Strategic Warehouse Management, Inc. (SWM) is a U.S. based warehousing organization in the construction and management of warehouse operations. The CEO’s market development team has determined that there is an opportunity to open a warehouse in Australia that could serve multiple businesses. The CEO plans to open a “non-resident company” (Land and Tax News, 2012). The CEO has also decided that the warehouse can be opened in any city in Australia. Some clients in Australia have also asked SWM to manage the flow of goods from Australia to U.S. locations. The CEO wants to get a preliminary plan developed as soon as possible before going further.
The CEO asked you to design a supply chain that includes warehouse operations in any city in Australia. In addition, the CEO has a number of items he’d like to see you cover in the report. He has asked you to:
Develop requirements for the warehouse design and to provide an organization structure to manage the warehouse in Australia.
Present considerations for Workforce Management
Investigate key regulations and other key issues (e.g. labor climate) related to managing a warehouse in Australia as a foreign entity.
Develop export procedures and import procedures in the U.S.
Discuss supply chain risks and possible mitigations.
Analyze which operations SWM would outsource and which operations SWM would directly manage and explain why.
Outline the budget line items that would need to be considered (it is not necessary to develop a budget with dollar figures).
Determine the metrics you would use to measure success of the warehouse and the total supply chain.
