...1.0 Introduction An objective of writing this report is to identity and analyzes operation system applied in IKEA, the well-known low cost yet high quality home of furnishing. Function, process and strategy of IKEA operation system will be accessed to identity the core competency that lead to the successfulness of IKEA in the world. Besides, other purpose in complete this report is to analyze the strength and weakness of operation system in IKEA. Operation management is procedure where processes of production or deliver goods and services is being monitoring and managing. Operations management is the activity of managing the resources which produce and deliver products and services (Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2010). Operations management is important because without a proper operations management, an organization will unable to transform their knowledge, information, skill and resources to produce products or service in order to add value and satisfaction to their consumers to generate profits. 1.1 Background of IKEA IKEA, an internationally well-known Swedish home of furnishing, started its operation in 1943, by founder - Ingvar Kamprad. It is the largest Swedish home furnishing retailer and designer in the world. IKEA is very famous with it low price concept where they produce and offer well-designed and functional home furnishing products at price as low as possible with variety of choices. They target to sell their brand to as many as possible of consumer who afford...
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...Operations Management:IKEA IKEA’s BUSINESS IDEA (www.ikea.com): “We shall offer a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them." Introduction At the outset, it may be useful to characterise IKEA in terms of the characteristics of demand (also known as the four Vs, see Slack et al. p 20). First, IKEA is clearly a high volume operation – as indeed most international retailers are – which lends to systematising operations but which implies capital intensive processes and therefore cost considerations will be crucial. Second, IKEA offers a large number of products (up to 14000 depending on the country/store) so there is high variety in the production process which not only leads to the need for complex and flexible processes but also entails high unit costs. Third, variation in demand will however be low, or at the least predicable (holiday periods for example) so advanced planning is possible which eliminates the need to set resources aside as a “capacity cushion” for unexpected demand. Lastly, IKEA – again as most retailers – have high process visibility, or in other words display a high degree of direct customer experience, which underlines the importance of dedicating sufficient attention to the shopping experience in all its facets. In what follows, and in line with the questions for this TMS, the implications of the five performance objectives to IKEA will be examined...
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...Business Behavior Chapter 2 Effective Operations Management * Read IKEA Case (page 13 – 14): The key point of this case is why IKEA is able to survive and succeed? - It certainly keeps a very tight control of its costs. - It understands its market and how it can serve the needs of its customers. - The products it designs and sells must be regarded by its customers as representing outstanding value for money. - The way it organizes the delivery of its services within its stores. All are engaged in operations management. * Important Definitions: - The Operations Function, it is the arrangement of resources which is devoted to the production of its goods and services, and could be called in other organizations as operation system. - Operations Managers, are the staff who are responsible for managing some or all the resources which compromise the operation function and they are given different titles according to the function of the organization such as 'fleet manager' for distribution company or 'administrative manager' in hospitals an so on. - Operation management, it is used for the activities, decisions and responsibilities of operation manager. OPERATIONS IN THE ORGANIZATION * Operation function is an important function but it is not the only one in any organization. Organizations are divided into three major functions beside operation: - The marketing function. - The accounting and finance function. - The product/service development...
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...Key operations questions Chapter 1 Operations management ➤ What is operations management? ➤ Why is operations management important in all types of organization? ➤ What is the input–transformation– output process? ➤ What is the process hierarchy? ➤ How do operations processes have different characteristics? ➤ What are the activities of operations management? Chapter 2 Operations performance ➤ Why is operations performance important in any organization? ➤ How does the operations function incorporate all stakeholders’ objectives? ➤ What does top management expect from the operations function? ➤ What are the performance objectives of operations and what are the internal and external benefits which derive from excelling in each of them? ➤ How do operations performance objectives trade off against each other? Chapter 3 Operations strategy ➤ What is strategy and what is operations strategy? ➤ What is the difference between a ‘top-down’ and a ‘bottom-up’ view of operations strategy? ➤ What is the difference between a ‘market requirements’ and an ‘operations resources’ view of operations strategy? ➤ How can an operations strategy be put together? Part One INTRODUCTION This part of the book introduces the idea of the operations function in different types of organization. It identifies the common set of objectives to which operations managers aspire in order to serve their customers, and it explains how operations can have an important strategic role. Chapter 1 Operations...
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...Welcome to OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT Operations Management is important, exciting, challenging, and everywhere your look! Important, because it’s concerned with creating all of the products and services upon which we depend. Exciting, because it’s at the centre of so many of the changes affecting the world of business. Challenging, because the solutions that we find need to work globally and responsibly within society and the environment. And everywhere, because every service and product that you use – the cereal you eat at breakfast, the chair you sit on, and the radio station you listen to while you eat – is the result of an operation or process. Our aim in writing Operations Management is to give you a comprehensive understanding of the issues and techniques of operations management, and to help you get a great final result in your course. Here’s how you might make the most of the text: ● Get ahead with the latest developments – from the up-to-the-minute Operations in practice features in every chapter to the focus on corporate social responsibility in the final chapter – these put you at the cutting edge. ● Use the Worked examples and Problems and applications to improve your use of key quantitative and qualitative techniques, and work your way to better grades in your assignments and exams. ● Follow up on the recommended readings at the end of each chapter. They’re specially selected to enhance your learning and give you an edge in your course...
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...and operations, but the interrelationship between this function and other functions of the organization such marketing, finance and human resources. As a company grows, no one person can do everything. There are different areas of activity that take different styles or knowledge. Production and operations will not be complete without successful mobilization and application of financial resources towards the production activity. At the same time, organizations must also ensure that the output of production is conveyed successfully to the target customer through effective marketing. Finance ties all departments together with monetary measurements that tell whether the organization is making money. They also regulate the acquisition of funds to keep the business going on, and investing money received wisely. Sales and Marketing are usually lumped together into a group that focuses on maintaining and attracting customers to the company's products and services. Other functional areas that might interface with production and operations to make the organization successful include the following sections: Research and Development, Transportation, Information Services, Security, Medical, Government Relations and Training. QUESTION TWO: a) Operations strategy Operations strategy is the development of a long-term plan for using the major resources of the firm for a high degree of compatibility between these resources and the firm’s long term corporate strategy. Operations strategy...
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...the ability for our services to eliminate or decrease inconsistencies associated with sticking to a workout schedule. Onsite services decreases the level of motivation needed to gather one’s self and commuting to the area local gym. People aim to locate ease in processes they consider the hardest to do or maintain. With that being said, I believe it is very rational and profitable to pursue this venture in this industry. I will leverage this OM topic with a focus angled to my capstone project that will deal with the following key elements: • Workforce scheduling • Capacity planning • Quality management and process improvement • Trends in Healthcare (very important) • Inventory management I believe that by focusing on these core elements in relation to Health Care processes, I will be able to mitigate any potential risk situations that I may experience during the operation process of Right Here Chiseled Sessions (RHCS) and thus avoid any potential hiccups my firm may experienced during day to day business processing and ultimately decrease profit reduction scenarios. According to Jacobs & Chase, “Health care as a service is characterized by...
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...Running head: UNIT 1 Global Operations Management Unit 1 Global Operations Management Discussion Board MGMT 415-1103B-04 Instructor: Alfred Siu Christi Kerr AIU Online Unit 1 Global Operations Management Managing global operations have never been easy. However; managing global operations correctly shows in the bottom line in the company. There are many things that have changed global operations such as communications, transportation and cutting cost (Heizer 2012). The first example of a global operation that demonstrates a global management approach is the most familiar of all is Wal-Mart. They went international when they opened Sam’s Club near Mexico in 1991 and two years later Wal-Mart International was created. Wal-Mart has created stores with different formats and styles to fit their customers for each store in each country. Wherever Wal-Mart is located each store shares a common goal which is to save people money so they can live better. Today there are 5,236 stores and more than 730,000 associates in 14 countries outside the US (walmartinternationa.com). The second one is Hershey’s Chocolate Company and they are located in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, China, Korea and Japan. Hershey’s is committed to dealing fairly and ethically with all parties and at all points of the value chain and work hard to ensure the responsible and sustainability sourcing of raw materials and the safest possible processing of those materials and they do this for each and every plant...
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...USING TEAMS IN PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS MAY 13, 2012 Facts In this case study, I have been asked to research a leading manufacturer or a major retail or restaurant business. Analyze the company’s production and operations management system and evaluate the use of teams in its production and operations management. 1. Describe a major global corporation: (1) a leading manufacturer or (2) a major retail or restaurant business. Describe the type of business, market share, financials, size, and global presence; 2. Describe the company’s production or operations management; 3. Describe and evaluate the company’s use of teams in production and operations management; 4. Analyze and evaluate the company’s ability to adjust to a major economic, environmental, or natural crisis (such as the real estate crash, financial crisis, nuclear meltdown, hurricane, flood, oil spill, etc.) and communicate effectively with their employees and customers about issues caused by the crisis. Analysis Describe a major global corporation: (1) a leading manufacturer or (2) a major retail or restaurant business. Describe the type of business, market share, financials, size, and global presence. In this scenario, I am going to address the above mentioned topic, regarding describing a major global restaurant business. The restaurant business that I am going to discuss is the McDonalds Corporation. McDonalds for the past decade has lead the fast food industry...
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...Operations management can be defined as the planning, scheduling, and control of the activities that transform inputs into finished goods and services. In other words, it is ‘a field of study that focuses on the effective planning , scheduling, use, and control of a manufacturing or service organisation through the study of concepts from design engineering, industrial engineering, and management information systems, quality management, production management, accounting, and other functions as the affect the operation. Operations management concerns making the most efficient use of whatever resources an organisation to provide the finished goods or services that its customer need on time and cost effective manner. Operations management is related with the strategy of the organisation. In this coursework, we will demonstrate the relationship between the operations management and the strategy of the organisation with the help of a corporate entity. The corporate entity chosen is McDonald's Corporation. McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of fast-food restaurants. The business began in 1940, with a restaurant opened by siblings Dick and Mac McDonald in San Bernardino, California. Today McDonald's restaurants are found in 120 countries and around the world and serve nearly 54 million customers each day. Product Planning Organisations exist to provide products and services which can be purchased by other organisations or an individual. Therefore planning of products...
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...Running Head: PRODUCTION AND OPERATION MANAGEMENT Production and Operation Management of Toyota Introduction In today’s fast moving economy, every organization needs to change their production and operation and provide effective products and services to the customers according to their needs and demands. This paper discusses the operation and production management system of Toyota and the use of teams in production and operation management. This paper also discusses the ability of Toyota to adjust the crisis. Toyota Motor Corporation Toyota is a leading car manufacture company in the world. Headquarter of Toyota is in Japan. The company deals in luxury cars, trucks and cabs and in recent year, company launched its hybrid car called “Prius” for the customers in the market. Toyota covers major shares in the market and ranked on number one in the year of 2010 with 8.6 million units produce globally. The market share of Toyota in FY 2011 is 11.5 percent (Bloomberg, 2011). The net revenue of Toyota in 2011 is $ 229.06 billion. The market capitalization of Toyota is $ 212.60 billion (Yahoo Finance, 2011). Company has the global presence and introduces new products and segment cars according to the needs and demand of the customers and market conditions of a country. Company operates their business in all five continents and has 77 manufacturing companies in 27 countries of the world, which produce different luxury and segment cars, trucks etc. and the components...
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...HEI stocks and sells over 22,000 different items. Most customers receive their orders within 48 hours, and all components are warranted for a full year. Statement of the Problem: The HEI wanted to expand the business including the Web-based purchasing which the board felt that it is needed to offer on-line purchasing to its customers in order to maintain its competitive position in the market. Objective: This study explored the perceptions about Hightone Electronics, Inc. The study tried to assess the expansion activity of the company. To further discuss the idea of expanding the company to Web-based purchasing in order to maintain the competitive position in the market. To assist the board and the management in understanding that Internet-based operations management is critical to the success of the business and it requires...
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...group of logically related files that stores data and the association among them is called database. To be able to analysis these files, software must be provided. For an operation management major, they must be allowed to access organizational data to determine optimum inventory, knowledge of scheduling their employees, access to ordering product for the store needs, and access to reports to obtain labor and cost control (Rainer Jr. 2011). There are many organizations that use database to operate their business. Microsoft, Access, DB2, and Oracle are a few database applications available to effectively absorb data. Microsoft is user friendly. It provides the user with the necessary tools to run a successful business. One organization that uses Microsoft is Arby’s. The operational manager at Arby’s organization is responsible for many positions in this company. They must be able to make a schedule, order product, provide reports, and control operations. With Microsoft application, the operational manager is capable of performing his or her duties. Microsoft provide applications for Arby’s organization called menu link and aloha. Menu link is an application to help the operational manager provide cost and labor reports. The labor management uses POS data to store sales in order to make a schedule. The operation manager inputs the amount of sales use for each day to receive a guideline for how much labor to use for the week. This information is saved and sent to the schedule spread...
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...Nottingham Castle 2 2.1 The layout of Nottingham Castle 2 2.2 The characteristics of the operation in terms of Input 5 2.3 The characteristics of the operation in terms of Output 5 2.4 The characteristics of the operation in terms of 4Vs 6 3. The London Zoo 7 3.1 The general introduction of London Zoo 7 3.2 Outline the characteristics of London Zoo operation on input, output and 4Vs. 8 3.3 Quality performance being affected by input, output and 4Vs 9 4. Problems and recommendations 10 5. Conclusion 10 Reference 11 1. Introduction Every organization has its own operating system. In this report, it will compare and contrast the operation management in two places – the Nottingham Castle and the London Zoo. Firstly, it will give the general layout and process of Nottingham Castle and London Zoo. Secondly, analyse the three main aspects’ characteristic deeply: input, output and 4 Vs in Nottingham Castle, and then compare with London Zoo. In the last part, finding some problems and giving recommendations at London Zoo or Nottingham Castle, and discuss the solution. One thing needs to be mentioned: Because Museum and Art Gallery plays an important role in Nottingham Castle, it’s the core attractive place. In this report, it will be analysing those aspects based on the Museum and Art Gallery, it is the symbol of Nottingham Castle that can respond the whole operation very well in Nottingham Castle. 2. The Nottingham Castle Nottingham Castle is located in Nottingham...
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... Your Answer: The operations function Correct Answer: The accounting and finance function No this is a core function 2. Incorrect Most operations produce a mixture of both products and services. Which of the following businesses is closest to producing “pure” services? Your Answer: Steel company Correct Answer: Counsellor/therapist No this would normally been seen as primarily production of goods although there is still an element of service. 3. Incorrect Operations can be classified according to their volume and variety of production as well as the degree of variation and visibility. Which of the following operations would be classified as high volume, low variety? Your Answer: A family doctor Correct Answer: A fast food restaurant No, there will be a great deal of variety in this role. 4. Incorrect Which of the following activities is not a direct responsibility of operations management? Your Answer: Developing an operations strategy for the operation Correct Answer: Determining the exact mix of products and services that customers will want No this is a direct responsibility of operations management. 5. Incorrect Operations can be classified according to the degree of variation in demand and visibility of the operation as well as their volume and variety of production. Which of the following operations would be classified as high...
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