Operations management on Wall mart
Question 1
Reflect on what you know about Wal-Mart, which is considered one of the world’s largest retailers. It
may also be helpful to review their website (walmart.ca). Think about the variety and number of
products and services offered, checkout lines, store locations, shipping and delivery, etc., and answer
the following four questions.
a. What type of Customer Benefit Package (CBP) do you think Wal-Mart offers? Briefly describe
your answer.
b. Choose any three key activities that operation managers perform on page 4 of your textbook.
How might they relate to Wal-Mart’s operations processes?
c. A critical component of Wal-Mart’s operations management includes their i.
warehouse/distribution center’s locations and ii. retail locations. What process-thinking
variables do you think Wal-Mart needs to take into consideration when deciding on each of
those location types?
d. Identify and briefly present 4 preproduction and 4 postproduction services that may form part
of Wal-Mart’s value chain.
Question 2
Please answer the following questions in Excel. Make sure to include all formulas.
a. Compute a 5-period moving average forecast for December using the following actual data:
Period Actual
June 10
July 20
August 30
September 40
October 50
November 60
b. Using the following data, use a smoothing constant of 0.2 and determine the adjusted forecast
for period 7 by applying simple exponential smoothing.
Period Actual Forecast
1 80
2 202
3 200
4 300
5 303
6 306
c. Using the following data, use a smoothing constant of 0.5 and determine the adjusted forecast
for 2005 by applying simple exponential smoothing.
Period Actual Forecast Adjusted Forecast
2001 101 120
2002 134
2003 135
2004 178
d. Using the linear trend equation method, calculate the forecasts for years 2015 and 2016 using
the following data:
Year Demand
2010 100
2011 105
2012 107
2013 110
2014 112
Bonus points: Calculate R2 using the above information. What does the result tell you about
the data?
e. Car Inc. has presented you with the following information consisting of the forecasted demand
and actual sales for their latest sports car. Use the following information to calculate the mean
square error.
Period Forecasted Demand Actual Demand
1 50 63
2 70 65
3 40 44
4 80 72
5 96 100
Bonus Points: Using the information in part (e), calculate the MAD and MAPE.
f. A local factory has been purchasing a particular spare part from a manufacturer in Alberta. In
order to better budget their financials, they want to know what is the likely per-unit price of the
spare part in 2018 based on previous prices.
Using y=a +bt, compute the forecasted price for 2018.
Year Price/Unit
2013 $3.24
2014 $3.25
2015 $3.65
2016 $3.60
2017 $3.88
2018 ?
g. Company Y produces chocolate bars. The following data represents the production inputs and
chocolate outputs for Year 1 and Year 2.
Year 1 Year 2
Cost of Raw Materials $20,000 $41,000
Electricity Cost $6,000 $7,300
Labor $200,000 $412,000
Miscellaneous Input Costs $5,000 $7,000
Number of Chocolate Bars Produced 120,000 units 230,000 units
Using the above data, has productivity increased or decreased from Year 1 to Year 2?
h. Using the appropriate formula, calculate the Value of a Loyal Customer using the following
data:
Customer purchasing pattern: One unit every 5 years
Price of unit paid by customer: $200
Gross margin per unit: 70%
Customer retention rate: 40%