Question

R.C. Coleman distributes a variety of food products that are sold through grocery

store and supermarket outlets. The company receives orders directly from the
individual outlets, with a typical order requesting the delivery of several cases of
anywhere from 20 to 50 different products. Under the company’s current warehouse
operation, warehouse clerks dispatch order-picking personnel to fill each order and
have the goods moved to the warehouse shipping area. Because of the high labor
costs and relatively low productivity of hand order-picking, management has
decided to automate the warehouse operation by installing a computer-controlled
order-picking system, along with a conveyor system for moving goods from storage
to the warehouse shipping area.
R.C. Coleman’s director of material management has been named the project
manager in charge of the automated warehouse system. After consulting with
members of the engineering staff and warehouse management personnel, the
director compiled a list of activities associated with the project. The optimistic, most
probable and pessimistic times (in weeks) have also been provided for each activity.

Develop a managerial report that presents the activity schedule and expected project
completion time for the warehouse expansion project. Include a project network in
the report. This report should describe the details to be presented to the Operations
Head.

Answer 1

A managerial report for R.C. Coleman's warehouse automation should include an activity schedule, project network, and expected project completion time, emphasizing economies of scale, reduced labor costs, and increased productivity.

Step-by-step explanation:

The subject question revolves around R.C. Coleman and details a scenario in which the company decides to automate its warehouse operation. This requires creating an activity schedule and estimating the project completion time, which involves constructing a project network. The report, aimed at the Operations Head, needs to highlight the benefits of the automation, such as economies of scale, and improved productivity by reducing labor costs and increasing the speed of repetitive tasks.

Examples of automation in retail, such as self-scan checkout aisles in supermarkets and Amazon's computerized warehouses, illustrate the trend towards automation for increased efficiency and cost savings. These anecdotes also reference the concept of economies of scale, where increasing output can reduce the cost per unit, benefiting large-scale operations like warehouse stores.

The automation and efficient scale of production ultimately positively impact a company's bottom line through lower operational costs and increased productivity, key components in R.C. Coleman's warehouse expansion project report.