Operations Management Assignment 2: Inventory and Agile Methods

This report analyzes the application of operations management principles, specifically focusing on inventory and materials management, and agile project management methods, within the context of a new facility for Rebel Sports. The report details how inventory should be managed, considering factors like customer demand, categorization, and the use of ABC analysis. It emphasizes the importance of a tracking system and regular checkups. Furthermore, the report outlines the implementation of Agile project management, detailing steps from setting a vision to sprint cycles and reviews, and discusses the differences between adaptive and predictive project management methods. The report also highlights the pros and cons of using agile methodology, providing a comprehensive overview of operational strategies for the company.

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Running Head: Operations Management
OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

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Operations Management
Explain how inventory and materials management will look like for your new
facility.
Inventory refers to the stock of goods that have been stored for future sale. This way the
Rebel Sports will be able to provide goods even when they are in demand and replenish
the goods that have been sold. Inventory management refers to the act of managing the
stocked goods in order to ensure that they can be promptly delivered when needed.
Inventory management allows the company to provide greater variety to choose from to
their customers and while they choose they also look over the materials and may recall
a need for them (Muller, 2019). This way the Rebel Sports can retain its customers and
enhance its sales. The following approaches can be followed for maintaining the
inventory.
1. The stock of the goods needs to be based on customer opinions and needs. This
means that the goods that are more in demand will be stocked more than others.
For this, one needs to understand customer buying patterns, which can be clear
if one takes a look of the past sales sheet. Since this store would be a new outlet,
one can check the sales stocks of other related stores and other branches
around the area to get an idea.
2. The inventory needs to be well categorized and ordered. This would make the
work a lot easier and the goods can be located and accounted for easily. The
store can depend on the prize, type of product or on the demand for goods.
3. It is not necessary that a good inventory management means that the warehouse
it always full. On the other hand, the number of goods in the warehouse can
depend on the style of inventory management that appears to be suitable for the
store. In this case, it is recommended to store only the goods that are high
demand and within the average cost of products. It is advisable to not stock high
priced goods, until Rebel Sports has created a hoard of loyal customers within its
locality. The goods can be divided using ABC analysis, class A are the high
annual dollar income goods, class B is medium annual dollar income goods and
Class C is low annual dollar income group.
4. Since the store has opted for stocking only the goods in high demand, it is
therefore advisable to maintain the supply for prompt delivery. Also, a tracking

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system can be installed that help them keep a check on the incoming and
outgoing goods.
5. However, even an inventory that began with detailed order can go haywire if left
unchecked for a long period of time. Regular checkups are therefore extremely
necessary.
Manage your group work using Agile Project Management methods
In the traditional approach of project management, the whole task was considered
under one planning cycle where all the tasks and actions of the project were decided for
initially. This required high level of accurate prediction skills for the project to succeed.
On the other hand, in Agile the complete project is divided in cycles making it easy to
account for the tasks and actions better. For implementing Agile project management
methods in the industry, the following steps were used.
Step 1: The vision or the goal that was to be achieved was set forth in front of the team.
The goal was identified to popularize Rebel Sports among the customers and create a
need for its goods among the customers.
Step 2: In this step, a product roadmap or in this case a store roadmap will be built
where we will convey the message and the idea behind the creation of the store to the
probable customers. The target customers is a person who is inclined to athletics,
sports and outdoor activities. However, the store also offers products for an average
person’s needs. The roadmap is basically a strategy that identifies the goals, objectives
or outcomes and the time period within which they need to be achieved.
Step 3: The roadmap will be followed by a release plan where the products and the
vision of the store will be put before the customers. Their initial reaction can also be
accounted and used to make any last-minute changes.
Step 4: Once the store is open and promoted to the customers, the development cycles
can be planned. The time period chosen for a sprint cycle ranges between 1 to 4 weeks.
In the sprint cycles, small customer-oriented goals will be achieved, such as pitching a
new product before the customers, increasing the number of customers and increasing
the sale of A class good.

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Step 5: The sprint will make it easy to keep the activities and operations within the store
in check. However, it may only focus on one particular goal. It is advised even during
the cycle other operations are not ignored.
Step 6: The end of the sprint cycle would be followed by a thorough review that will
enable the store to identity its lacking and certain trends related to the customers and
their preferences.
Step 7: The review results would give an idea about what the next print cycle needs to
be about and the next set of goals should be set a few paces higher to ensure that the
development is ongoing.
Discuss the difference between adaptive and predictive project management
methods. Outline the pros and cons of using agile methodology for managing
your group assignment.
Agile project management style gives the most importance to the customers and their
needs. The customers are a varied group of people with different needs and buying
patterns. It is not possible to accurately predict their buying habits as a result of which
the project management system needs to be flexible in order to be able to
accommodate any last minute needs. Therefore, Agile methods are more adaptive
(Denning, 2016). This is in contrast to the Waterfall project management techniques
where planning strategies are more predictive and try to achieve the goals through their
actions. However, predictive techniques sometimes are unable to consider the
fluctuations in the market and customer trends. Given the differences in both the
techniques, it is still not appropriate to say that one is better than the other as the needs
of the business or the project also determine which project management method would
be better.

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References
Denning, S. (2016). How to make the whole organization “Agile”. Strategy & Leadership,
44(4), 10-17.
Muller, M. (2019). Essentials of inventory management. HarperCollins Leadership.