Engineering Management Issues - Essay Example

?Engineering Management Part A) Question one One of the unique characters of James Dyson is that he does not fear failure. He actually believes that failure is an essential component of success, and that one must fail in order to become successful at the end. He says, in the video, that failure is a step towards an innovative solution. He adds that when he first invested his first Dual Cyclone vacuum cleaner, he spent years on end creating thousands of versions, which were not successful, but he eventually made a successful version after 15 years. Dyson adds that failure is part of making progress because people do not learn from success. When he started from humble idea, it got more interesting and audacious because he had an opportunity to experiment what can work and what cannot work. This can also be taken to mean that he is a very patient mogul, a trait that is very essential in entrepreneurship and innovation. Dyson is also a risk taker, and that is the reason he is so successful in innovation. He explains that innovation is about people trying to improve the way things work, but warns that big corporations are under competition from small innovative enterprises because they are not ready to undertake immense risk. His excellence in innovative is also evident when he explains that there is a lot of competition in terms of ideas but the ones who enjoy the fruits of their innovation are the ones who come up with the best ideas. Question 2 His management style is democratic or laissez-faire. This approach means that he has given his employees a freedom to contribute their ideas and try to implement them if they are found to be useful. This style is very effective in allowing the subordinates to develop their talents and make best use of them. As such, his employees are given a lot of opportunity to work without close supervision, which is very important in such an industry, which depends a lot on innovation. He has made a lot of efforts not to act as an owner who is isolated from his work force. He says that he spent a lot of time interacting with innovative people rather than being in his glass office. He made sure that even the people who were not engineers were doing things that were creative, something that went a long way in fostering innovation in this organization. H also spend time motivating his workers, for example by encouraging and praising them so they can continue adopting the difficult route instead of just doing what is straight forward. For this management style to work in its optimum, he ensures that team members are fully inspired to work to the best interest of the company. Question 3 Organizational structure is the manner in which organizations are set up, in order to achieve their goals. There are three major types of organizational structures, including matrix, divisional and functional. Functional structure Functional structure is organized according to the purpose of each section of the organization. For example, the organization may have different departments such as sales department, marketing department, and production department. This structure mostly suits small businesses in which case each department can rely on the skills and experience of its staff. However, the fact that different departments works as distinct bodies creates a communication barrier along their boundaries. Divisional Structure Divisional structure is common in companies that operate over a wide geographical area or that the companies that have smaller entities operating under the umbrella group, typically dealing with different market areas or types of products. For example, an engineering company can be organized divisionally, with divisions such as compressor division, engine division, parts division, as well as different divisions to serve different geographical regions. Although communication under this structure is difficult because employees are working in separate divisions, it is generally effective because it allows specific and rapid meeting of needs. Maintenance of different divisions also makes it very expensive; hence small organizations can only adopt it at a very small scale. Matrix Matrix is a fusion of functional and divisional structure. This structure is commonly used in large multinational companies. Use of this structure is meant to enjoy the benefits of functional and divisional structures at the same time. The problem with this type of structure is that it opens doors for power struggles since dual management creates overlaps of powers and duties. The structure that best suits Dyson Functional structure is the best for Dyson because it is still a small company, and there is no need of adopting a very expensive structure. Furthermore, its manufacturing is centralised in one country, and the distribution is aided by middlemen, which means that there is no need of having advanced structure abroad. However, when this company expands to become a multinational, a matrix structure will possibly come in handy. Question 4 Quality is the emphasis of the company. James Dyson has repeatedly maintained that his company is focused on innovation, and that being innovative is about making sure that the products that the company produces are the best in the market. Therefore, to them, even if it would cost more to produce products of the highest quality they will go for it. What’s more, to them it does not matter what time it takes to produce products, provided the products are of the best quality even if it takes more time to produce them. Therefore, clearly, to them quality is paramount and that is what has made them so successful. Question 5 I think they are looking for people who are independent minded and creative. As discussed earlier, the focus of the company is production of innovative and high quality products. This calls for continued improvement of the current products and processes. In the words of Dyson, such a goal can only be achieved when an organization have employees who are creative and whose ideas are used to help the company improve its products. Furthermore, Dyson is operating in a very competitive industry, which needs continuous innovation and improvement of products so they remain competitive. It is extremely difficult to achieve these goals if the current employees are just receiving instructions from their masters – hey have to keep thinking about new ways of doing thing. Also, for this to be successful, the people in leadership must be ready to accommodating the ideas of their juniors, especially by practicing democratic king of leadership, and especially respecting the ideas of their juniors besides giving them an opportunity to become innovative. Part B) Question one Market research is the process of gathering information about customers and the market in general (McDonald, 2007). Such information helps in business strategy, for example by making –decisions on how the company’s products can be designed to ensure competitiveness over the competitors. This is achieved by obtained crucial information, that helps identify and analyse the competition, market size and market need (McQuarrie, 2005). Question 2 Assembling 500 units Selling price ?20 Direct Material ?3000 Direct Labour ?4500 Variable Overheads ?2000 Fixed Costs ?8000 Contribution Margin (per Unit) = Unit Selling Price – Unit Variable Cost = ?20 – ?19({3000+4500+2000}/500) = ?1 At B.E.P:- Profit = (Contribution Margin per Unit X Units) – Fixed Costs ?0 = (?1 X Units) – ?8000 Units = 8000 *Contribution Margin Ratio: = = [?20-?19]20 = 0.05 or 5% Profit (loss) (Year 2) = (.05* X ?750) – ?8,000 = (?7,962.5) Profit (loss) (Year 3) = (.05* X ?1200) – ?8,000 = (?7,940) Question 3 The company can use CATIA not only to designing vacuum cleaner, but also a factory in which these products are produced. The figure below shows how a model of vacuum cleaner is designed using this technology. In addition, this application can be used to create the required machining processes as well as in stimulating ergonomics such as assessing whether the current layout of the plant is favourable for the employees to operate. On the other hand, SolidWorks can be used to design the vacuum cleaners only. Although SolidWorks and CATIA are currently very different, the “next generation” of SolidWorks software will adopt some components of CATIA universe. Indeed, the next generation of SolidWords will be based on the CATIA CGMV6 geometry kernel and Enovia V6 backbone. This means that SolidWorks will mostly more or less resemble CATIA. The next generation SolidWorks will address some of the problems of the current CATIA. Figure 1: Views and dimensions of Vacuum Cleaner using CATIA Prototyping and solid modelling are also very important tools for any plant that is focusing on innovation. Rapid prototyping is a considered a key component of most design and manufacturing application. It provides substantial enhancement in the integrated product development by aiding in designing of sophisticated design parts for manufacturing. Prototyping can be used by the company to offer improvements, which minimize errors and the time introduced during the manufacturing process. On the other hand, solid modelling is the geometric representations, which are used in the present day’s CAD systems, whereby boundaries are represented geometrically through surfaces and curves in order to provide connectivity between geometric bodies. Continuous-flow manufacturing (CFM) is a strategy that the company can use to produce its manufacturing parts through kanban and just-in-time technique. This technique requires a continuous appraisal and improvement measures to be taken, which in effect requires all the production system to be integrated. This strategy is aimed at ensuring that the production line is optimally balanced, with little waste, least amount of cost, on-time delivery, and failure-free production. ? Question 4 Supply chain management is the administration of an interlinked or interconnected channel, network, and businesses that are involved in provision of products and services to their customers (Harland, 1996). Supply chain management starts from the time raw materials are in storage, going through work-in-progress to the time when goods are moved from point of origin to point of consumption (Bartsch, 2013). Make or buy is a strategic decision made by firms, when they are assessing whether to make or buy based on particular circumstances. For example, if making will safe some resources compared to buying, a firm may opt to make the products rather than buying them from another vendor. Essentially, such decisions are aimed at maximising profits. Bulk stock is whereby a company produces stock in large numbers such that they are always available when required, while just-in-time is where stock is produced only when required. Question 5 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a corporate initiative that is involved with assessing and taking responsibility for the impacts of the company on the environment and social welfare. These initiatives usually extend beyond the requirements of environmental protection groups or regulators. Social Corporate Responsibility involves incurring short-term expenditures that do not promise the company an immediate financial benefit, but rather fosters positive environmental and social change (Atkinson, 2000). The essence of companies getting involved in socially conscious initiatives is because they have a lot of power in the community and due to the fact that they control a lot of assets at their disposal, which can be spent for a common cause. It is important for companies to realize that their business will go a long way in getting public approval if it is seen to be doing something positive for the community. Regular contributions to community projects put the business in the good books of the community. This should be clearly highlighted in the company’s policy. The good will of the business stands to improve and this ensures support not only from regular customers but also the local authorities. Sustainability is concerned with maintenance of a balance of economy, society, and environment for the health of the present world and the posterity. At the design stage, the company can ensure that the products are environmental friendly, for example by ensuring that they do not use and emit excessive carbon which causes danger to the environment. References Atkinson, G., 2000. Measuring Corporate Sustainability. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 43(2), pp235-252 Bartsch, F., 2013. Supply Chain Management (SCM) . London: BB Handel. Harland, C.M., 1996. Supply Chain Management, Purchasing and Supply Management, Logistics, Vertical Integration, Materials Management and Supply Chain Dynamics. In: Slack, N (ed.) Blackwell Encyclopedic Dictionary of Operations Management. UK: Blackwell. McDonald, M., 2007. Marketing Plans (6th ed.). Oxford, England: Butterworth-Heinemann, McQuarrie, E., 2005. The market research toolbox: a concise guide for beginners (2nd edn.). New York: SAGE. Read More