Distribution operations help organizations overcome challenges, ...

[mydiamond]

Distribution operations help organizations overcome challenges, support other processes, and take advantage of economies of scale. Name and briefly discuss five roles that these operations play.

Question 2

When a research agency conducts all telephone interviews from a single location where they can hire a staff of professional interviewers and supervise and control the quality of interviewing more effectively, ____ is being used.
 a. central location interviewing
  b. single-mode interviewing
  c. synergistic interviewing
  d. quick-response interviewing

[Chou]

Answer to Question 1

 Balancing supply and demand - Whether seasonal production must service year-round demand (e.g., corn) or year-round production is needed to meet seasonal demand (e.g. holiday wrapping paper), distribution facilities can stockpile inventory to buffer supply and demand.
 Protecting against uncertainty - Distribution facilities can hold inventory for protection against forecast errors, supply disruptions, and demand spikes.
 Allowing quantity purchase discounts - Suppliers often provide incentives to purchase product in larger quantities. Distribution facilities can hold the additional quantities until needed, reducing the purchase cost per unit.
 Supporting production requirements - If a manufacturing operation can reduce costs via long production runs or if outputs need to age or ripen (e.g., wine, cheese, fruit), the output can be warehoused prior to distribution.
 Promoting transportation economies - Fully utilizing container capacity and moving product in larger quantities is less expensive per unit than shipping air and moving small quantities at a time. Distribution facilities can be used to receive and hold the larger deliveries of inventory for future requirements.

Answer to Question 2

A