British Tobacco Company - Report Example

BRITISH TOBACCO COMPANY Student’s name Code & Course Professor’s name University City Date Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 3 1.1 Background information 4 1.2 Selection of system 4 2.0 Characteristics of System Under the Study 4 2.1 Objective of the System 5 2.2 Environment 5 2.3 The Purpose of the Subsystem 6 2.4 The Attribute and Elements of the Subsystem 9 2.5 Relationships of the System 10 2.5.1 The Relationship Between Each of its Subsystems 10 2.5.2 The Associations Between Each of its Elements 10 2.6 Complexity of the System 11 2.7 System Dynamics 11 3.1 Description of a Problem 13 3.2 The Problem Control 14 3.3 The Stockholders 14 4.0 Selection of System Methodology 15 5.0 Application of Soft system approach 16 6.0 Conclusion 17 7.0 Reference list 18 British Tobacco Company 1.0 Introduction The contemporary business environment necessitates the introduction of preferred manufacturing systems to address divergent changes and challenges. A system is an assembly of several elements interconnected together in a unique arrangement to work together in order to obtain and achieve specific sets of goals that cannot be obtained by a single element. Such features include hardware, people, software, facilities, documents, procedures and policies (Johanson, and Mattsson., 2015).The system approach is a set of ways and procedures that can be applied in order to design forecasting, managing and solving problems. 1.1 Background information The British Tobacco Company is charged with the manufacture of Tobacco and in some cases, it is exported India to the United States which consists of plants natives to Asia. Among the products it produces include cigarillos and cigars. The leaves of a cigar are aged first for almost a year and then fermented in order for the reaction between chemical and bacterial to take place. Its difference with cigarettes is their sizes that are larger. The company has several branches worldwide which produces cigarette for human consumption. They make supernormal profits in various branches globally. The stakeholders of the company proposed the industry to keep on opening different sub-branches organization in order to continue dominating the market (Fooks, Gilmore, Collin, Holden and Lee, K., 2013). In order to have effective sub branches it is important to address the issues of project implementation. 1.2 Selection of system The system that will be under study is British America Tobacco Company, the Korea branch. The system shall be discussed depth and length. 2.0 Characteristics of System Under the Study British America Tobacco Company (BAT) is a British multinational corporation that manufactures tobacco, and it is situated in the United Kingdom. It is the world leading Tobacco Company, and it has occupied a larger percentage of the market. It has four major brands that lead in the market which includes Dunhill, Kent, Lucky as well as Pall Mall and others are Rothmans, Kool, Benson and Hedges (Grana, and Ling., 2014). 2.1 Objective of the System The main purpose of the British America Tobacco company is to enable the business to accomplish its agenda of delivering its growth in the world today while ensuring they make finances for investing in their future. The tobacco remains as the business center and keeps on to providing opportunities for its growth. They are also committed to leading to the next generation products worldwide. The regions that British America Tobacco company include Eastern Europe, America, Africa, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle east as well as western Europe. Its sustainability is crucial because of the future security of the company as well as coming up with the shared value for the consumers, shareholders, and the stakeholders. The long history of the company focused mostly on the sustainability and corporate responsibilities; it has made significant progress by improving the market performance in delivering the values of the shareholders and has embedded effective sustainability practices into the day to day trading. It has included strengthening the approach to human rights, improving the sustainable agricultural practices, coming up with the industry security system that will help in avoiding trafficking of the tobacco (Grana, and Ling., 2014). The company still has a long way to go and as the business around the world has changed due to dynamic demands from the consumers and upcoming opportunities in the production of a new product to increase the expectations of the business necessity in the society (Grana, and Ling., 2014). 2.2 Environment A tobacco company is always competitive industry and regulated highly by the authorities with strict regulations as well as guidelines the organizations possess to follow in every single thing carried out by the company, and it has to be correctly tested, evaluated and documented. Little change in the processes makes the department held responsibly. Changes carry out the process of dynamic evaluation by providing the proper documentation outlining the accurate change and reason for the modification; then the quality assurance department is delegated the duty of ensuring that the alteration will not have an impact on the quality of the product. The alteration approval leads the standard operation procedures department to update the users on the affected change on the product as well as retraining the staff to cope with the changes. More quality product is being regularly produced due to technological advancement. As the time goes by, a variety of tobacco is discovered due to cross breeding to produce a new product (Peeters, and Gilmore, 2013). Korean tobacco branch plays the role of monitoring all sub-branches in Asian part by ensuring that all sub-branches produce a quality product through adhering to the state rules as well as all the company makes proper documentation on every activity that takes place In the enterprise as per policies and regulations. Every organization has the responsibility of investing in new products and improving the existing ones to remain relevant in the market (Peeters, and Gilmore, 2013). 2.3 The Purpose of the Subsystem A subsystem addresses every single section, their goals and objectives of the entire system. British America Tobacco Company contain several subsystems which include, Human Resources: The main purpose the human resources is to find out the right people to handle perfect work in the organization, that can look after the staff and provide them with the required training to perform their jobs efficiently and more. Human resource departments ensure that all the absorbed employees are academically qualified for them to produce variety quality cigarette (Lee, Ling, and Glantz, 2012). Account department: the purpose of the accounting department is to make sure that all the workers are paid in time as well as prepare the budget of the organization. They also, ensure that outflows and inflow from the products balances to detect any loss or profit that they make. Despite there is no losses encountered for a much extended period (Lee, Ling, and Glantz, 2012) Informational technology department: the department deals with the maintenance of the computers and telecommunications. It processes the data from company inputs to generate information that is vital for managing the operations. To improve the effectiveness of the information system, the company adds data to make information more accurate. They ensure that network in the organization is useful for quick communication. Also, the departments provide that the camera within the organization works correctly for the secure purpose. Any new variety of tobacco is added with its procedure on how to process it to access it in future (Lee, Ling, and Glantz, 2012). Quality assurance department: the department plays the role of performing the tests and evaluation of the raw material. Also, it assesses the quality of the produced commodity whether it might compete in the market with products from other companies. They have special equipment for testing it. Also, the department supervises and monitors the other agencies which assist the organization to run with minimal supervision. They are always on the toes of the department that perform dismally. The department is liberal; it welcomes new ideas from the employees for improvement of the product (Lee, Ling, and Glantz, 2012). Engineering department: the department plays a role in maintaining the production machinery by lubricating, greasing and replacing the parts that have wearied out. They also ensure that the water systems are purified for adequately extended processing and cooling the products. The tobacco product contains nicotine which coat the machinery part, therefore, it requires maintenance on regular basis (Smith, Savell, and Gilmore, 2013) i. Production department: the department ensures that the tobacco product is in the right quantity to avoid disproportional problem as well packaging machine to be in proper condition for efficient packaging ii. Warehousing and distribution: the department transfers the finished products from the production area and appropriately stores them in the warehouse area for marketing. After the product being stored, it is distributed to various destinations to be used by the consumers. It supports customer’s policies. Warehousing allows the customers to orders to be supplied from stock instead of production which reduces customers lead time. It also manages the fluctuation demand when the sales are larger, and the manufacturing process is not able to cope with it. iii. Material planning: the department ensures that there is a continuous supply of the raw material to avoid a shortage of the tobacco in the market. They make sure that the production and supply are ongoing and systematic (Smith, Savell, and Gilmore, 2013) The subsystem in every organization works hand in hand in order to achieve the company’s goals. The goals are the final product which means the departments in the organizations are interconnected to one another as the actions of one department affect all the other subsystems. For instance, if the materials planning department’s fails to organize the order of the raw materials for the certain type of cigarette, the production staff will not produce the required product. Such problem will force the warehouse department not to distribute the product to market which will generate a back order for this customer consequently, and it lead to negative reputation of the organization in general (Gilmore, Fooks, Drope, Bialous, and Jackson, 2015) Furthermore, when one machine that is an element in the production subsystem broke down, the line will not operate. The department that is responsible for broke down is engineering. It is their obligation to fix the problem quickly so that the tobacco production does not lag behind the timetable which will affect the reputation of the organization (Gilmore, Fooks, Drope, Bialous, and Jackson, 2015) 2.4 The Attribute and Elements of the Subsystem Every subsystem has distinct elements, the element include, Staff: they play the role of ensuring that every department runs smoothly and efficiently with minimal supervisions. Software: software is a computer element that enables the system to hold every word, documents, downloads and save the to the appliance memory. The software assists the organization in maintaining the records of the company. Computer: the electronic machine that keeps the records of an institution. It uses the software’s to accomplish its operation. Purified water system: The element provides the processing machine with the required water for mixing the various materials to form the final product. Purified water ensures that there is no contamination of the product under process. Packaging machines: the role of the element is to provide quick service by packing the commodity in large volume at once, thus alleviates the company burden of packing products. Production machines: the machine does the major work of the organization, as it convert the raw material to finished product. Therefore, the breakdown of the element will paralyze the operation of the company (Gilmore, Fooks, Drope, Bialous, and Jackson, 2015). Laboratory equipment: this where the product is tested if it is fit for human consumption or not. The concentration and effectiveness of the product are also tested to ascertain its quality. Policies and procedure: the company has rules and regulations that provide guidelines to regulate tobacco production by ensuring quality and proportional product are produced. Cold rooms: the rooms provide cooling temperature to already produced tobacco while waiting to be packed (Smith, Savell, and Gilmore, 2013) 2.5 Relationships of the System The tobacco system contains tobacco subsystems and the elements, and their relationship contributes to structured and systematic performance. 2.5.1 The Relationship Between Each of its Subsystems The connection among the subsystems produces the structure of the British America Tobacco company. The performance of one subsystem is progress another one until the finished product of tobacco is attained. 2.5.2 The Associations Between Each of its Elements The relationships among the elements make the subsystem operate in the required manner. Such relationship can be among the staff members themselves or the machines, the policies as well as the guidelines. Every work requires various relationships among the element to be operated as long as long as they perform their duties in harmony and accordance, the performance of the system will be excellent (Smith, Savell, and Gilmore, 2013) 2.6 Complexity of the System The system complexity that is British America Tobacco Company is at the highest point as there are several subsystem and several elements have to operate together to attain the required results by the system and to improve the system in its performance. Proper coordination in an industry leads to production of quality products and significant volume within the shortest time possible The illustration of the system complexity is that, in the case of an alteration to a single purifier of the raw tobacco product, the department of the material planning has to gather all the directly related data and specification. Then it goes through the office of quality assurance for ascertainment whether the product as attained the required standards of operation. The quality assurance department carries out several tests to prove its quality and evaluate the process until it ascertained that alteration will not affect the integrity of the particular product, the product has to be documented procedurally for future reference. From that department, the product is taken to warehouse for export and distribute some of the product to the local consumers (Kotnowski, K., and Hammond, D., 2013) 2.7 System Dynamics The system dynamics refers to receiving constant feedback and changes that result from behavior according to the feedback and the comments from the others system relationships. The information provided by the customers is vital because it enable the company to improve the quality of tobacco products as well as decorating the packets and seals of their product. Such interaction ensures that the product remains relevant in the market and keeps on competing with the products of other company (Kotnowski, K., and Hammond, D., 2013). Dynamics of the system emerges from the interaction of the physics, which is the physical appearance of the products that can attract the consumer’s ability to buy the product. Information availability that is when the company receives vital information from the customers, it capitalizes on the information by improving its products and decision rules. An individual in an organization cannot make a decision, only the board members who are responsible decision making. The three interaction leads to system dynamics (Kotnowski, K., and Hammond, D., 2013). 3.0 Identifying Problems The British America Tobacco company based in Korea has the mandate to monitor and audit the company’s performance each year as well as checking whether the company adheres to its policies or not. It checks the following: Standard operating procedures: refers to a written instructions aimed at documenting the process on how to accomplish a routine activity. The organization depends on the standard operating procedures to assist in ensuring the consistency and quality of the product. It is also an essential tool for communicating vital corporate policies, best practices and the government regulations (Kotnowski, K., and Hammond, D., 2013). The importance of the standard operating procedures restricts the employees to a set of rules to ensure required outcome are attained. Experienced employees tend to forget what they perform regularly; therefore, the set of instruction written can be referred to ensure that the correct steps are followed. It helps the new workers by reminding them the method of running an operation. Testing and evaluation documents: the report provides testing results and assesses whether the product is in the correct ratio. The report provides a guideline on how to prepare the required drugs (Kotnowski, K., and Hammond, D., 2013). Production process: refers to the guidance used by the employees in converting the tobacco raw material to the finished products. The procedures aid in ensuring that the right proportion of the elements are achieved. Any slight failure leads to substandard production hence spoils the reputations of the company worldwide. The quality of the product storage: the storage product determines the quality of the final products by carrying out tests as it ensures that the storage is conducive. Any missing element can be detected by the machines (Kotnowski, K., and Hammond, D., 2013). 3.1 Description of a Problem The investigation carried out by the committee of experts in British America Tobacco company base on the Korean part production line and monitoring blister line; the investigators noticed that the operator did not clean one part of the processing machine before starting to process a new product. Production line ensures that that the process should not go beyond a certain level due to narcotic residues that stick on the part of the machine that processes as well as overheated remains. Monitoring blister line ensures that there is no coating that aligns itself at the processing device. Layers formation on the production machine in effects it’s functioning. The investigators noticed that the in cleaning as the primary source of the issue for the British America Tobacco company based In Korea which risks crossing contamination of the final tobacco product (Sankaran, Hiilamo, and Glantz, 2015) Following the results obtained, the ant narcotic experts Korea-based suggested the production of the line to continue working under conditions. Such condition is by ensuring that the processing machine must be clean. The operator that was on duty is suspended because of being laziness and carelessness with its functions. The board of directors called for an urgent meeting with the operational manager, engineering manager, production manager as well as quality assurance manager with an aim of discussing the arising issue of poor quality production (Sankaran, Hiilamo, and Glantz, 2015). The organization had to give out an expectable explanation to avoid being suspended and even eventually, the whole site can face closure. The meeting aimed at proving that the challenge done by the operator is not a big deal to warrant the whole company is closure as well as to ensure that the error made could not affect the integrity of the new product 3.2 The Problem Control Below is a simple illustration of the tobacco machine working. It begins with Producing cut rag which is semi-processed tobacco for use in a cigarette. Then from there, it undergoes pre- conditioning of the unmanufactured tobacco. Lamina and threshed stems are cut. Then the raw material is supplied to the production machine. Tobacco leaves are processed by machine to make cigarettes, pipes, cigars and other tobacco products. Then it is taken to control filter rods machine is then shut and quality control then applied to the final product. The cutting tools are cleaned 3.3 The Stockholders The issues that were realized by the tobacco experts during their investigation of the production line suggested that the line must be improved with an immediate effect. The operational manager was accused of being careless in handling the product, quality assurance manager for not assessing the outcome keenly and the production manager for not being cautious while processing the product. The body warned that if the issue persists, the line will be suspended, and it may affect the whole site as to close down for further inspection (Sankaran, Hiilamo, and Glantz, 2015). 4.0 Selection of System Methodology Methods of hard system propose that models, particularly mathematical models work mostly in the operational world as well as the prototype are structured to capture the vital features of the reality. It is the most crucial component in hard thinking system due to its accuracy in capturing the working possible solution of the particular challenges Hard system methodology contain six stages, the stages include: i. First step: Expressing the Problem ii. Second step: developing a mathematical model to represent the system that is being studied. iii. Third step: using the model to come up with solution iv. Fourth step: testing and analyzing the model v. Fifth step: forming control over the solution vi. Sixth step: implementing the solution Soft system methodology has turned its attention from thinking critically about the system issue from one point of view which is electronically thinking into enabling the involvement of relational maintenance and the necessity of goal seeking approach. System Soft methodology facilitates the reasonable process in which various viewpoints are elaborated and examined in a certain way that can lead into focused action is a search of the improvement. It asks only two questions that are, “what” is their problem and “how” to fix the issue which is equally necessary. System Soft methodology contains seven stages which are i. Unstructured situations as the first stage ii. Structured conditions as the second stage iii. Root definition and analysis as the third stage iv. Conceptual model of the fourth stage v. Comparing stage four ad stage two as the fifth stage vi. Social feasibility and systematic alteration as the sixth stage vii. Change implementation in the real world as the seventh stage Basing on the explanation of the hard system methodology and soft system methodology, the soft system methodology is selected to apply the problem of the blister making a line of the research (Sankaran, Hiilamo, and Glantz, 2015). 5.0 Application of Soft system approach • First stage: Unstructured Situation The dimensional issues and effect that the whole system possesses were evident to the operator people involved. • Stage two: Structured Condition Hold meetings with the production staff to explain to them the impacts of their actions in the organization (Ulucanlar, Fooks, Hatchard, and Gilmore, 2014). • Stage Three: Root Definition and Analysis Define the fundamental sources of challenges and analyzing it to look for the best solution to subdue the challenges. The outcomes indicate that the products ran by the machine had little narcotic residues which lead to neglecting the cleaning by the operator. • Stage Four: Conceptual or Verbal Model Finding methods of proving the finding to tobacco based Korean company The best means is to investigate the specifications of the product and to collect the data that relate to product and machine. • Stage Five: comparing stage four and stage two The comparison checks whether the investigation is by the structure of the actual issue found in stage two to prevent negligence in any points of the problem and stay focused on the boundaries of the problem • Stage Six: Social feasibility and Systematically Needed Changes Install data logger on the vibrating tray to collect data on residual quantity from the product then compare (Ulucanlar, Fooks, Hatchard, and Gilmore, 2014). • Stage Seven: Implementing the Changes in the Real World. Documenting the process and reinforcing new training on staff that produces and get the production operators to check on each other’s work to avoid missing anything (Ulucanlar, Fooks, Hatchard, and Gilmore, 2014).  Implementation Issues 1. Introduction of new stages can be a challenge given the sophisticated nature of the process involved 2. The approaches presented on meetings may at times not be applicable in addressing various situations. 3. The implementation may not be done according to the plan created. 6.0 Conclusion Soft system method was applied to the challenges because of the involvement of various people from different departments to look for the solution and implements it. Eventually, the point of view proved correctly, and the suspension was lifted, but we had to make some alteration to ensure that the problem does not repeat once more. Any signal of mistake, the department concern deals with it immediately. 7.0 Reference list CSR. Journal of Business Ethics, 112(2), pp.283-299. Fooks, G., Gilmore, A., Collin, J., Holden, C. and Lee, K., 2013. The limits of corporate social responsibility: techniques of neutralization, stakeholder management and political Grana, R.A. and Ling, P.M., 2014. “Smoking revolution”: a content analysis of electronic cigarette retail websites. American journal of preventive medicine, 46(4), pp.395-403. Grana, R.A. and Ling, P.M., 2014. “Smoking Revolution” A Content Analysis of Electronic Cigarette Retail Websites. American journal of preventive medicine, 46(4), p.395. Grana, R.A. and Ling, P.M., 2014. Smoking Revolution. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 4(46), pp.395-403. Lee, S., Ling, P.M. and Glantz, S.A., 2012. The vector of the tobacco epidemic: tobacco industry practices in low and middle-income countries. Cancer Causes & Control, 23(1), pp.117- 129. Gilmore, A.B., Fooks, G., Drope, J., Bialous, S.A. and Jackson, R.R., 2015. Exposing and addressing tobacco industry conduct in low-income and middle-income countries. The Lancet, 385(9972), pp.1029-1043. Smith, K.E., Savell, E. and Gilmore, A.B., 2013. What is known about tobacco industry efforts to influence tobacco tax? A systematic review of empirical studies. Tobacco Control, 22(2), pp.144-153. Kotnowski, K. and Hammond, D., 2013. The impact of cigarette pack shape, size and opening: evidence from tobacco company documents. Addiction,108(9), pp.1658-1668. Sankaran, S., Hiilamo, H. and Glantz, S.A., 2015. Implementation of graphic health warning labels on tobacco products in India: the interplay between the cigarette and the bidi industries. Tobacco control, 24(6), pp.547-555. Smith, K.E., Savell, E. and Gilmore, A.B., 2013. What is known about tobacco industry efforts to influence tobacco tax? A systematic review of empirical studies. Tobacco Control, 22(2), pp.144-153. Peeters, S. and Gilmore, A.B., 2013. Transnational Tobacco Company interests in smokeless tobacco in Europe: analysis of internal industry documents and contemporary industry materials. PLoS Med, 10(9), p.e1001506. Peeters, S. and Gilmore, A.B., 2013. Transnational Tobacco Company Interests in Smokeless Tobacco in Europe: Analysis of Internal Industry Documents and Contemporary Industry Materials. PLoS Medicine, 10(9). Peeters, S. and Gilmore, A.B., 2013. Transnational Tobacco Company interests in smokeless tobacco in Europe: analysis of internal industry documents and contemporary industry materials. PLoS Med, 10(9), p.e1001506. Ulucanlar, S., Fooks, G.J., Hatchard, J.L. and Gilmore, A.B., 2014. Representation and misrepresentation of scientific evidence in contemporary tobacco regulation: a review of tobacco industry submissions to the UK Government consultation on standardised packaging. PLoS Med, 11(3), p.e1001629. Read More