Apple Mac Operation Management - Case Study Example

Apple Mac Operation Management xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Name xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Course Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Lecturer xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date Abstract With increasing global competition, the role of operation management has become a focal point for majority of the businesses. Some of the most important companies in the world have become so because of focusing on their operations management. Operations management is considered as function of the business that organizes, plans, controls and coordinates the resources utilized in a company to produce goods and services. The paper gives a brief introduction to operations management and further looks at what other scholars have said about it. The essay will also focus on efficiencies of operations managements as demonstrated by Apple Mac, a producer of personal computers. Apple Mac is a company that has to place considerable attention on its operations management considering it deals with a very dynamic sector. Contents Contents 2 1.0 Introduction 3 2.0 Literature review 4 3.0 How Apple Mac incorporate technology development in its operation management 6 4.0 Apple Mac 7 5.0 Conclusion 10 6.0 References 12 1.0 Introduction It is very evident that in every organization management serves an essential element in ensuring better performance. Today, company management is no longer viewed in terms of an individual acting as an entrepreneur but an effort from whole team. Companies today are been seen to compete in very different environment that in past years (Paterson & Sharp 2000). To survive such competition, organizations have developed the urge to focus on time based competition, quality, efficiency, customer relationships and international perspectives, advancement in technology, e-marketing and global competition requires responsiveness and flexibility. It is due to such responsiveness and flexibility that has created new focus on operation management within business limelight, since its function widely can be able in achieving competiveness (Paterson & Sharp 2000). Paterson & Sharp (2000) asserts that, by way of considering various successful companies today such as Apple Mac. This company has been able to achieve its global status due its designed strong focus on operation management. It is for this reason that this paper explaining various techniques and specific tools of operation management that have highly assisted this company to achieve their current success. Understanding Apple Mac operation management will assist small businesses able to gain competitive advantage within the market. All companies have various operations. Operation management comprises of departments’ managers and individuals that posses various technical competence (Paterson & Sharp 2000). This level defines here is widely oriented downwards towards basic operation such as production and distribution of goods. The driving force within operation management should be an overriding goal of continuous improvement of goods and services to customers. Since in every element of function there is an operation, all departments within an organization are required to work together so as to improve their stipulated operation management elements. 2.0 Literature review According to Paterson & Sharp (2000), essentiality in operation management was not widely recognized by businesses and organizations. Indeed, most of Americans organizations after the World War II were only dominated by the functions of finance and marketing. United States had just emerged from war as the undisputed world manufacturing leader due to its increased efficient operations. Primary opportunities in these organizations were basically in marketing as a way of developing potential market whereas finance supported growth (Berry & Cooper 1999). Since there was no increased significance in competition, operation management was termed to be of secondary importance. During the 80s Americans organizations experienced decline in productivity and international competition became the main challenge within the markets. As way of regaining their competiveness companies were forced to turn to operation management a function that had widely forgotten about (Klassen & Whybarl 1999). Berry & Cooper (1999) asserts that, operation management is defined as that business function that organizes, coordinates, plans and controls the various resources that a company need to produces goods and services. It is a management function that manages technology, equipment, people and information. Within Apple Mac, operation management is considered to be the central core function of the company. All organizational functions mainly support operation function. Without proper implementation of operation management customers would not be able to enjoy any kind of goods and services (Berry & Cooper 1999). Roles displayed by this kind of management are mostly involved in transforming Apple Mac inputs into finished goods and services. Here, inputs include processes, facilities, technology, information as well as human resources. On the other hand, outputs refer to the various goods and services that a company produces (Klassen & Whybarl 1999). The process of orchestrating resources needed in producing the final product is manly handled thorough operation management. Orchestrating entails designing the product, deciding kind of resources needed, preparing schedules, facilities and equipments, organizing inventory, controlling quality and designing various work methods to be used (Berry & Cooper1999). Success within Apple Mac operation management depends on customer feedback as they assists in adjusting inputs, transformation of processes and various characteristics of the desired outputs. Further, operation management is termed to be successful if it adds value during the process of transformation. Value added ensures that there is net increase between the final value in a product and values indicated in all inputs. An organization is able to add value if it greatly reduces cost of various activities within the transformation process. In addition to adding value, operation within an organization must be efficient. Efficiency entails performing activities satisfactorily and the lowest cost possible. Here, activities are analyzed where those that do not add value eliminated and finally restructure so as to achieve greater efficiency. According to Chase & Jacob (2001), today competitive business environment, roles of operation management should be seen as focal point of creating a competitive advantage through improving efficiency and value added. 3.0 How Apple Mac incorporate technology development in its operation management According to Klassen & Whybarl (1999), technology development under information system is one Apple Mac function that enables the flow of information through the organization thus effective operation. In Apple Mac, OM is widely dependent on information such as inventory levels, forecast of demand and workers schedules (Chase & Jacob 2001). Here, the company technology development first tries to understand the needs of OM so as to design adequate information distribution. Usually, Apple Mac technology development and OM work hand in hand to design what is known as an information network within the organization. Technology development should at all time try to accommodate OM needs as it is seen that within a business environment, OM needs tend to change in response to various market demands. Chase & Jacob (2001) maintains that, Apple Mac information system ensures that it is able to collect all information by use its various technological development thus enhancing the function of the company OM. Good information system within Apple Mac have enabled the company to be ahead of its competitors especially in the production of computers and their accessories. Information network ensures that all processes are carried out with high integrity and accountability assisting operation management in performing its stipulated roles. 4.0 Apple Mac Apple Mac was founded in the 1970s by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. At that time, computers were unpopular and there were very little advances in computers. Computers were massive with numerous terminal attachments via communication channels and large banks of storage units. This motivated the two men to come up with a computer system that was less cumbersome, develop different hardware devices and telephones that could be used at any location. Wozniak continuous interest in the field of electronic led to the launching of the Homebrew Computer Club in California which mainly specialized in computers. While Wozniak spent more time in handling mechanical issues of computers, Job was more interested in marketing the products (Standerfer 2004). Wozniak developed the first personal computer in mid 1970s which Job insisted could be sold under the company’s name. Apple 1 whose registration was underway by the time. Apple 1 went out for sale for a good deal that made Wozniak and Job quit their previous jobs to become full time employees at Apple 1. Apple 2 was soon launched and for it to be more successful there was need to increase the number of workers who worked in the garage as well as marketers. Apple 11 computer were more advanced and one of the most computers during that time. Despite this smooth progress, Apple experienced a dramatic drawback when Apple 111 was introduced into the market. Although Apple 111 was designed with impressive technology and power, it was very expensive for the local market and contributed greatly to its downfall. This caused the company to go back to its previous product but gave it additional technical enhancements. Apple 11e was the end product. The lesson learnt from this encounter led the management of Apple to research for better operational techniques. There was gradual growth of the industry which led to launching of more powerful machines such as Macintosh. A key aspect of operations managements is product innovation or development. Any company that wishes to develop core competencies in business operations must be able to incorporate total quality management. Although Apple has gone through several instances of its products failure, it was determined to produce better quality products for its customers. Since the birth of Apple 1, developed by Wozniak, there has been gradual development of more advanced computers with better specifications. Job was very optimistic about the success of the company and he visited several research centers such as Xerox Palo Alto Research Center where he gathered enough information to come up Apple Lisa which was an improvement of Macintosh. However, Lisa did not stay in the market due to high cost technology that was involved hence dropped out like the earlier Apple 111 personal computer (Stauffer and McElhearn 2004). Operation management also involves product planning. The process of planning begins with making the right choice of goods and services to be offered to customers. Other considerations of planning are getting the right location for the plant, correct pricing decisions and selecting the best retail outlets. It is important for companies to realize that products should be designed in a way that meets consumer needs (Beach et al 2000). Apple is a good example of a company that works tirelessly to meet the needs of its customers. Macintosh was marvelous computer but in the course of 1984, users of Macintosh started to complain of its slow speed which led development of Fat Mac which had higher speed. Apple 11e and Lisa did not survive the market due to their high market costs. This came as result of the company’s attempt to advance their already existing products which required expensive technology. Product planning is a joint effort between the production and marketing departments. At the initiation of the company, Wozniak dedicated more of his time researching on means of producing advanced personal computers while Job spent time looking for markets to sell the computers (Dennison 2009). Operations management is concerned with utilization of company resources with the aim of acquiring a market advantage at reduced cost. Resource utilization can be expressed in terms of time used in the production process, activity level, space utilization and human resource utilization (Mcalister et al 2004). When Apple Lisa was being developed, Job was working on looking for a temporary CEO who could oversee the expansion of the company in future. He settled on a reputable CEO from PepsiCo, John Sculley. Sculley was the youngest company president and was keen in marketing and investing in advertising as well. He introduced the company’s first study on consumer research. He had ambitious plans of introducing yet another computer line. Besides this, Apple temporarily hired the director Ridley Scott who was in charge of advertisement of Macintosh. This demonstrates a good example of the importance of outsourcing for certain employees only when their services are needed. It is crucial that the operations management of any company ventures into corporate integrations with other companies in the same industry. Apple joined forces with Motorola and IBM which was aimed at developing a new processor. The new combination was known as PowerPC consortium and PowerPC was the name of the new processor. Apple benefited from the joint venture since it was the primary customer of PowerPC and acquired it at reduced prices. It actually brought about the birth of another line of computers known as Power Mac which utilized PowerPC. A successful operations management adds value to its products during the transformation process. Value addition implies net increase in value of the final product from the inputs. In addition to value addition, operations must be organized and efficient (Mcalister et al 2004). In the past, Apple has shown much dedication in improving its products design. It has invested in employing highly qualified and professionals to work in the garage. The products from Apple do are made with competence and only few complaints have been forwarded. With the ever increasing competition, the importance of operations management has become more crucial. Therefore there is increasing need to boost competitiveness by improving value addition and efficiency. 5.0 Conclusion Operation management and technology development are considered to be important functions in today business environments. Therefore, operation managers are entitled to working closely with other departmental functions so as to develop an effective team format. For instance, the marketing department should provide information about a customer, finance need to provide information that involves budget constraints in return; operation and technology management should communicate its capabilities and needs to the other functions. It should be understood that the practice defined within operation management is described to be a continuous process that involves problem solving and decision making. Operation managers should therefore make decisions and have the ability to carry out implications of the various decisions. It is evident that new focus created in operation management is seen as a recovery process for many organizations. In addition this operation management is a function that contributes to the core of organizational competitiveness. For proper production, companies should realize that in order to achieve long term goals, operation management should be of importance to them. With advance technology and increased innovations, companies should adapted operation methods so as to maintain and advance on their competitive advantage. It is important that organization understand that expontential growth being experienced today in computing capability will continue to greatly impact on operation management. In addition organizations are required to develop their decision especially tactical and strategic ones so as to link them together with companies’ strategic decision. 6.0 References Paterson, J & Sharp, A. (2000). “Manufacturing Operations and Strategic Flexibility: Survey and Cases,” International Journal of Operations and Production Management, 20, 1, 7–30. Berry, W & Cooper, M. (1999). “Manufacturing Flexibility: Methods for Measuring the Impact of Product Variety on Performance in Process Industries,” Journal of Operations Management, 17, 163–178. Chase, R & Jacob, B. (2001). Operations Management for a Competitive Advantage, Ninth Edition, McGraw-Hill Irwin Klassen, R & Whybarl, C. (1999). “Environmental Management in Operations: The Selection of Environmental Technologies,”Decision Sciences, 30, 3, 601–631. Mcalister, S., Ravenscroft, A. and Scanlon, E. 2004. Combining interaction and context design to support collaborative argumentation using a tool for synchronous CMC. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 20: 194–204 Standerfer, R. 2004. Macintosh Switcher's guide. Plano: wordware publishers. Stauffer, T. and McElhearn, K. 2004. Mastering Mac OS X. San Francisco: Sybex. Dennison, T. 2009. Mac for Linux geeks. Berkeley : Apress Beach, R., Muhlemann, P., Price, D., Paterson, A. and Sharp, A. 2000. “Manufacturing Operations and Strategic Flexibility: Survey and Cases,” International Journal of Operations and Production Management, 20, 1, 7–30. Read More