Operational Management: the Production of High Quality Galvanised Cast Iron Nuts and Bolts - Essay Example

?Operational Management Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 0Current Work Process in the Section 3 2.0 Assembly Methods 4 3.0 Current Assembly Station and Employees’ Feedback 6 4.0 The Current Space for Storage and Visible Needs of Improvements 7 5.0 The Time Spent To Transport the Completed Work 8 6.0 The Current Distances between Your Section and the Current Supply Area and Store Depots 9 7.0 Way to Improve Distances 9 8.0 Ways to Improve Productivity 10 References 12 Bibliography 13 1.0 Current Work Process in the Section The organisation is associated with the production of high quality galvanised cast iron nuts and bolts. The bolts are mainly used for reinforcing the structure of the building by means of scissor joints. The purpose behind is to avoid the buildings falling apart. Bolts are supplied to the manufacturing units in several sizes in terms of length and thickness. The range of the bolts according to the length differs from 2 inches to 12 inches. According to the length and function of the bolts, thickness of the bolts varies. In the particular section of the organisation bolts come in several sizes. Here sizes differ either by half inch or by an inch. Mostly the different sizes of bolts are received in the organisation in an ascending order and the bolts are loaded in the container accordingly. The containers do not arrive in a specific order. Each container consists of 5000 bolts irrespective of the size. Special colour codes are used for recognising the varieties of bolts contained in each container. Nuts also arrive in the assembly line in the similar manner as the bolts. The major work process of the employees starts after arrival of both bolts and nuts as they need to couple up the nuts and bolts. After coupling up the nuts and the bolts, it should be loaded in a designated container. The responsibility of carrying out the loaded container for weighing is the responsibility of other employees employed for the specific purpose. Regarding the productivity of the section, it can be stated that 1000 nuts and bolts are coupled up in an hour. This productivity is not according to the expectation especially while measured in comparison to the cost of production. Moreover, to deal with the bulk sales, the productivity needs to be stimulated. 2.0 Assembly Methods Assembly methods can be of several types. From the above discussion, the method followed by the organisation can be identified. Assembly line can be considered as a line of the factory equipments and workers associated with the production work and manufacturing products that move on the line from station to station until the products come as the final products. Assembly line methods are introduced in a manufacturing unit to stimulate its efficiency and productivity as it can reduce the required time to manufacture finished goods. The method that has been used in this manufacturing unit is a break down method where the entire production processes are divided into certain units. The nature of the work of each section is different. The reason behind breaking down the production process is to enhance the accuracy of the production. Moreover, the assembly method used in this section can be considered as the manual assembly because there is involvement of 200 employees. The comparison between the different assembly methods including manual method can be exhibited in terms of cost of production and volume of the products as follows: Figure 1: Comparison of Assembly Methods Source: (Chan & Salustri, “Comparison of Assembly Methods”). In this note, it can be recommended to the management to adopt ‘just-in-time’ process. Through this process delivery of the goods can be ensured in proper time. Thus, wastage of idle time and space and processing waste can be eliminated to a certain extent (Inventory Solution, 2007). 3.0 Current Assembly Station and Employees’ Feedback The number of current assembly stations is four. At the first assembly station different sizes of nuts and bolts are arrived and sorted out. In the second station bolts and nuts are loaded in the containers and from there the containers are sent to the section where a nut and a bolt are coupled up, which can be considered as the master station. In the third assembly station, containers consisting of coupled nut-bolts are weighed and then sent to the fourth and last assembly station for the final packaging of the containers. The arrangement of the assembly stations can be presented as below: Figure 2: Arrangement of Assembly Stations Source: (Maritimes Associates, Inc, “Muster Station”) & (Maritimes Associates, Inc, “Assembly Station Right”). The feedback of the employees regarding the assembly stations is quite positive as smooth flow of work process is maintained. The major reasons behind it are the location and the directions of the assembly stations. The employees of each section need not travel around the entire manufacturing unit. The products are moved to the assembly line and processed accordingly. The assembly stations are horizontally situated. Hence, it is quite easy to effectively manage all the assembly stations. Generally, there is no problem in the set up of the manufacturing unit. Instead the problem is with the productivity of the employees. 4.0 The Current Space for Storage and Visible Needs of Improvements The current space for storage of nuts and bolts is quite sufficient but its seasonal, i.e. when the organisation will get bulk assignment, the usual space of storage will not be sufficient enough because as the production is high the space required to store the finished products will also be high. Therefore, to hold all the products together at a place, more space might be required. However, problem will arise if another space has to be taken as a rent which may be larger than the existing one, but it will cost more. Moreover, the labour costs will also increase. Large area of storage space will be useful only for the bulk order, but in the normal period it will be nothing but the wastage of space. Hence, it can be concluded that the current space is more profitable. Rather it can be more profitable if the products are dispatched to the clients or customers after it is manufactured direct from the production house. It will not require much labour cost not even the rent of a large place. Thus, it can be justified that there is no need to improve the current space of storage and through adopting the above mentioned process, the work procedure can be accelerated and the cost can be reduced. 5.0 The Time Spent To Transport the Completed Work The time spent to transport the nuts and bolts from the place where they are manufactured to the particular section is 30 minutes, but the time required to move the packed nuts and bolts from the previous section to the particular space is negligible. The reason behind it is that the packed nuts and bolts arrive in the assembly station through a continuous process, hence it requires minimum time. It can be said that the supply is running throughout the day and through the assembly line. After manufacturing the final products, they are distributed or delivered to the stores. But this process is not done immediately. The containers are stored in a place and from there they are sent to the stores. The time required to transport the product from the particular area to the stores is approximately 15 to 30 minutes. The required time depends on the location of the stores. From the above discussion, it can be stated that the time required for bringing the products to the organisation is higher than the time required to send the products to the stores. In this note, it is necessary to mention that traffic in between the organisation and the stores are quite high as the stores are situated in the congested area. 6.0 The Current Distances between Your Section and the Current Supply Area and Store Depots Distance and time are the major factors of transportation. It has been already discussed that the supply area can be considered as either the place from where the nuts and bolts are manufactured or supplied or the place from where the nuts and bolts are carried off in a container. The distance of the first supply area is almost 30 kilometres (kms). The distance of the latter part is negligible. In comparison to these the distance between particular sections to stores depots area is higher. As the location is congested, it may take extra time. It would have been better if the location is nearby or any place where time is not consumed by traffic areas. The distance should be about 15 kms to 20 kms (approx). 7.0 Way to Improve Distances The distance among the manufacturing unit, supply area and the stores depots should be close. If the place is situated at a congested area then it may take more time hence, it will be better to choose a supplier from where the distance of the manufacturing unit will be less. Moreover, it can be recommended to outsource the entire transportation process. The suppliers and the customers can also be asked to bear half of the transportation cost. Thus, cost of production will be reduced. 8.0 Ways to Improve Productivity From the above discussion, it is quite evident that productivity of the organisation is low from the expected level. This may be due to several reasons. It has been assumed that lack of employee motivation and satisfaction has mostly hit the production level. Apart from these, few other issues may be present. Considering all this problems the following ways of stimulating the productivity can be recommended. Incorporate Break Time During the working time, breaks for ten minutes should be provided after every two hours. For the eight hours working schedule, one 45 minutes Tiffin break should be arranged for the workers. Apart from these, two or three tea and snacks break should be there for maximum ten minutes. It is required as the employees are engaged with repetitive kind of work and such breaks can lessen their fatigue to a certain extent. Incentive based Pay Structure A proper incentive structure needs to be set up in order to improve the productivity. The amount should not be high as it can augment the cost of production. Thus, the employees will be motivated and the work procedure can be accelerated. Set Higher Targets Higher targets need to be set. More specifically, it can be said that for one hour, the target should couple up 2,000 nuts and bolts. As target based incentive will be there, employees will try to achieve higher productivity to earn incentives. Thus, every kind of deals can be managed and the organisation can take huge order without expanding the infrastructure. Termination of Employees It seems that the section is over employed, which is considered to be another reason of reducing the productivity. It is true that employees cannot be terminated all of a sudden. Therefore, it has been decided to provide a notice period of one month after which 40 employees will be terminated according to the performance level. After the completion of the notice period, performance of each employee will be assessed based on which the higher authority will take the decisions. Provide Training Training should be provided to the employees with the aim to get accustomed with all kinds of works of the entire manufacturing and can acquire expertise in the particular section. Changes of Assigned Task The task assigned to an employee should be changed after every six months. Otherwise, the job will be become monotonous for the employees. References Chan, Vincent. & Salustri, Filippo A. “Comparison of Assembly Methods”. February 24, 2011. Design for Assembly, 2005. Inventory Solution. “Summary”. February 24, 2011. What is JIT?, 2007. Maritimes Associates, Inc. “Muster Station”. February 24, 2011. Sign List, No Date. Maritimes Associates, Inc. “Assembly Station Right”. February 24, 2011. Sign List, No Date. Bibliography Arkema Group. “Assembly Methods and Design Guidelines”. February 24, 2011. Altuglas International, 2000. BSR. “Background”. February 24, 2011. CTI, 2009. Bianco, David P. “Assembly Line Methods.” February 24, 2011. Reference for Business, 2011. Read More