Actividad de aprendizaje 13

Evidencia 4: Supply Chain Planning

Defining a supply chain is simple enough. It is a term that describes the planning, sourcing,
manufacturing, distribution, and delivery of products or services from the point of origin to
consumption. However, the details are numerous, highly varied, and difficult for humans
to manage in an efficient and profitable manner. […] A supply chain network is comprised
of many components, or supply chain nodes, that are connected via flow paths. Inventory
and products — as well as information — travel along these flow paths to the various
supply chain nodes, with the ultimate goal of ensuring that customers’ needs are met (in
the most profitable way possible).

Gaurav, R., Bhatia, P., & Durbh, M. (2015). Supply Chain For Dummies, 76.

Tenga en cuenta el siguiente vocabulario para el desarrollo de las actividades.

Keywords

The list of keywords for this evidence is as follows:

Nouns and noun phrases to include

entity to issue
network of entities to link
to send an invoice to offer
purchase order to purchase
sales order to require
retailer to ship
retail shop(store)
vendor Adjectives and adverbs
warehouse along
to store in a warehouse complicated
crucial
Verbs and word-combinations with verbs entire
to assemble interlinked
to confuse (with) multiple
to convert particular
to deliver specific
to encompass ultimate
to handle
Previous knowledge

a) Una los actores de la cadena de suministro (1- 5) con las actividades que
realizan (a- e).

1. Supplier

2. Producers

3. Warehouses

4. Distribution centers

5. Retailers

a. convert the materials into products

b. bring the product to the ultimate user
c. supply raw material
d. store material or products
e. deliver to the retailers

b) Match the verbs with their definitions or synonyms.

1. To assemble a) To emit: to give out

2. To convert b) To try hard; to struggle
3. To encompass c) To put together, to collect
4. To include d) To transport; to send
5. To issue e) To change; to transport
6. To link f) To demand; to want; to need.
7. To offer g) To surround; to include.
8. To require h) To propose for acceptance.
9. To ship i) To compromise; to contain.
10. To strive j) To connect; to join.
 Con base a su proyecto formativo y enfocándose en su producto o servicio que
comercializa, desarrolle la siguiente actividad.

1. Lea cuidadosamente el siguiente artículo sobre la cadena de suministro de Amazon y

a partir del mismo realice la actividad a continuación.

Amazon’s Supply Chain: Acting Outside the Box

I probably don’t need to tell you that Amazon is a Master of Supply Chain innovation, what with
its passionate commitment to implementing drones in the future, the use of robots and advanced
automation in its distribution centres, and the enterprise’s excursion into Uber-style logistics
services.

In fact, it seems there are almost no home-delivery markets the former online book-store won’t
try to corner, and no method it won’t try in order to do so. So diverse is Amazon’s range of
fulfillment services in fact, that it’s becoming hard to tell if the company is a retailer or a third-
party logistics provider.

Indeed, if a warehouse is a box, Amazon is fully prepared to take its operation inside the boxes
of other companies, especially if those companies are Amazon’s suppliers.

Boxes Within Boxes

Innovation is the key to supply chain excellence, and it’s something which sits at the very top of
the Amazon business agenda. For example, one of the online-retail empire’s latest moves has
been right into the warehouses of consumer goods suppliers such as Proctor and Gamble.

While it’s not uncommon to hear of vendors co-locating with customers, Amazon is reversing the
practice and operating under its vendors’ roofs. The operation works as follows: the supplier
picks products according to purchase orders from Amazon, and then moves the pallets into
Amazon’s fenced-off area of the warehouse. Here, a team of Amazon employees sorts the
products into outbound orders, packages them, and dispatches them to its customers.
The aptly named “Vendor Flex” program also creates a win-win situation for Amazon and its
supplier. Amazon doesn’t need to take up space in its own fulfillment centres with bulky items
such as diapers and tissue paper, and P&G can supply Amazon without the expense of over-
the-road transportation—the goods only move from one area of P&G’s warehouse to another.

The Incredible Value of Crumbs

So, what can we learn from the example of Vendor Flex by Amazon? How about the fact that
innovational concepts don’t have to be overly complicated in order to be brilliant? By taking
an established concept (vendor-managed inventory) and turning it on its head, Amazon is
making its entry into a new market less expensive and more practicable than it would otherwise
be.
As a final takeaway from Amazon’s supply chain mastery, consider this: The company is selling
consumer staples; commodities for which online demand is actually very low. Few consumers
are currently attracted to online purchases of household consumables.

So why is Amazon going to the trouble of picking up crumbs in this particular market?

Here’s the reason … even though American shoppers buy only 2% of their consumer staples
online, that tiny portion of volume amounts to somewhere around $20 billion. Sometimes then,
leveraging your supply chain to pick up small slivers of business can be a way to boost revenue
considerably—especially if those small slivers are in big markets.

4 Best-in-Class Supply Chains To Watch and Learn From | Logistics Bureau Blog. (s. f.). Recuperado 23 de julio de
2018, de https://www.logisticsbureau.com/4-best-in-class-supply-chains-to-watch-and-learn-from/

a. Diligencie la información en la tabla teniendo en cuenta la lectura sobre la cadena de

suministro de la compañía Amazon.

According to the article, why is Amazon a Master of

Supply Chain?
What types of fulfillment services does Amazon
have?
What is the key to supply chain excellence in
Amazon?
What is Vendor Flex by Amazon? Explain.
What is going to be Amazon in a few years?
Going To Grammar

Haciendo uso del material de formación desarrolle los siguientes ejercicios para afianzar
su conocimiento en este tema gramatical.

Recordemos la estructura.

a) Escriba la oración afirmativa teniendo en cuenta el verbo y el auxiliar

going to.

1. Our customer _______________ (purchase) the new product

from our stores.
2. The provider _______________ (ship) the product to the
distribution centres.
3. Suppliers ______________ (deliver) raw materials to produce the
new artefact in our company.
4. The distributors _______________ (implement) new
transportation modes to deliver the products to different places.
b) Escriba una oración afirmativa o negativa a partir de la imagen que allí
se presenta y el going to

Consumer
Retailer

Supplier Warehouse

1. ________________________________________
2. ________________________________________
3. ________________________________________
4. ________________________________________

c) Teniendo en cuenta su proyecto formativo y enfocándose en su producto

o servicio que comercializa describa la cadena de suministro en un
párrafo de 10 (renglones) renglones haciendo uso del tiempo verbal
Going To.
Para escribir este párrafo tenga en cuenta las materias primas que se van
a necesitar para crearlo y cómo esas materias primas se van a unir para
formar el producto final. De igual forma, investigue que tipo de transporte
se va a usar para que ese producto llegue a los consumidores.
Desarrolle la actividad y envíe el archivo al instructor con todos los puntos que se
solicitan en la evidencia a través de la plataforma virtual de aprendizaje.

Pasos para enviar la evidencia:

1. Clic en el título de la evidencia.
2. Clic en Examinar mi equipo y buscar el archivo previamente guardado.
3. Dejar un comentario al instructor (opcional).
4. Clic en Enviar.

Nota: esta evidencia es grupal. Por lo tanto, es necesario que todos los miembros del
equipo la envíen el mismo día.
Recuerde revisar el material de apoyo correspondiente a la actividad de aprendizaje.
Tenga en cuenta usar las normas APA para la presentación de trabajos.

Criterios de evaluación
• Comprende ideas en textos complejos en inglés en temas técnicos dentro de su
campo de especialización.