Operations Management at Krima - Essay Example

?OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT Insert Introduction Krima Co-operative is a company that deals with the production of dairy products. It was formed a few years ago due to surplus production of milk and the nearest creamery was a few miles away. Among the products they produce include normal and non-fat dairy products like cheese, fresh milk, yoghurt, ultra heated milk and milk powder. Dealing with such a consumable product, it is important to make sure that the product satisfies all the customers’ needs. Customers’ tastes keep changing and doing quality management is advised continuously in every business. Another reason for having to do a quality control management is mainly due to the competition cropping from small co-operatives. In addition to this, Krima co-operatives plan on starting to export their products and they have to ensure that their products meet all the quality requirements set by the bureau of standards in all different countries. It is difficult to understand precisely what customers need and want and this is where quality management comes in. All customers have different tastes and they want the product they will consume to have a particular peculiar character. Quality management focuses on both service and product. It has four components; quality control, quality management, quality improvement and quality assurance. There is no one definition of quality management but (Rawlins, pg34. 2009) says that it is a set of rules or procedures that ensure a product or service is designed in such a way that it satisfies a customer’s needs. Kezner (14, 2009) calls it business management because it is a way of ensuring that sales are made every day and, thus a business does not end up failing. It can therefore be looked at in terms of satisfaction for both the business and customer’s needs. Quality assurance involves all the systematic activities that will help a manufacturer confidently provide a product as per the all the quality requirements. Quality control includes all operations and techniques done on a product so that it meets the quality standards. Quality control is done before quality assessment and it is done routinely in order to identify errors and also ensure completeness of a product. Mostly, quality assurance procedures are done by an independent third party like a government quality control group using a planned system of review procedures. The above procedures do take time and resources and therefore it is important I prepare you. However, you should note that this is not a waste of time or resources; there are many reasons why I believe this business needs quality management. This is not just for the purpose of improving quality, but also to ensure that a product meets all the needs of the customer. The question we should ask ourselves is; with all the competition we are facing from other companies right now, what is it that we aim to improve before our competitors reach where we are? Is this going to be a long term or short term solution when dealing with our competitors? What is it that our competitors are offering that our customers might be attracted to? Quality management may be able to help us answer the above questions and in turn improve our business. I had mentioned earlier that I am aware that you plan to import your products, it is therefore important to know if our product will meet the needs of our clients in the other countries. At the end of this project, we will have ensured that our product not only creates competition but it is consistent with the requirements of the customer. Tamime (44, 2009) says that in any milk processing industry, quality management ensures that a customer keeps coming back for more and referrals are made. On the same page, he says that this has been the secret of many businesses. 2. Characteristics and dimensions of milk products quality. A once successful business owner of a milk manufacturing company said that there are three processes a product passes through before going to the market. The first is called complete where a product is made in a competitive way, the second is called conform where the product conforms to market requirements and the last is called connect and this is how the product connects with the targeted market. Basically, there are various characteristics that are looked at to determine if a product is complete, it conforms and whether it connects with the market. Price, package, condition and appeal all affect a customers purchasing decision, but the quality of the product inside the package also contributes to this (Spath, pg38. 2009). For a perfect end product, raw milk should be of the best quality. Milk is a consumable product and the first characteristic being determined to test the quality of milk is the number and type of micro flora in the milk (Stephanie, et al. 2008). This is done immediately the milk is brought to the factory and will help in ruling out any interference by scrupulous businessmen. This is done using thermophilic and spore counts. Characteristic of good raw dairy milk is the absence of spores of yeast, bacillus and tuberculosis bacteria. Laboratory procedures are done by experts in that field to determine this aspect. The chemical composition, vitamin content, physical properties, color, and enzymatic activity of raw milk are also looked at during this stage of quality management. As said before, we are aiming at a perfect end product. Tamime (47, 2009) calls these the eating properties of the end product. This is what the customer actually feels when consuming the end product; aroma, taste and even aftertaste. These cannot be done using chemical or spore testing; experts in this field are involved. A practicle example is butter, say butter from company X has great taste, aroma, color, spread ability, aftertaste and firmness while that of company Z has the complete opposite of that, of course a customer will go for the one from company X. Such characteristics are determined by specially trained personnel and are affected by many factors (Defeo & Juran, pg281. 2010). For instance, research has shown that cheese taste differently according to the temperatures under which they are frozen. A famous author and analyst in this topic acknowledged that, it is important to know where some off flavors come from in order to improve the end product. Therefore, the preparation, processing and manufacturing procedures are some of the characteristics studied in quality management. This sentiment is echoed by Tamime (39, 2009) in her assertion that the sour taste of fermented milk is greatly determined by preservation of the milk at certain temperatures, at very high temperatures, the micro-organisms grow to a level that may cause diseases to human beings. Not only does the product matter, but quality management also involved such as the employees and various personnel. Firstly, diseases can easily be passed from raw milk to human beings and vice versa. Therefore, health of employees is paramount during quality management. Each employee needs a clean bill of health. Secondly, the expertise of the employee, every employee should have proper training in their specific field. For instance; when preparing cheese, different cheeses need different micro-organisms. Different cheeses have specific starter micro- organisms. 3. Consequences of poor quality and good quality. A famous philosopher once said that reputation is a fundamental issue in everyone’s life; it is what determines the growth of every business. Echoing these sentiments, kerzner (pg.235, 2009) says that quality reputation is one of those determinants. Apparently, without a good reputation, any business is bound to fail. Reputation is brought about by price, quality and experience of personnel who come into contact with the customer. Therefore, quality is very important. Poor quality products may be cheap for the company producing such goods but can have detrimental effects to the customer (Ryan, pg456. 2011). In our case, we are dealing with a very sensitive product that is to be consumed by human beings, so in the end, a poor quality product put the health of human beings in danger. For instance, if hygiene measures are not followed during storage of milk products, they may get infected and if ingested cause problems. If for example pasteurization is not done properly to save on energy costs, microbes causing brucellosis may not die and may end up compromising quality of products. This is however not as cheap as it may seem for the company. A complaint can be made by consumers, and in some cases legal action may be taken against the company. Not only will the company lose a lot of time handling such issues, but they may be forced to pay the complainant some compensation. For instance, a scenario where there was production of 100,000 cartons of fresh milk, a complaint occurs and the company is forced to recall back on all the poor quality products, there is loss for the company. We have not even mentioned wastage, extra work for the staff, extra cost of repeated work and bad reputation for the staff (Baskarada pg87, 2009). These are among those factors that come up due to poor quality. Once a product gets a bad reputation due to poor quality, it is very hard to convince customers of its change to a better price. We may end up being forced to reduce prices, and in the end lose our customers and current profits. Of course, having a product with a good reputation due to its quality is very important. Not only, will we be able to avert the above tragedies, but there is also the issue of exporting our products to other countries and handling our competitors (Mutlu, pg47. 2009). The secret of any business is to provide what a customer wants and when he wants it in the way he wants it. This will ensure that we win our customers loyalty, and in the end attain constant market share for our products. In addition, first impressions really matter, when we export our products to other parts of the country, the first impression will decide on the future market for our product. 4. Conclusions and recommendations There are different ways with which I am planning on doing quality management. I have spoken to a group of quality analysts from the government and together we have developed performance measures for different product levels. We will use both the quality management tests from the government and the one developed specifically for our company. This will enable us compare both results and in the end we will get a clear picture of the situation at hand. As Tamime (pg76, 2008) reccomends, I intend to do this by team work; we will involve all members of the company when doing this. Employees at different departments will use performance measures at different levels. For example, employees who handle raw milk when it arrives in the factory will use the performance measures that will be given to them. This will go on at all levels until the end product testing is done. This information will then be critically studied by quality analysts, and the results will be used to make adjustments as required. This process requires the identification of dairy milk like physical properties, color, and smoothness among others. We will then do test runs for each process and in this, we have set lower and higher limits for each factor. Samples will be taken at each stage, and measured according to the performance tests. These processes also involve recording quality, and conditions of machinery, hygiene and training of employees. It is important to note, that before embarking on any quality management procedures, the employees should be prepared. Explain to your employees what you will be doing and also where you will need their help (Woodford, pg67. 2009). Make a budget for the total cost of the process and set aside time required for the process. Be ready for any adjustments that will be needed during and after the process. Needless to say, patience is a virtue that will be required because I intend to do quality management over the next 6-12 months. Bibliography Adnan Tamime., 2009. Milk Processing and Quality Management. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Adnan Tamime., 2008. Structure of Dairy Products. New York: John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 9780470995914 Anne Mendelson., 2008. Milk: the Suprising Story of Milk Through The Ages. Virginia: Knopf Publishers. Ashley, R, Rawlins., 2009. Total Quality Management (TQM). New York: Author House Publishers. ISBN 9781434372987 David, L, Goetsch & Stanley Davis., 2009. Quality Management. Chicago: Prentice hall Harold Aikens., 2010. Quality Inspired Management: The Key to Sustainability. New York: Cengage Learning ISBN 9780131197565 Harold Kerzner., 2009. Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling. New York: Cengage Learning Jeff Chen., 2009. Managing Successful Projects with Prince 2. 5th Ed. New York: The Stationery Publishers. ISBN 9780113310593 Joseph Defeo & J,M Juran. 2010. Juran’s Quality Handbook. Virginia: McGraw Hill Publishers Keith Woodford., 2009. Devil in The Milk: Illness, Health and the Politics of A1 and A2 Milk. Massachusetts: Chelsea Green Publishing Mehmet Mutlu., 2009. Biosensors in Food Processing, Safety and Quality Control. New York: CRC Press Patrice Spath., 2009. Introduction to Healthcare Quality Management. New York: Health Administration Press. ISBN 9781567933239 Ramesh Chandan, Arun Kilara & Nagendra Shah., 2009. Dairy Processing And Quality Assurance. New York: John Wiley and Sons Sasa Baskarada., 2009. Information Quality Management Capability Maturity Model. Paris: Vieweg+Teubner Verlag Stephanie Clark, Michael Costello, Floyd Bodyfelt., 2008. The Sensory Evaluation Of Dairy Products. New York: Springer Publishers Thomas, P, Ryan., 2011. Statistical Methods for Quality Improvement. New York: John Wiley and Sons Williams Edward Deming. 2008. Out of the Crisis. 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