LGT5015 Supply Chain Management

How LGT5015 is assessed

The teaching plan and marking rubric agree on these weights. For reflective essays, the case-study guide states that a similarity index higher than 15% is a disqualified submission marked zero and that, without an approved extension, 10% of marks given is deducted for each day late, with part of a day counted as one day. Check the current subject Canvas page for operational settings and later clarification. A component hurdle is not stated in the available course documents. The final examination format is to be announced later in the semester, so students should use the current Canvas briefing for duration, sections, question types and permitted materials.

Current LGT5015 dates

Dates are as published in Teaching plan, lines 111 to 123.. Confirm exact deadlines and submission settings in the live LMS.

What LGT5015 covers

Nine chapters follow the published teaching sequence from supply chain scope and inventory through information, integration, sourcing, risk, distribution and customer value.

A cheaper supplier can extend lead time, create quality failures or weaken recovery. A central warehouse can pool uncertainty while moving stock farther from urgent demand.

The subject therefore rewards students who trace consequences across firms and functions instead of stopping at the first visible metric.

How the nine chapters fit together

The opening chapter defines the supply chain as linked material, information and financial flows and introduces global rather than local optimisation.

Inventory policy then provides the main calculations: economic order quantity, average inventory, turnover, safety stock and reorder logic. Information sharing explains why orders can become more volatile than final customer demand and why a data feed alone does not coordinate different forecasting and replenishment rules.

Integration places the push-pull boundary between forecast-driven and order-driven work.

Strategic alliances and vendor-managed inventory examine what happens when information and day-to-day control cross organisational boundaries. Procurement and outsourcing expand purchase price into total cost of ownership and ask whether knowledge, capacity or product architecture should stay internal.

Risk management separates exposure that can be estimated from uncertainty that requires resilience and fast learning.

Distribution compares direct shipment, warehousing, cross-docking, physical pooling and virtual pooling through transshipment. Customer value closes the loop by asking which promise governs every earlier trade-off.

A low-price chain, a service-led chain and a brand-led chain should not be designed or measured in the same way.

How marks are won

The published case-discussion ladder moves from basic summary to analytical connection and then to an insightful, creative perspective. Use that progression in every response.

Start with a concrete fact, connect it to a named mechanism, show the operational consequence and propose an alternative that acknowledges its cost.

For numerical work, define units, show the formula, keep precision until the end, verify the result and state what the number decides.

Submission rules outside the weight table

The case-study guide states that a reflective essay with a similarity index higher than 15% is treated as a disqualified submission and marked zero.

It also states that, without an approved extension, 10% of the marks given is deducted for each day late, with part of a day counted as one day. These rules apply to the reflective essays rather than the whole subject. Check the current subject Canvas page before submission because it controls the operational setting and any later clarification.

Worked example · free

Recompute an apparent freight saving across the network

Key terms

Global Optimisation

A systemwide choice that improves the total supply-chain outcome rather than one function's metric.

Cycle Stock

Inventory created by routine replenishment quantities as stock falls between orders.

Safety Stock

Additional inventory held to protect service against demand or lead-time uncertainty.

Economic Order Quantity

The order quantity that balances annual ordering and cycle-stock holding costs under stated assumptions.

Bullwhip Effect

The amplification of demand variation as replenishment orders move upstream.

Push-Pull Boundary

The interface between forecast-driven stages and stages triggered by realised demand.

Postponement

Delaying product differentiation until better demand information is available.

Vendor-Managed Inventory

A replenishment arrangement in which the supplier manages agreed inventory decisions using shared data.

Total Cost of Ownership

The complete cost of acquiring, using, coordinating and supporting a purchased item or service.

Risk Exposure

The expected loss calculated from the probability of an event and its impact.

Inventory Pooling

Combining inventory across demands so variation can offset and protection stock can fall.

Customer Value

The customer's perception of the complete product, service and intangible offering.

LGT5015 FAQ

Questions students ask in each LGT5015 chapter

Why can a departmental saving be misleading?

A department usually records only the consequences inside its boundary. Larger batches may lower production cost while increasing stock, expiry and delay elsewhere. Rebuild the comparison at network level before deciding whether total performance improved. Use one customer promise and a common time basis, then identify where the local action moves cost, cash, risk or response burden across the chain. Chapter 01 · Supply Chain Scope and Global Optimisation

What does EOQ decide?

EOQ decides how much to order under its assumptions. It does not independently decide when to order, how much safety stock to hold or whether quantity discounts and uncertain lead times change total cost. Use reorder logic for timing, a service-based uncertainty model for protection and complete feasible cost comparisons when the unit price changes. Chapter 02 · Inventory Policy and Economic Order Quantity

Why is shared data not always enough?

Partners may see the same sales but apply different forecasting horizons, order cycles and protection rules. Physical lead times and incentives can also remain unchanged, so common visibility does not guarantee coordinated decisions. Coordination adds an agreed rule, clear decision rights and a response to exceptions; otherwise faster information may simply produce different orders more quickly. Chapter 03 · Information Sharing and the Bullwhip Effect

When does push make sense?

Push is favoured where demand is relatively stable, scale economies are strong or upstream lead times are too long for a customer to wait. Final allocation can still remain pull-driven. Name the forecast-driven operation and test how much generic stock is created, because describing an entire chain as push hides the boundary where real demand can still govern. Chapter 04 · Push, Pull and Supply Chain Integration

How is an alliance different from a transaction?

Performance depends on continuing joint processes, information and investment rather than a one-off exchange. The relationship therefore needs defined decision rights, measures and escalation, not only a price. The partners must also state who owns inventory, who absorbs failure and how authority changes when performance repeatedly misses the agreed service or stock boundary. Chapter 05 · Strategic Alliances and Replenishment

Why is the cheapest quote not always cheapest?

Freight, duties, administration, inspection, defects, inventory, delay and disruption can outweigh the quoted saving. Build the external total on the same basis as avoidable internal cost. Then assess knowledge, capacity, product architecture and dependence separately, because forcing strategic exposure into an unsupported dollar estimate can make a precise spreadsheet less truthful. Chapter 06 · Procurement, Outsourcing and Sourcing

What does exposure arithmetic contribute?

It places named risks on a comparable expected-loss basis and supports before-and-after evaluation of controls. The result depends on documented assumptions and does not guarantee what will happen. Use sensitivity across a plausible probability or impact range, and state the threshold where the preferred mitigation changes, rather than presenting one uncertain input as settled fact. Chapter 07 · Supply Chain Risk and Resilience

What does direct shipment save?

It can avoid facility cost and handling, but may increase small shipments and remove risk-pooling benefits. Evaluate both inbound and outbound transport and the source response capability. Product urgency, value density and customer distance can reverse the decision, so state the item and service conditions rather than treating direct flow as universally lean. Chapter 08 · Distribution Networks and Inventory Pooling

Why should a firm choose a value focus?

Price, service, access, product and experience require different capabilities and costs. Claiming leadership everywhere gives operating teams no way to resolve trade-offs or choose measures. A chosen focus clarifies which inventory, capacity, quality or distribution expense creates customer value and which complexity can be removed without weakening the promise. Chapter 09 · Customer Value and Strategic Fit

How to study for the exam

Use three passes. In the first pass, rebuild the visual logic from memory: network flows, EOQ cost curves, bullwhip amplification, the push-pull boundary, the make-or-buy matrix, the probability-impact map and distribution topologies. In the second, calculate EOQ, average inventory, turnover and risk exposure with units and verification. In the third, practise case judgement.

Start with the customer or network objective, identify the mechanism that produces the problem, choose evidence that could settle it and recommend one action while naming its cost. For case discussion, deliberately upgrade a basic factual response into an analytical response and then add one defensible alternative perspective.

Keep a separate checklist for the five reflective essays, including word range, current deadline and submission controls. Do not build revision around an assumed final-paper format; use the later official examination briefing when it appears.

Your AI Management tutor for LGT5015

Stuck on a hard LGT5015 question? Sia is AskSia’s AI Management tutor — ask any LGT5015 Supply Chain Management question and get a clear, step-by-step explanation grounded in how the course is actually taught and assessed. Read this whole study guide free, then take your hardest questions to Sia.