The Implementation of Operations Management Techniques - Assignment Example

Question One Operations management techniques such as OPT, JIT and MRP are concerned with redesigning as well as overseeing business operations in order to ensure effective production of goods and services. In order to ensure that firms produce products which meet the needs of their customers, it is vital for companies to emulate operations management techniques. In the same way, operations management ensures that firms utilize little resources thus reducing on the cost of production. Companies use Just-in-time technique in order to eliminate waste during the production process. Additionally JIT is suitable since it is an avenue through which firms eliminate any loophole in the production process which may cause slow productivity, additional expenses and increased overheads. One of the major aspects of JIT is that it emulates pull production system. This entails production of a product on demand without interfering with the stock. In addition, JIT entails production and delivery of all the final products or various components at the right time, with low costs, at the right quantity, in the right time while utilizing little resources and materials. Material Requirements Planning (MRP) emulates push methodology. Although most companies emulate JIT technique some firms have adopted MRP in conjunction with JIT. When the two techniques are used together, MRP is used to forecast long term supplies. In this way, companies are able to eliminate delays which exist during planning and the actual production of a product. Product volume determines the operations management to be applied by a company. For example, Toyota produces large volume of brands which are highly demanded by the customers. This calls for effective production process in order to ensure that various parts of the final brand are produced in time. In this way unnecessary delays are avoided. In the same way, product variation influences the operational management technique emulated by a firm. A company which produces various products may not adopt JIT technique since its customers are different. In this case such companies may adopt warehouses and other storage facilities which are not emulated by firms using JIT technique. Manufactures use hybrid operational management techniques in order to meet the needs of its customers as well as reduce costs. For example, by using both JIT and MRP a manufacturer is able to make long term forecasts as well as products on time. In this way, such manufacturer will maintain the loyalty of their customers. Question Two Define productivity and discuss how it can be used in manufacturing and service environments? Productivity can be measured in three different forms; state each form of productivity measure, the equation and discuss both the advantages and disadvantages of each form? Productivity is a measure of products attained from the manufacturing process per unit of input. Productivity emphasizes on technical efficiency of production in the manufacturing process. During the manufacturing process, a company undertakes five processes. These include real, income distribution, production, monetary and market value. During real income process productivity is created. The gains obtained from the productivity are distributed in the income distribution process. In the services environment productivity is also measured per unit of input. For example, labour productivity is the ratio of output per labour hour. Even though labor productivity can be measured there are some aspects which a company cannot measure. These include innovation, creativity and team work. Q3. Describe in detail a typical product life cycle? Your answer should include two different life cycle models and be illustrated with example products. A typical product life cycle consists of four stages which include introduction, growth, maturity and decline. During the introduction stage, marketers adopt wide range of promotional strategies and various advertising techniques. The promotional strategies are aimed at creating customer awareness and to increase initial sales. Firms may either emulate premium price of penetrative pricing strategies in during this stage. For example, technology companies such as Dell emulate premium prices for their products in order to quickly recoup the cost it incurred during the production process. On the other hand, Coca Cola adopts penetrative pricing in order to face off its competitors and encourage strong adoption of its products by new consumers. During growth, firms aim at expanding their market segment by use of aspects such as demography or geography. In addition, companies introduce new products in the market in order to meet the need of its customers. A good example of such companies is Coca Cola. Coca Cola has continued to expand its brand portfolio in different market in order to meet the high demand of its products. In the maturity stage, companies aim at making profits and high sales in order to offset the high costs of production. During this stage companies diversify their product portfolio in order to expand their market share as well as to address the competition. The marketing and promotional expenses are low during the maturity stage since most customers are aware of the product. Most of the Toyota brands are in this stage which makes the company put at bay its competitors such as GM and Ford. Decline is the final phase of the product life cycle. During this stage marketing strategies are with drawn resulting to low sales. In order to avoid using the producers’ revenue, products should be withdrawn from the market. Another model of a typical product life cycle stipulates that it consists of seven processes. The first one is defining customer requirements. This makes it possible for a firm to produce products needed by the clients. The second stage is developing concept. This entails developing new products line and models. The third stage is the prototyping and testing. This stage entails testing the products in the market as well as improving production process. The fourth stage is products improvement. During this stage firms produce products as per the needs and customer suggestions. The fifth stage is finalizing the design. This entails evaluating problems which a product can face in the market. The sixth stage is the production. Support is the seventh stage. During this phase, firms apply various marketing strategies in order to maintain their products in the market. Discuss the importance of forecasting on the planning and scheduling of a production plant? Illustrate your answer with a description of how forecasting feeds into a MRP system and onto short term scheduling and capacity planning. The role of forecasting on the planning and scheduling of a production plant cannot be overlooked. In order to attain accurate forecasts, it is prudent to use a powerful forecasting tool as well as involving customers in the collaborative process. Proper forecasting ensures effective MRP. By having adequate and accurate information, proper forecasts ensure that materials are available during the production process. It also makes companies to maintain low kevel of inventory. In addition, it makes it possible plan for delivery schedules in order to ensure consumers get the product in a timely manner. Question 4 Stocks are the supply of materials, held by the operations until the end of the whole supply chain process. They are important due to the fact that they gives buffers between two adjacent part of supply chain, take advantages of discounts on large orders, allow for purchase of goods, which are hard to find or going to be out of production, reducing on transportation costs as well as giving cover for cases such as emergencies. The focus of the supply chain management starts by fully understanding the needs, requirements and values of the customers (Wolsey 67). The processes of the suppliers in the supply chain management should thus align with customers buying behaviours. It is advisable for manufacturers to develop some mechanism to enable them control the flow of stock. This is done through aggregate planning, capacity plans, short term and master schedules among other notable approaches. By maintaining these schedules, manufacturers are able to maintain the required stocks, prevent excessive buffers thus higher profitability brought about by smooth flow of stocks in the supply chains. There are various approaches used in controlling level of stocks present in a plant. The most notable one is the traditional approaches that use hierarchies of planned operations where managers are able to coordinate detailed timetables indicating all activities in supply chain. Push approach is another method used in maintaining stock in a plant. It relies on future forecast in defining stock requirements (Huan 138). Question 5 Effective means of production scheduling and planning are the core competencies of processes in the supply chains. The complexities resulting from process industries have made the achievement of this goal a challenging venture. However, the benefits of effective and efficient planning are highly advantageous to any production firm. This is abased on the fact that, it maximizes the firm’s returns on high value production asset. Through improvement of forecast accuracies as well as using latest techniques of meeting demand and development of optimal production schedules and plans, firms can be able reduce on transition costs and increases on capacity use. Ultimately, the level of customer satisfaction is improved thus higher profitability. Although MRP (material Requirement planning) system has moved into other areas of operations, originally aimed at coordinating movement of materials in manufacturing processes. Thus, forecast in the MRP system is crucial since it helps to maintain lowest levels of inventories, help in planning manufacturing processes, purchasing activities and delivery schedules (Handfield, 108). Further, through forecasting in MPR system, materials are delivered to customers thus enhancing their satisfactions. Similarly, forecasting feeds into capacity as it allows firms to calculate capacity requirements for the production facility once the demand is known. This entails the maximum number of products that a firm can produce in a given period under usual working conditions. In turn, by calculating the capacity requirements in the firm, the concerned persons can determine the much to invest in plan required as well as number of hours to produce at capacities. Question 6 Master production schedule (MPS) refers to a plan developed by a company for the purpose of inventory, production, inventory among other notable aspects. It helps to set quantity of all end items aimed to be completed in every week of short range planning horizon. MPS give planning, production, purchasing as well as the top management all information required for the purpose of controlling and planning manufacturing operations. These applications ties forecast and overall planning for business to the details operations via MPS (Westbrook 102). The MPS drives detailed productions and material in the MRP modules. This is due to the fact that MRP maintains and calculates an optimum manufacturing plans based on MPS, bills of materials and open orders. MRP II model is essential for effective and efficient planning of resources in manufacturing firms. Since it deals with planning purposes, it forms an integral part of the MPS, although most of these modules are software based. Planning horizon is the duration that a firm desire the MRP engine to limit planning processes on given time scales (Waldner, 78). Planning horizontal time scales are thus related to MRP II and MPS models due to the fact that they demand production to be based on particular time’s foyer example in monthly, quarterly or annual basis (Monk &Wagner 39). Work cited Handfield, R. Integrating Environmental Management and Supply Chain Strategies. Business Strategy and the Environment 14, no. 1 (2005): 1–18. Huan, S. A Review and Analysis of Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) Model. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal 9, no. 1 (2004): 23–29. Monk, E. &Wagner, B. Concepts in Enterprise Resource Planning. Canada: Thomson Course Technology. 2006. Waldner, J. CIM: Principles of Computer Integrated Manufacturing. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. 2002. Westbrook, R. Understanding Supply Chains: Concepts, Critiques & Futures. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. Wolsey, L. Production Planning by Mixed Integer Programming. New York: Springer. 2006 Read More