Starbucks and the Four Primary Types of Manufacturing Process
Job shop
With jobs that don't fit within the scheme of continuous production the drive Starbucks, there is a need to address projects on an individiual basis. However, at this stage in its corporate life, Starbucks approaches projects quite differently than it may have a decade ago. Indeed, on the matter of its food offerings, an article by Kummer (2013) points out that the company has struggled to produce a quality product internally. As to the project of improving these offerings therefore, the resource wealthy company purchased a purveyor with a strong reputation for high quality cafe style food. According to Kummer, "last June, Starbucks paid $100 million for La Boulange, a San Francisco bakery with pastries and food that people definitely find respectable. The goal was nothing less than serving La Boulange-quality croissants and other pastries to Starbucks' 40 million customers in its 8,000 company-operated stores in the United States. " (p. 1)
This partnership of brands...
In such cases, the company will deploy internal labor and facilities to produce limited quantities on a batch-per-batch basis. This flexibility, as the next section will show, is enabled by its increased autonomy in manufacturing.
Assembly
Starbucks has increasingly worked to domesticate its assembly strategy, expanding its use of American facilities for the mass production of its products. According to Hutson (2012), Starbucks just last year broke ground on a new roasting and assembly facility in Augusta, GA. Hutson reports that the plant, which will be complete in 2014 and will employ more than 140 local employees, "will be Starbucks' fifth manufacturing facility…
