Questions:

1. You have just been appointed as the operations manager of a manufacturing company. Identify and discuss the four most common types of inventory your organisation would need to hold.

2. Operational capacity decisions are concerned with the long-term capability of an organisation to produce the required amount of output over time. You have been engaged as a consultant to constantly deal with issues surrounding stock and capacity related problems. Provide and explain any five (5) of the various strategies available in managing capacity.

3. At an executive meeting comprising you as the operations manager, a finance manager and a marketing manager, it was agreed that globalisation is an important aspect of organisational growth. Write to the board of directors, outlining six reasons why your organisation should consider internationalization of its business operations.

4. Services cannot be inventoried when future demand is anticipated and, therefore aggregate planning becomes a challenge in a service environment. Discuss any five (5) strategies that could assist you as an operations manager to balance demand and capacity