Candix firm reactivation and service expansion in Nigeria's oil and gas sector

Candix Firm

Candix represents a company that came into existence after extinction for various economical and organizational issues. In order to revive the organization, the transaction system in 2000 was mainly on the provision of procurement services to the oil and gas market and industry in Nigeria. To supplement this development, the company also executes engineering projects to oil and gas industry and the government of Nigeria. The company operates on the organization of six members constituting the board of directors. The business transactions have not been notable for the company hence realization of numerous challenges. The task is to enable the company develop effective and efficient transaction system to meet the needs and satisfaction of clients or consumers in the market. The company operates on three main activities or categories in order to enhance the total revenue hence expansion of production levels. The three activities are procurement of goods for clients, procurement for the operations of the company, and execution of projects.

Background

Since its revival step in 2000, the company faces numerous challenges towards growth and development. The first reason is the existence of organizational charts that are not applicable to the situation of the company. The organizational charts form part of the company's documentation with no clear job descriptions and procedures for the formal leadership. The company was also in the business of paving stone facilities but could not satisfy the needs of the consumers hence eventual shut down. The low performance within the company calls for application of lean thinking. This would improve the status of the firm in a meeting or curbing challenges of growth and development. Applications of lean would also enable the company to provide quality services hence build the stagnant reputation and image of the firm. Improvement on the quality of services and products would enhance satisfaction of the consumers.

Lean Concepts and Techniques

Lean focuses on the delivery of more value for the firm or company in relation to its consumers by enhancing the velocity of throughput and minimizing wasteful practices thus balancing process flow. Some of the crucial elements of lean to help improve the status of the company is balancing flow, matching of the consumer demands, increasing the variety and complexity of products and services, and minimization of inventory and waste in the process of production and distribution. The company needs to adopt numerous lean tools or concepts in order to improve the standards of service delivery. The following lean concepts and techniques are crucial to the development of the company towards meeting the needs and demands of the consumers within the market coverage:

5S (Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain)

Process Mapping

Value Stream Mapping

Poka Yoke

Pareto Analysis

Fishbone Analysis

Pull or Just in time Manufacturing

Standard Work

Total Productive Maintenance

Kanban

Kaizen

Method of Analysis

In the application of the Five S. concept, the company should clean up and organize its activities (Sort). This should be followed by organizing, identifying, and arranging all aspects within the relevant working area (Set in Order). The third step would be constant monitoring and evaluation process (Shine). The fourth step would be to make activities easy and to the standards (Standardize). The last aspect would be to maintain the achievement process to further development of the company (Sustain). 5S is crucial to the development of quality of services and products (Ablanedo 2010,-page 7063). In the application of the process-mapping concept, the company should define clearly every production channel and other aspects such as job description. In order to enhance the application of process mapping, the company should adopt the use of balanced scorecards (Nasir 2011,-page 191). Process Mapping should be in the form of effective flowcharts to direct every action within the organization.

The company should implement value stream mapping to allow for identification and elimination of waste within the production process (Wang 2011,-page 411). Value stream mapping is also crucial in identification of the quality deficiencies thus allowing the firm to build on the standards hence meeting the needs of consumers. The company should also implement poka yoke lean concept with the aim of reduction of human error within production levels Poka Yoke would reduce product defects through minimization of human errors as they occur within the business (Paun 2011,-page 319). The company would also apply the lean concept of Pareto Analysis that simply states that few factors are responsible for most problems (Arvanitoyannis 2007,-page 1265). The company can apply this into management in order to identify few factors necessary for the problems of the company. Identification of the areas of concern would help the company to adopt quality improvement measures.

The company would also adopt the methodology of fishbone analysis in order to develop all the causes and effects of the problems facing the firm (Li 2011,-page 275). In the identification of the problems, the company would adopt appropriate measures in order to revive its operations from the situations. The company should also apply the methodology of pull or just in time production concepts (Mosavi 2010,-page 133). This would allow the company to produce goods according to the orders of the consumers. The aim of this method is to meet the needs of the consumers hence minimization of excessive costs of unnecessary production activities. The company should also adopt the use of standard work method that represents effective and efficient combination of the workforce, materials, and machinery. This would allow the company to maximize its potential relative to the available resources. The company would also consider maintenance as a crucial aspect for the development of the company. This would call for adoption of the total productive maintenance lean concept to conduct effective maintenance activities to the plants and equipment of the firm (Thun 2006,-page 163). The other lean concept that would enable the company to minimize the cost and waste while maximizing the value of consumers is Kanban (Claudio 2009,-page 3139). It would allow the company to visualize the flow of activities within the firm thus effective relationship with the consumers. Candix should also focus on continuous improvement or development process. This represents the adoption of Kaizen lean concept and technology in order to drive the company forward thus achievement of competitive advantage.

Findings

After application of the lean concepts, there would be numerous positive results in relation to the development and growth of the company. Candix Company would effectively identify and eliminate the problems affecting the quality improvement in relation to delivery of goods and services to consumers. There would also be minimization of wastes and resources. The company would meet the needs of the consumers effectively and efficiently. In the execution of the needs and wants of the consumers, the company would increase profit and revenue levels while minimizing the total cost of production. There would also be development of the reputation and image of the company among the consumers hence increase in the market share and coverage. The company would also improve on the quality and standards of the goods and services in the market. There would also be development of rational decision-making activities in relation to productive and distribution measures thus boosting transactions of the company.

Discussion