Students should come to class prepared to share their process flow diagrams. The discussion then can pretty much follow the discussion questions at the end of the case. First make sure the students realize the company faces capacity issues brought about by the expansion into parts manufacturing. Then move to the analysis of the flowcharts. As students begin to see the strengths and limitations of each process, you can then move on to a discussion of the interaction between market-required competitive priorities and differing process characteristics.
This, however, is a good exercise for students to be involved in, as they learn that flowcharts for even seemingly simple processes may be more difficult to develop than they thought.
Student Responses Question 1 The Millers face a changing market environment for their two product lines—molds and plastic parts—a problem that they must address. The mold market is in the mature phase. Though the number of mold orders is constant, the average number of molds per orders is decreasing. This information may imply that customers are letting Custom Molds prototype the mold design, but they are then fabricating the molds in-house once they validate the design. The plastic parts market shows a sizable increase in average order size.
Question 2 The market shift from molds to plastic parts impacts Custom Molds because of the different production process required for each product. Mold production is a job process environment with only a limited number of molds manufactured per order. This process requires highly trained and skilled workers to manufacture the molds. Plastic parts production is primarily a batch process, with characteristics of a line process, which produces small runs of similar products.
Unlike mold production, the skill level of the labor is not as high. However, both products are made to order, so there are similarities between the two, especially in terms of production scheduling. Quality, product design, and flexibility are important competitive priorities for the molds. Price and delivery are competitive factors but only as order qualifiers, not order winners. For the plastic parts, delivery and price are more important; quality and flexibility become order qualifiers.
The importance of maintaining the delivery schedule has caused many of the problems with Custom Molds production. Both production processes at Custom Molds have a great deal of slack time. For example, the company schedules two to four weeks for fabrication of molds although it takes only three to five days to make the mold. For molds, these delays are not a major factor. With assembly, the parts require an additional three days.
Generally the company waits one week for the compounds to arrive and one week lead time before producing the molds. This provides a tight schedule for the company to meet the three-week lead time for plastic parts order promising. Question 3 Alternatives for the Millers are as follows: 1. They can shift their focus to plastic parts production. This will require increasing the space dedicated to plastic parts production or adding additional space. This will also require a move away from the expediting mentality.
The use of skilled machinists to expedite parts is a waste of resources. It is likely that the delays are due to a combination of expedited orders that slow regular orders and limited capacity.
This choice will require commitment to expand resources and maintain delivery reliability. In addition, the company will need to recognize the increased importance of price competition. They can move back to the focus on molds.
However, this requires moving against the apparent trend in the industry. Price competition may become the primary factor in industry competition. However, it is unlikely they can profitably increase their business if they follow this strategy. Ivan, the waiter, has noticed a significant reduction in the size of tips, leading him to concerns about the quality of the food and service.
The characteristics of the restaurant and the process that takes place in the restaurant are described following. Students are asked to think of the characteristics of this environment that define quality to the various players, identify the implied costs of quality, and apply some of the analysis tools provided in the text. Purpose This case provides a scenario to which students can relate. Nearly every student has eaten at a small ethnic restaurant, and you can count on their collective experience to flesh out the unspoken issues presented in the case.
The students need to develop definitions and measures of quality from several perspectives and then think of how to integrate these different views. Discussion 1. The first question, asking how quality is defined, is designed to get students to think of defining quality from the perspective of the various players. At a minimum, the students should be able to describe the external customers as the patrons diners and the internal customer chain as the cook and wait staff.
Other expansions may be offered as well hostess, management, busboys, other kitchen staff, suppliers, community, etc. A partial list of factors is presented below. No doubt, your students will come up with many more characteristics that can be used to define quality.
To the external customers the diners , quality is defined by their expectations. The case does not explicitly describe all of the following but much may be inferred by the students based on their experiences with restaurants. The customers can expect any or all of the following: 1. Location and access to be in a reasonably safe, aesthetically acceptable location, to be within walking distance, have adequate parking, be served by public or other transportation.
The appearance of the facility should fit its place and purpose. Appropriate recognition on arrival greeted by the hostess, apprised of any wait, seated in an acceptable location.
Larry Meile, Boston College, as a basis for classroom discussion. Of course, determining the specific desires of each party is a particular challenge that must be met by the waiter.
Do they want to speedily complete the meal and be on their way? Or, do they prefer a leisurely paced repast? Is the party in the mood for some light banter from the waiter or do they prefer to be left alone? This may be the quality characteristic over which Ivan has the most control. Good-tasting food served in an appealing fashion taste, temperature, portion, presentation. This characteristic, if held constant, is probably most important for first-time patrons.
Repeat patrons already know what they are in for. Conformance to regulatory agency guidelines. If the restaurant is open, it is assumed that it has been inspected and passed by the appropriate regulatory agencies. The combination of all the preceding when price is factored in. To the cook, an internal customer, quality is largely related to the work environment. The raw materials are available when needed, are fresh and tasty, have good appearance, are easy to prepare perhaps even have some of the nasty tasks already completed—like prepeeled potatoes , and are consistent from purchase to purchase.
The equipment is properly suited for the task, performs reliably e. The environment is satisfactory; it is well lit and temperature controlled, coworkers and management offer respect, work load is reasonably level ideally there is no mealtime rush to contend with , working hours are acceptable, wages and benefits are competitive, salary is paid on time.
To Ivan also an internal customer , quality also relates to the workplace environment. The quality of the finished goods the meals. The meal is the one described in the menu, it is of adequate portion, it is produced in a timely fashion, it tastes good, and it has a pleasant appearance.
The serving equipment is appropriate, functional, and clean. The dishes, cups, glasses, tableware are clean and appropriate for the purpose. The tablecloth and seating area are clean and orderly. The waitstation has the appropriate equipment coffeemaker, ice and water dispenser, etc. The environment provides a place in which it is pleasant to work many of the same issues as the cook, listed earlier.
Dietary concerns are met low fat, low sodium, etc. Question two asks the students to list some of the costs of poor quality. Although specific values cannot be placed on them, conceptual sources of costs can be identified.
A short list of possible actions and costs is provided following: A. Prevention: Restaurant: Purchase better food stock dollars. Reject and reorder sub par supplies time Set and meet food preparation standards time Ivan: Cull out poorly prepared meals; ask for replacements time B. Internal failure: Restaurant: Replace or rework rejected meals time, dollars Ivan: Help the cook get an order out faster time D.
Four of the quality tools are appropriate for Question Three. Checklists are already done. Results of the customer satisfaction survey are shown in the case.
From this list a histogram or bar chart of the customer complaints can be made see Exhibit TN. The concept of nonresponse bias can be brought forth.
Maybe long-time satisfied customers figure if nothing is wrong, no reply is needed. They will simply vote with their feet and not return.
Also note that the data collected clusters the results from both first-time and returning customers. Point out to the students that a great deal of information may be lost by not reporting these results separately. Also ask the students about what information was not captured when a negative response was given to any of the customer survey questions. If they were not seated promptly, how long did they wait? If the waiter was not satisfactory, what was lacking? If the food was not enjoyable, what was the problem?
Finally, if the dining experience was not worth the cost, what needs to be changed? A cause-and-effect fishbone diagram see Exhibit TN. Recommendations Although no specific recommendations are called for, the students should be pressed to think of what Ivan can do to improve his situation. The concept of employee involvement one of the elements of the TQM Wheel can be discussed here.
This case provides a reverse view of the material discussed in the chapter. Teaching Suggestions It is effective to ask the students to read this case before the discussion of the material in the chapter. The case then can act as a common situation that can be used when lecturing on the various quality topics.
As the topics addressed by the questions at the end of the case are covered by lecture, the students can be asked to respond to them as part of the classroom discussion. If the case is used after the chapter material has been covered, it can be used as a cold- call case or it can be assigned for preparation before discussion in class. If prior preparation is done, it may be effective to have the students answer the questions by themselves and then meet as small groups to consolidate their ideas.
Yes 70 No 13 Was your waiter satisfactory? Yes 73 No 10 Were you served in a reasonable time? Yes 58 No 25 Was your food enjoyable? Yes 72 No 11 Was your dining experience worth the cost? Synopsis This case describes the problems facing a medium-sized university, Midwest University, as it tries to maintain 60 buildings on campus.
The specific problem is slow response time in completing work-order requests. The facilities maintenance area is organized, structured, and scheduled around skilled craft areas. The issue facing Sean Allen, manager of the facilities area, is how to organize and manage his personnel to reduce this poor response time. Purpose The focus of this case is to highlight the importance that job design plays in the delivery of a quality service package.
As it now stands, the facilities maintenance area at Midwest University is organized around craft functions, in much the same way most traditional organizations are organized around finance, marketing, and operations.
The problem is that the processes necessary to provide a quality service require coordination and integration across the skilled crafts. This leads to the necessity of redesigning the way work is to be completed. The issues of job design brought out in the case include: 1.
Movement from a vertical organizational structure to a multicraft team-oriented, horizontal organization 2. Use of enlargement, rotation, and enrichment as jobs are redesigned 3.
Training requirements necessary to support the new job designs 4. Chief Operating Officer COO or Vice President of Manufacturing are the titles used in the industry for operations manager supervising the whole organizations process.
In figure 1. Finance generate resources and then decide where and how to invest them and convert them into assets and material inputs. Operations transforms these inputs into outputs and then marketing is responsible for producing sales revenue of the outputs. Functions such as accounting, information systems, human resources, and engineering make the firm complete by providing essential information, services, and other managerial support. All these functions provide a strategic directions of the organization and almost all of these are essential for any organization.
James Watt invented the steam engine in and subsequently railroad facilitated efficient and fast movement of goods. With the invention of the cotton gin in , Eli Whitney introduced the concept of interchangeable parts. These developments and interchangeable machine parts ignited the industrial revolution in England, rest of the Europe, and USA.
The internal combustion engine, steam-powered ships, metallurgy of iron making, large-scale production of chemicals, and invention of machine tools, among others innovations laid the foundations of modern manufacturing.
Technological breakthroughs were also inspired by the creation of a mechanical computer by Charles Babbage in the early part of the nineteenth century. He also pioneered the concept of division of labor, which laid the foundation for scientific management of operations and supply chain management that was further improved upon by Frederick Taylor in First is the invention of the assembly line for the Model T car by Henry Ford in The era of mass production was born, where complex products like automobiles could be manufactured in large numbers at affordable prices through repetitive manufacturing.
Second, Alfred Sloan in the s introduced the idea of strategic planning for achieving product proliferation and variety, with the newly founded General Motors Corporation offering a car for every purse and purpose. Finally, with the publication of the Toyota Production System in , Taiichi Ohno laid the groundwork for removing wasteful activities from an organization, a concept that we explore further in this book while learning about lean systems.
The s were characterized by wide availability of computer aided design CAD , computer aided manufacturing CAM , and automation. Information technology applications started playing an increasingly important role in s, and started connecting the firm with its extended enterprise through Enterprise Resource Planning Systems and outsourced technology hosting for supply chain solutions.
Service organizations like Federal Ex- press, United Parcel Service UPS , and Walmart also became sophisticated users of information technology in operations, logistics, and management of supply chains.
The new millennium has seen an acceleration of this trend, along with an increased focus on sustainability and the natural environment. A process can have its own objectives, inputs, and outputs. Figure 1. Any process has inputs and outputs.
Inputs can include a combination of human resources workers and managers , capital equipment and facilities , purchased materials and services, land, and energy. Inputs can be from internal daily sales report, cooking material for cook in a restaurant or external like fuel for Deawoo customers.
Also, outputs can be for internal preparing car parts for final assembly or external customers any final products or services. Each one has inputs and uses processes at various operations to provide outputs. The dashed lines represent two special types of input: Participation by customers students participation during class discussion and Information on performance from both internal and external sources customer services, inventory levels.
A process can be divided into subprocesses as one person or one department may be unable to perform all parts of the process, or different parts of the process may require different skills. Some parts of the process may be designed for routine work while other parts may be geared for customized work. Service processes pervade the business world and have a prominent place in our discussion of operations management.
Manufacturing processes are also important; without them the products we enjoy as part of our daily lives would not exist. In addition, manufacturing gives rise to service opportunities. In general, manufacturing processes also have longer response times, are more capital intensive, and their quality can be measured more easily than those of service processes. Manufacturing processes convert materials into goods that have a physical form we call products. Physical properties 2.
Shape 3. Size e. Surface finish 5. Joining parts and materials. The outputs from manufacturing processes can be produced, stored, and transported in anticipation of future demand. Due to strategic motivations and pressures from various stakeholders, firms are adopting green supply chain management GSCM practices to extend environmental sustainability objectives to suppliers. Abstract Rau et al. Through mathematical model development, the … Expand.
View 1 excerpt, cites background. The effects of assignment policies; … Expand. Supply chain value stream mapping: a new tool of operation management. Purpose — The issue of the supply chain has been given much attention in recent decades, both in the academic arena as well as in the business world. It has become so important that organizations … Expand. Highly Influenced. View 5 excerpts, cites background. Today, companies are making efforts on inventory control enhancement in order to deliver products and services to their customers rapidly at low cost.
There is no doubt that inventory control … Expand. Modeling transportation operations in the supply chains based on JIT model. Transportation is a key logistic function, which determines the dynamic nature of material flows in logistic systems.
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