Operations Management Essays (Examples)

Operations Management
Course Title: Operations Management Textbook Operations Management: An Integrated Approach (4th edition) . ied Nada Sanders, 2010 ( chaps attached) This assignment part 2 a previous assignment I chose a fitness center business choice.

Measurement of quality characteristics of business

Measurement of business quality and selection of statistics which will be used to measure business quality depends on three major activities. The first is the selection of goals upon which the company is rated. The second activity is gathering of business information which is relevant to the goals earlier identified. The last item is the strategies put forth by managers within the organization in light of the goals and information provided which help to improve future performance along the goals identified. These three activities all circle around the selection of goals which is seen as the basis upon which the success of any organization is measured. These activities…

Operations Management Boeing:
Boeing is the largest aerospace company across the globe and the leading producer of commercial jetliners as well as space, defense, and security systems. Since the firm is a top American exporter, it supports airlines and American and allied customers in approximately 150 countries. The firm's products and customized services include commercial and military weapons, launch systems, satellites, aircrafts, electronic and defense systems, advanced information and communication systems, and performance-based training and logistics ("Boeing in Brief," 2013). Boeing's status as a leading firm in this industry is attributed to its long tradition of aerospace innovation and leadership. In addition, the firm continues to increase its product line and services to address the emerging needs of customers. The company's ability to develop a wide range of capabilities is attributed to its relatively effective operations management that contributes to the success of its operations.

Boeing's Management Planning:

Boeing's product…

Operations Management
ole of operations manager

Operations management: The importance of OM at IKEA

Operations management is defined as "the design and management of products, processes, services and supply chains. It considers the acquisition, development, and utilization of resources that firms need to deliver the goods and services their clients want" (What is operations management, 2012, MIT Sloan). Tasks of the operations manager may span from "determining the size and location of manufacturing plants, deciding the structure of service or telecommunications networks, and designing technology supply chains" to daily controlling functions (What is operations management, 2012, MIT Sloan). Although not all organizations have an official 'operations manager,' no organization can ignore operations management. Scheduling and controls; managing inventory; quality control, and maintaining equipment are all examples of functions virtually every organization must perform (What is operations management, 2012, MIT Sloan). A good example of an organization that has used operations…

Operations Management in the United Arab Emirates
The orchestration of resources, systems and processes across an enterprise to consistently deliver high-quality products that are profitable is the catalyst of Operations Management (OM). One of the most multi-disciplinary and multifaceted disciplines of management science, OM encompasses the new product development and introduction (NPDI) processes, supply chain systems and procedures and their orchestration to delivering profitable, high quality products (Fisher, 2007). When enterprises choose to orchestrate their demand, supply and product systems together, OM concepts, frameworks and taxonomies are used as the galvanizing these diverse systems together to a unified strategy. Orchestrating demand, supply and product systems together is what often differentiates market leaders in industries relative to competitors struggling to retain customers and market share. There are many factors why this is the case, yet at a very fundamental level, the market leading enterprises in each industry have learned how to…

Operations Management
Ok, I looked at them. It wasn't stated whether I should do anything more than look. The positions were for Cross Dock Expert, IT Operations Management and an internship for Supply Chain/Operations Management.

By definition, management and research are quite different. esearch deals with the theories and practice of management from an external perspective. The researcher is the observer, analyst and thinker. By contrast, operations management is internal, where the manager is directly responsible for the act of management, rather than gaining information about operations to be processed via research methods. The researcher studies; the manager does. Management means to allocate resource to enact a transformation process.

In a fast food restaurant, the labor (transforming) produces meals (transformed), taking what is theoretically food and transforming it into something that people eat. In a hotel, labor (transforming) transforms the space (transformed), as it is the rooms that are the…

" [Michael E. Thorn p.4]
IMPACT OF Management FUNCTION ON OPEATIONS Management

This section analyses the impact that the previously discussed functions of management has on the operations management.

Planning is the most important pillar of operations management. When an organization plans its goals and sets down its strategies, it then becomes easier for the managerial level to decide and distribute the work load. Without any plan of action, the organization or company would not know what it is working towards. For a manufacturing company, planning would include product design.

For work to be conducted on the principles of operations management, organizing plays an important role. Workload needs to be divided in such an efficient manner that the skills of an employee or a group of employees are used to the fullest. Overloading any employee would result in deficient outputs and derogatory work which would naturally be time consuming.

As…

High quality products lead to high prices for these products, which is not always convenient for all customers. Therefore, the quality level must be established in accordance with customers' requirements and purchasing power.
One of the most important factors that customers take into consideration when making a purchasing decision refers to the speed of delivery. Several studies have revealed that profits and market share are determined by speed of delivery.

Flexibility refers to the company's processes design, on the one hand, and to the company's ability to modify its facilities in order to produce new goods and services, on the other hand. This factor's importance is related to the duration of a product's life cycle.

Regarding service as a new competitive priority, companies provide value-added services, because this helps them gain competitive advantage.

3. The activity-based costing techniques consists in allocated overhead costs in actual proportion to the overhead consumed…

The name chosen for the new product must have no negative connotation in any language.
After all these have been established, it is time for the new product to be tested. Testing represents the final and most important filter the product must go through before being manufactured on a large scale and launched. The test's objectives are connected to the elimination of any uncertainties emerged in the technical production phase or in the commercial preparation of the product. Testing consists in verifying the accordance between the prototype on the one hand and the existent standards on the other hand.

Launching the product is the final step in the product design process. It establishes the launching period (connected to the product's nature: current, seasonal or strictly seasonal), the launching area (it is connected to the distribution strategy), choosing the most suitable distribution channels (long circuit or short circuit), market preparation (creating…

Operations Management
Production and operations management is not an elusive term used to describe some vague concepts; instead it simply refers to management of all the processes and systems that help in the production of goods. As we all know that production requires efficient and organized use of human capital, materials, resources and machines. However all these components of production need to be supervised and they must work in an efficient manner in order to produce goods and services on time without delay or faults. Production and operation functions thus include collection of resources, efficient distribution of these resources among concerned departments, planning the different phases of production, inventory management, making proper schedules for completion of tasks, controlling and improving product quality which is known as quality management. These main functions of production and operations remain the same in all firms regardless the nature of their business. With current advancement…

Operations Management: Managing International Operations
One of the modes of business today is international operation. The reasons for entering international markets may come to an organization because of many reasons; some are a reaction to the situations in the domestic market like competitive pressures, over production, declining domestic sales, fully filled up domestic markets, excess capacity of production in the domestic market, etc. even when a foreign competitor enters a market, it may provide the force for a domestic producer to enter other markets as it may not be able to sell its production in the domestic market. (Czinkota; Ronkainen; Moffett, 1996) This intention may even be sparked off by an unsolicited order from a foreign country.

Most of the time however, the companies try to get extra profit by tapping international markets. This is not an easy exercise, and many inexperienced companies often fail. Companies, which have a proprietary…

Operations Management
To the Organizers of this Major Sporting Event:

At this present juncture of your endeavors, of course all of you are experiencing the inevitable pre-event jitters -- do we have enough sponsors, will all of the athletes 'come through' with their major commitments, etc. Perhaps you are even worried about prospective wardrobe failures of the event's halftime show. However, although good publicity and cooperation from all the necessary parties concerned certainly plays into the managing of a successful event, a sound theoretical overview and organizational paradigm can be helpful to have as an additional form of damage control.

hen all things do not go as swimmingly as desired, or things need to be rescheduled more tightly, Critical Path Analysis is helpful. In fact, from the very onset of organizing a time-dependent event, Critical Path Analysis is one of the most effective time management paradigms an organization can employ.…

Operation Management
Operations Management

Many times trade-offs are necessary to increase productivity. What are important trades-offs involving the inputs to productivity?

The companies and all other entities in the real world are limited by the scare resources. Thus, in order to have more of one good, some other good is sacrificed. The organization cannot hire all the assets, human resource, equipment, machinery and raw material for production of all the possible goods it can manufacture. It can employee only a certain number of people that will work on limited machines or land and will consume limited supply of energy to produce a quantity of goods (Trade-offs between inequality, productivity, and employment, 2012). Thus, the company trades-off between the possible options as well as resources. It can either hire ten people and ten machines or two people and eight automatic machines that will carry out tasks in the production department. Thus…

The main reasons why benchmarking is a vital procedure for the companies which currently compete internationally or have this desire for the future could be summarized as follows:
benchmarking helps the company better understand the characteristics and requirements of the industry where it operates as well as those of the customers it serves benchmarking lest the company identify the successful strategies implemented by the competition and allows it to learn from the experience of its competitors benchmarking sets an organizational ideal and helps achieve it benchmarking should be an ongoing process that helps the company adapt to the new changes in the industry and the market

3. Empowering Employees

Empowering employees and encouraging them to get involved in the decision making process are more and more common procedures used by organizations to both motivate their staff and also to increase the efficiency of the operational processes. But despite the positive…

The need for being demand driven (Barrett, 2007) is what forces the company to carry as minimal a level of inventories as possible. This also supports their strategy of focusing on maximizing inventory turns as well, hence the decision to move their suppliers closer to them. All of these strategies are focused on becoming more demand-driven, creating a Demand Driven Supply Network (DDSN) (Barrett, 2007) as a result.

The most important aspects of cookies purchased are their taste, freshness and being completely packed and in one piece.

The advantages of not using preservatives is the reduction in cost structures due to not having to purchase this raw material, a more simplified production process, and the creation of a unique taste. The disadvantages are that their inventory management and distribution management strategies must focus on making deliveries as rapidly as possible in order to retain the freshness of the cookies once…

Operations Management: Matching Capacity With Demand
OPEATIONS Management:

Operations management is the process of managing the business processes efficiently and effectively. It involves the designing, monitoring, and modification of different operations related to business while producing goods or services. The aim behind all operations management strategies is to make it sure that all business processes and operations are efficient enough in terms of resource utilization and use minimum possible resources, at the same time all business processes and operations are effective in terms of fulfilling needs and wants of customers (Wilson, 1995).

All companies and organizations require effective and efficient operations management strategies irrespective of the nature of the business. Each and every organization which is involved in the production of products or providing different services, requires do manage the operations and business activities. The main concern of operations management is with the process of converting inputs into outputs. The…

Operations Management Tools
Headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, Harrah's Entertainment is the world's largest gaming company (Harrah's Entertainment, Inc., Hoover's) with revenue of more than $4.5 billion in 2004 and a one year sales growth of over ten percent. Harrah's owns, operates, and/or manages more than forty casinos (under such names as ally's, Caesars, Harrah's, Harveys, Horseshoe, Showboat, and Rio) in four countries. Its operations include casino hotels, dockside and riverboat casinos, and Indian gaming establishments. Harrah's success is based on a very successful operations management system called Winner's Information Network (WINet) that has fueled customer-driven operations and marketing programs.

Instead of building glitzy casinos with attractions such as volcanoes, sinking ships and replicas of the Eiffel Towe to stay on top in the competitive gaming industry, Harrah's developed a service-oriented strategy based on collaboration (Levinson, 2001). In the mid-1990's, Harrah's implemented WINet in order to execute its strategy. WINet…

Value Stream in Operations ManagementPart I: Annotated BibliographyAcero, R., Torralba, M., Prez-Moya, R., & Pozo, J. (2019). Value stream analysis in military logistics: The improvement in the order processing procedure.Applied Sciences,10(1), 106.Acero et al. (2019) employ a case study in their research to evaluate value system analysis application in military logistic operations where response time, cost-effectiveness, variety of material references, and demand uncertainty are decisive elements of combat agility and capability. The study structure employs the research DMAIC (definemeasureanalyzeimprovecontrol) method whose principles align with lean kaizen operations. The article relies on Six Sigma in lean methodologies applied to improve manufacturing and business processes operations by minimalizing variability by focusing on defects in operations and their causes. The results obtained are presented using value stream design (VSD) and value stream mapping (VSM) tools to improve the order processing lead time.…

The company has evolved from its initial desire to be an industry leader, to that of being a leader and a strong presence within industry and community.
3. The Article in the Operations Management Context

Marc Benioff's and his company's evolution and success relate to operations management by referring not only to the core process of a business -- that of delivering a product or service that transforms into money -- but more so as they both focus on the end result, within given conditions and limitations. Additionally, they both place increased emphasis on other elements, such as customer satisfaction, employee morale and on the job satisfaction, or the respect for the communities in which the firms operate.

eferences:

McNamara, C., 2009, Operations Management, Management Help, http://managementhelp.org/ops_mgnt/ops_mgnt.htm last accessed on December 8, 2009

2009, Mystic Marc's Guide to Success, The Economist, http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14953117 last accessed on December 8, 2009

The management at Stickley Furniture revealed that the demand for their products tends to increase during the first and third quarters, whereas it reveals descendant trends throughout the second and fourth quarters. Given these fluctuations then, the organizational leaders have striven to develop a level production plan that ensures steady output and steady labor force. The plan sees that "during the second and fourth quarters, excess output goes into inventory; during the first and third quarters, excess demand is met using inventory. The company's policy of level output coupled with seasonal demand patterns means that prior to peak demand periods, excess output is used to build up inventories, which is then drawn down when demand exceeds production capacity during periods of peak production" (case).
The plan is simple and logic, yet it is met with some limitations. A first of these limitations is given by the changing needs of customers…

To achieve it, the comparative advantage must be constantly nurtured through a series of top management operations and decisions. For instance, the management board must continually allocate sufficient budgets and time to both the marketing and the research and development departments. The marketing team will prospect the market in order to identify new trends and demands of patients or the environment. They will also pay close attention to the strategies implemented by the competition and will develop and implement new strategic approaches that enhance their comparative advantage. The &D team will function based on the feedback collected by the marketing team and will improve the technological appliances in accordance with the new demands. Also, the members of the board or delegated physicians must participate to international conferences of the industry as to make sure that they are up-to-date on the latest innovations.
The industry is a highly significant determinant of…

Exclusive and symbiotic relationships with suppliers are valuable, especially suppliers located close to the factory.
A JIT company strives for preventive maintenance so no time is wasted, and errors are reduced or eliminated because all aspects of the production process are kept in 'tip-top' shape. Above all JIT requires a flexible workforce with workers trained "to operate several machines, to perform maintenance tasks, and to perform quality inspections" ("JIT Lecture Notes," 2006). A flexibly trained and loyal workforce has several advantages. Despite its emphasis on the benefits of innovative computer technology during certain aspects of the production process, Toyota has been commended for the great respect it showed for its workforce. "A quality at the source (jidoka) program must be implemented to give workers the personal responsibility for the quality of the work they do, and the authority to stop production when something goes wrong" for JIT to be successful…

Operations Management
Transformation in the technologies behind information will effect in vital transformation in the competition of enterprises. International Business Machines -- IBM encounter a transforming market wherein reputable products lose their competitive edge and also become defunct and are replaced by new products based on latest technologies. IBM Corporation is undoubtedly, the single most major seller in the marketplace in the current era. IBM holds a leadership position in its industry to an extent that is unprecedented in majority of other industries. Users will be encountered with intricate preferences as the restrictions of usual idea regarding information systems in dealing with modern technology becomes palpable. An inescapable aspect of inevitability is present in handling latest technology.

In case of better or worse, modernization cannot be overlooked. Coping up with new technology might be problematic in case of somebody compared to others and might be impossible for everybody. IBM can…

Operations Management
A microbrewery in Colorado is growing rapidly. There is a long lead time for the purchase of new equipment, so management must make a demand forecast for the next couple of years in order to ensure that it has the capacity it needs to continue expansion. There are constraints, however, in particular with respect to access to key inputs. This casts uncertainty on the demand forecasts, such that simple extrapolation of current growth rates is going to be insufficient. A decision tree is used to help with the demand forecasting, taking into account different scenarios with respect to the growth patterns and the growth constraints.

This paper is based on a real world situation. The situation at hand is that of a small microbrewery, operating in Colorado. The microbrewery is five years old and has expanded annually since its inception. The brewery produces five beers regularly, and these…

Operations Management & Supply Chain Management
The case study is touches on the development and production of a board game known as X-Opoly, a game similar to the famous monopoly. X-Opoly was the idea of two students in their first year at college who envisioned creation of a knockoff real estate game similar to monopoly. However their business underwent rapid growth and currently they expect to sell about 50,000 units. Over the period of the next five years they project increase in sales by 25% each year. The order for the games come in two distinct manners, with the first being ordering for an already existing game and the second being a new game. For a new game to be ordered for, the client and an employee in the art department normally sit down and come up with a design according to the specifications of the client. The time taken…

Operations Management
hy are international issues now important in operations management? Give an example.

The changing ways in which efficient manufacturing processes can take place in a global marketplace are critically affected by international and regional concerns. hen deciding to embark upon a new venture in a foreign country, the relative geography and political stability of the nation must be taken into consideration. Foreign expansion holds the potential for great profitability. For example, in India, the existence of a technically skilled yet less expensive marketplace is one key way in which a company can become more profitable, by making use of such a natural, national labor resource. Outsourcing of labor has become a fundamental trend in research and developing. Even aspects of research and development traditionally considered a manufacturer's core competences are now outsourced. (Terestko, 2005)

However, before a company can fully consider outsourcing, local labor issues, national government policy,…

Operations Management
What is the relationship between productivity, capital expenditures, and new machinery at Michelin? Would you think that this would be the case for most manufacturing operations? If so, why or why not?

Productivity expenditures

Productivity expenditures are necessary in any performing body in the market. The expenditure conditions in Michelin Company are crucial to the general productivity and growth of the company in the global market. There is more protection a reduction to the influences of positive and competitive changes in the market when production expenditures are relayed and managed well within an institution. Productivity requires the company to incur a number of costs. These costs arise from the purchase of new materials and production facilities. Moreover, it accommodates all the materials and matter related to humanitarian activities of productivity in the market. In order to foster equitable management of productivity in the market, the company assumes the…

Operations Management Managers
How does JIT and lean processing affect managerial decision-making in that organization?

"JIT is a form of providing supplies for customers, as the name suggests, just in time" as they are needed (Atkinson 2011) Keeping inventories low is a critical component of success for a retail organization like Wal-Mart. Inventories that build up in warehouses must frequently be sold at a loss. Overly well-stocked inventories also take space away from products that consumers actually desire, and can be sold full price. However, inventories of desirable goods cannot be allowed to sink too low, given that if a product is out of stock, consumers will go to another store.

JIT attempts to closely tailor consumer needs to what suppliers have in stock. Wal-Mart has been able to use JIT because of its status as the world's largest retailer. It has tremendous power and leverage with its suppliers. Additionally,…

Operations Management
Supply Chain Management at Dell Computer Corporation

Supply chain management systems have historically been designed to bring increasingly higher levels of automation and standardization of processes throughout supplier relationships, fulfillment, quality management and services. Throughout the latter half of the 20th century the concentration on lean supply chain performance sought to drill out every errand and unnecessary step and costs from supply chain collaboration, planning and execution (Foreman, Gallien, Alspaugh, Lopez, Bhatnagar, Teo, Dubois, 2010). This was especially the case in high technology industries including personal computers where the greater the level of standardization, the higher the level profits and lower the costs. Lean supply chain management and manufacturing was the approach Compaq took to establishing an early market share lead, yet was quickly challenged by Dell with its innovative uses of build-to-order supply chain management and rapid mass customization selling techniques (Gunasekaran, Ngai, 2005). The intent of…

One of these strategies relies on integrating services into manufacturers' products. In order to be
successful at implementing such a strategy, certain factors must be taken
into consideration.
The most important factors that must be taken into consideration by
manufacturers in the service integration process are probably availability
and customization. Basically, availability is represented by time and
location. For example, through service integration, the delivery activity
has been modified. Many companies provide a 24/7 service for their
customers in order to gain competitive advantage. Other modifications
regarding availability include the combination of automated Internet
services and telephone access for certain domains of activity where this
possible and useful.
Customization refers to flexibility and directing it externally
towards the customer, and not directing it internally on the production
process. Basically, customization focuses on modifying the standard product
so that the new, modified product suits better with individual requirements
that customers have.…

Operations Management
Business Ethics

Ethical issues impact business on multiple different levels, and sometimes businesses can find it difficult to make ethical or appropriate decisions. One recent headline-making case highlights how difficult ethical decision-making can be for real-life businesses faced with real-life scenarios. After an African-American waitress received a bill that had "None, Nigger" written in the tip line, she posted the tip on her Facebook page. She removed that post, but her father then posted it on Facebook. Her employer, ed Lobster, suspended her from work for this action (Lake, 2013). Her suspension caused a huge uproar and has probably resulted in the loss of customers for ed Lobster, making it clear that ethical behavior is a corporate issue that can affect a company's bottom line.

What the scenario also makes clear is that it can be impossible to predict the wide variety of ethical scenarios and solutions that…

It is natural that suppliers forecast their own demand, and where long-term relationships have developed, there is a greater potential for the supplier to make the loan for cost. Furthermore, where Riordan is a major customer for that supplier, there may be a greater willingness to fulfill the order, and put that customer before smaller competing firms in terms of priority. If Riordan are ordering from a firm they do not regularly use, there will not be the same level of forecasting, and a supplier may need to obtain relevant inputs before making a delivery.
The situation of the supply themselves will also be relevant. Smaller organizations are likely to have more cash constraints, and have a lower level of inventory on hand, as inventories tie up capital. This problem may be particularly pertinent where organizations lack financial stability. If the organization is small, the influence of production constraints may…

al-Mart uses this technique extensively, since not only does it help to guarantee that its suppliers will be able to meet al-Mart's demand, but al-Mart wants to help its suppliers manage their supply chains better. If a supply managers its own supply chain more efficiently, it can supply the good to al-Mart at a lower price.
3. al-Mart's forecasting techniques have impacted its master schedules and production plans. The company is linked with its suppliers, such that al-Mart essentially dictates their production schedule on the basis of al-Mart's forecasted demand. al-Mart's demands for cost reductions impact capacity planning and workforce management at its suppliers. The more information that al-Mart gathers, the better it performs at inventory management.

al-Mart prepares its budgets with thorough use of forecasting techniques. It uses time series data to analyze long-term sales expectations. This is linked throughout its supply chain, such that suppliers are guided by…

Operations Management
eflect and describe which key concepts and topics in this course have made you a stronger candidate to enter the business world.

This was one of the most valuable courses I have ever taken in my academic career as it blended the practical, pragmatic aspects of supply chain management with the powerful frameworks and concepts of Six Sigma, Statistical Process Control, demand management, supply chain management and operations management. The key concepts and topics that made me a stronger candidate entering the business world include understanding the buyer-supplier relationship, how to measure it both from an efficiency and quality standpoint, and how to plan for contingences (Srinivasan, Mukherjee, Gaur, 2011). In addition the many insights gained of how to use the SCO Model for optimizing supply chain performance, in addition to its use for mitigating risk across diverse supplier relationships (Li, Su, Chen, 2011) will be invaluable for…

Another key difference is that the histogram measures an entire set of data, but does not reflect judgment on what components of that data are errors. In a typical histogram, only the outlying bars would represent errors. For a Pareto chart, the usage reflects that only errors are identified. In other words, you are starting with a subset rather than the whole set. The objective isn't to find out how frequently errors occur on the whole, but to identify the frequency of specific types of errors.

Because of the differences in their structure, histograms and Pareto charts are used to find different types of errors. Histograms measure the degree to which something is erroneous, whereas Pareto charts only measure the instances of error, not the magnitude.

5. Cost accounting has a strong relationship with lean production. One of the key tenets of lean production is the elimination of waste. The…

Operations Management
Anticipated impacts upon operating efficiency

Upon initiating operation efficiency, Midas will be able to mitigate challenges associated with customer service operations. Call volumes and customer inquiries will reduce because customers will not struggle anymore to complain about high bills or pay outstanding balances. Activities related to the collection will also reduce from efficient services and negotiating payment arrangements (Williams & Williams, 2009). Similarly, Midas is also under pressure to minimize customer service budgets in the next fiscal year. At some utilities where operational efficiency has worked, procedures spurred field inspection responding to evidence of tampering or billing exceptions. Smarter implementation of operation efficiency will permit customer service to minimize field visits. For instance, in case of tampering, a series of facility inspection will be arranged to guarantee that no further tampering will occur. Utilizing automated meter readings, customers will be able to be served without the need for…

Operations Management Case No.5
E-Commerce at Amazon.Com

What are the advantages and disadvantages of selling books and goods over the Internet?

The rise of the internet has created a boom in the market place; not only for the marketers but also for the consumers. According to recent statistics, consumers in 2007 spent on average £4 billion per month online. Today, you can find almost anything on the internet. However, selling your products online holds its own share of advantages as well as disadvantages. Selling products over the internet saves costs that would have been incurred in the setup and operation of a distribution outlet or a physical store. Additionally, it also eliminates other expenditures such as rent, human resource etc. Another key advantage of online sales is that it does not restrict your sales to a local market. Having a web presence not only widens your potential consumer market but…

This generates high profits and more resources in beating the competition (capital, technology and human resource).
2. M&L Manufacturing

Forecasting methods are employed by economic agents, especially manufacturers, due to the benefits they generate. In this order of ideas, a formalized forecasting technique will properly assess the necessity for manufactured items and by this, will reduce the under and overstocking. The right quantities of goods will generate the trust of all categories of stakeholders, mostly distributors and customers. Also, it will lead to a superior and more efficient process of resource allocation.

An estimative for the following four weeks of the quantities to be manufactured of product 1 and product 2 is given below. The numbers for the second product are more stable, whereas those for the first are gradually increasing. In both cases, they are based on the registered demand.

Product 1

Product 2

Week 1

Week 2

Week…

How does MRP II differ from MRP?

Material Requirements Planning (MRP) is the precursor to Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRPII) and both form the foundation for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) enterprise-wide systems. MRP's center of focus as a manufacturing system is on minimizing inventory levels and carrying costs. In addition, MPR systems are used for monitoring and improving manufacturing processes from sourcing and procurement through manufacturing planning and fulfillment. MRP systems often rely on the Bill of Materials (BOM) for order routing through production. This reliance on the BOM results in a limited amount of accurate data as to how production is actually performing relative to the other departments in a company. MRP II systems were designed to overcome the lack of visibility into longer-term production, pricing, sourcing and procurement, sales and marketing plans that had made manufacturing scheduling imprecise with MRP alone. MRP II acts as an enterprise-wide integration strategy,…

In such a case, there is a substantial risk of inventory becoming obsolete, while production costs are also increased.
The four costs involved include basic production, changes in production rate, inventory holding, and backlog costs. Specifically, the first includes material costs, labor costs, and compensation. The second involves hiring, training, and costs involved in laying off workers. Inventory holding costs involves storage, insurance, taxes and obsolescence, while backlogs costs are those incurred by expediting, loss of customer goodwill, and cancelled orders because of product unavailability. Backlog costs are difficult to quantify, because they involve a larger factor than only financial costs. The loss of customer goodwill for example has an effect on both current and future revenue.

3) a tracking signal is a useful device in forecasting market trends. It indicates the deviations above or below the actual market occurrence as compared to the forecast for these markets. This is…

That the service is performed is more important than the speed with which it is performed.
Another factor is that the waiting experience is structured in such a manner as to facilitate long waits. The customer's initial contact is almost immediate, so they are "in the system" and thus more likely to be patient while awaiting the subsequent contact. They are typically comfortable and relatively occupied while waiting as well. The wait is usually in done in a group, which lends itself to lower perceived wait times. Plus, the customer has made an appointment and is thus unlikely to have any immediate plans for their time.

Lastly, the customer's expectation is that they will exit the system feeling better than when they entered. While the customer wishes to feel better as soon as possible, they are willing to wait; plus they expect thorough treatment themselves and thus few would begrudge…

The areas where there is a divergence from the desired outcomes can then be examined to identify why there is a divergence and assess how that divergence may be decreased (Breygogle et al., 2001).
Different approaches to implementation of 6 Sigma exist, DMIAC is one of these, with the different stages being define, measure, analyze, design and verify.

Slide 4

The definition of the issue for Riordan is how to improve the supply chain. It is a key aspect of the firms' ability to manufacture fans, if there are delays in the supply of goods there will be delis in manufacturing. As the firm has a level supply strategy for the majorly of the products, and goods are supplied out of stock when they are ordered, a delay due to supply chain issues may create delays in supplying customers,. Furthermore, to overcome this, the firm may need to invest more…

Management of Goods and Services
Difference between the operations management chain for both goods and services

Difference between the management of goods and services

Difference between the production of goods and services

What gets companies business

Difference between the operations management chain for both goods and services

The basic difference between goods and services is that the former is tangible and hence can be stored whereas the latter is intangible and cannot be inventoried.

From the perspective of operations management, there are some basic differences between goods and services.

Forecasting of goods involves long-term horizons where manufacturers are able to use physical inventory as a buffer to tackle forecast errors. In the case of services, the forecast periods are shorter and are more variable and time- dependent. Hence, forecasting is generally done on a daily or hourly basis.

In terms of facility location, for goods, the manufacturing facilities can be…

The second area of waste is seen when the customer is asked if they want help for a new product or an existing product, where there is an exiting product query the costumer is taken to a different member of staff. This occurs despite the fact most of the staff have a very good knowledge f the existing products, undertaken as part of their training. This also increases the complexity and staffing requirements of the scheduling to ensure both sections of the store are staffed. It may create a disjointed feeling for the customers who have a query on an existing product; it also increases the costs due to the staff arrangements and lack of inter-changeability when the staff are working.

The last area of inefficiency is seen when a sale is made. If the customer wants a printed receipt it is sent wireless from the hand held sales unit…

The company prides itself on a very high quality service, looking after customers, allowing the, to try the different products before they buy, as well as providing a high level of after sales service. The impression of high quality starts with the clean crisp image of the shops, and a layout where there are tables set out with the different devoices to allow customers to wonder in and try them without a heavy sales pitch.
To assess and document the process it is possible to create a flow chart. The usual approach is to create a chart which looks at the basic tasks which are undertaken in the process, stating with the customer walking through the door. Although not undertaken in this presentation it is also possible to create a chart to movement or motion chart, which will show where the tasks take place.

lide 5

The process is being…

Technological changes have to be factored in. Other factors (internal or external that might affect the company conditions, including external factors such as economic, political, legal environment, technology, competition, as well as markets. Internal conditions that affect operations include human resources, facilities and equipment, financial resources, customers, products and services, technology, suppliers and some other reasons. The chapter also lists other strategies including modification of the supply chain strategy, sustainability strategies that lower the impact upon the environment, etc. And global strategies that take into account the international nature of the present economy (ibid., 51).
Chapter 2 goes on in the discussion about operations strategy (narrow in scope, internal to the company), with its being distinct form organizational strategy which is broader in scope. For the operations strategy has to be linked to the organizational strategy. Unfortunately, this is often neglected by companies in favor of marketing and financial strategies.…

While these principles are likely equally true within both operational management and business marketing management, the nature of the tasks encompassed by the latter provide greater opportunity to incorporate the element of improving employees' job satisfaction through family life-friendly management policies. Since many modern marketing business functions are conducted through computer processes and communications, marketing managers may have the greatest flexibility to allow untraditional work shifts and teleworking opportunities. In fact, establishing privileges of this nature as a reward for quality work further reinforces the Theory-Y approach suggested by contemporary industrial psychologists (George & Jones, 2008; obbins & Judge, 2009).

In general, some of the major changes in modern management philosophy have equal applicability to operational management and to business marketing management. However, the fundamental differences between those two business functions also dictate certain differences in the specific uses of management techniques to maximize productivity and employee satisfaction.

eferences:

Daft,…

Qualifications for the Position of an Operations Manager
The operations management function is one of the most important functions within an organisation. From materials acquisition and production to warehousing, distribution, and customer service, the function ensures day-to-day processes and activities run as effectively and efficiently as desired (Krajewski, Ritzman & Malhotra, 2013). The function is critical to the extent that it significantly affects the organisation's top-line and bottom-line results (Mahadevan, 2010). Indeed, the operations management function can be described as the heart of every organisation. It is through this function that an organisation executes its strategic goals and objectives. The critical nature of the operations management function explains why any prudent organisation ensures the function is functioning optimally all the time (Bozarth & Handfield, 2011).

Ensuring a solid operations management function without a doubt means having a highly qualified and competent operations management -- an individual with the necessary skills,…

Operation Management
What should your competitive priorities be and what capabilities do you want to develop in your own core and support processes?

To begin with, so as to establish an online grocery delivery business, there are a number of factors (both internal and external) that need to be taken into account so as to ensure success of the business. Prominent among them is partnership with the grocery stores. In this instance, there will be the partnership between two brick and mortar grocery stores that presently are not engaged in any kind of grocery delivery business. In addition, we must be assured that we will have consumers who are ready and prepared to pay the additional dollars for the service. Taking this into consideration, the ideal consumer for this service is an individual who leads a considerably busy and chaotic life, barely has the time to visit the grocery store,…

Operations Strategy
John is a man that has started a small technology service business. He has to relocate his business several times due to growth but he is now experiencing some growing pains and some customer pushback due to delegation issues relating to service time, communication quality and the hierarchal structure of his business. There are some open questions about how he should structure and operate the business going forward including whether to outsource more, whether to go more global in his business contracts as that seems to be an opportunity for him and so forth. This brief report will deign to answer those questions and beyond. While John presumably wants to grow his business more and more, he will have some important decisions to make before he can do this and do it well.

Analysis

What is obvious about the current hierarchy and business structure of the firm is…

Dell Computer
Dell

Operations management: Dell Computer

This seems fitting, given that it was Dell who conceived of the unique business model that catapulted Dell to the forefront of the PC market for nearly a decade. What is so extraordinary about the Dell success story (and some would say, the Dell fall from grace) is that Dell achieved its success through its operations management rather than creating a new product like Apple or Microsoft. Dell, in fact, hardly spends any money at all on &D. "It's a simple business model, but what makes it a success is doing it on that kind of scale and with that kind of complexity... Dell spends little on product research and development -- $440 million a year, vs. $4 billion a year at Hewlett-Packard" (Maney 2003).

The direct-to-consumer model

Dell pioneered the direct-to-consumer model of computer sales. By building computers customized to consumer needs,…

Corporate Operations Management
Corporate strategy provides long-range guidance for the whole organization. It is often expressed as a statement of its mission that defines key stakeholders and describes the overall strategy to meet objectives. Business strategy is concerned with products and services offered in the market defined at the corporate level. It defines the competitive advantage of the products and services. Functional strategy, termed operational, is where business functions make long-range plans that support the competitive advantage and incorporate corporate goals (Greasley).

The performance objectives allow the organization to measure performance in achieving strategic goals. Quality is measured by the cost of quality, speed measures time delay between customer request and receipt of product, dependability measures the consistency of promised delivery, flexibility measures ability to quickly change what it does, and cost measures profits and competitor deterrence.

3. 4. Product or service needs to flexibility to quickly meet changing customer…

Production and Operations Management: Case Study of Hudson Alpine Furniture
Organizational growth is among the chief objectives for nearly any small business. However, particularly for small business of limited resources and scale, sometimes this growth can come on more rapidly than expected. In such instances, it is incumbent upon the organization to accommodate this growth. This often calls upon organizational leaders to make difficult decisions about how best to proceed. Such is the nature of the dilemma facing Hudson's Alpine Furniture, serving the entire Australian Alps region with custom-designed furniture that is locally sourced and targeted to appeal to private owners of ski lodge properties and vacation rentals. As the analyses hereafter demonstrate though, the unexpected acceleration of commercial buyer interest has led to a Production and Operations Management (POM) impasse that will be examined hereafter.

Technical Analysis:

The impasse centers on the increased workload produced by a heightened demand…

In terms of environment, British Airways has a rather opaque policy and they have yet to implement measures which safeguard the well-being of the environment. elative to the competition, the British operator strives to regain its strength through a merger with Iberia.
3. ecommendations for Improvement

Before presenting the recommendations for improving the operations management at British Airways, it is necessary to reveal some of the challenges presented by the modern day environment. This endeavor is necessary as the recommendations for improvement will be tailored to the need to satisfy the identified challenges. In this order of ideas, the difficulties raised by the current context include the following:

safety and security issues changing role of employees pollution, global warming and the general impact on the environment intensifying competition

Safety and Security

This threat has always been present within the airline industry, but never at levels as high as today. Flying…

Dell Operations Management
Dell (NASDAQ: Dell) a global technology leader in the areas of enterprise, mid-market and small & medium business (SMB) systems and solutions. The company is best-known for its PC and laptop businesses, which are the catalyst of their highly differentiated build-to-order supply chain, production, selling and services strategies (Gunasekaran, Ngai, 2005). Dell's reliance on the build-to-order operations process is integral to the success of its four core segments including large enterprise, pubic administration, small and medium businesses and the well-known consumer segment as well. As of the close of their latest fiscal year on December 31, 2012, Dell report $56.9B in revenues earning a net income of $2.3B, making it one of the largest technology manufacturers and service providers globally today (Dell Investor elations, 2013).

Analysis of the Dell Build-To-Order Operations Process

The Dell build-to-order process is predicated on real-time inventory and demand management with suppliers, extensive…

Production and Operations Management
Explain one possible option that Marathon could take to reduce the time involved in the production process.

Of the many potential strategies for reducing the time-to-market between initial arrival of the various grades of oil in the Gulf of Mexico-based receiving location through the refining process and finally to delivery of gasoline to Marathon retail locations, the company has many options for streamlining their supply chain. By alleviating the major lags in their supply chain logistics their entire production process could be significantly accelerated. As the video shown by Marathon indicates, the entire production process is more push-driven than governed by forecasts.

What Marathon Oil needs is to have a much greater level of intelligence and insight into their retail chains' demands. As the presentation from Marathon shows, the entire production system is very push-based, instead of taking into account variations in demand by retail channel…

Control Charts
Operations Management for Managers

Control charts: Wal-Mart

How control charts might be used to monitor a process

"The control chart is a graph used to study how a process changes over time. Data are plotted in time order. A control chart always has a central line for the average, an upper line for the upper control limit and a lower line for the lower control limit" (Tauge 2004). Wal-Mart can use control charts, for example, to monitor the quality of a particular product produced by supplier, the efficiency of a supplier, the costs of procuring the same type of good from different suppliers, or even to engage in quality control of employees and managers by measuring the number of customer complaints at a particular facility.

Q2. How to possibly improve quality at specific levels from doing research on your organization?

Wal-Mart has been known to try to tightly…

Productions Operations Management
Supply Chain of Zara

Supply Chain of the etailer ZAA

Fashion industry is no more the game of rich only. The cost effective fashion businesses have helped penetrate the fashion industry so deep that today even an average earner can enjoy latest fashion by Zara. Being a Spanish retail fashion designer, Zara is strongly accepted fashion brand in Europe, America and United Arab Emirates. In less than 50 years' time, since 1975, Zara has achieved a status others might take centuries to reach. Zara promises quality as well as affordable prices (Zara: Official Website, 2013). While fashion industry mainly depends on new, creative, original ideas, this report studies if supply chain management is important for Zara too and how supply chain management can be used as a competitive advantage.

Thesis Statement:

How the supply chain management can be used as a competitive advantage?

Supply Chain Management

Supply…

Production and Operations Management
Marketing is an important function and acts a key contributor in success of any product. A good marketing strategy can make a not so good product become a blockbuster while a bad marketing strategy can put an excellent product down the drain. Marketing is an amalgamation of various elements that lead with different aspects of getting the product to the consumer. One of the major elements of this marketing mix is the product placement. Placement involves determining where the product will be sold and how will be it be transported to that selling point in a manner that efficiently reaches the potential consumer and is profitable to the company. Over a period of time, various channels of distribution and transportation methods have evolved depending upon the nature of product and suiting the other external requirements of the region where the product is supposed to be transported.…

Productions and Operations Management
America produces merely thirty seven percent of its oil demands, requiring sixty percent of its oil to be imported from additional countries, including Nigeria, Kuwait, ussia, Norway, and Canada (Marathon, 2010). With such high demands for oil, America has ports in which the imported oil can be brought in through vessels, carrying up to three million barrels on a very large crude carrier (VLCC). Once these crude oils have been brought to America's coast, it is loaded to a storage facility and then transported to a refinery to be processed into different types of products (Marathon, 2010). At Marathon, this is done through the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, or LOOP. This entire process can take approximately one month to complete (Marathon, 2010). Marathon is in need of creating a new plan, designing new ways to be time efficient with the crude oil process. While creating the…

Applied Operations
Planning and Control in the Operation Management of McDonald's

"To provide unmatched consistency in operations in support of high product quality. This must be accomplished with adequate speed, low cost, and process innovation to accommodate changes in consumer tastes."

~Operations Strategy of McDonald's

Operations management is a critical aspect of business that helps govern and determine the success and general efficacy of the business itself. Operations management encompasses numerous aspects of business functions and can be divided into several elements such as marketing/sales, corporate strategy, organisational design, and operations & process management. For the purposes of this paper, the organisation of focus will be the international chain of fast food restaurants, famously known as McDonald's. This is a fast food chain that originates from the United States of America. To date, there are over 33,000 McDonald's restaurants in 118 countries on Earth. The author of this paper has…