Assignment 2
Read the case study “Designing the Production Network at CoolWipes” on pp. 153‐154 of
the prescribed textbook. Write a business report summarizing the case, the issues identified,
and your analysis of the different networks options under consideration. Answer each of the
case questions separately in a separate section at the end of the report. Show the problem
formulation and all the calculations involved in the appendix.
Suggested Overall Format of Assignment 2
1. A formal business report is required.
2. In addition to the Covering Page (a page that properly provides the course number
and title, assignment number, title of the case, student number, student name, and
submission date), the report should include the following:
(a) Executive Summary (Summarize the case, the findings of analysis, and the
recommendations.)
(b)Table of Contents (List the sections and subsections with corresponding page
numbers on a separate page.)
(c) List of Figures (List the figure numbers and captions, if any, with corresponding
page numbers on a separate page.)
(d)List of Tables (List the table numbers and captions, if any, with corresponding
page numbers on a separate page.)
(e) Summary of the Case (Use your own words to give a brief summary of the case.)
(f) Objectives (State the purposes of the study.)
(g) Issues Identified (Analyse the information provided in the case to identify the
issues faced by the company.)
(h)Network Option Analysis (Analyse the network options under consideration
using the information provided in the case. Both the current, i.e., as‐is, and the
optimized, i.e., improved, configurations need to be worked out. MS Solver may
be used to find the two options. NOTE: Only summaries of the analyses are
needed. Details of the analyses should be given in the Answers to the Case
Questions section. Use summary tables to show the configurations and costs.)
(i) Recommendations (Recommend the best option to adopt based on the outcome
of the analysis.)
(j) Conclusions (Summarize the study and give insight.)
(k) Answers to the Case Questions (Answer the case questions one by one in
separate subsection with the question number clearly stated. DO NOT MERGE
EVERYTHING into a big paragraph or essay. Marks will be deducted if answers to
the case questions are not provided separately as required. Make full use of the
information in the case and the model as a tool to help answer the questions.
Assessment is based on how thorough the case analysis, whether the model has
been appropriately used, and how relevant the answers to the case questions
are.)
(l) References (List the references used in the report in strict Harvard style.)
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(m)Appendices (Show the mathematical formulation of the problem stated in
each case question, Solver setup and equations used to calculate of the total
cost.)
3. Use summary tables, charts, and figures where appropriate to aid your analysis and
discussion. The figures and tables should be inserted in the sections and subsections
immediately after they are mentioned instead of in the List of Figures and List of
Tables.
4. All the Solver setup and calculation must be clearly shown in the appendices to the
report. Use screen dumps of the spreadsheet or the Solver dialogue box to aid
explanation where appropriate.
5. All references must be provided in strict Harvard style. See
http://mams.rmit.edu.au/2nkrhwuswrpq.rtf for guidelines and examples in using
Harvard style.
6. For this case study, you are required to analyse and compare among various network
options. As stated in the case, one option is to serve the entire nation from Chicago.
Other options include building new plants in other sites while keeping (or not keeping)
the Chicago plant. There are pros and cons under each option and it is your job to find
the best one for CoolWipes. You should make use of ALL the information provided
(particularly the cost figures) and develop a Solver model for the network analysis.
Once the model is verified and validated, you can use the model as a tool for scenario
testing to help you answer the case questions. In addition to the three questions in the
case, you are also required to answer an additional question (Question 4) as follows:
If Matt were required to set up only one line at each plant, and assuming he could
design a new network from scratch as he did in Question 3, what production
network would you recommend? Would your decision be different if
transportation costs were half of their current value? What if they were double of
their current value?
7. The suggested word length of the report is 3,000
8. The assessment of the assignment will be based mainly on the accuracy of the logic and
the comprehensiveness of the analysis as presented in the report. The more effort
students invested in analysing the case and writing the report the higher the marks will
be. Only getting the correct answer in a spreadsheet will certainly not be good enough.
