Production and Operations Management

Question: Discuss about the Production and Operations Management. Answer: Introduction Operation management is addressed to the business practices and administration to develop highest level of efficiency, which is possible within the organization context. It is related towards converting the raw materials and labor force to goods and services, in order to upsurge the profitability and efficiency in the corporation. Operation management is majorly concerned with the preparation of plan, shaping and controlling in the field of production, manufacturing in the contexts of services. It ensures that an association positively turns inputs to outputs in a resourceful manner. The inputs here are to characterize anything from the ingredients, apparatuss and knowledge to human resources such as workforces and staffs. The functions of operation management have a role of providing the needful services and products in such a way that it satisfies the criteria described by the market. This report will outline the operational methods and strategies implemented by Whisper Communications Limited to give its customers a standard level of satisfaction. It will also address the chief operation tasks conducted by the firm in providing satisfaction to the customers. The report will deliver the clear analysis of who the actual clienteles of the company are and what the patrons expect from the company. After that, the analysis will highpoint the operations administration objectives and Whisper Communications Limited ability to meet these objectives. In addition to this, the study will also address why it is important to improve the ability of the operations implementation that supply a product which meets the needs of the customers. Along with this, the report will also provide the recommendations in terms to improve the ability of the operation management of the company to meet its objectives. Companys overview Whisper Communications Limited is an Atlanta based communication company which was founded in the year 2009. The company was founded with an intention to commercialize the physical layer security technologies. The main purpose of this company is on machineries where data security is tied to immediacy to the data source. Whisper Communications Limited UK came into existence in year 2009 and from then, the company is successfully functioning as a mobile phone merchant for all the chief networks in the UK such as T-Mobile, 3 and so on. The company is placed as first party in the system service worker and induce as a succeeding party as the dealer in providing the definite handset. The company also acts as a third party who gets the consent and demand of the customers in subscribing monthly contract phone. Operation Management Operation management is discourses to the business performs and administration to progress a uppermost level of competence which is possible within the organization framework. It is related to converting the raw materials and labor force to goods and services in order to upsurge the profitability and efficiency in the corporation (Aswathappa and Bhat, 2010). Operation management is majorly concerned with the preparation of plan, forming and overseeing in the field of manufacture, manufacturing or in the frameworks of services. It ensures that an association successfully turns inputs to outputs in an efficient manner. The participations here are to characterize anything from the supplies, apparatuss and knowledge to human resources such as workforces and staffs. The functions of operation management have a role of providing the needful services and products in such a way that it satisfies the criteria described by the market. Operation Management is described as the procedure of managing and assorting the possessions and resources which are required the production and deliverable of goods and services. Each and every association has operation function as every organization in some way produces some type of products or services. The applicability of operation management is illustrated in everyday activities of people. It is proved by a statement that operation management is the way organizations produces goods and services (Bettley, Mayle and Tantoush, 2005). This statement clearly reflects the important nature of Operations Management (Aswathappa and Bhat, 2010). Operation Management is the central activity of assorting and organizing things which can be considered as transformation process. Figure 1: Transformation process of Operation Management Operations of a company are transformation process. The aim of operation management is to change and convert a specific set of materials or resources as Inputs into goods and services as Outputs. The input assets could be the raw supplies, customers info or customer themself (Bhatt, 2000). These possessions are then transmuted into closing goods and services through a mode of transforming resources. For illustration: Raw Materials: Carpenter who takes wood pieces as raw materials and then convert it into a finished product by cutting, structuring and polishing it. Information: A tourist guide gathers the evidence about the customer likings and choice and then provides the info to the holiday planners to advise and assist people to stay and visit the place (Bhatt, 2000). Customers: customers are resources at airport. The operation of an air industry is about processing the passengers tickets and luggage and then delivering them to the awaiting plane (Brown, 2005). Operation Management comprises the supervision, conniving, and monitoring of the procedure and course of the manufacture and is about reshaping the business actions in the manufacture of belongings and services (DeHoratius and Rabinovich, 2011). The main focus of operation management in a service providing company is about the training of the workers, customer service locations and whether the equipments are safe for the publics and employees or not. There are various important aspects that operational managers have to consider. Operations of a company are all about: Modernization and planning of the products, amenities and the delivery system Handling and guiding of the operations system Searching the ways to improve the operations system Operations Management in Organizations For every organization, the operations functions have its utmost importance. It is due to the reason that operational functions produce the goods and services that is the reason for the existence of the companys (DeHoratius and Rabinovich, 2011). Some of the main purposes of the administrations are: Marketing purpose: This function is accountable for the communication of the products and service of the company to its target markets. This function also helps in generating customer requests for the services. Operation purpose: The main intention of this function is to create new and innovative products and services to produce future customer demand for the companys services. Product and service development purpose: This function is responsible for fulfilling company request for service the creation and delivery of products or services (Hill and Hill, 2012). Along with these functions, there are several other functions that assist a company in operating efficiently and effectively. These include: Accounting and finance purpose: It gives data to company in order to take economic result making. It also accomplishes the financial possessions of the association. Human resource purpose: This purpose is accountable for recruiting and developing the staffs and labor force after the organizations. An organization, which produces physical products and, an organization which is a service provider has a thing in common. They have a common process. They both have some resources in the input process and result also has some resources. Figure 2: Operations Management processes Operations Management in Whisper Communications Limited Whisper Communications Limited main operations take place in customer service, sales, inventory, purchase and management. These departments relied heavily on operations processes. It ensures that the corporation is competent to make earnings and will endure to operate. The downfall of any procedures in any division will tamper and halt the growth of the establishment. All the divisions of the company are interconnected with each other. Inventory Management and Database These department resources are executed by sales executive. Previously, the sales department team of Whisper Communications Limited used to send customer details on spreadsheet, which used to consume too much time and incur extra costs (Gottlieb, Matveev and Stavrovski, 2004). Now the concern uses an online database arrangement in order for the processes to become timelier and this process is also very affordable to the company. The access of the departments in Whisper Communications Limited is shown in the figure below: Figure 3: Access rights in Whisper Communications Limited When a call is showed up by a lead allotment agent, he or she submits the client information on an online database. This information includes all the basic information of the customer such as name address, contact no, email id, etc (Gottlieb, Matveev and Stavrovski, 2004). These databases are then allocated to sales executives for the purpose of converting these leads onto monthly contract. Whisper Communications Limited always tries to reduce the cancellations by enhancing the quality of the sales. It also has a customer satisfaction department to reduce the cancellations. The company also has a facility of providing email promotion so that it get answers to queries of the customer through email. Order winning and order qualifying criteria An order winner is the characteristic that wins the bid and the customer purchase. And an order qualifies is that characteristic of a product or service that is important for the product or service to get it considered by the customers. This is the reason that companies must provide qualifiers in order to stay in the market (Harvey, Heineke and Lewis, 2016). Order winners and order qualifiers, both are time and market specific. Both of them work in diverse conditions on diverse markets and with different customers. In terms of description, Order winners are those modest features in a firm that cause clienteles to choose its goods and services over the participants. And order contestants are those features that a company must hold to be a viable participant in the industry or the market. There are five performance objectives in an organization, namely, quality, speed, reliability, elasticity and cost. These purposes then can be divided into order winning, order qualifying features. Customer satisfaction department The customer satisfaction department of Whisper Communications Limited includes preventing the customers from cancelling the agreement. It also includes the finalizing of deal and retention of sales person that can have persuasive qualities (DR.K.VANITHA, 2012). Whisper Communications Limited has this department to ensure that operations of the company run smoothly. So order qualifying factors are mostly what a consumer expects at a very minimum from the company of this kind (Sprague, 2007). The Whisper Communications Limited has get positive impacts through the inauguration of online database which has improved the overall functions operated in the company. Some of the functions are: Whisper Communications Limited sales executives process the operation with the supplier in a straight way which will help in the delivery of handset instantly (DR.K.VANITHA, 2012). Whisper Communications Limited can also upgrade its lead allocation division that will permit the department to simply recognize the quantity of leads taken by per sales executives. Whisper Communications Limited can also advance the queries solving email portal that will also reduce the number of calls. With the implementation of applied strategy, the issue of receiving inappropriate calls by the sales person will get resolved. It wills also the company in solving the issues of the customer quickly and customers dont have to wait for minutes (Ramaj and Ismaili, 2015). Whisper Communications Limited management can then supply or deliver the handset in a maximum of two working days. Service Operation in Whisper Communications Limited Operation Management functions mainly consists the planning, organizing, controlling a motivating to achieve the set of organizational goals (Service operation, 2011). Operation management in service Provider Company like Whisper Communications Limited provides certain intangible service that sometimes is difficult to identify. Service operations have more prospects that manufacturing industry to modify the services they offer (Service operation, 2011). Service operation develops the situation according to how it marks the consumers. They are more anxious about how the atmosphere seems to the consumers. Operation managers in service organizations schedule the workers to handle the customer claim. They have to guide and train the workforces to offer optimal service to the consumers. The scope of operations management surrounds these multi-dispensary areas: Supply Chain Market Interface Finance Interface Operations strategy Process design and improvements Role of Operations Managers An operations manager has a very imperative role in the business, government or any other organization. The task of the operation manger largely depends on the large part upon the character and size of the firm, but he or she needs a wide variety of business assistances to get succeed (Johnston and Staughton, 2009). In simpler terms, operation manager plans, develops and smooths the communication. Some of the important role of operation managers is described below: Management of resources: Operation managers play a very significant role in handling both raw supplies and personnel. It contains the management of inventory, purchasing of stock and supply of it. Human resources tasks contain the regulating needs, hiring of the workforces, overseeing the work of the employees and planning of the staff expansion (Johnston and Staughton, 2009). Financial Management: Operational managers plays very significant role in handling both raw resources and personnel. They also play important role in planning, and adjusting the outs and keeping the financial track of the company steady. The management of the supply chain done by the operations managers helps to minimize the costs of the production (Johnston and Staughton, 2009). They study business forecasts, sales information, and financial accounts to find the roads of maximum profit. A skillful operation manager can also sustain the financial equation of the company. Goal-setting: Operating managers set the goals and purposes for the various divisions of the organization. Their duties embrace the sales forecasting, and planning of the sales promotions. They also have to establish procedures and put them into effect (Krajewski, Ritzman and Krajewski, 2005). Communications: Another role of operations managers is developing a proficient communication environment between the employees. They need good contact and interpersonal abilities to help the different divisions of the organizations together (Ramaj and Ismaili, 2015). Operations managers are accountable for creating a positive and pleasant working culture where work can be done efficiently. They do the communication between the workers and the sections. They also resolve the disputes and disagreements of the employees regarding any decision taken by senior managers (Johnston and Staughton, 2009). They have to cooperate in high-level decision making with the other officials of the company. Operation managers are those employees of the company who have huge accountability for managing some or total resources which concede the operations functions. Some of the activities that is applied in the roles of operations mangers are: Understanding the operations strategic performance objectives Planning and governing the operations Refining the execution of the operations Developing the operations products, services and processes. Conclusion It has been found in the study that operation management is addressed to the business practices and administration to develop a highest level of efficiency which is possible within the organization context. It is related to converting the raw materials and labor force to goods and services in order to upsurge the profitability and efficiency in the corporation. The study also outlined that Whisper Communications Limited main operations take place in customer service, sales, stock, purchase and management. These divisions relied heavily on operations processes. It ensures that the company is able to make profit and will continue to function. The study also highlighted that Operation managers play a very important role in running both raw materials and personnel. It contains the management of inventory, purchasing of stock and supply of it. Recommendation It is recommended to Whisper Communications Limited that they can increase the efficiency of their operation management if they can utilize a sequential flow pattern in the process. By doing this, the company can observe the process over a small, confined space, which will make it easy to control. This will also facilitate the good communication among the employees. Another thing that Whisper Communications Limited can do is minimizing the backtracking the work in process. Crating an open environment will also reflect a positive feedback to the company. It will create an open environment which will allows everyone to see whats going on the process and will lastly simplify the work of managing. Operations management is about running a business effectively and efficiently with the minimum utilization of resources. It is about getting it done while still meeting the production requirements and achieving the sustainable operational performance improvements. Whisper Communications Limited can improve its quality systems and should also help the clients in reducing the logistics and supply chain costs (NARASIMHAN and MNDEZ, 2009). Whisper Communications Limited can implement kaizen approach which will surely bring rapid improvements. If Whisper Communications Limited implements a product excellence approach, it will surely help the company in enhancing business processes. Whisper Communications Limited must work with it clients to reduce the waste and lower costs to set up a sustainable program that can achieve dependable outcomes. The company has to conduct intelligent use of its limited resources (Yeung, 2008). The specified company can also implement Six-Sigma tools in its operation management that relies particularly on the quality-management methods, such as statistical examination and helps in creating pleasant infrastructure of employees in the organization. Whisper Communications Limited could also implement Lean tool that mainly focuses on eliminating the unnecessary waste in the production. References Aswathappa, K. and Bhat, S. (2010). Production and operations management. 1st ed. Mumbai [India]: Himalaya Pub. House. Bettley, A., Mayle, D. and Tantoush, T. (2005). Operations management. 1st ed. London: SAGE Publications. Bhatt, G. (2000). A resource-based perspective of developing organizational capabilities for business transformation. Knowledge and Process Management, 7(2), pp.119-129. Brown, S. (2005). Strategic operations management. 1st ed. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann. DeHoratius, N. and Rabinovich, E. (2011). Field research in operations and supply chain management. Journal of Operations Management, 29(5), pp.371-375. DR.K.VANITHA, D. (2012). Customer Relationship Management on Customer Satisfaction. International Journal of Scientific Research, 3(4), pp.1-3. Gottlieb, M., Matveev, A. and Stavrovski, B. (2004). Dynamic inventory database management (DIDM): a summary of an internet-based solution for managing complexity of inventory databases. International Journal of Internet and Enterprise Management, 2(3), p.299. Harvey, J., Heineke, J. and Lewis, M. (2016). Editorial for Journal of Operations Management special issue on Professional Service Operations Management (PSOM). Journal of Operations Management, 42-43, pp.4-8. Hill, A. and Hill, T. (2012). Operations Management. 1st ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Johnston, R. and Staughton, R. (2009). Establishing and developing strategic relationships the role for operations managers. International Journal of Operations Production Management, 29(6), pp.564-590. Krajewski, L., Ritzman, L. and Krajewski, L. (2005). Operations management. 1st ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall. Ramaj, A. and Ismaili, R. (2015). Customer Relationship Management, Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty. Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies. Service operation. (2011). 1st ed. Norwich: TSO, the Stationery Office. Sprague, L. (2007). Evolution of the field of operations management. Journal of Operations Management, 25(2), pp.219-238. Yeung, A. (2008). Strategic supply management, quality initiatives, and organizational performance. Journal of Operations Management, 26(4), pp.490-502. Production and Operations Management Question: Discuss about the Production and Operations Management. Answer: Introduction Every manufacturing firms looks to find ways in which it can increase efficiency and maximize profits. This paper looks into Hahn Brewery located in Auburn,New South Wales. There are strategic decisions and operations that the management of the brewer can efficiently take in its operations to attain maximum profits without compromising on quality of the beer. Some of the management decisions operations of this brewery are;Design of goods and services,Quality management,Strategy process,Location strategies,Distribution strategy installations. Other important decisions made are:Human Resources,Supply chain management,Inventory administration,Programming and Maintenance all this result into an efficient process for the brewery (Besanko, Dranove, Shanley, 2000). Day to day operations of the brewery On a typical day the operations start at 7:00 am, when 20000-25000 pounds of grain are delivered into the brewery. After the delivery is made, the equipment is cleaned then the grain is put in the equipment to be crushed. The operations manaher and the chief brewer work together most of the time to ensure smooth running of the operations. The work they do include addind specific amounts of hops and grain, they ensure that the unfermented beer is boiled, they also supervise the workers who transfer the beer to various containers and tanks and lastly, adding the most important ingredient which is yeast for the fermentation process. Brew days can vary in length, however, a single batch takes 8 hours while a double batch takes 12 hours. On average, from the day in which brewing takes place, it takes 9-13 days for the beer to be bottled. At the shelf, the beer takes only 2 days after packaging. Hahn brewery does about 6-7 batches in a week, so inorder to keep production moving, multi tasking is essential. Repairs are very common, so at any given day you can find this repairs can be in process. linkages between brewery operations and operations From the theoretical point of view the distribution plan is useful because brewery managers need to have a clear and thorough understanding of concepts and techniques handled within the context of distribution engineering plan and their contribute to the success of the plant. On the other hand, if the distribution is observed in plant practically we can say that it is vitally important because through it a command and management of work areas and equipment, in order to minimize time right is achieved, space and costs, guiding managers in their task of directing the activities and ways forward and pointing out the dangers to avoid in production (Erickson, Messner, Ring, 2007). A good distribution plan is important because it prevents productive and financial failures, contributing to continuous improvement in both processes in industrial enterprises and in the service. Management should ensure that there is a quality control department which is important during operations and is critical in ensuring that quality products are produced in every stage of production. It ensures that the beer meets the standards set by the regulatory authority as well as meet consumers expectations. There is cost of quality in every manufacturing plant.There are 4 main categories of costs associated with quality, and are:Prevention costs, costs associated with reducing potentially defective products, eg training.Evaluation costs, costs related to the evaluation of products, process, eg laboratories.Internal fault resulting cost to produce defective parts before delivery to customers, for example scrap and waste.external costs, costs occurring after delivery of defective products, such goods returned (Managing resources, 2012).The first three are estimated costs reasonably but the external cost is very difficult to quantify.International Quality Standards,ISO 9000 ,It is a set of quality standards internationally recognized, developed by the International Organization for Standardization.To obtain the ISO 9000 certification, organizations go through a process of 9-18 months involves documenting quality procedures, evaluation and a series of audits of products or services. Which is very important for the brewery. A brewery uses continuous production. Processes in which the transformation of raw materials into products is carried out continuously over time. You can also include in this type of repetitive mass production processes to achieve economies of scale which is the goal of these processes (Greasley, 2008). Sustainability within the selected brewery precinct There are several factors that are considered when selecting the location of a brewery.This is to ensure that there is sustainability within the location. A brewery should be located in an area that offers tax credits, this could be an area designated by the government for industrial production purposes only. Also, due to distribution purposes, the plant should be located in an area that has high standards of infrastructure, this reduces transportation costs . Infrastructure not only helps to reduce transport cost but also helps the plant get the necessary requirement to manufacture beer. This materials include water, a waste disposal system, availability of labor, electricity among others. Localization strategy is the most efficient way of knowing where you can locate businesses. The location decision depends on the type of business. However, for a brewery we should ensure that the localization strategy is to maximize the benefit of the location for the company. Factors affecting location decisions (Forrester, 2006). These are the critical success factors needed to achieve a competitive advantages well as the sustainability of the brewery. For example: Critical success factors of a country, would be:Location of markets,Availability of supplies and communications. This enables the plant to be sustainable in all ways. Also,distribution FacilitiesDistribution strategy installations is the most efficient and effective way of knowing how you can distribute a facility so that a product quickly is provided, reducing labor and waste, this also includes machinery, furniture office, etc. For example: The distribution of offices seek to maximize the flow of information, distribution stores focus on product exposure. There is also an environmental sustainability, as manufacturing firms are expected to ensure that there is minimal pollution of the environment. Therefore, the brewery should ensure that it complies with ISO 14000 which is a standard of Environmental Management, established by the International Organization for Standardization. The ISO 14000 containes fiveimportantcomponents:environmentcontrol, auditing ,efficiencyassessment, labeling , life cycle assessment . Thechange instandardmight havea number ofpositive aspects:Aconstructivepublic image ,asoundorganizedapproach ,conformitywith regulatoryexpectationsas well aspossibilitiesfor competitive advantage andlessenedrequirements of multiple audits among others . Determination of production capacity and recommendations Thefirmneeds toevaluatethelevel ofproduction that the systemmayachievecapacityis going to bedescribedby theexpenseto be made in therelatedgoodsas well astechnical installations , influencing thedesignof therelatedcost function ,particularlyin relation toto fixed costsas well asindirect costsThe level of inventories (Greasley, 2008). The company, once established production capacity, determine the overall level of inventories that need as well as the control system and asked to renew the media and security stocks needed for the production process, as demand their characteristics. Location and distribution plant. Previous decisions lead to the need to locate and to design the processing plant (or plants). Approach is known as the technical expression of lay-out or way to distribute and acclimate physical spaces for maximum productivity and a good working environment in the operations of the company (Wacker Sheu, 2006). The implementation of the production process involves an analysis of the activities in which it develops, which, in turn, shall be composed of some tasks or jobs. The efficient performance of these requires a definition and valuation of positions, resulting design of the remuneration system and, in many cases, development of a manual of functions and labor regulations. In this way, the human factor should be integrated into the system in terms costs and to optimize performance and meet your expectations and goals. Increasing capacity For this part is convenient to introduce the concepts of capacity, activity level strategy and capacity development and its impact on the processes of planning, programming and control of production activities. This means the potential capacity of a worker, a machine, a workplace, a process, a plant or an organization for the production per unit time. Production capacity, analysis, planning, programming and control are critical activities that develop in parallel with the programming and material planning, capacity being the quantity of product designed to meet customer needs or society that can be obtained by a production unit in a given period of time. It is the volume of production that can be achieved in a given time, or the maximum speed that a system can perform in a work. It is difficult to express the capacity and production rate when diversity of products that require different levels of resources occur; for such a situation the rate of production depends on the product mix and the size of the lots, and capacity can be measured in units of resource available (Wacker Sheu, 2006).The term capacity is related to the technical and economic potential that has a system or productive organization or its structural units to participate in the development of products and / or services of a technical, rational and economically efficient manner, within a given time . Conclusion For this brewing company, capacity expansion can be done by working in shifts to increase the man hours, buying production equipment that can handle more production in a given time. The company can also improve its operations by providing training to personnel in all levels of management. 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