization runs the risk of over-scheduling maintenance tasks because tasks are scheduled based on time rather than actual conditions. That said, preventive maintenance achieves 12% to 18% cost savings over reactive maintenance.

Predictive maintenance

Predictive maintenance (PdM) is what savvy maintenance teams aspire to have or are already im-plementing. The major barrier to PdM is the time it takes to implement rather than the cost of the technology itself. For instance, a vibration sensor that can identify imbalance, misalignment, and resonance issues only costs around $200. But the time it takes to install, integrate with other maintenance software, and adopt a culture around is not time that all organizations are willing to allocate. For those that do allocate the time, PdM provides an 8% to 12% cost savings over preventive maintenance.

Condition-based maintenance

Condition-based maintenance (CBM) is at the core of predictive maintenance but, on its own, does not rely on technology to determine the condition of an asset like PdM does. For instance, a manager may instruct an operator to monitor the condition of an asset and submit a work request when a specific condition is met. This approach may, or may not be, as reliable as predictive maintenance. An organization that has highly-trained operators may spot hazardous conditions better than an organization using PdM technology that doesn’t know what to look for.

Scheduled maintenance

Scheduled maintenance includes work that is scheduled on a calendar for completion. The most common type of scheduled maintenance is calendar-based preventive maintenance tasks. These are scheduled well in advance of completion. For instance, an asset with a monthly PM has twelve instances of scheduled maintenance in a given year. However, just because maintenance is scheduled does not mean it’s planned. Planned maintenance implies that a maintenance planner or other type of maintenance worker has fully planned for parts, materials, skills, and other resources to be available during the scheduled time window.

Planned maintenance

Planned maintenance is work that’s prepared for in advance of it taking place. According to an UpKeep survey, it’s also the most popular key performance indicator (KPI) to track. A high planned maintenance percentage indicates that a maintenance team will have resources available to complete work for the time/day the work is scheduled for. Having a high planned maintenance percentage also helps boost other maintenance KPIs like schedule compliance. More planned maintenance means more successful completion of scheduled maintenance.

Routine maintenance

Routine maintenance is a form of time-based maintenance and preventive maintenance, though some organizations differentiate between routine maintenance and preventive maintenance. They use the latter for smaller tasks (i.e. cleaning) performed at higher frequencies (hourly, daily) and the former for larger tasks (i.e. inspections) performed at lower frequencies (weekly, monthly, annually). Additionally, routine maintenance is performed by operators, janitors, and other staff member while preventive maintenance is performed by technicians. Non-routine maintenance includes maintenance that is performed reactively or only when needed based on an asset’s conditions.

Reactive types of maintenance

Emergency maintenance

Emergency maintenance occurs when an asset requires immediate attention in order to keep a facility operational or safe. This is the most reactive and intrusive type of maintenance as it pulls technicians away from other jobs and lowers schedule compliance. In extreme circumstances, emergency maintenance can set an organization back days depending on the scope of the repair, available parts, and the asset’s level of importance. To reduce the amount of emergency maintenance that is both unplanned and unscheduled, organizations adopt various forms of proactive maintenance.

Corrective maintenance

Corrective maintenance is inherently part of emergency maintenance because, when there is an emergency, something needs corrected or fixed. In this way, corrective maintenance is mostly reactive. However, it can also be proactive. If an asset with a condition monitoring sensor detects an issue, a workorder is created and a technician is sent to correct it. Similarly, preventive maintenance is considered corrective maintenance if there is an issue to fix. This is rare though as PMs are often conducted when an asset is in good working order.

Other types of maintenance

Deferred maintenance

Deferred maintenance includes repairs and inspections that are put into a backlog due to limited budget and resources. While deferring maintenance saves money up front, the costs of not performing important maintenance compounds at 7% annually. Rising costs come from fines resulting from missed inspections and unscheduled downtime that brings production to a standstill. By far, deferred maintenance and emergency maintenance are the least desired types of maintenance.

Total productive maintenance

Total productive maintenance (TPM) is the broadest type of maintenance that targets more than the assets that need maintained. It also aims to improve employee satisfaction and overall morale in the workplace, specifically in manufacturing plants. TPM does this by increasing overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and the amount of planned maintenance. More planned work means more workers have the resources they need to do their job, which means higher levels of satisfaction. TPM also leverages machine operators to participate in maintenance and take ownership of their equipment.

Explanation

Scheduled maintenance is any repair and upkeep work performed within a set timeframe. It details when given maintenance tasks are performed and by whom. Scheduled maintenance may occur at repeating intervals or in response to a work request.

"Overhauling of machine" means that the machine is regularly checked and corrupted parts are replaced if needed.

"Cleaning of tank" and "Oil changes" also occur at time intervals as scheduled

So the correct answer is "Repair signage damage from a recent storm"

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.

Bill of materials (BOM) is an important component of MRP. BOM is also known as product struc-turer. This lists all the items that comprise each assembly and sub-assembly that make up the final product or end item. Therefore, MRP is commonly used to manage dependent demand stock.

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

For JIT manufacturing to succeed, companies must have steady production, high-quality workmanship, glitch-free plant machinery, and reliable suppliers.

JIT production systems cut inventory costs because manufacturers do not have to pay storage costs. Manufacturers are also not left with unwanted inventory if an order is canceled or not fulfilled.

Explanation

It is important to ensure safe working in storage facilities, and access to higher shelves or racking presents a challenge. Lifting at full reach becomes a problem at relative low weight. There can also be danger for other workers who are around someone working at height, from the movement of equipment or dropping stock from a height.

Scissor platforms are used in high-roof warehouses to gain access to lighting, high-racking units and sections of wall and roof.

ORDER PICKER is manual or powered device - some with ride-on capability and some without. This allow for low-level, medium-level and high-level picking of various items. Many are equipped with forks to allow transfer capability of larger picked boxes. Higher-level and narrow or very narrow -aisle versions have the ability to elevate operators on the front platform to higher racking to pick items.

Grabs are designed to hold stock either width-wise or from above. These are either specific devices designed for grabbing materials or are available as an accessory to forklift trucks.

Carousels are space-efficient, rotating devices which allow access to a large range of product from a single location. Designs are variable, with carousels rotating horizontally or vertically until the required items can be retrieved.

Stacker-cranes are designed for the automated storage and retrieval of unit loads, in high-bay warehouses. They travel in aisles equipped with guide rails, electrical supply, data transmission and control systems. To ensure the storage and retrieval functions, the stacker-crane carries out three types of movement : long-travel, lifting and picking.

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

Typically, ordering costs include expenses for a purchase order, labor costs for the inspection of goods received, labor costs for placing the goods received in stock, labor costs for issuing a supplier’s invoice and labor costs for issuing a supplier payment. These costs are irrelevant from the size of the order and are incurred every time a firm places an order.

The total ordering cost will be equal to ordering cost per order multiply with number of orders.

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

Economic order quantity (EOQ) model is the method that provides the company with an order quantity. This order quantity figure is where the record holding costs and ordering costs are mini-mized. By using this model, the companies can minimize the costs associated with the ordering and inventory holding. In 1913, Ford W. Harris developed this formula whereas R. H. Wilson is given credit for the application and in-depth analysis on this model.

If the economic order quantity model is applied, the following assumptions should be met:

- The rate of demand is constant, and total demand is known in advance.

- The ordering cost is constant.

- The unit price of inventory is constant, i.e., no discount is applied depending on order quantity.

- Delivery time is constant.

- Replacement of defective units is instantaneous.

- There is no safety stock level, i.e., the minimum stock level is zero.

- Restocking is made by the whole batch.

Because the demand and lead time are constant, no stockout events can occur.

Explanation

Direct and indirect costs of holding inventory include the following:

1. Acquisition costs

2. Holding costs (carrying costs) are the costs associated with the storage and handling of physical stock. There are two different types of holding costs:

a. Costs related to the value of the goods: financial costs (i.e. the interest on the working capital tied up in inventory, which may be the bank borrowing rate or the company's target for return on capital); cost of insurance; losses due to product deterioration; losses due to obsolescence and redundancy of inventory; losses due to theft, accidental damage etc.

b. Costs related to the physical characteristics of the inventory include the following: storage space; power, heat and lighting of the store; movement equipment; labour costs; administration costs.

3. Costs of stockouts

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

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

Decommissioning or disposal should start with the original specifications of the assets so that the organisation and supplier can make an appropriate plan. Some specifications also mention the is-sues regarding to end-of-life environmental factors.

Explanation

In the scenario, one of the requirements for the new software is that the new one will interface with current system. Compatibility testing would be the most appropriate test here.

There are also other acceptance tests that are mentioned in L4M7 study guide:

- Health and safety test aims at establishing new health and safety routines, providing guidance notices and documentation and ensuring designed-in safety in operation.

- Stress testing (sometimes called torture testing) is a form of deliberately intense or thorough testing used to determine the stability of a given system, critical infrastructure or entity. It involves testing beyond normal operational capacity, often to a breaking point, in order to observe the results.

- A dry run (or a practice run) is a testing process where the effects of a possible failure are inten-tionally mitigated. For example, an aerospace company may conduct a "dry run" test of a jet's new pilot ejection seat while the jet is parked on the ground, rather than while it is in flight.

The usage of "dry run" in acceptance procedures (for example in the so-called FAT = factory ac-ceptance testing) is meant as following: the factory – which is a subcontractor – must perform a complete test of the system it has to deliver before the actual acceptance by customer.

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

Maintenance can represent a significant portion of the cost in asset intensive organisations (such as Sidel - a food processor), as breakdowns have an impact on the capacity, quality and cost of operation. However, the formulation of a maintenance strategy depends on a number of factors, including the cost of down time, reliability characteristics and redundancy of assets. Consequently, the balance between preventive maintenance (PM) and corrective maintenance (CM) for minimising costs varies between organisations and assets. Nevertheless, there are some rules of thumb on the balance between PM and CM, such as the 80/20 rule.

Preventive maintenance is a type of proactive maintenance, while corrective maintenance is an example of reactive maintenance. Therefore, the answer should be "Balance between proactive maintenance and reactive maintenance".