Operations Management: LPG Manufacturing case - Research Paper Example

? Operations management This essay entails the growth and success of LPG Manufacturing Company that has grown over the lastfew years to become one of the most leading food packaging companies in the world. This has been attributed to a lot of hard work, determination and good management system. It is through the best of the operational management that has led to the growth and success of LPG manufacturing company. Introduction LPG Manufacturing plays as main producer and provider of packaging to the food service industry. This company is dedicated to the merits of sustainability in its products, operational practices, manufacturing and production. The company has made great efforts in re using recycled material and post- consumer material for its products and also puts in consideration of whether the produced materials could be recycled again. The innovation team continually researches and evaluates new sources, materials, and manufacturing procedure to reduce the company’s’ ecological footprint. LPG manufacturing runs on six policies of environmental responsibility. To start with the company practices Institutional, heartening sustainability in its products manufacturing actions and operations. Secondly, the company promotes safety, productivity and the welfare of its community through the design and up keep of its working environment. Thirdly, LPG aims to raise environmental awareness by ornamenting the health of its building. (Slack, 2 004) The company also comes up with new planning tools that enable comparison analysis of the socially responsible, environmentally conscious decision making. Products sustainability and practices has continually been improved as the company continues to establish signs that enable it to monitor its analysis. Lastly, the company urges the learning and environmental enquiry through the service of the department. The country recently equipped efficient lightings which led to the reduction in power consumption by a mere margin of forty percent, energy efficient fans, windows and greatly minimized heating and cooling cost. LPG provides a wide range of eco - friendly coffee services, paper based packaging, fast foods and expediency stores industries. The company offers full range services from product uniqueness and development to huge production and delivery. LPG manufacturing has been on the increase with big and attractive profits that are associated with better services that are attributed to the good management system that is characterized by the professionals that are in the company. Through this, it has managed to stay ahead of the rest of the company in the price competitive markets. The management at LPG believes that strict adherence to quality system is vital for the future of the company as well as the chief part in the LPB culture. The LPG manufacturing which was incorporated in 2001 is based in Cicero, Illinois and it functions as subsidiary of terrace paper co. Inc. (Slack, 2 004) Operations management In order for a business to succeed, it must be managed through three major purposes: marketing, finance and operations management. The vice president of each of these must report directly to the president or the CEO of the company. The other types of business functions that support these three major functions include; accounting, engineering, human recourse and purchasing. Finance is responsible for understanding customer wants, sales, and needs and bringing up customers demand. Operations management is responsible for planning the business, organizing and coordinating it. Management also control the resources needed to produce the goods and services. It is a management function that involves managing equipment, people, technology and information. It is the central processing nucleus of every company, whether the company is large or small, works for non profit, or provides provide physical good or service. Without proper operations there would be no goods or services to sell. The operations function is supported by all the other organizational units. (Skinner, 1978) The role of management is to change a company’s input into finished goods and services. These inputs include the human resource, materials, technology, facilities and processes and information. Outputs are the goods and services a company produces. Operation management is responsible for putting together all the resources that are required to produce the final product. Some of this resources needed are used in designing the products, arranging equipment, facilities and schedule. It also manages inventory, controls the quality of finished goods, designing work methods and designing a particular job to come up with a product. This is evident that at this point the operations manager is responsible for all stages of transforming inputs into outputs. Characteristics of the outputs is adjusted by performance information and customer feed back. A successful operations management should add value throughout the evolutional period. (Hill, 1985) Value added-is a term that describes the net increase between the value of the final added product and the inputs in comparison to al l values. A business is more productive if the value added is greater. The operations management adds values by decreasing the cost of actions in the changing process. The managers consider a waste those activities that do not add value as a waste such as equipment, certain job and processes. Efficiency-in addition to value added, the operation of a company must be efficient. Meaning I must be able to perform activities to its fullest capacity and it must do this at the lowest possible cost.The operations play an important role in ensuring that all running activities are analyzed and those that do not add value to the company are eliminated. This is vital for restructuring process and jobs in an attempt to achieve greater efficiency. Organization can be separated into two wide categories. Manufacturing organizations and service organization each prompting different challenges for the operations functions. Manufacturing organization It is an organization that mainly produces a physical product that characteristically has a low customer contact. These goods care kept in stock before they are needed. Customers have no straight contact with the operation. The customers contact with the goods is made through wholesalers and retailers. For example, a customer purchasing a car at a dealer does not get into contact with the automobile Service organization These organizations mostly produce insubstantial products. Example of these products include information, assistance and ideas, they attract high customer contact. A hospital, bar or at the theatre is good example of service organizations since the customer is in contact at the time of service. In Oder for a company to succeed, it needs to come up with better decision making which are long terms to the company. (Hill, 1985) They are called strategic decision they set directions for the whole organization. They are wide in scope and set the pace for other more specific decisions. They include: Tactical decision – these decisions focuses more on day – day issues like quantities and timing of precise resources. Before tactical decisions are made, strategic decision are considered and revised. The company’s key to effectiveness relies mostly on tactical decisions aligned with strategic decisions. There are several operations management concepts that are vital to business success. Historical milestones Operation management as a function has long been there and was used in the older days as away of business management, for instance it was use when organizing the Olympic Games. Industrialization Since industrialization become part of the future, many companies have adopted to making their products using heavy machinery and equipments. This has made the production cost per unit to go down thus increasing in marginal profits. The use of division of labor also made it easier for workers to improve on the quality of the services and goods they provide. This improves the total sales o the company. The company an example of the LBP manufacturing used various means of strategies to run the company and to achieve good profits. The strategy includes: Corporate level strategy It is the highest strategic level in an organization. This strategy sets a whole long- term direction and view for the entire organization. If the organization or business comprises of more than one unit, the corporate level strategy will have to be employed to know whit those business should be, the amount and manner of the way they allocate money and recourses, managing the relationship between the organization and the business unit. The corporate mission or vision will often express the organization strategy. Business level strategy This is primarily disturbed with how an exacting business unit should compete within the industry under the organization. And what should be the strategic aims and objectives. A business unit may be restricted by a lack of resource or strategic barriers placed on the center depending on the organization corporate strategy and the friendship between the corporate center and the business. In a single business unit, business level is one and the same with corporate level strategy. (Skinner, 1978) Functional level strategy This is the bottom level of strategy and it is of the individual function. In includes operating, finance and marketing. Their main concern is how each function of strategy contributes to the structure of the business, how the business should manage their products and resources in search of these objects of strategy. Strategy in a business environment organization is mostly about how the organization seeks to survive and continue within the organization over the long- period. The decisions taken within its environment have a direct impact on the grounds on which an organization is able and willing to do these specific performances. The organization secures and deploys its resources to determine the extent to which it can be effectively pursued to specific performance objectives.( Slack et al,2004) argues that there are five at least five objective in operations performance. They consist of the following: Cost : the organization should be able to produce at low cost in order to minimize loss and gain reasonable profits Quality: the ability to produce in agreement with requirements and without error. Speed: it helps to speed up things quickly in response to customer demands and thereby offer short waiting time when a customer is in urgent need of a product that they want to receive or take with them ( Skinner, 1978) Dependability: customers must have the confidence with the organization that it can deliver them products and services at specified dates by the organization. Flexibility: the organization must have the ability to change operations with ease. The organization in respect to flexibility should be able to change the volume of production, And also the time taken to produce goods and products and the ability to be innovative and introduce new products to the market and succeeding in one of these operations performance objectives may enable an organization pursue a business plan based on parallel competitive aspects. Perspectives on operational strategy Top- down: this perspective is one that operations strategy is derived from and supported by the organization business strategy.(Hill, 1985) Bottom – up: this perspective sees operations strategy rising through a sequence of events and decisions in use over time within operations. Market – led: this operations strategy is urbanized in reply to the market surroundings in which the organization operates. Operations-led: this is one that is excellence in operations and is used to pilot the organizations strategy. Conclusion This strategies and operations management was adopted by the LBP manufacturing company to establish itself as a leading company in providing packages for packing and products specialization. The mangers adopted better planning strategy and management in the organization thus ensured a smooth running of business, LBP is a successful company because it has the best and it always operates to the fullest out put capacity it can handle. As a manager of LBP manufacturing company, he should ensure that he has full management of the company and he should always adopt the policies that strategizes the operational strategies that spear-head the company to great levels and targets in the organization. I believe that it is through good work and honesty to the community that the organization prospers in the market. References Hill, T. (1985), Manufacturing Strategy, Basingstoke: Macmillan. Slack, N., Chambers, S. and Johnston R. (2004) Operations Management (4th Edition), Harlow: Pearson Education Skinner, W. (1978) Manufacturing in the Corporate Strategy, New York: John Wiley & Sons. Read More