CIPS L4M7 - Whole Life Asset Management

Multi-story warehouses provide:

Flexible storage options for various inventory types, based on volume, weight, and movement frequency.

Cost savings on land: As vertical space is utilized, less land is needed for the same storage volume, potentially reducing property expenses.

Whole-life asset management considers these factors to maximize storage efficiency while managing real estate costs.

Including a currency fluctuation clause protects against exchange rate volatility, which can increase the final cost if the currency depreciates. Whole-life asset management often incorporates such risk management measures to ensure cost predictability and avoid unanticipated financial impact on long-term projects.

Explanation

Direct and indirect costs of holding inventory include the following:

1. Acquisition costs

2. Holding costs (carrying costs) are the costs associated with the storage and handling of physical stock. There are two different types of holding costs:

a. Costs related to the value of the goods: financial costs (i.e. the interest on the working capital tied up in inventory, which may be the bank borrowing rate or the company's target for return on capital); cost of insurance; losses due to product deterioration; losses due to obsolescence and redundancy of inventory; losses due to theft, accidental damage etc.

b. Costs related to the physical characteristics of the inventory include the following: storage space; power, heat and lighting of the store; movement equipment; labour costs; administration costs.

3. Costs of stockouts

Independent demand items refer to goods that are not directly tied to the production process. Examples include:

Office consumables: Supplies such as paper or printer ink used in general operations.

Completed finished goods: End products ready for sale, whose demand depends on the market rather than production schedules.

In whole-life asset management, managing independent demand items is important for optimizing storage and procurement, as these items impact operational costs differently than production-related items.

Explanation

An exponential moving average (EMA) is a type of moving average (MA) that places a greater weight and significance on the most recent data points. The exponential moving average is also referred to as the exponentially weighted moving average. An exponentially weighted moving average reacts more significantly to recent price changes than a simple moving average (SMA), which applies an equal weight to all observations in the period.

Explanation

Economic order quantity (EOQ) model is the method that provides the company with an order quantity. This order quantity figure is where the record holding costs and ordering costs are mini-mized. By using this model, the companies can minimize the costs associated with the ordering and inventory holding. In 1913, Ford W. Harris developed this formula whereas R. H. Wilson is given credit for the application and in-depth analysis on this model.

If the economic order quantity model is applied, the following assumptions should be met:

- The rate of demand is constant, and total demand is known in advance.

- The ordering cost is constant.

- The unit price of inventory is constant, i.e., no discount is applied depending on order quantity.

- Delivery time is constant.

- Replacement of defective units is instantaneous.

- There is no safety stock level, i.e., the minimum stock level is zero.

- Restocking is made by the whole batch.

Because the demand and lead time are constant, no stockout events can occur.

Explanation

Dependent demand is the requirement for stock item which is directly related to and therefore de-pendent upon the rate of production (examples are: raw materials, components, energy)

Independent demand is the requirement for stock item which is not directly related to, and is therefore independent of rate of production. Although independent demand is called thus, it can still be influenced by economic factors external to the demand-supply model such as general consumer sentiment and consumers' available disposal income. However, businesses that need to predict the number of products with independent demand needed to sate their customers have it easier than businesses that must calculate the demand for products with dependent demand because there are fewer factors to consider.

In this scenario, the new drug is finished good which is dependent on the demand of the market, and the firm needs to forecast before initiating the production process. The item is independent from rate of production, therefore, it must be independent demand item.