Academic Integrity: tutoring, explanations, and feedback — we don’t complete graded work or submit on a student’s behalf.

M/s Bajaj Auto Ltd. (BAL), a large scooter manufacturing company in North India

ID: 378624 • Letter: M

Question

M/s Bajaj Auto Ltd. (BAL), a large scooter manufacturing company in North India makes a family of scooters and motorcycles. For this example, we consider two models of scooters, Regular and Sports. The Regular model is essentially a family vehicle, with extra-large seats for pillion riders, and extra leg space in the front for carrying items like 40 litre water drum, grocery cartons, shopping bags or even a cooking gas cylinder. The model appeals to those who use the scooter for evening or weekly shopping with family. The engine of this model is optimised to give good mileage at lower speeds. The sports model is based on sleek design that has less space in front and pillion. This model has a high torque engine that gives burst speed for zipping through city traffic and is ideal for those who will use the scooter for daily commute to office.

The company dispatches the scooters to a network of dealers, spread all over the country. For this example, we consider three dealers Zone wise, Zone 1, Zone 2 and Zone 3. The sales persons visit each dealer and collect the Request for Delivery for the next week. Exhibit I shows the dealer demand for the coming week. Dispatch trucks arrive every evening at the company finished goods area for loading the daily production and carry the dispatch to the dealers by next morning. The dispatch of Saturday evening is available at the dealer for Monday morning. The dealers will not have storage space to accept more than this quantity, however shortfall in supply will be accepted as it is with a loss of goodwill (no carry forward of demand).

                                           Exhibit I: Dealer demand for next week

Dealer

Model

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

Sun

Zone 1

Regular

300

200

200

150

200

400

0

Zone 1

Sports

200

100

100

100

150

250

0

Zone 2

Regular

400

200

200

300

400

500

0

Zone 2

Sports

500

300

300

300

300

400

0

Zone 3

Regular

300

300

200

150

200

300

0

Zone 3

Sports

300

300

100

100

150

250

0

Total (4900)

Regular

1000

700

600

600

800

1200

0

Total (4200)

Sports

1000

700

500

500

600

900

0

BAL hires trucks from third party logistics providers to carry out the dispatch from the factory to the dealers. A variety of trucks are available, for this example we consider two types of trucks, Normal and Jumbo. We assume that there is unlimited availability of both these trucks. The capacity of trucks is flexible and use of special fixtures allows a variety of loading patterns within each truck. For this example, we consider four loading patterns for each truck as shown in Exhibit II.

Exhibit II: Truck loading patterns (number of scooters in each pattern)

Truck

Model

Pattern_1

Pattern_2

Pattern_3

Pattern_4

Normal

Regular

20

12

6

0

Sports

0

5

10

15

Jumbo

Regular

30

18

9

0

Sports

0

10

15

25

The cost of hiring each truck depends on location of dealer as shown in Exhibit III.

Exhibit III: Hiring Cost per trip (in Rupees) for each truck

Truck

Zone 1

Zone 2

Zone 3

Normal

20,000

24,000

18,000

Jumbo

30,000

35,000

24,000

The estimated cost of loss in goodwill for short supply at each dealer is shown in Exhibit IV.

Exhibit IV: Cost (in Rupees) for each vehicle shortage at dealer

Model

Zone 1

Zone 2

Zone 3

Regular

1,000

1,800

1,500

Sports

1,200

2,000

1,800

Find the optimal dispatch plan that minimises the total cost of transport and goodwill loss.

Dealer

Model

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

Sun

Zone 1

Regular

300

200

200

150

200

400

0

Zone 1

Sports

200

100

100

100

150

250

0

Zone 2

Regular

400

200

200

300

400

500

0

Zone 2

Sports

500

300

300

300

300

400

0

Zone 3

Regular

300

300

200

150

200

300

0

Zone 3

Sports

300

300

100

100

150

250

0

Total (4900)

Regular

1000

700

600

600

800

1200

0

Total (4200)

Sports

1000

700

500

500

600

900

0

Explanation / Answer

Two variable is said to be directly related if both the variable moves in the same direction. In other words if one variable is increasing then another variable also increase and vice-versa.

As can be seen in the data set 1, both variable J and K are increasing. And J and K individually are increasing by the same amount. It means both are moving in the same direction. Therefore J and K are directly related.

As can be seen in the data set 2, both variable L and M are increasing. And L and M individually are increasing by the same amount. It means both are moving in the same direction. Therefore L and M are directly related.

As can be seen in the data set 3, Variable N is decreasing by the same amount while variable P are increasing by the same amount. It means both are moving in opposite direction. Therefore N and P are not directly related.

As can be seen in the data set 4, Variable R is decreasing by the same amount while variable T are increasing by the same amount. It means both are moving in opposite direction. Therefore R and T are not directly related.

As can be seen in the data set 5, both variable U and V are increasing. And U and V individually are increasing by the same amount. It means both are moving in the same direction. Therefore L and M are directly related.

It means data set of 1, 2, and 5 are directly related.