Two numbers with targets, eastern fill rate from [93.1] to 97.5 percent and landed cost held under $32.30 a case, carry this one-page MT498 Unit 4 problem statement. Searches like "mt 498 unit 4 assignment example", "mt498 unit 4 sample" and "mt498 unit 4 example" land here.
What a finished MT498 Unit 4 problem statement looks like
One page of statement and two pages of support. The statement itself runs three sentences. First the gap: eastern fill rate averaged [93.1] percent over twelve months against the [97.5] percent the largest home-center account requires, leaving 27,324 cases a year short. Then the cost of the gap: at [$11.40] per short case in lost contribution and chargebacks, plus [$96,000] in expedited freight, $407,494 a year. Then the target and the date: 97.5 percent within [18] months, with landed cost per eastern case no higher than today's $32.30. The support pages chart the twelve monthly fill-rate readings, trace freight from [$2.96] to $3.53 a case, and give one paragraph to what the statement deliberately leaves out, namely causes and cures.
How a MT498 Unit 4 example is structured
Gap, cost, target, boundary, in that order. The statement names the measure before any explanation because a reader has to accept that the problem is real before a cause is worth debating. Cost comes second so the problem has a size that later options can be weighed against; at 9,900 short cases a year, the target still leaves some shortfall, and the statement admits it rather than promising perfection. The target has two sides, a service level and a cost ceiling, because either alone would invite a lopsided fix: meeting fill rate by adding inventory everywhere, or cutting cost by closing the warehouse and letting service slide. A boundary sentence confines the statement to eastern accounts, matching the Unit 2 scope. Evidence then moves to the support pages, keeping the statement short enough to quote whole in the final report.
The gap in one sentence
Eastern fill rate of [93.1] percent against a [97.5] percent account requirement, over twelve months of portal data. The sentence gives the measure, the period and the source, and nothing else.
What the gap costs
Lost contribution and chargebacks at [$11.40] a short case come to $311,494; expedites add [$96,000]. Putting $407,494 on the problem gives every later option a figure to beat.
A target with two sides
Fill rate must reach 97.5 percent while landed cost per eastern case stays at or below $32.30. The pairing blocks both easy answers, more stock everywhere or fewer buildings with worse service.
Freight climbing faster than cases
Outbound freight per eastern case rose from [$2.96] to $3.53 in two years, a 19.1 percent climb, while eastern volume grew [6] percent. The support page treats it as a second symptom, not a separate problem.
Causes held back
No culprit is named. Long replenishment from Kansas is the obvious suspect, but arguing it here would pre-empt the alternatives analysis, and the page says as much in one line.
Where marks go in MT498 Unit 4
The heaviest deduction on MT498 problem statements comes from prose that describes difficulty without measuring it: freight is too expensive, service is slipping. Graders look for a measure, a baseline period, a source and a target with a date. Statements that bundle the cause into the problem, asserting that the warehouse sits in the wrong place, tend to be marked down because they close off alternatives before any are studied. A target on service alone, or on cost alone, invites comment about the other side. Credit also follows proportion, since a problem sized in dollars shows whether a redesign is worth the effort at all. Overlong statements that bury the number in a third paragraph lose force even when every figure in them is right.
Get a MT498 Unit 4 example written to your instructions
Send the service and cost figures you have for your network, the target your company or case sets, and the Unit 4 prompt with its rubric. Back comes a composite one-page statement with a measured gap, a dollar size and a two-sided target, plus support pages. The first custom sample carries no fee; expect it in 24-48h.
MT498 Unit 4 questions, answered
Can the problem be about cost rather than service?
Yes. Many MT498 projects start from freight or inventory cost rather than fill rate. The key is a target naming the other side as a constraint: a cost problem should state the service level that must not fall, and a service problem the cost ceiling it must respect. One-sided targets tend to produce one-sided redesigns later in the term.
Where does a per-unit stockout cost come from?
Usually from lost contribution margin on the missing units plus any customer penalties. Many large retailers charge suppliers for short or late shipments under their vendor compliance programs, and those charges appear on deduction reports. If your data lacks them, a stated estimate in brackets works, provided the method sits beside it where a grader can check it.
Should the statement mention a likely cause?
Briefly, if at all, and outside the statement itself. A sentence noting what the analysis will test is acceptable. Naming the cause as settled, for example blaming a warehouse location, makes the alternatives look predetermined. Keep the statement to the measured gap, its cost and its target, and let the next units argue about why it exists.