Assessment Brief

This is a two assignments: A discussion board and Individual Project The discussion board I need for today and Individual Project for WednesdayAssignment requirements from both Discussion
Board and Individual Project.
1.  For the Individual Project the counting words are cited between parentheses
located at each “SECTION”.
2.  For the Discussion Board the writing requirement is only one to two
sentences from each “SECTION” below.  The discussion board
assignment it’s basically a summary from each section of the individual
project.
Situation:
You were recently hired as the VP of Logistics
for the ABC Manufacturing Company. This is a new position. During the lengthy
interview process, the CEO shared her strategic plans for worldwide growth in
the company’s consumer sales. Previously, sales had been confined to domestic
sales only. As a result of little staff logistics expertise, the company had
kept the traditional logistics model of shipping all finished products from its
warehouse and factory location on the East Coast of the United States, even
though there was a growing market on the West Coast that competition was
serving from a West Coast warehouse. However, the CEO pointed out that despite
its national popularity from a feature and quality perspective, it seemed to
penetrate poorly on the West Coast because of her need to charge
higher prices as the result of higher shipping costs.
The marketing manager tried to mitigate this competitive
disadvantage by freight equalization so that end customers would pay the same
amount of shipping costs as West Coast competition charged, regardless of where
they were located. This met with some insignificant success because timeliness
of delivery was another important issue. Therefore, the CEO had asked you, as
your first assignment, to write a white paper to address the following specific
points. She remembered that you had quite a bit of experience addressing some
or all of these issues during your career. As a stickler for formatting, she
has specifically asked you to use the following Roman numeral sections and
headings in the paper:
Section
I: Introduction (300 words)
 
In
general, what are the qualitative pros and cons for domestic sales of having
multiple distribution centers and shipping locations in the United States?
 
In
general, what are qualitative pros and cons of having one or more international
distribution centers for international sales, as opposed to shipping directly
from a U.S. manufacturing location warehouse?
 
What
are the opportunities and challenges of being a supplier to an internationally
based mass merchandiser?
Section
II: Decision-Making Criteria (750 words)
 
The
CEO is considering either expanding the warehouse next to the East Coast
manufacturing plant; or for the same total construction and operating costs,
building a West Coast distribution center; or for the same total construction
and operating costs, building a combination manufacturing and warehouse
location on the West Coast.  As a
completely separate issue, she is also considering opening a distribution
center overseas, to serve the fast-growing warm weather markets of France and
Spain.
 
Given
the following general information, what are at least 10 criteria that must be
considered when locating a new or expanded shipping warehouse domestically?
Internationally?
 
The
products are primarily medium- and large-size insulated coolers, like you might
use for a picnic or trip to the beach. As a result, no matter what mode of
shipping is used, transportation firms charge by space, or cubic feet, rather
than weight, which is the more normal method.
 
The
coolers are made of 3 components, which are all produced by suppliers
solely on the East Coast.
 
The
market is very competitive with generally stable or decreasing marketplace
prices because of this competition.
 
In
states and countries that are warm year-round, sales are pretty steady; in
countries and states that have seasons, 90% of sales occur in the May–August
period.
 
The
raw materials to make this product are bulky, and inbound shipping from the
East Coast suppliers currently represents 20% of total raw material costs.
 
Domestic
demand is expected to increase 5% annually; international demand is expected to
increase 15% annually.
 
Right
now, to keep West Coast customers happy, the CEO says that they only charge
those customers the local freight cost of shipping, which is $200 for anything
up to half a truckload.
The current exchange rate is 1 euro = $1.50.
Section
III: Metrics to Assess Success (300–400 words)
 
Identify
and describe at least 5 metrics that you would use to assess the success
of any logistics plan involving you as a manufacturer and an internationally
based mass merchandiser.
 
Why
did you pick these?
Section
IV: non-quantitative Factors (400–500 words)
 
Identify
at least 5 subjective, non-quantitative factors to also consider in the section
IV recommendation.
Section
V: Conclusion (200–300 words)
 
What
are the 3–5 most important points that you want the CEO to understand
about this entire decision-making process?