Operations Strategy by Donald Waters - Article Example

Topic: Operations Research < > and Section # of > < > STRATEGY:- A strategy is a long term plan visualized to achieve the business objectives. OPERATIONS STRATEGY: An Operation strategy of a company/business describes business' operations and functions. OPERATION STRATEGY OF A SERVICE COMPANY: Operation strategy of a service company describes the policy of that company's services that how these services are being provided And what procedure is being adopted in this accordance. OBJECTIVES OF AN OPERATION STRATEGY: The basic aim of any company is to increase the reputation of the company in a positive trend. Keeping this aim in mind, any company prepares its own operations strategy. The operations plan of any company must include the following: Responsibilities of managing several tasks The setup and structure of the business Record of Inventory materials Documentation of Manufactured items Safety concerns Outsourcing details COMPONENTS OF OPERATIONS STRATEGY OF A MANUFACTURING COMPANY: The following are the important components of operations strategy of any manufacturing company: Design of the production system Product's size and design Technological structure of the manufacturing system Details of the responsibilities of the employees Planning of available resources ELEMENTS OF OPERATIONS STRATEGY OF A SERVICE PROVIDING COMPANY: A service providing company, Ikea for example, designs its operations strategy more carefully as reputation comes first for any service providing company. The operations strategy of any service provider can be compared with to that of manufacturers as described in the following: Detail of allocated responsibilities of suppliers Design of the items Price lists of the items Documentations of supply and demand COMPETETIVE FACTORS OF AN ORGANIZATION: Competitive factors of any organization are that factors or components which directly affect the reputation and services of the company. If the organization is a manufacturer company, the competitive factors must be the products' components or parts used in manufacturing or preparation of the item/product. Whereas the competitive factors of a service providing company are clearly the elements included in their service. These components may be: How the company provides service Attitude or behavior of the dealers of the company Does the company meet the deadline of the orders Packing of the supplied items, etc. These factors play vital role in the business of any company. If a company simply considers these components and focus to improve these areas, reputation and goodwill of the company will take a breakthrough obviously. COMPETETIVE FACTORS OF TOYOTA: Toyota is a company manufacturing four wheel vehicles. There can be many key components affecting the performance and progress of Toyota's name. These components include the following: 1. Genuine parts 2. chemicals 3. Toyota Genuine Motor Oil These three components can further be described as following: 1. Break pad kits 2. Oil filters 3. Air cleaner 4. Arm and Bracket 5. Fuel Pump 6. Fuel Filter 7. Spark Plug 8. Genuine Gear Oil 9. Automatic Transmission Fuel 10. Genuine Break Fluid 11. Long Life Oolent 12. Suspension Fluid 13. Different Motor Oils These are the components are the basic components that affect the performance of the vehicles manufactured by Toyota. These 13 parts can be different for different types of vehicles. It is Toyota's Operations strategy how it deals with the miniaturization and production of these all components. Toyota has its competitors such as Suzuki who provides vehicles on comparatively low prices. Now Toyota requires a strong Supply chain to sustain its market. The aim of Toyota is to provide quality products. The company can use different techniques to differentiate its services as better through applying different strategies such as JIT (Just in time) and Supply-Chain Management. COMPETETIVE ELEMENTS OF Ikea: Ikea is a service providing company. It provides home based accessories at low-price. There can be many fundamental or key components of Ikea that are most important to be given special focus and attention. The aim and objective of Ikea is to provide their services all over the world. These components might be: Design of the products Prices of the products Service centers for the supply of products EVALUATION OF MEETING OF THE COMPONENTS THROUGH SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT: In order to evaluate these components, first the concept of Supply chain management must be cleared as described in the following: SUPPLY-CHAIN MANAGEMENT: It is the management of the functions within and outside of a company that enable the value of the products or services of a company. Supply chain management plays vital role in increasing the efficiency of the competitive factors. Through this process management can control the following aspects: Labor coasts Land cost Energy cost Community factors Through managing these elements the Supply chain helps to boost up the market value. SUPPLY CHAIN OF TOYOTA: Here is a statement showing the working policy of Toyota: "We've had an overriding philosophy in place that we want to produce our vehicles where the customers are and we want to buy the parts near where we produce the vehicles," says Chris Nielsen, vice president of purchasing at Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America (left) in a recent interview. (http://www.purchasing.com/article/218180-Shorter_is_better_for_Toyota_s_supply_chain.php) Toyota focuses on the following three components: Locally grown Obeya Minimizing Risk Toyota tries to purchase the parts of automobiles from the market nearer to the place of production. Obeya is a Japanese terminology meaning to bring members of different organizations to discuss their ideas. Minimization of Risk is an important part of Toyota Supply Chain. Toyota follows the quote "Shorter is better than the longer" in its supply chain management. They are consistently working on minimizing the risk. SUPPLY CHAIN IN Ikea: The firm has a total of about 12,000 products in the entire product range. Each store carries a selection of 10,000 products, depending on store size; and the core range is the same worldwide. IKEA has over 200 stores in 30 countries around the world. This requires exceptional logistics and outstanding support staff as well as the best solutions. Europe is Ikea's largest purchasing market. In all, IKEA has 1,600 suppliers in 55 countries, and trades through local IKEA purchasing offices in 33 countries. In order to make sure that the supply chain remains intact and at its most efficient level, it must incorporate the best technology and the right people. (http://www.logisticsit.com/absolutenm/templates/article-supplychain.aspxarticleid=2544&zoneid=5) REFERENCES 1. Operations Strategy by Donald Waters, Thomson Learning; illustrated edition edition (June 30, 2006) 2. Operations Management for Competitive Advantage (Competitive Adventage, Competitive Advantage), Richard B Chase, F. Robert Jacobs), Nicholas J Aquiline, Nitin K Agarwal, the McGraw-Hill; 11th edition (January 1, 2006) 3. Operations Strategy: Principles and Practice, Jan A. Van Mieghem, Dynamic Ideas; 1st edition (2008) 4. Operations Strategy: Competing in the 21st Century (Operations Series), Sara Beckman, Donald Rosenfield, McGraw-Hill/Irwin; 1 edition (May 8, 2007) 5. Service Management (Irwin/Mcgraw-Hill Series in Operations and Decision Sciences.) , James A. Fitzsimmons, McGraw-Hill/Irwin; 5 edition (February 4, 2005) 6. http://www.allbusiness.com/business-planning-structures/business-plans/2524-1.html 7. http://www.businessinsights.biz/Sample%20Reports/PDF/SAMP001.pdf Read More