Free Practice Questions for CIPS L4M7 Exam

Explanation

A 'U' flow occurs when the goods receipt and dispatch functions are located at the same end of a warehouse building.

Products flow in at receiving, move in to storage in the back of the warehouse, and then to shipping, which is located at the adjacent to receiving on the same side of the building.

Items with higher throughput level are located closer to the loading bays. An example of a 'U' flow design can be seen in the diagram below.

Advantages of 'U' Flow

- Excellent utilization of dock resources because the receiving and shipping processes can share dock doors

- Facilitating cross-docking because the receiving and shipping docks are adjacent to one another and may be co-mingled

- Excellent lift truck utilization because put away and retrieval trips are easily combined and be-cause the storage locations closest to the receiving and shipping docks are natural locations to house fast moving items

- Yields excellent security because there is a single side of the building used for entry and exit

Explanation

The design of a building should consider the advantages of natural light as this can reduce the cost of artificial lighting and improve the environmental performance of the building. Daylight entering the building can also help reduce heating costs. Unfortunately some stocks react badly to direct sunlight, and some stock reacts badly to extreme of temperature or may require a specific temperature for storage. Some stock may require a warmer temperature than the ambient temperature and other stocks may require cooler temperature. For example, fabric and garment are sensitive to direct sunlight as ultraviolet light catalyses a reaction between the water present in all fabrics and atmospheric oxygen to create hydrogen peroxide. This is a bleaching agent and breaks down the chemical bonds that give dyes their colour.

Vendor-owned stock allows the hospital to keep essential items available without holding costs. The vendor retains ownership until the item is used, helping the hospital avoid large upfront costs for low-frequency items. This technique aligns with whole-life asset management principles by reducing inventory holding costs while ensuring critical items are readily accessible.

Explanation

A master production schedule (MPS) is a plan for individual commodities to be produced in each time period such as production, staffing, inventory, etc.[1] It is usually linked to manufacturing where the plan indicates when and how much of each product will be demanded.[2] This plan quantifies significant processes, parts, and other resources in order to optimize production, to identify bottlenecks, and to anticipate needs and completed goods. Since a MPS drives much factory activity, its accuracy and viability dramatically affect profitability. Typical MPSs are created by software with user tweaking.

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.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) enables real-time tracking of items and is commonly used for security in retail to prevent theft. The tags are activated within a specified range, and alarms trigger when items exit without deactivation. RFID in asset management helps in tracking high-value items, ensuring security and reducing loss.

Explanation

Work in progress is the stock part-way through a manufacturing process; in the service sectors the term is also used for anything between order and delivery.

Explanation

ABC classifications are applied to stock and its management is based loosely on the Pareto princi-ple, better known as the 80/20 rule.

The likely outcome of analysis of inventory (value importance):

- Category A - about 20% of the stock items account for about 80% of the total inventory value. Items in category A have the highest value.

- Category B - about 30% of items account for about 15% of total inventory value

- Category C - the remaining 50% of items account for 5% of the total inventory value