Operational Changes of the Albatross Anchor - Case Study Example

? Albatross Anchors Part 2 Introduction Albatross Anchor is supposed to be a small family business which was started in the year 1976 by a few of thefamily members. It is basically a manufacturing plant which sells different products such as bells or mushrooms as well as snag hook anchors at wholesale. The business of Albatross Anchor grew exceptionally over the years and presently it employs around one hundred and thirty people. It has been apparently observed that the administrative offices belonging to the company are disorganized and thus, running inefficiently. Moreover, the plant which includes the functions of manufacturing, storage of raw materials and shipping fails to abide by the safety along with environmental standards in the United States (US) presently. Thus, in order to achieve an obvious as well as a sustainable competitive position, Albatross Anchor requires making certain long as well as short term direct and definite operational changes. In this discussion, definite long and short term operational alterations that Albatross Anchor should create in order to attain a sustainable as well as an apparent competitive advantage will be taken into concern. Moreover, a few of the operational issues which would support the company to improve the aspect of job retention, morale and dedication of its employees will also be highlighted in the discussion. Question One Long-term operational changes 01 Albatross Anchor needs to transform its administrative offices as a part of the long-term operational change for the purpose of attaining a comprehensible as well as a sustainable competitive benefit. It has been observed that the company already has certain issues concerning its administrative offices which are considered to be somewhat disorganized and operated inefficiently. In order to run its administrative offices more efficiently as well as in an organized manner, the company should properly utilize its valuable resources such as the deployment of workers should be made in a manner so as to ensure efficiency in terms of performing different operational functions. Moreover, the company should build an effective form of communication with its other members which would ultimately support it to run its administrative offices in an organized way (Curristine, Lonti & Joumard, 2007). 02 Apart from making the operational changes relating to the administrative offices, the company should also make certain changes in its plant which involves functions related to manufacturing, storage of raw materials, shipping and storage of finished products. It has been viewed that the plant of the company lacks the inclusion of modern technology, is antiquated as well as dirty and most importantly it fails to comply with the US safety and environmental standards. In this similar context it can be mentioned that the company should apply innovative as well as new technologies which are supposed to comply with the safety as well as environmental standards. Moreover, in relation to the operational change, the company should also expand the limited space of the plant by building new blocks in order to run its business operations efficiently. By building new blocks, different innovative technological equipments can be stored and implemented which might support the company to attain a superior competitive position (Curristine, Lonti & Joumard, 2007). 03 Another operational change that Albatross Anchor should adopt in order to achieve a sustainable competitive benefit relates to the procedure of selling its products. The company usually sells its manufactured products to the distributors who act as middlemen. Moreover, the company also sells its products to the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM’s) who purchases the products of the company in large batches. Apart from selling the products to the distributors and the OEM’s, the company can sell its valuable products online for the motive of accomplishing significant competitive advantage. In this regard it can be mentioned that the company can develop an online wholesale website for selling its products. The major objective of implementing this method of selling products is that the company can add updates regarding its new products in the website which would ultimately keep the customers informed and in turn would enhance the sales of the company (Schermerhorn, 2009). Short-term operational changes 01 It has been observed that the company lacks flexibility in terms of placing orders for its products owing to the limited space of the plant. Consequently, placing a bulk order in relation to the products is learnt to engage almost three to four weeks. Therefore, it can be deciphered that the company needs to modify its manufacturing procedure as a form of operational change for the purpose of ascertaining the attainment of a sustainable competitive advantage. The existing manufacturing procedure of the company is observed to be quite time-consuming and thus, needs to be changed in order to deliver the products in a timely manner. 02 The profit margin of Albatross Anchor at times experiences a dip which is supposed to be much below its expected level owing to the inefficiency of its different operational procedures. The company needs to enhance the efficiency of its operational procedures in order to increase its profit margin and most importantly to gain a significant competitive position over its major contenders. The company can enhance the efficiency of its operational procedures by installing modern along with eco-friendly machineries or equipments, designing effectual floor layouts and by considerably decreasing the shipment as well as inventory related expenditures. Moreover, the company needs to emphasize upon enhancing the retention rate as well as the satisfaction level of its employees, developing a long-term technological plan and establishing an effectual form of communication with every member belonging to the company in order to enhance its operational efficiency (Madura, 2006). 03 Albatross Anchor uses several methods of product shipment for transporting its products. The company employs large trucks for its domestic orders and the international orders are shipped by rail as well as large ocean-going freighters. In order to gain a comprehensive and sustainable form of competitive advantage, the company should make use of air cargo services. The air cargo services can be considered to be one of the useful methods for shipping the products of the company. This is due to the reason that the air cargo services are expected to be increasingly faster which would enable the company to offer the facility of overnight delivery and reduce the inventory as well as storage costs at large (Wensveen, 2011). Question 2 Operational Issue One The operational issue of cross training can be recognized as a procedure which would assist Albatross Anchor to enhance the factor of job retention as well as boost the morale of the employees. The feature of cross training would aid to demonstrate the degree of confidence that is rested upon the abilities of the employees by the company along with its desire to offer them attractive opportunities for career growth. Cross training helps to promote an enhanced feeling or perception within the employees regarding their jobs through which they intend to avail significant benefits in future (Jones, Beyerlein & Phillips, 1998). Operational Issue Two The operational issue of gainsharing as well as profit sharing will aid the company i.e. Albatross Anchor to develop important aspects such as job retention, morale and dedication of its employees. The aspect of gainsharing is regarded to be a commitment which involves the deliverance of additional payments to the employees for their effective performances made within the company. Conversely, the notion of profit sharing relates to the actuality of sharing the financial success attained by any company owing to the effectual performance of the employees. Therefore, these mentioned concepts would help the employees realize that their performances are highly valued which in turn would ensure job retention, enhance morale as well as dedication by a significant level (Armstrong & Murlis, 2007). Operational Issue Three The operational issue of technology and automation will support the company to boost the morale and enhance the level of dedication of its employees. It has been viewed that technology, automation, employees’ dedication as well as morale are closely linked with each other. This is because effective technology as well as automation in the place of work assist or facilitate the employees of different companies to perform significant tasks along with developing and keeping up good flow of communication with the other members. Moreover, the aspect of technology and automation would support the company to align the goal of the employees with its business objectives (Ngambi, 2011). Operational Issue Four The operational issue of ergonomics is likely to assist the company i.e. Albatross Anchor to enhance the degree of job retention, morale as well as the dedication of its employees. Ergonomics is regarded to be a particular form of study which focuses upon making the workplaces healthier, pleasant and efficient for the employees to perform their assigned tasks. By assuring increased level of comfort as well as delivering healthier and secured working environment, the company can improve the employees’ level of morale, dedication and most importantly retain them by a greater extent (Kahya, 2007). Conclusion Albatross Anchor entails the prospect of becoming an effective as well as a profitable manufacturing entity. It is quite significant for the company to take into concern certain vital long as well as short term operational changes such as modifying its administrative offices and plant along with transforming its product shipment procedures among others. The various operational issues which include cross training, study of ergonomics, technology along with automation and gain sharing as well as profit sharing are expected to ultimately help the company in terms of improving the degree of morale, dedication and retaining its employees considerably. Therefore, the company would need to make the aforementioned operational changes and also remain focused on the different operational issues in order to gain a sustainable form of competitive advantage. References Armstrong, M., & Murlis, H. (2007). Reward management: A handbook of remuneration strategy and practice. United Kingdom: Kogan Page Publishers. Curristine, T., Lonti, Z., & Joumard, I. (2007). Improving public sector efficiency: Challenges and opportunities. OECD Journal on Budgeting 7(1), pp.1-41. Jones, S. D., Beyerlein, M. M., & Phillips, J. J. (1998). Developing high-performance work teams. Virginia: American Society for Training and Development. Kahya, E. (2007). The effects of job characteristics and working conditions on job performance. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 37, pp. 515-523. Madura, J. (2006). Introduction to business. United Kingdom: Cengage Learning. Ngambi, H. C. (2011). The relationship between leadership and employee morale in higher education. African Journal of Business Management 5(3), pp.762-776. Schermerhorn, J. R. (2009). Management. United States: John Wiley & Sons. Wensveen, J. G. (2011). Air transportation: A management perspective. United Kingdom: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. Read More