Tools and Techniques Used to Control Quality - Coursework Example

Table of Contents Introduction 2 Product or Service Quality 2 How to control quality 2 Tools & Techniques used to control quality 2 Type of Workforce 3 Design of Jobs 4 Operation Planning & Scheduling 4 How to manage inventory 5 Difference between services and manufacturing operations 6 Conclusion 7 References 8 Introduction The report looks to present the manner organization need to ensure quality in services. To ensure maximum satisfaction it is important to hire the correct workforce based on the bob requirements and specification. The report also looks to present the different manner to ensure quality and look towards identifying the factors that helps to differentiate services from manufacturing operations. Product or Service Quality Product or service quality is the value the customer gets from consuming the product or services. To ensure quality in product or services it is important to ensure that the workforce matches the requirements and ensures that the team is able to deliver on the quality standards. How to control quality Organization need to ensure that the quality is of high standard by checking the goods and services at regular intervals. On this front the organization can look towards sampling method where some samples are selected and tested for quality. This will help to ascertain the quality and ensure that the workforce is able to make the changes if it is required. Looking into sampling will ensure that any product or services is chosen at random which will ensure uniformity in quality for all the products. Tools & Techniques used to control quality The use of vendor inventory management has thus ensured that the procurement cost for materials is low which helps in easy forecasting and ordering process. (Lee & Cetinkaya, 2000) Also using different tools like Gantt chart will help to improve the relevance of quality. The other technique that can be used to measure quality is that sampling will ensure to provide the best quality. The management needs to look various tools at regular time intervals so that they are able to measure quality and regularly updating the quality control system will ensure better productivity. The usage of ERP software has also resulted in improving vendor management. The improvement in supply chain due to integration of IT with the requirements of the business has resulted in improving the supplier chain initiative to manage the stock that the supplier will keep at retail outlets. (Lee & Cetinkaya, 2000) Type of Workforce The workforce selected for the job should be such that it involves people from different background so that the contribution towards the team increases. Group work thus requires members of the group to coordinated and work in relation to the others. Thus, here behaviour of the individual and the whole group plays a role in deciding the manner in which the organisation will work. Group work provides a lot of advantage which was in our project team. Since it involves brainstorming it thereby helps to “come up with various new ideas and the best one can be chosen based on the requirements of the company”. (Tim, 2005) This improved flexibility as group thinking involves better coordination between me and the other group members. This thereby develops the decision making process and helps to find members from the group who can add towards he project goal and entrust them with more responsibilities. Design of Jobs While designing the job it is important to consider various factors and one such is Ergonomics. Ergonomics is a branch that deals with humans. Ergonomics thus deals and helps to improve “the relationship humans have with products, equipments and systems”. (Thomas, 2009) This is a very vital factor for all business units and special care and attention needs to be paid to ensure that the human factor is used to their advantage. Organization also need to look into job specification and the manner the employee can prosper on the job. This will motivate and guide the employees to work with the organization and ensure that the organization is able to deliver better results. Operation Planning & Scheduling The role of the project manager is to schedule the projects. The project manager needs to prepare a schedule which shows when a task will be accomplished. To ensure that it is done accurately the project manager prepares “a Gantt Chart and necessary changes are made depending on the progress of a particular process”. (Chapman, 1997) For example suppose a certain production requires 8 weeks but due to certain hiccups the product can be completed within the time then the manager needs to make the necessary changes in the Gantt chart to complete the project. Project manager needs to ensure that a team is developed which performs the functions of the organisation to ensure that production is carried out without problem. Here, the project manager needs to solve conflict and motivate them. (Self Directed Teams, 2010) This will follow the process of forming, storming, norming and performing which will itself act as a motivating guide. Project manager also performs the role of managing the organizational function and ensuring smooth flow of work. The organizing function of management sees that the project managers organizes for all the resources including human to see that the objective set by the business unit and planed accordingly are achievable. (Heather, 2009) The project manager has to ensure that the employees are as per the requirement of the job. Training should be imparted to the needy and the project manager must ensure that business don’t lack resources which will defy them from achieving their goals. For example, when an organisation focuses on customer satisfaction it does it through different ways. Like the project managers ensure that the query departments provide the customer with the correct answer, the goods are good in quality and timely response to win them. How to manage inventory Just in time is a strategy which aims at continuous improvement by removing the activities which don’t add value to the final product. (JIT, 2010) Doing so ensures that the cost reduces, the quality improves, and innovation creeps in and helps to improve the overall performance. JIT is not just looking towards technology but instead removing the inefficiencies. This helps to improve the process and ensure that the operation process simplifies. The application of JIT is seen widely in today’s world JIT has been developed in such a manner that it can be applied for “purchase, operation, sales, marketing and any other activity in relation to the business”. (JIT, 2010) This thus helps to provide the following advantages from the production point of view Less space is required for stocks. (Sean, 2010) Less working capital is required. (Sean, 2010) Less chances of stock becoming outdated. (Sean, 2010) Quality is high. (Sean, 2010) JIT thus enables a pedagogical shift and ensures that business units are able to remove the inefficiencies. A successful JIT implementation helps business units to draw insights into the underlying concepts and reach solutions which help to improve business processes. (Sean, 2010) Thus, JIT as a tool helps business to ensure they are able to deliver better results. Difference between services and manufacturing operations Service marketing thereby is a process which is much wider than marketing of products and includes people, process and physical evidence. (Palmer & Adrian, 2000) It is a process where the marketers’ looks into different aspect related to perishability, heterogeneity, storage and intangibility. Dealing with human, different culture and perspective makes marketers look towards service marketing with a different view to understand human behaviour. This has seen the growing dependence on organizational behaviour, psychology and other mechanism to understand service marketing. Service marketing demonstrates certain characteristics which are inherent in every service and cannot be separated. The characteristics of services marketing are as follows Intangibility: Services are intangible and cannot be seen. It can be felt by the person consuming it so it gets altered as different consumer has different preference making human behaviour irrational. Various studies in this direction present the different manner which can promote tangibility to services. (Services, 2011) Perish ability: Services cannot be stored and has to be consumed immediately. For example, while dining in a hotel the service of the waiter has to be consumed immediately while he is serving food though the food can be stored but services can’t be. This makes services more complicated and even measures to ensure quality fails sometimes. (Services, 2011) Inseparability: Services cannot be separated from the provider as in case of products which passes through different stages before being finally passed on to the consumer. For example, the taxi services can be consumed with the driver only and removing it will render services useless. (Services, 2011) Variability: Services differ on the basis of provider which makes them differentiate themselves from others. For example, McDonalds which demonstrates their process to manufacture creates a different perception in comparison to other stores which do not. Thus services get altered and has an importance associated with it. (Services, 2011) This factors help to distinguish services from manufacturing operations Conclusion The paper thereby presents the different aspect of services and operation management. It highlights the manner in which the organizations need to ensure that they are able to control quality and ensure the correct work force is hired. This will ensure relevance for the organization and help the business to garner maximum benefit. References Chapman. 1997. Project Schedule Estimating. Retrieved October 8, 2011 from http://www.hyperthot.com/pm_sked.htm Heather, R. 2009. Four Function of Management, suite101.com, retrieved October 8, 2011 from http://businessmanagement.suite101.com/article.cfm/four_functions_of_management JIT. 2010. Just in Time Manufacturing. Retrieved on October 8, 2011 from http://www.inventorysolutions.org/def_jit.htm Lee, C. & Cetinkaya, S. 2000. Stock Replenishment and Scheduling for Vendor Managed Inventory Systems. Journal of Management Science, Volume 46, Number 2, page 217-232 Palmer, H. & Adrian, T. 2000. The Principles of Service Marketing, 3rd Edition, Tata McGraw Hill Sean, T. 2010. Just in Time Production, tutor2u, Boston House Self Directed Teams. 2010. Self directed work teams develop in stages. Retrieved on October 8, 2011 from http://www.strategosinc.com/work_team_3.htm Services. 2011. Characteristics of Services. Retrieved on October 8, 2011 from http://www.marcbowles.com/courses/adv_dip/module12/chapter1/amc12_ch1_five1.htm Thomas. 2009. Ergonomics. The official Journal of Institute for Ergonomics and Human factors, Volume 53, Issue 12, page 1134-1147 Tim, B. 2005. Group Thinking, Critical Thinking on the web, Austhink Read More