Supply Chain & Strategy Flashcards
7 cards from real APICS practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Supply Chain & Strategy flashcards as text
A company decides to outsource its warehousing operations to a third-party logistics (3PL) provider. The primary strategic rationale is typically to:
Answer: Focus on core competencies while leveraging the 3PL's expertise and scale
Outsourcing to 3PLs allows companies to concentrate on their core business while benefiting from the provider's specialized expertise, technology, and economies of scale.
Which supply chain strategy uses real-time point-of-sale data to trigger replenishment signals directly from the retailer to the supplier?
Answer: Continuous Replenishment Program (CRP)
Continuous Replenishment Programs use real-time POS data to automatically trigger supplier replenishment, keeping shelves stocked with minimal inventory.
In supply chain risk management, 'supply chain resilience' is best defined as:
Answer: The capacity to prepare for, adapt to, withstand, and recover rapidly from disruptions
Supply chain resilience is the ability to anticipate, prepare for, respond to, and adapt to incremental change and sudden disruptions in order to survive and prosper.
The 'cash-to-cash cycle time' metric measures:
Answer: Time from paying for materials to collecting payment from customers
Cash-to-cash cycle time measures how long a company's cash is tied up in operations, from paying suppliers to collecting from customers (DIO + DSO - DPO).
When a company implements a 'green supply chain' strategy, a primary operational focus is:
Answer: Minimizing environmental impact across the full supply chain lifecycle
Green supply chain management integrates environmental thinking into supply chain management, addressing design, sourcing, production, delivery, and end-of-life product management.
Which approach to supply chain network design minimizes total logistics costs while meeting customer service requirements?
Answer: Optimizing the number, location, and size of facilities based on cost-service trade-off analysis
Network design optimization analyzes cost-service trade-offs to determine the ideal facility footprint that meets service requirements at the lowest total cost.
A company experiencing high demand variability for a product should primarily consider increasing which supply chain lever?
Answer: Supply chain flexibility and responsiveness
High demand variability requires supply chain flexibility — the ability to quickly adjust capacity, sourcing, and fulfillment to match unpredictable demand patterns.