Operations Management December 2026
Q.1: A fashion entrepreneur has sketched an innovative line of athleisure wear and is preparing for a national roll-out. Past small-batch launches suffered from material shortages and unreliable single-source vendors, resulting in lost sales and brand reputation damage. The business aims to diversify its material sourcing using trade shows, online supplier directories, and local contacts, while building negotiation leverage and mitigating supply disruptions. The owner has asked for a sourcing strategy that goes beyond previous efforts and supports scalable growth. How should the supply chain lead apply best practices from the sourcing phase to build a resilient production network for the new product?
Answer:
Introduction:
The success of a nation-wide launch of athleisure wear relies not just on the product design and marketing but also on the capability to procure appropriate materials at the necessary lead time, quality, and price. In the past, single-vendor sourcing has caused material shortages for the entrepreneur. Single-vendor sourcing exposes the business to the risks associated with a single point of failure. A sole supplier may have delivery issues, quality concerns, price changes, and production issues that can affect the company’s performance. In relation to the proposed athleisure collection, the supply chain lead should implement strategic sourcing to acquire multiple supply options and support the company’s continued growth. The steps to perform strategic sourcing include identifying the materials needed by the organization, researching the suppliers, establishing terms and conditions, building relationships with the suppliers selected and ensuring that there are adequate sources of supply. The sources of supply may be sourced from trade show, online directories, networking, and working with local suppliers.
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Q.2 (A): A fast-growing online retailer is assessing potential sites for its new distribution warehouse. The short-listed options include a location near a major transport hub with higher rent, a rural site with tax grants but limited transit infrastructure, and an industrial park offering service provider external economies. The management team must balance cost, efficiency, and future scalability, while also addressing employee commuting needs and environmental regulations. Critically evaluate the trade-offs involved in selecting among these warehouse locations. Which option should the retailer choose to maximize operational effectiveness and long-term business success? Justify your answer by addressing the diverse factors outlined in the scenario.
Answer:
Introduction:
Optimal selection of the warehouse location for the rapidly developing online company may be explained in terms of various factors. The transport hub location would have higher rent; however, this location is able to guarantee convenient access to the transport routes. The rural location would provide tax benefits, but at the same time, the infrastructure may not cope with the delivery volumes that can be provided. The industrial location will be characterized by external economies of scale because of supporting firms. Hence, the location decision should be made taking into account various factors beside the initial costs.
Q.2 (B): An organisation changed its facility layout and achieved higher productivity and reduced non-value-added activities. However, a post-implementation review revealed new bottlenecks caused by unexpected interactions between departments. Evaluate the adequacy of its layout planning process in anticipating such challenges and recommend improvements to proactively address similar bottlenecks in future.
Answer:
Introduction:
The layout planning process establishes the location of the departments, equipment, employees, materials and information within the organisation's facilities. The effective layout leads to improved productivity and reduced non-value-added activities, low processing time, smooth workflow and reduced idle time. In our scenario, the organisation was able to achieve some improvement in terms of productivity and reduction of non-value-added elements. Nevertheless, problems arose unexpectedly because there was no enough thinking about interdepartmental linkages during the layout planning process.