Truckseat Analysis - Case Study Example

Truckseat Case Study Identify the bottleneck department on the basis of a quantitative analysis (not personal opinions) Bottleneck departments with respect to qualitative analysis are two. The frame department and the production department are some of the bottleneck departments. In the frame department, even after getting new machines to streamline production, the cost of labor is still high. This impacts on the company negatively. The essence of the machines is to reduce the human resource needed to perform the task. When the machine is available, the reduced amount of people working in the same department helps in lowering the cost. It, therefore, becomes a challenge if the purpose for which the machine is bought is not realized. Labor standards cost is another bottleneck as it is high. Maintenance of the machinery requires people to do the work. These people consume funds that drain the company (Truckseat Case Study, 3). The production line is a bottleneck in the sense that the cost of raw materials has increased by double digits. This impacts negatively on the company has the company is forced to pay more for materials that previously cost less. At the same time the quality of products produced are below the customer expectations. When customer expectations about the product are lowered, loyalty becomes elusive (Truckseat Case Study, 3). The bottlenecks drain the company immensely. The reason for bottlenecks is because when the company does not make maximum gains from the products while spending as much to settle labor cost, maintenance of machines not to mention the quality of the products. Bottlenecks are eminent in the delivery section as well. Case in point is that there is no clear determination as to when products should be made and availed to the customers. Consequently, there is a disconnect in the sense that there is no proper market survey to establish demand and supply chain. So in essence, what happens is that sometimes products are sometimes manufactured and not delivered for the simple reason that there is no ready market to have the goods. Another bottleneck arises when the customers are in need of the products but the production levels are low. This happens due to poor forecasting of the market to determine market needs and wants. The level of customer satisfaction is below average in the sense that the quality is not up to the standards expected by the clients. The qualitative analysis figures are in the appendices. 2. Stocks can be an effective lever to remove the bottleneck: select where (along the production flow) to position the decoupling point: Compare different feasible alternatives of decoupling point positioning by showing pros and cons of each The decoupling point would be positioned where there is product manufacturing and the point where customers make their orders. This is critical in the sense that a buffer is created between these two critical aspects. Production is another aspect and customer order is another thing. Production chain can be established in such a manner that it is done on a need basis. This means that production only goes on as long as the customers have made an order. Consequently, production can be done based on pure forecasting. Looking into the future with respect to the customer’s future needs form the basis of production (Truckseat Case Study, 6). Creating a decoupling point is critical. Instead of doing forecasting which is basically a thought far away from reality, decoupling acts as a caution to the supply chain. When a decoupling point is created, the production sector gets to know the amount of products that needs to be produced based on the customer needs. It also helps in keeping track of the production process. At times, production can be done, but in the final analysis, there are no customers to claim the already processed goods (Truckseat Case Study, 6). At this point, the sale can be controlled as appropriate by ensuring that no production is done beyond the principles of demand and supply. However, having a decoupling point can be disastrous. Case in point is that by creating a decoupling point, ordinarily a buffer is created between the manufacturers and customers. While decoupling is meant to bring about caution to the company in so far as order supply is concerned, forecasting remains a none consideration. When the company does not forecast, they are not able to identify customer needs for the present and for the future. In this regard, creating a decoupling point has pros and cons though should be critically assessed before being put into use. 3. Can you identify two other weak points of the production process  management?  1. What are they? 1. Timely delivery of the finished products 2. Failure to determine correctly when to increase production or maintain the production chain 2. Why are they weak points? When the products cannot be delivered in a timely manner, a backlog is created. This in essence means that while the products still wait to be delivered, the others continue to be produced. The customers may postpone the reception of the products or reject the delivery completely. This is a loss to the company. Consequently, failure by the company to determine correctly whether or not to increase production or slow down is a weak point. The company should be able to do a market survey and forecast appropriately on the principles of demand and supply (Truckseat Case Study, 9). In the event that there is no proper forecasting, the company can either blunder by producing products for non-existent customers or miss an opportunity to boost sale by capitalizing on high customer demand. 3. What would you suggest to remove them? The company should have an elaborate plan to ensure that products are delivered timely. There should be constant communication between the company and the customers on the issues of delivery the company should also improve on the rate at which products are manufactured so that there are no delays experienced. Proper market survey and forecasting should be done to ensure that market trends are analyzed and evaluated as appropriate. The company should ensure that the customer’s expectations and needs are met as appropriate. The company should also seek to incorporate the input of the customers before producing the products to ensure that the products are not rejected on delivery. There should be measures to reduce the cost of various entities like labor and cost of maintenance to ensure that there is minimization of wastes. Appendices for qualitative analysis in question 1 Table#1 Year Month Customer order Deliveries stock 1 Jan n.a 20 #VALUE! 1 Feb n.a 17.5 #VALUE! 1 Mar 26.8 23 -4.60 1 Apr 16 25.8 6.82 1 May 18.3 14.76 4.80 1 Jun 32.7 29 -4.70 1 Jul 27.7 15.7 -12.00 1 Aug 35.4 22.3 -12.10 1 Sep 26.8 25.7 -4.10 1 Oct 16.6 25.7 10.10 1 Nov 17.7 15.1 12.40 1 Dec 10.5 32.2 7.70 2 Jan 35.1 22.5 -12.60 2 Feb 15.9 12.9 5.00 2 Mar 27.4 23.9 -4.50 2 Apr 20.2 20.4 -2.20 2 May 19.4 28.3 5.90 2 Jun 28.6 25 -5.60 2 Jul 25.3 18.6 -8.70 2 Aug 33.2 20.32 -7.56 2 Sep 21.9 24.4 3.50 2 Oct 21.8 30.7 5.90 2 Nov 12.8 34.8 17.00 Table#2 Table#3 Year Month Rough Shaping Work Force Usage For Rough Shaping Machine Processing Work Force Usage For Machine Processing 2 Jul 4,064 24.91% 6,432 40.15% 2 Aug 2,911 27.24% 8,897 45.74% 2 Sep 4,835 29.67% 8,957 48.09% 2 Oct 5,596 34.36% 9,620 51.02% 2 Nov 6,857 32.31% 7,347 45.40% 2 Dec 1,467 15.44% 7,741 30.06% 3 Jan 5,959 30.60% 9,107 15.06% Analysis of calculation of the figures Work Force Usage Duration on a monthly basis = 8 hrs. 2 shiftsX 22 days=352 hrs. Paid working hours for the Rough Shaping=Open Time X 38 workers=13,376 hrs. Paid working hours for Machine Processing=Open Time X 48 workers=16,896 hrs. Average Work Force Usage= is based on the Average Paid Working Hours Average Work Force Usage For Rough Shaping = 30. 45% Average Work Force Usage For Machine Processing= 45.32% Work Cited: Truckseat Case Study. 2014. Web. March 14th 2014. Read More