Operations Management

August 10th, 2017

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Operations ManagementOutline4Abstract ..6Mission7Products7Markets7Customers 8Value8Role of Christianity..8Supply chain.9Innovation..11Six Sigma13Capacity management.15Monitoring and controlling17Lean operation18Project management19Enterprise Resource Planning .21Annotated Bibliography.22References .30Appendices 32AbstractThe paper evaluates a company that manufactures an electric-driven car by examining its mission, vision, products, customers, markets, value and its relevance to Christianity. Concepts such as supply chain, innovation, lean operations, capacity management, monitoring and controlling, six sigma, project management and Enterprise Resource Planning have been explored and related to the company. The paper also analyzes different authors and their works, which are related to concepts analyzed. Each work is written as an annotated bibliography, and its relevance to the concepts discussed in the paper given. After each concept is analyzed, the importance of the concepts to Christianity of concepts related to the religion is explored.nThe companys mission is to produce and supply motor vehicles that utilize electricity as a source of energy. The organization is guided by the principles of environmental conservation that requires companies to create products that have the least negative consequences to the environment.The organization manufactures automobiles for various uses. There are various vehicles within the companys product lines that serves diverse customer needs. The company has vehicles used by the customers for luxury. These include sports and personal cars. To take care of the commercial needs of the community, the company manufactures passenger and cargo automobiles. The basic principle that the vehicles share is that they utilize electricity, which is a clean and sustainable energy source. The companys products from those of competitors because most of the competitors products utilize oil as their source of energy. Despite being costly to produce electricity-driven vehicles, the company manufactures them with the aim of differentiating its products from those of competitors.The company serves various market segments, which are distinguished by the ability of the customer to pay the price for the product. The organization serves the standard and premium market segments. Geographically, it targets both local and international markets. The standard market segment consists of medium income earning customers seeking vehicles for convenient transport. On the other hand, the premium segment consists of high end customers who are willing to pay higher prices for vehicles that depict their class and prestige.The external customers who purchase products from the company are environmentally conscious citizens with a passion environmental sustainability. These customers are willing to pay extra money for products that promise to preserve the wellbeing of the environment. Internal customers are the organizations employees and stakeholders. They are essential to the company because their tastes and preferences reflect the populations from which they come. Having them helps the company to understand its external customers better and create products that target their needs.The value I add to the company is strengthening its organizational culture, which is based on integrity, transparency and service to mankind. Being in charge of the culture implementation and ethical policy formulation, my activities are crucial to the companys core business. An organizational culture emphasizes the values that guide an organization in its operations. Ensuring that the organizational culture is consistent with the business model of the organization creates confidence in the companys customers. Customers appreciate organizations that conduct their operations in accordance to their philosophies and valuesAccording to Christianity, people continue with the creation that God started at the beginning. People should, therefore, care for what God created because it is divine. Destroying the environment by using dirty energy sources disrespects the things that God created. Christianity has played a crucial role within the organization in shaping the policies that govern ethics and integrity. The organizations concern for the environment is based on the Christian values. For instance, the decision to start manufacturing vehicles that utilize electricity was motivated by the creation story in Genesis. When God created the earth and all the creatures, He appreciated them by acknowledging that they were good. To continue promoting Gods perception on the creation, the company decided to create a business model that underscores the importance of taking care of the environment.Supply chain management refers to the process through which various activities meant to deliver value to the customers and create competitive advantage are managed (Sarkis, 2012). Supply chain management is an essential activity, especially for the manufacturing organizations because it determines their competitiveness and efficiency in delivering products and services the customers. Supply chain activities include material supply, production, packaging, distribution, storage and information flow. Until recently, many organizations concentrated their efforts on activities that only took part within their organizations. They neglected coordinating other partners in the supply chain. Such neglect can cause serious problems, which may hinder value delivery to the client.Supply chain management addresses challenges related to distribution, logistical activities trade-offs, inventory management, information sharing, cash flow and distribution strategy (Atilgan and McCullen, 2011). For an organization to focus on its core competencies, it needs to reduce its control on the raw material ownership and distribution channels. Since an organization cannot function without a properly managed supply chain, this function is outsourced to professionals. The importance of outsourcing is that the outsourced firm can perform the function at a lower cost and more efficiently than the firm outsourcing. The more an organization outsources its supply chain management, the more likely it is to lose touch with crucial activities. To prevent such a scenario, a firm should improve collaboration and information sharing with all the parties involved in the supply. An improvement in trust among partners in the supply chain can increase the speed of inventory movement and visibility. When an organization has entered the international market, the more complex the supply chain becomes. To keep track of all the activities within the supply chain, an organization requires total organization of its whole value chain. Moreover, organizations have recently exploited the existence of supply chain management software to maintain visibility of the entire networks activities. As the complexity of supply chain increases, organizations have created new ways of remaining in control of all the activities. To achieve this objective, each supply chain partner is allocated a specific strategic task. By dividing the various tasks, each partner is answerable on the progress of their tasks.Given that the electricity-driven car is becoming famous among people all over the world, its production and distribution will become complex as the target market increases. This complexity will require proper management and monitoring through a supply chain management. Supply chain management will ensure that the quality of the product is maintained through a well-coordinated value chain. The demand of the vehicle has increased because of its perceived value. To maintain the current demand and create more, the company will require a supply chain that pays attention to details while maintaining high speed delivery of products to the consumers. To implement a superior supply chain, the organization needs to identify strategic partners with the right characteristics and capabilities to enhance value for the clients. Once the partners are identified, a clear communication channel should be established. This will ensure that changes in the chain are promptly communicated and action taken immediately.A properly managed supply chain ensures that the products reach a large number of people across the world. The electric car is a product that aims to sustain the environment the way God intended it to be. By having an efficient supply chain, the concept of conserving nature as God planned is taken to a large number of people. Destruction of the environment through pollution causes global warming which leads to melting of glaciers and submerging of islands. Such activities cause suffering of people living on islands. Since God did not intend people to suffer, supplying the electric car to large markets in the world through a coordinated supply chain reduces chances of suffering.Innovation refers to the application of improved solutions to meet new requirements and needs (Shavinina, 2013). From a business perspective, innovation may mean new solutions to existing problems or novel ways of satisfying customer needs. Innovation can be realized by increasing the efficiency of processes, technologies, products or services. Innovation in different sectors ignites growth and development. Positive changes in productivity, market share, efficiency and competitiveness can trigger innovation in an organization. Innovation only becomes beneficial to people when turned into products. Recent studies have shown that excellent organizational structures have contributed to innovation by enabling employees to convert innovative ideas into products.According to Chesbrough (2013), innovation can occur from a variety of sources, which include chance, focused effort or from a system failure. The simplest model of innovation identifies manufacturers as the source of innovation. Shavinina (2013) asserts that end-user innovation is the most critical type of innovation. It is created by organizations for their internal use after the existing products fail to meet their needs. Certain conditions need to exist for innovation to take place. These include an identified need, people with relevant technological competence and financial resources. Once these conditions are met, a favorable environment for innovation is created. In the business sector, innovation is mainly achieved through research and development. The research may focus on customer needs from existing product consumption. Once the customer feedback is incorporated into research, better means of satisfying their needs are created.To the electric-car manufacturing company, innovation is a highly beneficial aspect. The creation of the car was a result of intensive research and development. Since the company produced its first electric car, early adopter started imitating the technology and modifying it. The competitive advantage gained through the manufacture of the car may be lost when a new electric car with better features is produced by competitors. Therefore, continuous innovation is required so that the company can continue leading in products that utilize clean energy. One aspect of organizations that has facilitated innovation is organizational culture. It defines the values and relationships among people working in an organization. An organization with a healthy organizational culture that allows free communication and interaction provides a conducive environment for innovation. Therefore, the car manufacturing company should ensure that the organizational culture empowers employees think and act creatively. To achieve maximum innovation, the organization should operate as an open system that interacts with its external environment. This way, the organization will learn about trends in the market and increase its internal competencies to remain ahead of competitors.All knowledge is divine and God wanted people to have the knowledge to improve their lives for the glory of his name. Since innovation involves discovering new knowledge or using existing knowledge to create new products and services, it falls within Gods plan for mankind. When new products and processes are created through innovation, people become happy and are able to express their love to others since their lives become less burdensome. Therefore, innovation propagates Gods love for humankind through the improvement of their living standards.Six Sigma is a measure of quality that focuses on reducing defects in processes to a near perfected state (Pyzdek, 2010). It was developed by Motorrola corporation, but has been adopted by different organizations. Sigma six is data-driven methodology and approach that reduces defects in a process and incorporate the human human aspects in achieving organizations bottom line results. The quality measure insists that achievement of predictable and stable process results in a continuous manner is crucial to business success. Since manufacturing organizations have elements that can be controlled, measured, analyzed and improved, using six sigma can perfect the manufacturing process and reduce defects. The defect reduction mechanism saves costs for the organization and improve customers through high quality products. For an organization to successfully implement sigma six, there are roles that must be played by various internal stakeholders.The executive leadership of an organization plays the most important role in the implementation of six sigma (George, 2013). The leadership sets the vision for the implementation of sigma six. Moreover, it provides other members of the organization with the resources and freedom to explore novel ideas for improvement. The next role required for the implementation of the quality model is that of companion. Champions are mandated to coordinate the implementation of six sigma across the entire organization.The next role that must be played is that of master black belts. They are chosen by champions and are responsible for internal coaching related to six sigma. The role of master black belts is to help Champions and guide black belts. This role is totally devoted to the implementation of six sigma. Down the structure are the black belts who are charged with the responsibility of six sigma execution in identified projects. They provide leadership in special tasks. Although other organizations may have yellow, white and orange belts, the standard six sigma model ends with Green belts. Employees at this level have responsibility for the actual implementation of six sigma model. One of the guiding principles for an efficient implementation of six sigma is the collaboration of all employees in an organization.The implementation of of six sigma in the organization manufacturing the electric car is beneficial from various aspects. First, the improvement of quality by reducing defects will increase the cars efficiency and attractiveness to customers. Secondly, continuous reduction of defects will create an identity for the company, thereby improving its brand image. The cost of production will go down, which may increase the companys profitability.To implement this model, the electric car manufacturing company needs to have a commitment from its leadership. This commitment will ensure that the required resources are allocated to the implementation. In addition, the communication process up and down the organizational structure must be flawless to ensure that coordination is carried out effectively.When God put man in charge of his creation, he knew that there was a need for responsibility to be assigned to ensure commitment to the tasks. He therefore, put Adam in charge so that his orders could have a custodian. The implementation of six sigma reflects Gods working strategies that for something to be implemented, people need to be given authority and responsibility. The implementation of the model places responsibility on several people. Gods plan was was men to take responsibility of their lives and make choices that will affect their lives. The freedom given to the different employees in all the levels during the six sigma implementation mirrors Gods plan to set men free and empower them to make powerful decisions about the direction of their lives.Capacity management is the process through which a facilitys output rate can be established and managed to ensure a smooth operation (Blokdijk and Menken, 2011). In a manufacturing organization, capacity management is critical to the success of the organization. Managing the capacity of a facility can increase its effectiveness and reduce wastage of materials, space and time. For this process to be effective, an organization must determine the maximum output of a facility at an ideal environment. Once this is established, any output at a given time will be compared the maximum capacity. The process of managing a facilitys capacity affects many aspects of a given organization. For instance, the capacity of a manufacturing firm must be determined while considering the human resources required to maintain maximum output. Therefore, the number of employees and the number of hours they are required to spend at work are impacted by capacity management activities. In addition, the budget of an organization is influenced by factors arising from the management process. Capacity is not a fixed feature of an organization. Changes within the environment can demand either an increase or decrease of capacity. Decisions related to capacity management can lead capacity purchase wholesomely or chunk by chunk as environmental forces dictate. Overcrowding of a facility can lead to systems failure and reduction in efficiency.Capacity management is an indispensable aspect of the electric car manufacturing firm (Grummitt, 2010). The manufacturing firm needs to managed such that the resources of the company are maximized to fetch the highest possible returns. A properly managed facility within the organization has several benefits. First, there is no wastage of resources, which translates to good environmental conservation. Secondly, the labor of the firm is utilized so that the costs of hiring employees are economically justifiable. Moreover, efficient facility management can increase the output of fixed assets at a rate higher than their depreciation. Therefore, capacity management ensures proper usage of resources and maximum output from the resources available. The organization can gain competitive advantage from maximizing on its capacity management. The electric car manufacturing company can implement effective capacity management by using facts supported by justifiable figures. These facts can be collected during the work process or through an internal research. From a Christian perspective, the concept of capacity management can be understood from the laws God gave the Israelites. They were to work on the land for six years and then they would let the land rest on the seventh year. This was to prevent the depletion of soil nutrients by overworking the soil. Therefore, God requires proper use of the resources so that they can be sustainable.The process of management starts with setting goals and them directing both resources and activities to achieve the objectives (Bonomo et al., 2012). Achieving the set goals requires an organization to perform its activities in a certain way and using a set of tools and techniques. Although goals are set, and the means of achieving them established, things dont always turn out as planned. Changes take place because of unforeseen circumstances, which may delay or deviate the organization from its path to success. As such, monitoring and controlling becomes an integral part of any organization. Monitoring is the process through which organizations keep track of activities and behaviors in their organizations. Monitoring takes place using performance indicators that are set during policy formulation (Knopfel, 2012). These indicators are used as parameters to determine whether an organization is on the path of achieving its goals. Successful monitoring involves comparing the actual results with the expectation. When the results meet expectations or exceed them, no action is required but appraisal of the good progress to those responsible. However, when there is a deviation from the expectations, action needs to be taken. At this point, controlling takes charge. Controlling is the process of inhibiting further deviation by containing the factors causing the deviation.The process of monitoring and controlling is very essential to the electric car manufacturer. Any deviation from the plan may cause damage to the users the products through accidents or breakdowns. The safety of the product is a crucial factor that influences the buying behaviors of customers in the automobile industry. Therefore, defects must be identified and rectified before the final product is manufactured. The company can implement these processes by creating parameters for performance. once the procedures of production are determined, the organization can monitor and control the activities and processes using the guidelines of the performance indicators. The priority of the company should be the safety of the customers and the efficiency of the vehicles. Showing such concern through monitoring and controlling is consistent with the Biblical teachings of loving others. When customers decide to purchase the electric driven car, they trust the company that manufactured it with their lives. The organization must love the customers as they love their business by ensuring that its products keep the customers out of harms way.Lean operations refer to manufacturing operations that operates with minimum wastes, which makes them efficient (Huntzinger, 2013). From a lean manufacturing perspective, operations in an organization should only involve activities that create value for the customer. Any activity that has no value to the customer is eliminated from the process. The reason for eliminating such activities is based on the view that the customer only pays for the value derived from the product. Therefore, the organization should only incur costs that can be recovered from the sales of the product. The concept was adopted by Japanese companies such as Toyota, which has become the leading automaker in the world. Effective implementation of lean production standards requires gradual and continuous improvement of processes.Since the electric vehicle company is in the manufacturing industry, it can benefit immensely from implementing lean operations in its manufacturing. Companies that have implemented these standards have been able to acquire and retain markets without fear of competitors. The company can be able to implement the lead manufacturing standard by identifying the most efficient processes within its supply chain. The identification can be deliberate through monitoring and control until the ideal production capacity and output are identified. The benefits the company will gain by adopting lean production is that it will experience reduced costs. This reduction will arise from the non-value adding processes that are done away with. Once the company focuses on quality improvement, lean manufacturing concepts and standards will fall into place. Creating an organizational culture that is customer-based is crucial in attaining lean manufacturing capabilities. The whole organization must be focused on quality as a source of customer satisfaction. In addition, the company must invest intensively in technology because high quality is associated with cutting-edge technology. For instance, Toyota has a quality monitoring system that promptly identifies defects at any stage of the manufacturing process. Irrespective of the stage of production, once a defect is identified, the whole production stops and the problem is addressed. Production is then re-started. This means that Toyotas products are reliable in terms of quality due to the high quality standards associated with the company. The concept of wastage has been addressed in the Bible. When Jesus fed people using loaves of bread and fish, whatever was left was never thrown away, but rather, it was collected. This means that God hates wastage of resources because he put effort into creating it. Using lean production teaches people about Gods attributes of conservation and his will for people to maximize their efforts, but conservatively.Organizations have strategic goals which lead to the realization of its mission and vision (Mann, 2010). These goals are long-term and require daily inputs from the organizational resources. The strategic goals are further broken down to short-term goals that are realized over a short span of time. Long-term goals takes more than five years to get realized. Employees working on the goals need motivation, which comes from achieving the short-term goals. The combination of these two types of goals leads to the realization of an organizations vision and mission. The short term goals are realized by managing several projects in an organization. The effective management of these projects can lead to innovation and the creation of new competencies. A project may be internal, which means that only employees of an organization are involved in its implementation. However, there are large projects that require an organization to hire experts to implement. Depending on the complexity of the projects, their management can be strenuous to an organization (Lock, 2010). A manufacturing project usually has a research and development department. This department is involved in several projects that aim to enhance the performance of an organization. For instance, an organization can undertake to develop a new technology that will enhance performance and quality of products, thereby increasing the organizations competitiveness. The main benefit of project management is that it leads to innovation and creation of new competencies. The electric car company, being a manufacturing organization requires proper management of projects, in order to retain its edge over competitors. Projects are demanding in terms of completion time, financial resources and quality. This calls for increased efficiency in handling projects because failure can lead to massive losses in terms of finances and time. For the company to implement projects effectively, the internal environment must be conducive. The organizational culture must be supportive of collaboration and information sharing (Cleland, 2010). This enables free flow of information, which is crucial to the success of an organization. From the biblical context, our lives were meant to be made up of different aspects. For instance, we have a spiritual and bodily needs that must be fulfilled in our lives to be full. God created these aspects and expected people to pursue them to enjoy the fullness of life. Therefore, learning about projects and their management can enhance peoples understanding of their lives composition.This is a cross-functional system that enables an organization to have a real time view of all its business processes (Parthasarathy, 2010). The system is supported by software that ensures a clear view of processes such as production, inventory management and order processing are integrated and stored in a database. This system can be a useful management too because leaders of an organization can track resources and business commitments irrespective of the departments within the organization (Zaveri, 2011). ERP has evolved to levels that allow an organization to run two software at the same time. This is known as two-tier ERP system. One of the software is used at the corporate level of an organization while the other is used at the subsidiary or division level. Using this system is a source of competitive advantage because it brings together dispersed systems together, ensuring that decisions are based on a holistic view of the entire organization.The electric manufacturing company can benefit immensely from using this system because it has many processes that influence decision making. Integrating these processes helps the management to to base their decisions on crucial information. The company needs to understand its internal processes and how they relate to each other. This can help its managers to choose the right ERP to implement. Therefore, an internal audit all all the crucial process should be done before implementing ERP. Christians view the world as a self-sustaining system whose every part has a function of the common good. This is the same with ERP because it integrates many related parts of a system to achieve one essential goal. Learning how ERP works resonate with the way God created different parts of the universe to serve his goal of sustaining life on earth.Sarkis, J. (2012). A boundaries and flows perspective of green supply chain management, Supply Chain Management. , 17 (2), 202 216.Sarkis, who is a professor at Clark University provides a framework for understating practices related to managing sustainable supply chains. The article aims to provide managers in various industries with insights on how to manage supply chains sustainably. The article is useful because it expands on the use of sustainable practices, which are being evaluated within the paper. The models used in the article provide the theoretical basis upon which supply chain practices can be based. Given the experience of the author, the information contained in the journal can be used authoritatively to support decisions related to supply chain management.Atilgan, C., & McCullen, P. (2011). Improving supply chain performance through auditing: a change management perspective. , 16 (1), 11 19.The writers of the article are professional lecturers from different universities, teaching supply chain management. The aim of the article is to analyze supply chain management from the information and employees perspective. The information in this paper is credible because the author is a renowned lecturer who keep pace with emerging trends. The views provided expounds on the importance of information dissemination and the role of employees in the supply chain management. The importance of this article to the paper is that it highlights the importance of communication and feedback within a supply chain. In comparison to the above article, it deviates from sustainability and focuses on increased value, adding more diversity to the paper.Shavinina, L.V. (2013). New York: Elsevier.Shavinina works in the administration department in Quebec University. The author highlights how innovation takes place and the factors that influence it. The knowledge provided by the book is crucial to this paper because it will provide a new perspective of analyzing innovation. The author emphasizes on the importance of the internal organizational environment towards achieving innovation. The book highlights that although external factors of an organization affect innovation, the internal environmental factors determine how well an organization becomes innovative. The book is useful to this paper because it provides information on the sources of innovation, which help to enhance recommendations to the company being reviewed.Chesbrough, H.W. (2013). Cambridge: Harvard Business Press.Chesbrough works as an assistant professor at Harvard Business School in the technology and operations management department. This means that he keeps at par with the latest trends in the innovation sector. In contrast with Shavinina, Chesbrough evaluates innovation from an open systems approach. Innovation in this book is evaluated from the external environment of a firm. One essential factor discussed in this book is that organizations that operate as open systems innovate faster than those that function as closed systems. This is because they interact with their external environment. The contrast between the two books ensures a holistic approach to innovation, which enriches the paper.Pyzdek, T. (2010). London: McGraw-Hill.The author is a quality consultant to many companies such as Ford, Boeing Satellite Systems and McDonalds. The experience has given him immense knowledge, which he shares in this book. He evaluates the six sigma model from a practical approach and provides professional recommendation on various issues affecting its implementation. The book details the stages through which the six sigma model can be implemented in an organization and success factors. From a practical approach, the author also highlights the factors that have led to implementation failure. The information provided by the b

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