Supply Chain Management ( Please if you can answer the questions how they are labeled. a, b, c,) Thank you. Your response is greatly appreciated)

Read the following case and answer the questions presented below.

Intel One of the worlds largest manufacturers of computer chips, Intel needs little introduction. However, the company needed to reduce supply chain expenditure significantly after bringing its low-cost Atom chip to market. Supply chain costs of around $5.50 per chip were bearable for units selling for $100, but the price of the new chip was a fraction of that, at about $20.

The Supply Chain Cost Reduction Challenge:

Somehow, Intel had to reduce the supply chain costs for the Atom chip but had only one area of leverageinventory.

The chip had to work, so Intel could make no service trade-offs. With each Atom product being a single component, there was also no way to reduce duty payments. Intel had already whittled packaging down to a minimum, and with a high value-to-weight ratio, the chips distribution costs could not be pared down any further.

The only option was to try to reduce levels of inventory, which, up to that point, had been kept very high to support a nine-week order cycle. The only way Intel could find to make supply chain cost reductions was to bring this cycle time down and therefore reduce inventory.

The Path to Cost Reduction:

Intel decided to try what was considered an unlikely supply chain strategy for the semiconductor industry: make to order. The company began with a pilot operation using a manufacturer in Malaysia. Through a process of iteration, they gradually sought out and eliminated supply chain inefficiencies to reduce order cycle time incrementally. Further improvement initiatives included:

• Cutting the chip assembly test window from a five-day schedule, to a bi-weekly, 2-day-long process
• Introducing a formal S&OP planning process
• Moving to a vendor-managed inventory model wherever it was possible to do so

Supply Chain Cost Management Results:

Through its incremental approach to cycle time improvement, Intel eventually drove the order cycle time for the Atom chip down from nine weeks to just two. As a result, the company achieved a supply chain cost reduction of more than $4 per unit for the $20 Atom chipa far more palatable rate than the original figure of $5.50.

Question # 1.

1. Explain what is meant by Intels cycle time [5 marks]
2. Explain what is meant by Intels inventory levels. [5 marks]
3. State and explain the strategy Intel used to reduce their overall supply chain cost. [10 marks]

Question # 2.

Draw an intricate detailed diagram of Intels entire supply chain, indicating the places - in their supply chain - that they targeted and the entities they engaged to experience the massive reduction in their overall cost. [30 marks]