Logistics and Supply Chain Management Essential Supply Chain

Question: Discuss about the Logistics and Supply Chain Management for Essential Supply Chain. Answer: Part A The most essential supply chain management aspect of the ABC hospitals is that it is capable enough for attending first to all of the customers complaints. The major purpose for its call centres centralization as well as hiring the consultants of XYZ for improving over the situation was for ensuring that the consumers dont need to knock the doors of each and every department as well as clinic, with hardly any interaction among the referrals. It has provided previously the company a poor name as well as proven that the efficiency in the supply chain is the major essence for any companys success. The capacity of an operator for attending calls per hour, the average number of calls expected in Italian and the average number of the number of calls expected in English based on the average number of the calls expected at the centralized call centre during each hour, the excel calculation for the number of Italian and English operators needed in every shift is given as follows: Shift Time Average number of calls/hour Number of operators needed for attending the shift or call with the power of 6 calls/per hour Number of English operators needed at 80 % calls in English Number of Italian operators needed at 20 % calls in Italian A 7 AM - 9 AM 40 8 6 2 B 9 AM - 11 AM 85 15 12 3 C 11 AM - 1 PM 70 13 10 3 D 1 PM - 3 PM 95 17 13 4 E 3 PM - 5 PM 80 14 11 3 F 5 PM - 7 PM 35 7 5 2 G 7 PM - 9 PM 10 3 2 1 The above mentioned number of operators is the minimum number of operators those are needed to be present in order to attend calls (Dietz 2011). These can be engaged in other operations such as documentation that has not been considered here. It has also been demonstrated as follows: Shift A: As the number of average calls in this particular shift is 40; 32 calls can be expected in English that needs minimum 6 operators as well as on the other hand, 8 calls can be expected in Italian that needs just two operators as one operator can manage maximum six. Therefore, one needs another operator for the other two. The similar idea has also been utilized in all of the shifts so that the proper number of the operators can easily be determined for every shift. In similar way, 80 % of the calls from the average number of calls those are predicted for all the shifts have been taken into consideration for English as well as the rest 20 % for Italian and next integer has been considered to the minimum operator numbers those are needed to be present to attend the calls. Part B It can be observed based on the above-mentioned constraints of having 20 % Italian operators, 80 % English operators, availability of part timers only after 5 pm, alternate paper work timings of full timers that the organization would need to spend $2596 with the part timers beginning the shift time of that day at 7 am. It can also be derived from the calculation given in the excel sheet that is attached with it. It has also been taken into account that just the appropriate manpower is hired for meeting the constraints given above so that the cost of operation becomes minimal. Shift English Speaking Full timers Italian Speaking Full timers English speaking Part timers A 6 (beginning by calling) 2 (beginning by calling) B 12 (beginning by calling) 3 (beginning by calling) C 4 1 (starting by calling) D 1 4 (2 beginning with documentation and 2 with calling) E 7 (beginning by calling) F 2 (beginning by calling) G The results have been found with the following optimization logic of the costs of operation: The eight full timers would have to be the new full timers with the 2 Italian operators and 6 English operators since those eight full timers are needed in the shift A for calling. They would be taken into considered for working in the alternative shifts for the documentation The shift B also needs other fifteen new full timers as from the shift A the eight shift timers are working only for the purpose of documentation. They are distributed as 3 for the Italian as well as 12 for English based on the requirement. Shift C needs three Italian operators as well as ten English operators. On the other hand, only four are needed to be hired out of ten English operators needed as from the shift A, six English operators are present. Just one new hire is also needed for Italian, as two can be utilized from the shift A. From shift B the operators are only present for the purpose of documentation in this particular shift. Apart from that, shift D needs four operators for the Italian and thirteen operators for English. From shift B, 12 operators can attend calling for English. Therefore, it needs just one operator to be hired for English. From shift B, all the three operators for Italian can work as well as needs only one more to be hired. Nevertheless, hence, one more operator has been recruited for the Italian calling looking into the necessities of the next shifts. The other two are recruited here for the Italian who has started with the documentation part. It would also be subsequently demonstrated. The operators of shift A work here for the documentation purpose as well as it is their final shift. The operators of shift C are doing here the documentation section. Shift E needs the three operators for Italian as well as eleven operators for English. the part timers since cannot be recruited now, thus with the four operators who were recruited in Shift C for English, just seven more operators required to be recruited to attend the callers who speak in English. Now, two Italian operators have been recruited in the shift A in order to do the documentation part, which can be utilized for the calling purpose. Shift F needs five operators to attend the English callers and two operators for attending the Italian callers. As seven part time callers have already been recruited in the Shift E, thus they can do their jobs here as they arent engaged with the documentation part (Purkis 2001). Two Italian operators also from the shift D who have begun with the calling operation can easily be utilized here. Nevertheless, new two operators are recruited in this shift as any part timers cannot be recruited in the shift G. These operators only would be needed in the shift G to attend the English callers. The callers who deal with the Italian calls would be attended by the operators recruited for the purpose in the shift D who have begun with the documentation part there. It can complete the complete requirement of recruitment for all of the shifts under the consequences those are mentioned above. It can also been observed that the shift F is that only platform where the company would have to bear excessive costs since there is no any alternative present. The most favourable cost managed with this recruitment is $3104/day according to the attached calculation sheet that is made depending on the recruitment cost any operator at a particular shift as well as the cost applicable in that specific shift. Part C As mentioned in Part B, the optimal solution is the scenario where only one English speaking person is appointed as a full timer, at that particular shift which starts at 1pm. This solution is being considered a the optimal solution, as there is no requirement for any English speaking persons in the shifts consecutive to this one (Dietz, 2011) Thus, it can be said that the constraint mentioned in this particular question has been solved and no further hiring is required. Part D It has already been mentioned that the all the operators are bilingual. Therefore, irrespective of the language in which the client demands assistance, the number of operators required for each shift has been provided in the following table (Mukherjee, 2015): Shift Work Shift Average no. of calls / hour No. of operators required to attend calls in the shift with capacity 6 calls/hour 1st 7 AM to 9 AM 40 7 2nd 9 AM to 11 AM 85 15 3rd 11 AM to 1 PM 70 12 4th 1 PM to 3 PM 95 16 5th 3 PM to 5 PM 80 14 6th 5 PM to 7 PM 35 6 7th 7 PM to 9 PM 10 2 A depicted in the table above, the number of operators required for running shift 1 is 7 (based on the capacity of each operator). The number of operators required for running the other shifts has also been calculated. It can thus be said that the number of bilingual operators required for running the shifts is much less than that required when the operators are monolingual. Part E In this section of the paper, we utilize the same formula of hiring employees only when they are required. Thus, it is being assumed that no full timers work in the shifts consecutive to the one that start at 1 and that part timer operators work only in those shifts that start after 3 (Mukherjee 2015). Besides this, full timers are alternately provided with the responsibility for calling and for documentation process. The hiring schedule to be utilized is being outlined in the following table: e) Work Shift Average no. of calls / hour No. of operators required to attend calls in the shift with capacity 6 calls/hour No. of employees to be hired Total employees working Total Cost Total Cost from Monolingual Arrangement 1st 7 AM to 9 AM 40 7 7 full timers 7 full timers calling 140 160 2nd 9 AM to 11 AM 85 15 15 full timers 15 full timers + 7 full timers from shift A for documentation 440 460 3rd 11 AM to 1 PM 70 12 5 full timers more 5 full timers + 7 full timers from shift A + 15 full timers from shift B for documentation 540 560 4th 1 PM to 3 PM 95 16 1 full timer 1 new full timer + 15 full timers from shift B + 7 full timers from shift A for documentation + 5 full timers from Shift C 560 660 5th 3 PM to 5 PM 80 14 9 part timers 9 new part timers + 5 full timers from shift C for calling + 1 full timer from shift D for documentation + 15 full timers from B 600 640 6th 5 PM to 7 PM 35 6 2 part timers Already 9 part timers and 1 full timer from D are available for calling + 2 part timers 288 456 7th 7 PM to 9 PM 10 2 none 2 part timers + 1 full timer from shift D for documentation 72 168 2640 3104 A s depicted in case B, the logic that has been utilized for hiring bilingual operators have lead to the optimal solution. The same has been utilized in this case. Thus, 7 full time operators are required for taking calls in shift A. 15 full time operators are required for taking calls in shift B, along with 7 full timers who had already worked in shift A The later group would participate in documentation process. 12 full time operators are required for taking calls in shift C: 7 full timers who had already worked in Shift A would work in this shift, and 5 new operators would need to be hired. 16 full time operators are required for taking calls in shift D: 15 full timers who had already worked in Shift B would work in this shift, and 1 new operator would need to be hired. Besides this, 7 operators working in shift B would be present even in this shift, so as to participate in the documentation process. 14 full time operators are required for taking calls in shift E. In this case, 5operators working in Shift C would be utilized, besides hiring 9 part timers. Besides this, 1 full timer from shift D would oversee the documentation process. 6 operators are required for working in Shift F: the part timers employed in shift E and 1 full timer of shift D can run the shift. Even in case of shift G, no additional resources need to be hired as 2 part timers of F shift would be available. Part F From the attached excel sheet it can easily be observed that Jane can afford for ginving a maximum 14.9 % hike in the hourly rate of wage to the bilingual workers as per the comparison made with the monolingual employees. From the above calculation, it can be seen that the cost of recruitment of the monolingual operators as well as work within the requirements and constraints, the total cost would be evaluated to be $3104. It has also been calculated in order to keep in view that the company has offered the similar price to every monolingual operator in a specific shift. Each worker of all the shifts from A to E is paid $10/hour as well as then $12/hour in the last two shifts. The total price turns out to be $2640, if the similar operator or wages is utilized for the bilingual operators. Therefore, Jane can afford for giving up to 14.9% that is higher that the bilingual operators for matching the requirements of the call centre and operating with the similar cost of operating (Invensis 2016). Thus, now, the replacement of the operators being paid $10 can be done with the bilingual operators who are paid $11.5. The monolingual operators being paid $12/hour can be replaced by bilingual operators by payi ng $13.8/hour. The company switch also between the two depending on the necessities of availability and shift of the monolingual and bilingual operators. Part G The calculations presented in the following section indicate that the cost of operations would increase by $ 40 (Purkis, 2001): f) Work Shift Average no. of calls / hour No. of operators required to attend calls in the shift with capacity 6 calls/hour No. of employees to be hired Total employees working Total Cost 1st 7 AM to 9 AM 40* (if 1 operator is now increased) 8 8 full timers 8 full timers calling 160 2nd 9 AM to 11 AM 85 15 15 full timers 15 full timers + 8 full timers from shift A for documentation 460 3rd 11 AM to 1 PM 70 12 4 full timers more 4 full timers + 8 full timers from shift A + 15 full timers from shift B for documentation 540 4th 1 PM to 3 PM 95 16 1 full timer 1 new full timer + 15 full timers from shift B + 8 full timers from shift A for documentation+ 4 full timers from Shift C 560 5th 3 PM to 5 PM 80 14 9 part timers 9 new part timers + 5 full timers from shift C for calling + 1 full timer from shift D for documentation + 15 full timers from Shift B 600 6th 5 PM to 7 PM 35 6 2 part timers Already 9 part timers and 1 full timer from D are available for calling + 2 part timers 288 7th 7 PM to 9 PM 10 2 none 2 part timers + 1 full timer from shift D for documentation 72 2680 According to the requirement, 8 operators would be required instead of 7 in shift A. Thus, the total cost for shift A increases considerably, along with that of Shift B, as the employees operating in Shift A would only manage the documentation process in shift B. Therefore, Increase of cost in shift A: $ 20 Increase of cost in shift B: $ 20 Total: $ 20 In the light of the discussions made in the section above, it can be said that fixing the supply chain of the organization would also allow ABC Hospitals to operate in a structured manner, thus providing better solution to the customers. Reference List Dietz, D., 2011. Optimal Call Center Scheduling. [Online] Available at: https://www.profitpt.com/optimization/optimal-call-center-scheduling/ [Accessed 21 August 2016]. Invensis, 2016. Call Center Outsourcing Services for Logistics and Transportation Industry. [Online] Available at: https://www.invensis.net/call-center-outsourcing/logistics-transportation-industry-call-center-services.php [Accessed 21 August 2016]. Mukherjee, G., 2015. Some Value Propositions Of Supply Chain Management Outsourcing. [Online] Available at: https://www.go4customer.com/blog/call-center/some-value-propositions-of-supply-chain-management-outsourcing [Accessed 21 August 2016]. Purkis, T.W., 2001. The Benefits of Outsourcing Your Supply Chain Management. [Online] Available at: https://www.s4growth.com/publications/citations/7.cfm [Accessed 21 August 2016].