Operation Management

Name

Affiliation

Question 1

Items Previous Time Current Time

Customers 300 500

Training Cost 7000 10000

Employee Cost 10(6000)=60,000 8(6000)= 48,000

Total Expenses 67,000 98,000

Production Rate 12,333 19,600

a) Evaluate the productivity using quantitative analysis

Based on the production analysis above it is clear that the productivity increased from 12,333 to 19,600

b) Analyze the validity of your answer in a) by considering the various issues related to the productivity measurement.

This is considered because the productivity rate increased and that the number of employee reduced hence the reduction in cost of production. In addition, the number of customers increased by almost 80%. Despite the fact that the cost of training and that of the software existed it did not out way the increase in customer base which met increase in sale and revenue.

Question 2

Supplier A Supplier B Supplier C Supplier D

Research capability 10 7 6 6

Ease of cooperation 5 5 6 8

Cost of services 1 9 9 5

Quality of services 5 8 4 7

This will each be calculated by the assigned weight as below:

Supplier A Supplier B Supplier C Supplier D

Research capability 33.33 23.3 20 20

Ease of cooperation 25 25 30 40

Cost of services 5 45 45 25

Quality of services 16.6 40 13.33 23.3

Totals 79.9 133.3 108.33 108.33

Evaluate which supplier should be selected

Based on the above analysis of the suppliers it is clear that the best supplier to get from the above is supplier B. The supplier has higher score as compared to all the others based on the assigned weights offered to them.

Considering the strategy of the firm, would you change your selection in part a), why?

With respect to the differentiation strategy that the company is yet to adopt, it is clear that there is no other alternative supplier that will be selected as opposed to the one selected in a above. Supplier B is the one who can be able to work under differentiation strategy since quality of service they offer is outstanding and that they are also among those that are ease to corporate with.

Question 3

By using 2-sigma for the control limits, propose a tool to monitor future average timings of the process. (3 marks)

The best quality control limits is Pareto charts. This is because it offers the best analysis framework for the above proposed timing. The process is a long one as well as very complex hence it calls for an evaluated tool such as Pareto in order to get a reliable analysis.

b) Discuss if the process is in control. (1 mark)

The process is considered to be in control since it is able to indicate the most reliable timing for the assigned task.

c) Criticize the tool by discussing its shortcomings and how other tools can help. (2 marks)

However, the use of 2-sigma as an analysis tool has a lot to be considered. It has various shortcomings. One of the short coming is that it does not offer reliable risk deviations as compared to other quality tools. Therefore other tools are able to offer relevant error as well as risk variables that could be considered valuable for the study above.

Question 4

a) Discuss how the quality strategy will focus on increasing revenue versus reducing production costs

Once the company is able to beef up the quality of its products, there comes increase of sales hence the revenue of the company will definitely increase in order to meet the current needs and demands of the organization. On the other hand, the production costs of the company will also reduce because most of the client will get their products first hand and this will reduce the cost of transportation or distribution (Slack, Chambers & Johnston, 2010). Likewise, the production costs will be reduced as quality of the products will hinder the company from having recall of products. Thus, quality strategy is the right step towards the company’s success.

b) Provide examples on how the company can use 4 TQM tools to improve their quality

The first tool that the company can use it brainstorming. It is able to use the tool to increase quality as team members of be able to think creatively to get quality management solutions. The second is using of flowcharts; the company will be able to design flow chats to be able to monitor the production process hence make sure all the steps in the process meet its quality goals. The third is using focus groups in order to get the right preferences of the customers. The last is using Pie chats to get the right data analysis in order to compare current quality and other years.

c) Discuss their inspection strategy by considering their priority on where to inspect and purpose the inspection has

The inspection strategy is here to make sure that the products are able to meet the intended standards. This is done to have an end product that is quality preferred by the clients.

References

Slack, N., Chambers, S., & Johnston, R. (2010). Operations management. Pearson Education.