Analysis of Blackberry Hill Farm - Case Study Example

A case study on Blackberry Hill Farm Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Analysis of the current challenges faced by Blackberry Hill Farm in their operations processes and satisfying the customers 3 Identification of the people; management and technology issues at Blackberry Hill Farm 7 Role of information systems in careers in various departments 8 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction Blackberry Hill Farm was inherited by Mandy and Jim Walker. It was initially a cereal producing farm along with growing some vegetables, fruits, a dairy herd and mixed woodland which later was expanded into many other activities. Jim and Mandy Walker initiated the new PYO or pick your own operations since the farm was more close to the population and the production quantity of vegetables and fruits were low to attract the commercial buyers. The growing capability was increased by the owners and a petting zoo was set up so that the kids can touch different animals. Walker’s even incorporated farm heritage exhibit which was a display of old farm implements, information, and farm process recreations. They even started the concept of Preserving Kitchen that helped to utilize the surplus fruits in order to produce jams, vegetables and fruits sauces that would be preserved in jars. The farm even included a children’s playground, café, small bakery and a small picnic area. Like that of the preserving kitchen people were allowed to visit the bakery to see the operations. The main focus of Jim and Mandy Walker was not on the agricultural activities but more on the number of visitors and production as that initiated more revenue. Analysis of the current challenges faced by Blackberry Hill Farm in their operations processes and satisfying the customers The Blackberry Hill Farm is well known for the operations they perform amongst their visitors. However the organization is facing a lot of issues regarding the operations process and customer satisfaction. First of all more number of visitors would mean an expansion in the car parking area which would be expensive for the company. The complexity of the operations is increased with the involvement of more number of activities in the system. The day to day problems regarding the business operations cannot be solved as the owners are busy in executing the overall activities of the farm. The tractor rides, pick your own area, and farm shops have a long queue of visitor’s waiting during the peak periods which is not possible for the staff to manage and thus the longer lead times creates more of dissatisfaction amongst the customers. The petting zoo operation of the organization requires skilled workers to manage the children. The preserving kitchen operation have a longer shelf of the products as the capacity varies with season as it then affect the interaction with the customers. The input output process model of the operations is described in the diagram below – (Chan and Lee, 2005, p. 150) The input factor of the operations of the organization comprise of the labour, crops that are gone by are in the form, labour, various farm equipments, machines in bakery, information systems, and the other facilities in the organization. The process would comprise of production of the fruits and vegetables, manufacturing of bakery products, staff employed in the preserve kitchen to produce jams and sauce. The process would even comprise of delivering the products to the customers with proper packaging (Li, 2007, pp. 34-35). The output factor would comprise of the cultivated vegetables and fruits, dairy products, bakery items, preserved items, and the exceptional customer service. The value chain model invented by Porter states the various operations in the organization of Jim and Mandy Walker. The value chain diagram is given below – (Wincel, 2004, p. 45) The infrastructure of the farm, the management of the employees working with the farm for production process and various other activities, the new equipments in the manufacturing process based on new technology, procurements of the necessary materials for the cultivation process in the farm are the major parts of the primary activities of the organization. The inbound and the outbound logistics are the part of the supply chain operations which involves manufacturing the items that the farm deals with and then making them available through proper packaging to the customers. As the organization follows the concept of Pick Your Order system it reduces much off the cost associated with transportation and distribution. The other part of the firm’s primary activities comprise of delivering efficient customer service and marketing of its wide range of activities and product range. The business process mapping of the farm would comprise of four steps, firstly, it would be proper analysis and identification of the various steps in the operations. Secondly it would be gathering of information regarding the entire process and the ways of controlling risks. The third step would be interviewing the visitors to know about their experience in the farm and then map them into flow charts. The last step would be utilizing the feedback for the improvement of the various activities of the farm so that the business can run effectively and satisfy its customer base. The diagram of the business process mapping is stated below – (Ramanathan and Ramanathan, 2013, p. 56) The major challenges that the farm is facing are in managing the long waiting queues and the excess inventory level of the various units. The operations can be improved by keeping sufficient stock for the peak periods and to adjust the capacity when the demand is low. To avoid the queuing problem at farm shops, café’s, bakery’s the organization can initiate a mechanism through which the visitors can place their orders when they enter into the farm and after their visit is over they can collect their orders from the payment counter. The owners need to deviate time towards resolving the problems associated with the day to day operations so that the business process can be executed smoothly. The operations of the farm should not be expanded anymore as there is lack of space and more focus should be on making the operations existing run efficiently without any delays. The customer satisfaction level can be enhanced by maintaining a customer database system so as to keep a track of the frequent visitors and giving them the best of facilities and offers so that they can be retained. The other way of increasing the satisfaction is by reducing the wait time in queues by making the process fast and smooth through more number of staffs who would be responsible for the proper functioning of the individual departments. Identification of the people; management and technology issues at Blackberry Hill Farm The farm comprises of a wide range of activities and the staffs working are more of part time workers that so not possess the technical skills. Since the activities are complex it results into more of problems that is not resolved by the management on time as the management also helps the other workers in executing the various process due to lack of sufficient staff. The operations are not well designed by the management and this result in increase in shelf time of the products in the preserving kitchen and high inventory levels, as all the activities depends on the seasons which facilitates the customer’s interaction with the farm activities. The staffs that are hired from the starting are part time workers and even now students from the agricultural colleges are hired but now the demand of the worker’s is towards becoming permanent full time employees of the farm which would constitute an additional cost for the farm. Often there is a technical problem in the operations of the farm that brings down the production level (Gattorna and Walters, 1996, pp. 101-102). The operations of farm shops, kitchen, bakery, and café are highly dependent on the technology based equipments and a small failure in them can result into a full stoppage of the entire operations of the farm. The operations needs to be concentrated and more focus should be on retailing and café that generates more revenues for the farm. The management can even make those employees a permanent worker who has acquired the required skills over the years. The farm can even invest in an organized school visits in which the investment can achieve break even in two years. Role of information systems in careers in various departments The growing trend of automation has facilitated every organization to use of the power of the information technology. The information systems help in integrating the various departments of an enterprise and enable an easy information transmission which in returns reduces the manual hard work. The integration approach encompasses required skills development in those individuals who would be operating the new technology based systems. The departments of an organization comprise of human resource, finance, operations and marketing. In today’s scenario every organization incorporates in its different functions an in-built information system. The operation management function of an organization utilized the RFID technology to perform various tasks and encompasses an automated inventory control and warehouse (Doyle, 2000, pp. 154-155). The activities which are totally based on the new technology require sufficient knowledge of the respective software’s so as to perform the task appropriately. The invention of information technology has made some of the tedious jobs to be simpler but also focuses on increasing the competencies of the employees in terms of the information systems. The major functions of the HR departments comprise of payroll, rewards and compensation, and employee management. All these HR activities are performed through the information systems. This kind of new approach has helped an organization to eliminate the paper work but at the same time the efficient training regarding the systems needs to be imposed by the management to their employees. The finance department comprises of some of the complex tasks such as maintaining financial records, doing numerous calculations, working in coordination with the other units of an organization to develop financial statements of the organization. These complex activities are handled by information systems incorporated by the organization in its system (Schniederjans and Schniederjans, 2007, pp. 123-124). The software that is implemented by an organization performs the complex mathematical calculations that help in saving time and energy of the employees. The marketing department of an organization also utilizes some of the highly integrated software’s in designing of the products, planning for the various product development, demand forecasting, etc., and it even adopts the CRM software’s that acts as an database for the organization in order to maintain long term relationships with its customers (Eason, 2005, pp. 95-96). Information plays a very important role in all the different areas in an organization. This importance of its role has facilitated the people working in the organization to possess the technical competence in order to maintain a stable career in the organization. The evolution of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) software has enhanced more of transparency in the system and has helped the various departments to share information amongst them. The incorporation of technical support in the organization has enabled the employees to save time in terms of learning each of the operations in the organization and even helps in performing any form of cross functional activities that may be required in the situation of the organizational crisis. The most secured career opportunity is that of careers in information systems. However the careers in information system have been greatly challenged by the outsourcing activities performed by the company (Williams, 1998, pp. 67-68). Off-shoring and outsourcing has provided advantages to the companies but has resulted into a downfall in the workforce and this majorly because of the companies attempting to acquire cheap labour. The evolution of modern technologies initiated a competency level that can be gained by any individuals and this has greatly affected the scope in information systems. Outsourcing is a cost reduction attempt and the workers belonging to this particular sector possess the necessary skills and at a cheaper cost can be easily outsourced (Williams, 2002, pp. 132-133). The evolution of new technologies and new software’s has made the work environment more competitive and even there is an excessive need to adopt the necessary skills to handle the complexity of the integrated systems. The role of the information systems has an impact throughout the various units and the careers at the technical field are posed with a threat with the new technologies. The cost effective methods of the organization also pays a major role in affecting the careers. Conclusion Blackberry Hill Farm has gained a large share of visitors over the years. The organization has incorporated various forms of activities that are innovative and has attracted many customers. The farm did not only limit its production to the cereal products but expanded its operation to various products such as fruits, vegetables, sauces, jams, bakery products, and other beverages at its own café. However the expanded operations has made the management possess less time for solving the day to day issues and even reduce on the queue time of its visitors. The operations is widespread but the number of staffs is low which increases more complexity of the operations and ineffective handling of the customers that results into more of dissatisfied customers. References Chan, C. K, and Lee, H.W.J., 2005. Successful strategies in supply chain management. Pennsylvania: Hershey. Doyle, S. 2000. Understanding Information Technology. UK: Nelson Thornes. Eason, K. D. 2005. Information Technology and Organisational Change. Great Britain: CRC Press. Gattorna, J. L., and Walters, D. W., 1996. Managing the supply chain: A strategic perspective. London:Macmillan Business. Li, L., 2007. Supply chain management: Concepts, techniques and practices enhancing the value through collaboration. UK: World Scientific Ramanathan, U., and Ramanathan, R., 2013. Supply chain strategies, issues and models. UK: Springer. Schniederjans, M. J., and Schniederjans, A. M. 2007. Outsourcing Management Information Systems. USA: Idea Group Inc. Williams, M. C. 2002. Using Information Technology. Great Britain: Heinemann. Williams, O. D. 1998. Outsourcing. USA: CRC Press. Wincel, J. P., 2004.Lean supply chain management. New York: SAGE. Read More