M453 – M20857/M25191 Strategic Logistics Coursework Brief and Group Presentation

Coursework Brief 

This coursework/group presentation is worth 50% of the total unit mark. Copying of others work or reports (or the use of AI) is not permitted and will be dealt with under the University rules on plagiarism.

You need to submit Problem 1 and 2 to the Moodle Dropbox which checks the document for plagiarism through Turnitin. Problem 1 and Problem 2 (d) must be typed and should be no longer than the specified word limits where given. The font size used must be 11 or greater. Provide the list of references you have cited at the end of your essay and you must show all workings for your calculations. Please ensure that you upload Problem 1 and Problem 2 as one pdf file by 28 April 2025 1pm and name it with your individual student ID number (e.g., 476123.pdf) as failure to do so will result in a penalty. The submission for Problems 1 and 2 should be no more than 8 pages of A4.

Problem 3 (Group Presentation) should also be submitted to the Moodle Panopto Dropbox by one member of each group as a video MP4 file and a powerpoint ppt file and both named as your Group (e.g Group1.MP4 and Group1.ppt) by 12 May 2025 1pm.

Problem 1: Critical reflective essay on Amazon Fulfilment Centres in the UK

Write a short individual critical essay on the Amazon Fulfilment Centres (FCs) located in the UK. An FC is a facility that receives, stores, and ships orders for customers. It's a key part of the supply chain for online businesses such as Amazon which is a multinational technology company that sells products online, offers cloud computing services, and provides digital streaming. Your essay should include the following:

• Brief description of Amazon and its FCs in the UK.
• Analysis of the locations and purpose of these FCs and the key criteria used for their location across the UK.
• Design and management of these FCs such as their environment credentials, item location and inventory management systems
• Evaluation of how the operations of these Fulfilment Centres could be enhanced

Your essay should include references which have been cited in the text (mainly academic). The report should be between 1250-1500 words (excluding references).

Problem 2: Transportation problem

A company wishes to transport goods from three supply points to four demand points. The per unit costs, supply point capacities, and demand point requirements are given in Table 1:

Demand point 1    Demand point 2    Demand point 3    Demand point

where
 
Table 1: Unit costs (£) for transporting from each supply point to each demand point

a = The third digit of your student ID number
b = The fourth digit of your student ID number
c = The fifth digit of your student ID number
d = The sixth digit of your student ID number

e.g. Student ID number 356713 gives a=6, b=7, c=1, d=3)

a) Formulate this problem algebraically as a balanced transportation problem to minimize the total cost.
b)  Give the tabular form of the resulting balanced transportation model and hence find a basic feasible solution via Vogel’s method
c) Use the transportation simplex method starting from the basic feasible solution found in part b) to find an optimal solution.
d)  From your findings, make recommendations to the company with regards to what they should do in non-technical language