Operations Management - Essay Example

The employees would be subjected to training in the plant’s headquarters in Turin and then posted to the Greenfield site at Melfi to enhance the structure the factory. The new factory appears to be the assembly of the cars (Lanzara and Patriotta, 2007). Increased level of productivity levels; the results of the design conduct test; the organization reinstated by the employees appears an assumed basis of car manufacturing activities. This meant that the plant was assumed to have everything it needed at the snap of a finger.

Later on the Fiat short term goals starts bearing fruits as the production levels increases. Fiat and its competitors know that the road to success begins for the company; as ten years down the line the company still recorded high levels of productivity and corporate success (Ciravegna and Maielli, 2011). Reduced industrial actions and stress level amongst the employees; the company success history gave it a name, the Melfi model. The organization encountered a fall in April 2004; the break down appears prompted by the strikes, which paralysed the plant’s operation for a number of weeks (Heizer and Render, 2010).

The plants, throughout, its operational years have never experienced such a situation. The strike significantly affected the plant as it received media coverage, these pauses as a danger to the future dealings of the firm. The strike sent mixed messages to individuals’ heads as the individuals seek to establish the root of the strike. Some ended up doubting the praised Fiat’s design strategy meant for Melfi factory. The field survey analysis suggested that the strike could have been a product of the repetitive application of generative pattern termed as the method and practice of (dis) assembling (DA) (Lanzara and Patriotta, 2007).

Introducing a challenging and reducing process repetition among employees; the D/A patterns facilitated the reproduction of the factory’s undertakings and the repetitive works knowledge program that lead to monotony of work coupled with all the disadvantages accompanied by the reasoning. The results were tension and strenuous behavior within the employees; this led to clash and amendments of the factory’s institution process (Lanzara and Patriotta, 2007). How Did Fiat Redesign The Process And What Were The Elementary Technical Units.

The use of integrated organization model; Melfi plants appears as the initiators of conversion to a fresh work setting working on the principle of minimum costs and maximum profits. The factory later divided its operations into four operation units (OU). The process appears responsible to the different stages involved in the production process. The processes include stamping body welding painting and assembly (Lanzara and Patriotta, 2007). The operation units were disintegrated further into several elementary technical units (UTE).

At standard, the UTE contained between 80-100 employees and their supervisors. The UTE spill over to three shifts is the production structure of the incorporated factory. Whenever the system notes any faults in the structure the managements should be able to attribute the fault to a certain group of individuals or team (UTE) in a certain department. The task required an authoritative human agent with the ability to enforce or postpone the permit. This means what the machine cannot perform a human being is placed at