Operations Management: Processes and Supply Chains, 12e (Krajewski)
Chapter 15 Supply Chain Sustainability
1) The essence of sustainability is the ability to meet humanity’s current needs without harming future
generations.
2) Sustainability has three principle elements; financial responsibility, environmental responsibility, and
social responsibility.
3) Humanitarian logistics is the process of planning, implementing, and controlling the efficient, cost–
effective flow and storage of goods and materials, as well as related information, from the point of origin
to the point of consumption for the purpose of alleviating the suffering of vulnerable people.
4) The ecological needs of the planet and the firm’s stewardship of the natural resources used in
production are elements of:
A) financial responsibility.
B) environmental responsibility.
C) social responsibility.
D) humanitarian logistics.
5) Financial responsibility addresses the fiscal needs of:
A) shareholders and business partners.
B) nature and future generations.
C) society.
D) non-stakeholders.
6) What reason is cited by the authors for the difficulty with receiving approval for sustainability as a
strategy?
A) Sustainability is not a classic strategy in the mold of quality, cost leadership, or flexibility.
B) Sustainability is too easily achieved and therefore does not provide a competitive advantage in the
market.
C) In general, directors often need to see a demonstrable return on investment to justify the costs.
D) Sustainability is an inherently high-risk strategy and most boards are risk-averse.
7) ________ addresses the moral, ethical, and philanthropic expectations that society has of an
organization.
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8) Briefly discuss the three elements of supply chain sustainability.
Answer: Financial responsibility addresses the financial needs of the shareholders, employees,
customers, business partners, financial institutions, and any other entity that supplies the capital for the
9) What pressures do organizational leaders feel in the area of sustainability?
Answer: A recent survey of top executives revealed that 93 percent of the CEOs believe that
sustainability issues are critical to the future success of their companies, and 91 percent of them will
employ new technologies (renewable energy, energy efficiency, information and communication) over
10) What are the three elements of supply chain sustainability? Describe how each works and provide an
example from industry for each.
Answer: The three elements of supply chain sustainability include social responsibility, environmental
responsibility, and financial responsibility. Social responsibility addresses the moral, ethical, and
philanthropic expectations that society has of an organization. Environmental responsibility addresses the
15.2 Reverse Logistics
1) One motivation for reverse logistics is warranty repair or replacement.
2) Reverse logistics addresses the movement of physical goods from consumer to producer and product
information is an important by-product of the reverse-logistics process.
3) A take back incentive by a company is a promise to provide a new copy of a product if another copy is
returned.
4) A corporate recycling program that takes obsolete models and reuses some basic components in the
next generation of products is an example of:
A) reverse logistics and environmental responsibility.
B) social responsibility and ethics.
C) financial responsibility.
D) reverse logistics.
5) The management of products from the customer back to the point of origin is an element of:
A) quality of life programs.
B) the transportation method.
C) critical mass.
D) reverse logistics.
6) The function in a reverse logistics process that takes used goods from customers and distributes them
to the production process or to distributors and retailers is:
A) the returns processor.
B) the waste disposal unit.
C) green team.
D) repair team.
7) The two important by-products of the reverse logistics process are:
A) satisfied customers and money.
B) product information and money.
C) money and waste.
D) waste and product information.
8) Some original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that participate in remanufacturing attempt to limit
the cannibalization of new product sales by:
A) charging more for remanufactured products than for new products.
B) requiring a new product to be purchased with every purchase of a remanufactured item.
C) establishing floors on the prices that are charged for remanufactured products.
D) refusing to provide a warranty on remanufactured products.
9) One incentive scheme that insures a steady return of products through reverse logistics channels is to
provide a new copy of a product if another copy is returned. This program is commonly known as:
A) take back.
B) fee.
C) deposit fee.
D) trade-in.
10) The assortment of appliances, unused exercise equipment, and cat-scratched couches gave the
neighborhood a post-apocalyptic appearance, but I quickly realized it was simply big trash day in this
district. This initiative is an example of:
A) a deposit fee program.
B) a community program.
C) a take-back program.
D) a recycling program.
11) A supply chain that integrates forward logistics with reverse logistics is called a(n) ________.
12) A facility owned by the manufacturer or outsourced to a supplier that is proficient at disassembling
products and wringing every last drop of value from them is a(n) ________.
13) ________ provide an incentive for the user to return the product or containers of the product to get
them reimbursed.
14) In what ways is reverse logistics management more difficult than the management of more typical
supply chain flows?
Answer: The reverse logistics operations are considerably different from the forward logistics flows, and
considerably more expensive. A firm must establish convenient collection points to receive the used
goods from the final customer and transport the goods to a returns processor, which is a facility owned by
the manufacturer or outsourced to a supplier that is proficient at disassembling products and gleaning
15.3 Energy Efficiency
1) The so-called carbon footprint for a process is a myth, similar in concept to the British thermal unit
(Btu).
2) An increase in freight density results in a decrease in carbon footprint.
3) The traveling salesman problem is used to minimize the freight density in a designated salesman’s
territory.
4) Five cases of rubber chickens that were produced in China, sent by shipping container to a west coast
port, transferred to a rail car, and then delivered the last 300 miles by semi-truck have experienced
intermodal shipment.
5) The total amount of greenhouse gasses produced to support operations is the:
A) greenhouse effect.
B) gas mass.
C) zither.
D) carbon footprint.
6) A key difference between a shortest route problem and a traveling salesman problem is:
A) the traveling salesman must return to the starting point.
B) the shortest route is concerned with minimizing the total distance traveled.
C) the traveling salesman must complete the tour in one day or less.
D) the shortest route requires a GPS system.
7) The nearest neighbor heuristic chooses the:
A) nearest neighbor to the start city and adds it to the unvisited set.
B) closest visited city to the last city and adds it to the unvisited set.
C) nearest neighbor to the end city and adds it to the visited set.
D) closest unvisited city to the last city added to the visited set.
Use Figure 15.1 to answer the questions below.
8) Refer to Figure 15.1. The starting point for the traveling salesman is location E, which is the first city in
the visited city set. Use the nearest neighbor heuristic to determine the third city in the visited city set.
A) city A
B) city B
C) city C
D) city D
9) Refer to Figure 15.1. The starting point for the traveling salesman is location E, which is the first city in
the visited city set. Use the nearest neighbor heuristic to determine the fourth city in the visited city set.
A) city A
B) city B
C) city C
D) city D
10) Refer to Figure 15.1. The starting point for the traveling salesman is location E, which is the first city in
the visited city set. What is the total distance traveled to complete the tour using the nearest neighbor
heuristic?
A) 320 miles
B) 375 miles
C) 395 miles
D) 410 miles
11) Which of these is an appropriate measurement of freight density?
A) miles per dollar
B) dollars per mile
C) pounds per cubic foot
D) pounds per mile
Matrix 15.1
Use this data in this matrix to answer the following questions.
12) Refer to Matrix 15.1. What is the cost to ship a 5,000 pound item in freight class 65?
A) $5,000
B) $107,450
C) $21.49
D) $1,074.50
13) Refer to Matrix 15.1. What is the break-even point for shipping a 7,500 pound shipment in class 92.5?
A) 8,679
B) 9,910 pounds
C) 10,091
D) 7,932
14) Refer to Matrix 15.1. What is the charge for shipping a 3,750 pound crate in shipping class 70?
A) $1,124
B) $858
C) $1,499
D) $986
15) From an energy perspective, which is the most efficient mode of transportation for packages?
A) car
B) trucking
C) rail
D) air
16) A shipment that is transported using two or more modes during its journey is said to be:
A) speculative.
B) cromulent.
C) bicoastal.
D) intermodal.
17) ________ is the total amount of greenhouse gasses produced to support a firm’s operations.
18) The delivery driver left the office at 8 a.m. and already had a route mapped out that allowed him to
visit all customers once and then return to the office while driving the shortest possible distance. This
route was determined by solving a(n) ________.
19) ________ as measured in pounds per cubic foot, is one means of determining how energy efficient a
firm is behaving.
20) What are the three managerial levers that can be used to decrease the carbon footprint of a supply
chain?
21) Describe a traveling salesman scenario from your own experience. How can the nearest neighbor
heuristic be used to solve it?
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22) Pick a product imported from overseas and describe the intermodal options for bringing it to a retail
location in your hometown?
Answer: Examples will vary. The four major modes of transportation are (1) air freight, (2) trucking, (3)
shipping by water, and (4) rail. From an energy perspective, air freight and trucking are much less
efficient than shipping or rail. The EPA also considers railroads best when it comes to noxious emissions