This page is related to [[Transportation and freight forwarding]]

====== Assignment 1 ======

Rene’s Royal Fabrics, a manufacturer of fashion garments and fabric, uses three primary carriers to move fabrics from its Toronto factory to retailers and fashion designers in Canada and the United States. He wants to evaluate the performance of the three carriers. He collected data for the following metrics over a four-month period.

^ Performance Criteria           ^ Allied Transport  ^ Bestway Freight  ^ Certaint Carriers  ^
| On-time delivery               | 99%               | 98.5%            | 98%                |
| Loads with damage claims       | 0.8%              | 1.8%             | 0.5%               |
| Customer satisfaction ratings  | 4.5               | 4                | 3.8                |
| Billing accuracy               | 99.2%             | 99.5%            | 98.1%              |
| Loads rejected                 | 1.4%              | 2.2%             | 0.8%               |

Rene asked Abimbola, his transportation manager, to develop a scorecard to help compare the carriers on these five metrics. Abimbola came up with the following chart:

^ Performance Criteria      ^ Weight Factor\\ (how important\\ the criteria is\\ to your company)  ^ Performance Evaluation                                                            ^ Maximum Score Possible  ^ Actual Score\\ (weight factor\\ multiplied by\\ performance evaluation)  ^
| On-time delivery          | 30                                                                   | more than 98.5% => 5\\ 96.01 to 98.5% => 4\\ 93 to 96% => 2\\ less than 93% => 0  | 150                     |                                                                          |
| Loads with damage claims  | 30                                                                   | less than 0.5% => 5\\ 0.5 to 1% => 4\\ 1.01 to 2% => 2\\ more than 2% => 0        | 150                     |                                                                          |
| Customer satisfaction     | 20                                                                   | more than 4.5 => 5\\ 4.01 to 4.5 => 4\\ 3 to 4 => 2\\ less than 3 => 0            | 100                     |                                                                          |
| Billing accuracy          | 10                                                                   | more than 99% => 5\\ 97.01 to 99% => 4\\ 95 to 97% => 2\\ less than 95% => 0      | 50                      |                                                                          |
| Loads rejected            | 10                                                                   | less than 1% => 5\\ 1% to 2% => 4\\ 2.01% to 3% => 2\\ more than 3% => 0          | 50                      |                                                                          |
|                           |                                                                      | Total Score                                                                       | 500                     |                                                                          |


Answer the following three questions:

  - Calculate the performance score (actual score) for each of the three carriers
  - Which carrier would you recommend that Rene consider for elimination? Why?
  - If Rene decides to keep all three carriers, what should each of them work to improve?


====== Your checklist before you submit ======

++++Pre-flight checklist |

  * Black and White text only (no coloured-text)
  * No cover image
  * Cover page:
    * course name;
    * assignment number and title;
    * instructor’s name;
    * student’s First and Last name;
    * student number;
    * date; and
    * word-count (see the next item).
  * Paper’s length range: min 300, max 500 words, excluding the covers, TOC, repeated questions, block-quotes, and the bibliography (-10 points for an out-of-range papers)
  * Answer all three questions in detailed paragraphs (no one-liners; detailed explanations are needed)
  * Write in complete sentences
  * Use headings and subheadings
  * Subheading numbers must correspond to the question numbers
  * Page numbers

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====== Written Report Marking Scheme ======

++++The marking scheme |

^ Criteria                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              ^ Marks  ^
| Cover-page includes assignment title, instructor’s name, course & assignment name, student’s first and last name, student number, date, subheading numbers correspond to the questions, and word count.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 2      |
| Response to Q1                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | 15     |
| Response to Q2                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | 15     |
| Response to Q3                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | 14     |
| Correct spelling / proper grammar                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     | 4      |
| TOTAL POSSIBLE MARKS                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  | 50    |
| ANY form of plagiarism (e.g. any text from a not-credited source, any uncited block-quote, any uncited paraphrase, any text borrowed from your classmate’s paper, etc. Maximum amount of quotes in your paper must not exceed 10%. Violations will be reported to the campus director immediately.  | -50   |
| Late submission (penalty; mark deduction per day)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     | -20%   |

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====== Submitting Your Written Assignment ======

  * Share a digital copy of your final paper with me via Google Docs (use my gmail address)
  * No late-submission will be accepted. Day 5 is the last day for this assignment (there will be a penalty for late submissions)