OPIM 322 High Performance Warehousing and Fulfillment

An undergraduate elective course for students in the Singapore Management University.

 

Course Description

As the world becomes more globalized many companies achieve competitive advantage by paying substantial attention on effective supply chain operations. Warehouses are consolidation hubs of various products in a supply chain. To support business that covers a wide range of markets it is common for a warehouse to store hundreds of thousands of products. These products pass through the warehouse in huge volume daily, and so it is important to run it efficiently.

Besides the traditional storage function, warehouses are increasingly forced to perform responsive and accurate customer order fulfillment and other value-added services. High performance in product warehousing and order fulfillment becomes crucial to the success of many companies in today's competitive business environment. We will introduce various operation models that are theoretically appealing and practically feasible. Some case studies will also be discussed.

This course is especially useful for those who are interested in consulting careers in logistics and supply chain management.

Click here for a recent syllabus.

 

Instructor

Yun Fong LIM

Tel: 6828-0774

Email: myname@smu.edu.sg (replace myname with yflim)

Office:  4038, Level 4, Lee Kong Chian School of Business

 

Course Activities and Project

 

Bucket Brigade Exercise: A few students will be invited to simulate the operations of a bucket brigade order-picking line in class. Other students will observe and record the performance of the bucket brigade protocol, which will be compared with other approaches.

 

Warehouse Tour: Students will visit a distribution center during the semester. This will be a great chance for them to see how a warehouse operates in the real world. Students will also experience various aspects of the working life of professionals in logistics and supply chain management. Warehouses that we have visited include:

· UPS (2009)

· Keppel Logistics (2007)

· YCH Group (2006)

Read an article on how YCH transformed from a transportation company to a supply chain solutions provider.

 

Guest Lecture: An industry speaker will give a lecture during the semester. Students will learn the business model, operations, and challenges of the company. This will be a good opportunity for the students to get in contact with professionals in logistics and supply chain management. Speakers that we have invited are from the following companies:

· UPS (2009)

· P & G (2007)

· Boon Software (2006)

 

Project: Students will form groups to design a warehouse based on real data collected from a company. They are expected to submit a report and make a presentation for the project. Some snapshots of past projects are shown below.

 

 

 

 

                                                

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flowthrough Layout:

U-Shaped Layout:

Angled-Aisle (Fishbone)  Layout:

Bucket Brigade Exercise:

Andreas Setiadi, Guest Speaker from P&G: