Question:Aldi has witnessed growth rates of 40% year on year since January 2012. This level of growth has raised a number of challenges for their Regional Distribution Centres (RDC – warehouses) and capacity levels. It has been noted that they no longer have enough capacity in the freezer component of their operations (this is a very large drive in freezer, not the sort of thing you see in the supermarket or at home). Using the academic literature as a basis, derive the general principles required to meet this challenge and then outline a solution specifically for their Neston Operations.
1. Explore academic literature (scholarly peer reviewed journal articles) as the evidential base for developing solutions to real world problems.
2. Explore the university databases as a source of academic literature.
3. Learn how to derive ‘general principles’ through analysis of the literature.
4. Provide a realistic solution for the capacity problems faced by Aldi through interpretation of the analysis of the academic literature (see below).
5. Act as a diagnostic for your academic skills. Does the feedback give you pointers regarding:
a. The data you have collected;
b. The level of analysis visible in the essay;
c. The structure of your essay.