Which of the following actions by a manufacturer most likely would improve service levels throughout the supply chain?
Correct Answer: C
* Service Levels: These are measures of the quality of service provided to customers, often including factors like on-time delivery, order accuracy, and product availability.
* Product Variety: Having too many product variants can complicate inventory management, production scheduling, and forecasting, leading to inefficiencies.
* Impact of Reducing Product Variety: Simplifying the product range can lead to better inventory management, easier forecasting, and more focused production efforts, which in turn can improve overall service levels.
* Alternative Options: Increasing promotions or market penetration (Options A and B) do not directly address service level improvements. Reducing profit-margin expectations (Option D) might not sustainably improve service levels and could hurt profitability. References: Inventory Management studies, Product Line Simplification literature.