You work for B&B Import and Export Incorporated, who just acquired a new business, Agro Smart Suppliers, a Canadian distributor of outdoor power equipment such as trimmers, chainsaws, blowers, mowers, log splitters, pressure washers, parts and accessories. As a new division of B&B, your manager has given you the task of laying out a road map to success from an operations management and supply chain perspective. Among the responsibilities you have here are some of the main requests:

1.Lay out a flow chart that illustrates the main suppliers (factories), who they interact with, the type of transportation they use to deliver to Canadian ports, and the timeline from each location to your warehouses in Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, and Toronto.

2.Using your knowledge from concepts and strategies with detailed justifications on how to improve the current supply chain map by increasing efficiencies and reducing cost without affecting quality or delivery time.

3.Be creative by laying out specific overseas and local factory locations, type of inputs and outputs factories use, different delivery time from when an order is placed to the time arrives to a Canadian port (air, sea or land).

Using some of the concepts and strategies listed below, make sure your suggestions are in line with the requirements and that your company wont have to increase prices at least for the next year. -

Efficiencies with transportation

Inventory management strategy

Reduce production cost

Economies of scale

Product differentiation

Efficiency with warehousing

Logistics strategy -

Substituting information for inventory

Replacing physical inventory

Procurement strategy

Warehouse capacity planning

Determining/ identifying bottlenecks

Evaluating alternatives

In a page or two maximum, please illustrate, describe, and/or specify your findings, observations, and recommendations as per list of requests above.