Information and Operations Management: Improvement Initiative and Sustainability - Coursework Example

INFORMATION & OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT INFORMATION & OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT Executive Summary Sustainability focused improvement initiative is a concept that has widely been adopted by a number of excellent organizations. Many organizations have opted to incorporate flexible production and manufacturing processes aimed at cutting on unnecessary costs. Consequently, many organizations have started using their limited resources sparingly. The dissertation highlights some of the new changes that organizations have resolved to adopt with an intention of eradicating some of the challenges they face in running their activities. The concepts discussed in the paper highlights some of the benefits organizations stand to gain if they successfully integrate sustainability programs with their internal processes. Keywords: Improvement Initiative, Sustainability, Company Profile DHL is a multinational corporation involved in logistics and supply chain management. Incorporated in the 1960s, the headquarters is in the United States of America. The firm has expanded its operations to more than 220 countries. In addition, it has a number of subsidiary companies that it acquired along the way. The secret to the enterprise’s growth lies with its operations management system.DHL has many resources at its disposal that helps the firm carry out its activities effectively. Services offered by the logistics corporation includes express services, freight transportation, and supply chain management. With the adoption of technology, the firm can meet customers order from the most remote places in the world. The express services allow customers to send and receive parcels to different destinations of the world. Freight services offered gives an opportunity to customers to order items from their suppliers irrespective of their sizes. In addition, the supply chain management services provided by the company are very efficient and incorporate value addition. An approach that has been used to improve the performance of the organization is the adoption of continuous improvement philosophy (DHL, 2015). Sustainability focused improvement initiative Sustainability focused development initiative is a noble concept that has become a topic of concentration for most organization in the recent years. With the depletion of natural resources and other resources required to run the activities of a business successfully, the sustainability concept has become inevitable. In the year 2009, most companies underwent difficult times due to the global financial meltdown. Consequently, most organizations were forced to cut down their cost and lay off some staff in order to remain in operation. They became keen about how they ran their production processes. Unnecessary processes were eliminated to cut down on cost at the same time reduce wastages (Manuj and Mentzer, 2008). The events that transpired during the recent global financial crisis rekindled the conversations about the importance of sustainability focused improvement initiatives for companies such as DHL. According to discussions held with various industry players, they acknowledged that for sustainability programs to succeed there must be sufficient support.DHL should managers integrate its sustainability programs with its internal operational activities. Financial constraint is one of the limitations that face most organization. Managers must find sustainable solutions so that they can avoid operational risks that come because of using inefficient systems. Therefore, DHL managers should invest in projects that give lasting solution to their corporations. Furthermore, not only top-level managers can provide sustainable solutions, but also middle-level managers must be in a position to provide them (McFarlane and Sheffi, 2003). DHL managers must benchmark their logistical solution initiatives. Benchmarking calls for monitoring of companies that provide sustainable operational activities and then implementing those strategies within DHL. The concept of benchmarking sustainable solution helps in identifying best practices that businesses such as DHL can adopt. Given the fact that the company has a fleet of cars, trucks, ships and a number of planes that are in the transportation of goods and services. DHL must put sustainable measures in terms of operation management. Managing such assets is very expensive, and therefore strategies to regulate the cost associated with operating them must be implemented (Roth and Menor, 2003). Involving employees in implementing sustainable measures in operations management is a critical issue that cannot be. Workers can be in ways that can help them improve the operations of DHL as company. Since the enterprise is in the service industry, employees need to be trained in customer relationship management. Customers should be handled in a professional manner and given an opportunity to give their feedback. Feedback provided by clients can be used to identify the departments that offer their services poorly. Consequently, operations managers will have to use the information given to improving the areas that have been identified as having weaknesses. In addition, through involving employees in offering sustainable solutions, worker will be keen in terms of reducing wastages and improve the quality (Schonberger and Knod, 1994). A classical case study of a company that offers sustainable programs that have helped it succeed is the Sound Transit Corporation. The routes the transit have been designed to cut on cost of operation at the same time offering efficient transport services to their clients. The management of the company ordered for the adoption of sustainable initiatives back in the year 2007.The programs meant that the organization was going to adopt activities that were aimed at caring for the environment, reduce cost, and cater for the welfare of the society (Schonberger and Knod, 1994). The long-term benefit that DHL stand to gain by implementing the sustainability approaches is in terms of finances. Through designing of favorable routes and channels, fuel cost will be reduced significantly. Given the fact that the company ferries goods for its customers across the whole world, it is important to design shorter routes that will contribute to reducing transportation costs. In addition, the company should appoint agents to be in charge of its supplies network in order to eliminate the need for setting up new branches. Through appointing of dealers and agents, the company will continue its operations uninterrupted (Frohlich and Westbrook, 2001). In most countries, local authorities charge citizens who use personal vehicles as means of transport high parking fees. Consequently, many of them become discouraged from utilizing the means opting for public transportation. Through using such approaches, local authorities can decongest their towns making the transport system relatively efficient. Such cases indicate some of the benefits that DHL stand to gain by adopting sustainable solutions. Similarly, DHL acquired a number of airplanes recently to offer transport solutions in its operational activities. The planes have helped the company `meet the expectation of its customers. The company needs to invest more in such resources. For instance, Amazon Company recently started an initiative that is at improving delivery of goods to their clients. Amazon has been researching on how they can use drones to deliver products and services. Despite the fact that the innovative was met with a severe blow, if it succeeds the business entity would stand to benefit immensely. Drones will ensure that there is timely delivery of goods to customers irrespective of the areas they reside. Encouraging innovative and creativity practices can be part offering sustainable solutions to companies such as DHL (Stevenson and Sum, 2009). Planning for favorable practical operational activities starts with monitoring the costs organizations incur. If the costs of operations are very high, operations managers will have to suggest alternative means of production. Through the adoption of cost control systems, DHL will be able to improve its profitability. Cost can be through a number of strategies.DHL must adopt the practice of preparing budgets. Budgets are plans of how the organization expects to utilize its resources. Through the preparation of budgets, it becomes easier to identify necessary expenses that are of priority to the company.DHL subcontracts insurance companies to reduce the risk of goods that are on transit. Insurance covers are at ensuring that the corporation achieves financial sustainability because the insurance companies can indemnify customers their goods in case of a peril (Schonberger and Knod, 1994) DHL must maintain a talented workforce who can provide working solutions to operations of the firm. To maintain a skilled workforce, the recruitment and selection process must be competitive. It should also be free and fair so that the company can acquire top-notch employees who are. Through hiring of experienced workers, minimal wastages will be reported, unlike hiring inexperienced candidates who waste many resources before they become acquainted with the job.DHL may opt to hire a worker who has left competing companies since they understand most of the routes taken while delivering goods to different destinations. In addition, they should employees the strategy of retaining their employees. The enterprise should offer attractive salary packages to workers in order to encourage them stay longer. In addition, DHL should maintain a relatively sizeable number of employees whom it can comfortably handle. It may become economically unsustainable for the organization to support a large pool of labor because of financial constraints. Furthermore, it becomes difficult to negotiate for salaries when a company has a huge number of workers (Frohlich and Westbrook, 2001). In order to achieve continuous improvement, the management must evaluate the performance of the worker regularly. They should sign employment contracts such that they can be on their performances. Through having such measures workers will be forced to apply their full potential. With the increased levels of productivity, DHL performance will improve. Customers will be served according to their expectations because employees understand they risk losing their jobs if they fail to perform as required (Roth and Menor, 2003). Amazon recently launched a pilot project aimed at improving its delivery operations. However, the new project has faced a number hurdles that has derailed the process of adopting. Companies need to apply sustainable measures when it comes to implementing new facilities. Before DHL expands its operations to new zones, it must conduct a feasibility study. Feasibility studies are at ensuring investment decisions made are sustainable. Otherwise, organizations might end up launching projects then fail to support them to be implemented successfully. For the above reason, DHL should adopt a sustainable return on investment model that should be used to evaluate viable projects (McFarlane and Sheffi, 2003). DHL needs to use its physical facilities in an optimal manner so that the enterprise may achieve operational excellence. Assets such vehicles must be regularly maintained so that their economic lives may be longer. When the economic life of trucks, airplanes and other means of transport are longer, investments made in acquiring new conveyances regularly will be reduced (Gaither and Frazier, 1999). The logistics company should review its purchasing practices. Procurement departments perform important purchasing decisions. Most purchasing departments are with a lot of corruption. Most procurement officers collude to inflate prices for commodities.DHL is a business entity. Just like other business entities, the organization must engage in procurement activities. To curb the losses and wastages associated with the purchasing department, managers must invest in reliable supply systems. Thus, wastages will be eliminated (Heizer and Render, 1991). DHL needs to subcontract some activities that are with its core business activities. For instance, it can hire the services of Human Resource firms to carry out the recruitment processes on its behalf. The subcontracting should also be to auditing. External auditors should be hired to scrutinize the books of expenses. External auditors are mostly independent and usually identify areas where there are discrepancies. They also track how firms utilize their finances (Kleindorfer et al., 2005). Conclusion Shifting the operational paradigm at DHL may not be an easy task. Change is with a lot of resistance. However, adopting some of the strategies that have been suggested in the dissertation will bring many benefits to DHL. Approaches that have been proposed are sufficient game plans that can help cut costs incurred by the reputable organization. Cost is one of the variables that affect the profitability of most organizations. Operations managers should adopt policies that are at cutting costs significantly. The processes of the firm must be continuously reviewed to accommodate new changes. Through implementing strategies that help in reducing costs, DHL will be able to improve its overall performance. Budgets can be used to plan for the expenses that the firm will incur. Through having budgets, it becomes to prioritize for the most important. Furthermore, the role played by employees in attaining sustainable solutions cannot be under looked. Organizations must have a workforce that is ready to help it achieve its strategic plans. Employee attitudes and perceptions influence their productivity levels. Hence, when well motivated, they become more willing to offer solutions that can help improve the internal activities. Sustainable initiatives provide both intrinsic and extrinsic benefits. Organizations must strive continuously to adopt approaches that can enable them produce their products at the minimum costs possible. Resources must be optimally utilized to achieve the highest level of productivity. Managers should also adopt SMART strategies to enable them implement working strategies (Manuj and Mentzer, 2008). Reference List DHL, (2015).Welcome to the World’s Leading Logistics Company. [19.2.2015] Frohlich, M. T., and Westbrook, R. (2001). Arcs of integration: an international study of supply chain strategies. Journal of operations management, 19(2), 185-200. Gaither, N., and Frazier, G. (1999). Production and operations management. Thomson South-Western. Heizer, J., and Render, B. (1991). Production and operations management: strategies and tactics. Allyn and Bacon. Kleindorfer, P. R., Singhal, K., and Wassenhove, L. N. (2005). Sustainable operations management. Production and operations management, 14(4), 482-492. Manuj, I., and Mentzer, J. T. (2008). Global supply chain risk management strategies. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 38(3), 192-223. McFarlane, D., and Sheffi, Y. (2003). The impact of automatic identification on supply chain operations. The international journal of logistics management, 14(1), 1-17. Roth, A. V., and Menor, L. J. (2003). Insights into service operations management: a research agenda. Production and Operations management, 12(2), 145-164. Schonberger, R. J., and Knod, E. M. (1994). Operations management: Continuous improvement. Stevenson, W. J., and Sum, C. C. (2009). Operations management (Vol. 8). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Vonderembse, M. A., White, G. P., and Ardalan, A. (1996). Operations management: concepts, methods, and strategies. West Publishing Company. Read More