| Course | MT236 Introduction to Supply Chain Management |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 10 |
| Paper type | Supply chain report |
| Length | About 1,120 words, 7 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MT236 Unit 10
Shelves Sell Steadily, Orders Swing: A Unit 10 Supply Chain Report on Replenishing From Store Sales
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
MT236: Introduction to Supply Chain Management
Unit 10 Supply Chain Report
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Alamo Ridge Pepper Co., the grocery chain, its sales and order data and every cost are composite and illustrative; bracketed figures stand where shared data and quotes would supply the numbers; the sources cited are real.
Executive Summary
Alamo Ridge Pepper Co.'s largest customer, a Texas grocery chain with about 140 stores, buys steadily at the shelf but orders erratically from its distribution center. The swings force Alamo Ridge into overtime in heavy months, idle time in light ones, extra finished stock and occasional expedited freight. The report proposes that Alamo Ridge receive the chain's weekly store sales and distribution center stock data and propose the chain's replenishment orders from them. The change costs about [$6,500] a year and saves about [$16,400], a net gain of about [$9,900].
The Chain in Brief
Earlier units mapped the chain from Chihuahua pepper mash through the San Antonio bottling line to the grocery chain's distribution center and stores, chose a Pennsylvania bottle supplier, set a forecasting method and inventory rules, compared transport modes, decided against a second warehouse, shortened order-to-truck time and identified the bottling line as the chain's most fragile link. Those analyses appear in the appendices. This report focuses on the one link where information, not goods, causes the most cost.
Diagnosis
Over the last twelve months, the chain's stores sold [14,350] cases of Alamo Ridge's five-ounce sauces, a range of [1,090] to [1,350] cases a month that rises gently into the fall. Over the same months, the chain's distribution center ordered [14,850] cases, close to the same total, but in a range of [700] to [1,700]. Measured by each series' spread relative to its average, store sales varied about 6.7 percent month to month and orders about 26.6 percent, roughly four times as much.
Lee et al. (1997) named this amplification the bullwhip effect and identified its usual sources: planning from orders instead of shopper demand, ordering in large batches, buying ahead of a price cut, and inflating orders when supply looks tight. Three of the four appear here. The chain's buyer forecasts from the distribution center's own shipments, so a heavy week looks like a trend. The center orders in full truckloads of about [1,700] cases or nothing, which makes orders lumpy. And twice a year a temporary price reduction leads the chain to order a month's extra stock, followed by a light month.
What the Swing Costs
Alamo Ridge pays for the swing in four ways. Heavy months require Saturday shifts on the bottling line, about [$6,800] a year in overtime. To protect against the heaviest orders, the company holds about [$16,000] more finished stock than steady demand would require, which at a 25 percent carrying rate costs about [$4,000] a year. Twice last year, an order arrived when stock was short and Alamo Ridge paid about [$2,600] in expedited freight to make the chain's two-day rule. And the chain's own stores ran out of the green jalapeno flavor in two months when the distribution center underordered, losing sales worth about [$3,000] in Alamo Ridge's margin.
The shoppers never changed their habits; the swings were made in the ordering office.
The Proposal
The chain would send Alamo Ridge a weekly file with each store's sales of its products and the distribution center's stock on hand. Alamo Ridge's planner would use that file, with the seasonal method from Unit 4, to propose the center's weekly order, sized to keep about two weeks of supply in the center and adjusted before promotions using the chain's promotion calendar. The chain's buyer would approve or change each proposed order. Orders would come weekly in smaller, steadier quantities, often a half truckload, rather than monthly full trucks.
This arrangement is a form of vendor-managed inventory, in which the supplier plans replenishment using the customer's data. Disney and Towill (2003) found in simulation studies that vendor-managed inventory can greatly reduce order variability compared with traditional ordering, mainly by giving the supplier direct sight of consumer demand. The chain keeps control through approval, which should make the proposal easier for its buyer to accept.
Why the Chain Should Agree
The proposal needs the chain's cooperation, and its buyer has reasons to hesitate: sharing store data with a supplier, and letting a supplier propose orders, feels like giving up control. Three points answer that concern. The buyer still approves every order, so control stays where it is. The data shared covers only Alamo Ridge's own items, not competitors'. And the chain's distribution center would hold less stock and run out less often, which its own managers are measured on. A trial limited to the five-ounce sauces, the company's largest items, would let the buyer judge the results before extending it.
Costs
The data feed and planning software cost about [$3,600] a year, and the planner's added time is about [$2,900] a year, about two hours a week. Freight may rise slightly because half truckloads cost more per case than full ones, but the transport rule from Unit 6 limits this, and the estimate includes about [$600] for it within the software and time figures. Total cost is about [$6,500] a year.
Savings and Net Effect
If order variability falls from about 26.6 percent toward 10 percent, overtime and expedited freight should largely disappear, saving about [$9,400]. Finished stock can fall by about [$16,000], saving about [$4,000] in carrying cost. Fewer store outages should recover about [$3,000] in margin. Total savings are about [$16,400], and net of costs about [$9,900] a year. The chain gains too, with fewer outages and less stock in its own distribution center, which is the argument Alamo Ridge should lead with.
Implementation
In the first month, Alamo Ridge and the chain agree on the data file format and the approval routine. In the second, the planner runs proposed orders alongside the chain's own orders without using them, to test accuracy. In the third, the chain switches to approving Alamo Ridge's proposals. A review at six months compares order variability, stock levels and outages with the previous year.
Measures
Five measures will show whether the change works: the coefficient of variation of the chain's monthly orders, with a target below 12 percent; Alamo Ridge's overtime hours; finished stock in weeks of supply; expedited shipments; and the chain's store outages for Alamo Ridge items. Chopra and Meindl (2019) argue that coordinated replenishment lowers total cost across a chain more reliably than any single firm's local fix, and these measures will show whether that holds here.
References
Chopra, S., & Meindl, P. (2019). Supply chain management: Strategy, planning, and operation (7th ed.). Pearson.
Disney, S. M., & Towill, D. R. (2003). The effect of vendor managed inventory (VMI) dynamics on the bullwhip effect in supply chains. International Journal of Production Economics, 85(2), 199-215. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0925-5273(03)00110-5
Lee, H. L., Padmanabhan, V., & Whang, S. (1997). Information distortion in a supply chain: The bullwhip effect. Management Science, 43(4), 546-558. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.43.4.546
What the MT236 Unit 10 assignment asks for
The final unit typically asks for a supply chain report on one problem, drawing on the term's earlier analyses. Most prompts expect an executive summary, a brief overview of the chain, a diagnosis with data, one proposed change, costs and savings, implementation and measures, with earlier work condensed in appendices. Let the data choose the problem: find the link where cost or variability is largest. Diagnose it with an established framework, such as the causes of the bullwhip effect. A single, well-argued change is usually better than several. Show who must cooperate and why it benefits them, since many supply chain changes need a partner's agreement. Costs and savings should be itemized. A staged rollout with a test period and measures makes the proposal credible. Nine or ten pages is common, with the bullwhip literature among the sources.
How the MT 236 Unit 10 example is put together
The report opens with an executive summary giving the problem, the proposal and the net saving. A one-paragraph overview points to the earlier units in appendices. The diagnosis compares twelve months of store sales with distribution center orders, measures their variability and matches the pattern to three of the four bullwhip causes described by Lee and colleagues, with a margin note on turning a pattern into a diagnosis. The cost section itemizes overtime, extra stock, expedited freight and outages, and the highlighted line places the swings in the ordering office. The proposal describes the weekly data file and supplier-planned orders with buyer approval, citing Disney and Towill on vendor-managed inventory. A section answers the buyer's likely objections. Costs, savings, a three-month rollout and five measures close the report, with Chopra and Meindl on coordinated replenishment and a second note.
Where the points sit in the MT236 Unit 10 rubric
For this capstone report, instructors look hardest at three things: whether the diagnosis is measured, whether the one proposal targets its causes and whether the dollars hold up. Comparing demand with orders, and measuring the difference, is stronger evidence than describing it. Matching the pattern to known causes shows command of the course's frameworks. One clear proposal that targets those causes earns more than a list of ideas. Graders reward reports that address the partner's interests, since cooperation decides whether the change happens. Costs and savings should be itemized with their basis, and the net effect should be computed. A rollout that tests before committing, and measures tied to the diagnosis, make the report usable. Lee and colleagues, Disney and Towill and the course text should be cited.
MT236 Unit 10 help: mistakes that cost points
Supply chain reports often go wrong by summarizing every earlier unit and proposing several unrelated fixes. Another common problem is describing order swings without measuring them against actual demand. Some reports blame the customer without explaining why its ordering behaves as it does. Others propose sharing data without saying what the partner gains. Costs are sometimes missing, especially the planner's time. Implementation plans may skip a test period. Watch the difference between total volume and month-to-month variation; here the totals nearly match while the swings differ fourfold. If you lack a partner's data, explain what you would request and why. Send the demand and order figures you have along with your earlier units, and we can help measure the swing and price the fix.
Get an MT236 Unit 10 example written to your instructions
Collect the earlier assignments the Unit 10 report should draw on, or the case the prompt supplies, and forward them, rubric included. From those, a finished report is built around one diagnosed link and one priced fix, with expected and conservative cases, in 24-48h; a first sample is free. Gaps in the earlier work are filled openly, never silently. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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MT236 Unit 10 questions, answered
What is the bullwhip effect?
The tendency of order swings to grow as they travel upstream. A retailer's store sales may be steady, but its warehouse orders vary more because of batching, promotions and safety stock adjustments, and the manufacturer's orders to its own suppliers vary more still. Measuring it means comparing the variability of orders with the variability of the sales behind them, as the example does.
Should the report propose one change or several?
Unit 10 prompts typically ask for one, and the example follows that. One change can be diagnosed, costed and scheduled properly in a report of this length, while several tend to be described briefly and costed loosely. Other findings from the term can appear as secondary notes, clearly marked as outside the main proposal, if your rubric allows.
How should earlier units be used in the final report?
As evidence, condensed. A paragraph per earlier analysis, each ending with the finding that matters for the final decision, keeps the report readable, and full calculations can sit in appendices. Update any figure that later work changed, such as a forecast revised after new data, since instructors frequently check the final report against the earlier submissions.
Where can I find a free MT236 Unit 10 sample paper?
This page carries a complete MT236 Unit 10 supply chain report on a grocery chain's swinging orders to a hot sauce maker. It measures the bullwhip effect, traces its causes, proposes supplier-planned replenishment and includes margin notes.
Why would the grocery chain agree to share its store data?
Its buyer still approves every order, the data covers only the sauce maker's own items, and the chain's distribution center would hold less stock and run out less often, which its managers are measured on.