| Course | OPS 410 Logistics Management (OPS/410) |
|---|---|
| Week | 5 |
| Paper type | Logistics improvement plan |
| Length | about 1,050 words, 4 double-spaced pages plus title page and references |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | University of Phoenix |
| Program | BS in Business |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for OPS 410 Week 5
From 81 to 92 Percent Perfect Orders: A Two-Year Logistics Improvement Plan for a Gulf Coast Roofing Distributor
[Student Name]
University of Phoenix
OPS/410: Logistics Management
Week 5 Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Gulf Coast Roofing Supply, its targets, costs and timeline are composites written for a model paper.
Over four weeks, this course examined Gulf Coast Roofing Supply, the composite distributor of roofing materials serving about 2,600 contractors along the Texas and Louisiana coast. Analyses of service, transportation, warehousing and inventory each produced recommendations. This paper turns them into one plan for the next two years.
The Starting Point
Perfect order performance is about 81 percent, held back by stockouts of colors and late Monday rooftop loads. Inventory is about $28 million, much of it slow colors stocked at every branch. Delivery cost averages about $133 per order on the private fleet. After storms, service falls further as orders surge.
Goals
Within two years: perfect orders at 92 percent overall, with segment targets of 95, 90 and 88 percent for large, mid-size and small contractors; network inventory reduced by about $3 million; delivery cost per order reduced by 8 percent; and perfect orders during declared storm surges at least 85 percent. Fawcett and Cooper (1998) found that logistics performance measurement was most valuable when measures were linked to customer success rather than internal efficiency alone; the goals start with what contractors experience.
Six Initiatives in Sequence
Months 1 to 6, the Houston hub and nightly shuttles: centralize about 40 slow colors at Houston, start nightly shuttles and cross-dock manufacturer loads. Owner: vice president of operations. This comes first because the inventory policies depend on it.
Months 1 to 4, branch re-slotting: re-slot all nine yards by velocity, separate forklift lanes from customer pickup and add returns lanes. Owner: branch managers, coordinated by the warehouse lead. It runs in parallel because it needs no system changes.
Months 5 to 9, inventory policies: implement order-up-to levels for fast colors at branches, Croston forecasting and reorder points for slow colors at the hub and segment service levels. Owner: inventory manager. It follows the hub because slow colors must be centralized first.
Months 7 to 12, rail for base volume: move about 40 percent of Houston's shingle replenishment to rail via the transload yard. Owner: purchasing manager.
Months 9 to 15, routing and outsourcing: deploy routing software for the private fleet and contract for-hire carriers for long ground drops. Owner: transportation manager.
Months 3 to 6, then annually, storm playbook: pre-arranged truck and driver transfers between branches, priority loads from manufacturers, override rules for inventory targets and a published contractor communication plan for surges. Owner: vice president of operations.
Investment and Benefits
Investment: hub yard expansion and racking about $650,000; shuttle trucks and drivers in the first year about $640,000; routing software and handheld scanners about $310,000; re-slotting labor and signage about $120,000; training and project management about $180,000. Total about $1.9 million.
Annual benefits once complete: carrying cost on about $3 million less inventory, at a 20 percent rate, about $600,000; fewer lost sales from stockouts, estimated from lost-order logs, about $900,000 in margin; delivery cost reductions from routing and outsourcing, about $1.1 million less the shuttle's ongoing cost, net about $500,000; and labor savings from re-slotting, about $350,000. Total about $2.35 million a year, plus the harder-to-price value of retaining large contractors. Rail's main benefit is freeing truck capacity for storms rather than saving money. Payback is a little under a year after completion.
The hub has to work before the inventory rules can, and the shuttles have to work before the hub can.
The Dashboard
Gunasekaran et al. (2004) proposed a framework for supply chain performance measurement that balances strategic, tactical and operational measures and financial and nonfinancial ones. Gulf Coast's dashboard, reviewed monthly by the leadership team, includes:
Service: perfect order rate by segment and branch; storm-period perfect order rate.
Cost: delivery cost per order; logistics cost as a share of sales.
Inventory: turns at branches and the hub; stockouts of colors.
Operations: shuttle on-time arrival; forklift travel per order; carrier on-time performance.
Each measure has a baseline, a target and an owner.
Resilience
The Gulf Coast's storms make resilience part of the plan, not an afterthought. Christopher and Peck (2004) traced resilience to four sources: redesigning the chain itself, working closely with partners, being able to move quickly and making risk awareness part of everyday management. The plan applies each: the hub and branch design is re-engineered with a spare shuttle truck and backup carrier; manufacturers and carriers have pre-arranged surge agreements; trucks and drivers can move between branches within a day; and the storm playbook is rehearsed each spring before hurricane season begins on June 1.
What Changes for Branch Managers
Branch managers lose something under the plan: control over which slow colors they stock and the comfort of a full yard. They gain fewer stockouts, less money tied up in their branch's inventory and more forklift time for fast colors. To make the trade visible, each branch's dashboard will show its own perfect order rate and inventory turns, and branch managers' bonuses will shift from sales volume alone to a mix of sales, perfect orders and inventory turns.
Communicating With Contractors
Contractors will notice some changes before they see better service. The account team will explain the nightly shuttle and why a slow color ordered by 2 p.m. still arrives next morning, publish the storm policy before hurricane season and tell large contractors about the stocking agreements for their top colors. A one-page summary for the counter and a short text message campaign will carry the same points.
Risks and Governance
Risks include the hub becoming a single point of failure, resistance from branch managers losing local control of slow colors and software adoption problems. The plan responds with redundancy, branch managers' involvement in setting their fast-color lists and training before go-live. A steering group of the president, the vice president of operations and two branch managers meets monthly to review progress.
Conclusion
Gulf Coast's plan joins four weeks of analysis into six sequenced initiatives that move perfect orders from 81 toward 92 percent, cut inventory by about $3 million and lower delivery cost per order. Investment of about $1.9 million pays back within about a year of completion. A balanced dashboard, named owners and a rehearsed storm playbook make the plan measurable and resilient in a region where the next hurricane is a matter of when.
References
Christopher, M., & Peck, H. (2004). Building the resilient supply chain. International Journal of Logistics Management, 15(2), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1108/09574090410700275
Fawcett, S. E., & Cooper, M. B. (1998). Logistics performance measurement and customer success. Industrial Marketing Management, 27(4), 341-357. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0019-8501(97)00078-3
Gunasekaran, A., Patel, C., & McGaughey, R. E. (2004). A framework for supply chain performance measurement. International Journal of Production Economics, 87(3), 333-347. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2003.08.003
What the OPS 410 Week 5 instructions ask
The last OPS 410 assignment usually asks students to develop a logistics improvement plan for an organization, drawing on earlier analyses of customer service, transportation, warehousing and inventory. Prompts may ask for goals and targets, specific initiatives with timelines and owners, cost and benefit estimates, performance measures and a discussion of risks and implementation. Some versions ask how the plan improves resilience to disruptions. Build on the organization from earlier weeks, carry its baseline figures forward, show how initiatives interact and support the plan with logistics and supply chain research cited in APA. A strong plan explains its sequence as well as its contents.
How this OPS 410 Week 5 example is built
This closing example starts with the numbers that framed the course: 81 percent perfect orders, about $28 million in inventory, late rooftop loads on Mondays and stockouts of slow colors. It sets three goals: 92 percent perfect orders, inventory down by about $3 million and delivery cost per order down 8 percent. Six initiatives follow in a sequence that respects dependencies: the Houston hub and shuttles first, branch re-slotting alongside, then new inventory policies, rail for base volume, routing software and outsourced ground drops and a storm playbook. Investment of about $1.9 million is set against annual benefits of about $2.35 million. A dashboard, owners and a review cadence close the plan, with a section on resilience.
OPS 410 Week 5 grading rubric: where the points go
Strong final logistics papers show integration, realism and accountability. Graders look for goals with targets drawn from earlier analysis, initiatives sequenced by dependency with owners and dates and cost and benefit estimates with their assumptions. Credit goes to a balanced set of measures covering service, cost, inventory and operations and to attention to risk and resilience. Showing how initiatives interact, for example how centralizing inventory depends on reliable shuttles, demonstrates systems thinking. Research on logistics performance and resilience supports the plan. Graders also look for a short explanation of what the company will stop doing, since plans that only add work rarely get finished. A coherent structure and APA citations without errors complete a top submission.
OPS 410 Week 5 help: mistakes to avoid
Improvement plans often list every idea from the term at once, with no order. Sequence initiatives by what depends on what. Another common gap is targets without baselines, which make progress impossible to judge. State where each measure starts. Students also omit costs, or count benefits without saying how they were estimated. Show both with assumptions. Some plans rely on a single measure, such as cost per delivery, which can improve while service worsens. Use a balanced dashboard. Finally, plan for disruption: a logistics plan for the Gulf Coast that ignores storms is incomplete. A tutor can help you sequence your initiatives if they seem to compete for the same resources.
Related OPS 410 sample papers
Other OPS 410 week samples
- OPS 410 Week 1: Logistics and Customer Service
- OPS 410 Week 2: Transportation Modes and Carriers
- OPS 410 Week 3: Warehousing and Distribution
- OPS 410 Week 4: Forecasting and Inventory Policy
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OPS 410 Week 5 questions, answered
What does OPS 410 Week 5 usually cover?
It usually covers a logistics improvement plan: goals and targets, initiatives across service, transportation, warehousing and inventory, costs and benefits, measures, owners, risks and resilience.
Where can I find a free OPS 410 Week 5 sample paper?
The final Week 5 paper above lays out a two-year logistics improvement plan for a Gulf Coast roofing distributor; it is free to read.
What is a logistics dashboard?
A short set of measures, such as perfect order rate, cost per delivery, inventory turns and on-time shuttle arrival, reviewed regularly to track logistics performance.
How do you sequence logistics improvements?
By identifying dependencies, such as needing reliable transfers before centralizing inventory, and starting with initiatives that enable others or deliver quick, low-risk gains.
What is supply chain resilience?
The ability of a supply chain to prepare for, absorb and recover from disruptions, through measures such as flexibility, redundancy, visibility and collaboration.
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