Assignment completion with answered questions

Miriam Dominguez

MT435 Operations Management

As the consultant for KU Consulting, you have been authorized to change the existing facility (limited construction budget) and/or refine the process flow of the manufacturing area. Operational limitations: All changes must be completed within a 60 day window with the majority of the changes happening at night when the plant is idle or on the weekend when the plant is idle.

(a) List and detail a minimum of five proposed changes and/or alterations. For each proposed change provide rationale to fully and thoroughly substantiate why you chose that particular change, how the change will take place, and be accomplished within the operational limitations.

(01) Improving the administrative office environment in order to increase efficiency is surely a necessary change that must be made. Adopting new technologies at the administrative level can aid in the provision of timely and effective service as well as production (Considine, 1988). Systematic computerization of various administrative areas has been implemented by many companies and has proven to be successful in areas like Material Requirements Planning, Enterprise Resource Planning, Capacity Requirements Planning, Production Life Cycle Management, Supply Chain Management and Customer Relationship Management (John Wiley & Sons, 2011). Noting the wide scope of potential benefits accrued from technological enhancement, this certainly seems like an intelligent change to make.

(02) Like the first change, innovation also needs to occur within the plant itself. Inefficient manufacturing practices can hinder a company's performance no matter how effective the administrative process may be. In the case of Albatross Anchor, technological improvements need to be made in order to increase productive efficiency. The time loss associated with the two separate production methods are crippling to the production cycle. Ideally, Albatross Anchors needs to invest in new technology that will allow the production of both its products on the same assembly line, using the same (or very easily interchangeable) equipment (Carrillo & Gaimon, 2000).

(03) As a result of the second change made, it would likely behoove Albatross Anchor to extend its manufacturing area to accommodate for the new technology and allow enough space to promote the sinuous and manageable conversion of equipment when changing product production. This could be easily accomplished by utilizing the space that is currently allocated to the storage of raw materials and finished products. Constructing a supply shed or supply hub directly next to the plant itself could more aptly use the square footage currently available to increase productive efficiency. All necessary construction could easily be completed in the plant's idle hours or during the night, so as not to greatly interfere with current production.

(04) Additionally, ingoing and outgoing freight procedures could be easily improved by simply extending the railroad spur from the receiving area to the back of the manufacturing area. That way, receiving could continue smoothly and finished products that are to be shipped by rail could go directly from the production line to the rail car.