Space age furniture company

Space age furniture company

Introduction

SAC is a corporation whose primary specialty is the production of furniture. The Company ventured into the creation of furniture to ensure that various equipment and electronic gadgets such as Oven and Televisions are well held up. The company is commendable due to its specialty and success in manufacturing cabinets and tables, thus making it easier for clients who need such support furniture. Just like other manufacturing companies, Space Age Furniture gets involved in the development of products from necessary materials. The company’s products appear in diverse sizes and quality. Besides, the company produces furniture with different features regardless of its move to adopt similar operations during its production and assembling. Precisely, the Company specializes in the production of two distinctive commodities, that is, the Saturn Microwave and Gemini TV Stand. Just like most current companies, Space Age Company utilizes a computerized system, MRP, to enhance the production process. Such a system plays an essential in influencing the performance of the company since the data obtained from it is used in facilitating the decision-making process. The paper focuses on evaluating the firm as a model in the sector of manufacturing by reflecting on the concept of MRP and how its correlation in the manufacturing spectrum. A critical evaluation of the case study shows that the company can adopt a functional MRP to improve efficiency and maximize profits.

Brief Overview of the Case Study

The case study presents some of the significant production activities taking place in the company. SAC deals with the production of cabinets whose principal role is to provide support for the portable TVs and Microwave Oven. The company needs machining, which is only successful in manufacturing. The machine used in the production process is handled by Ed Szewezak, who is responsible for operating other tools used by the company. The specialist must be present every time the company uses the machine in its production processes. Ed’s working schedule is 40 hours every week.

The production of part 3079 makes it fundamental for the company to add more overtime hours to enable him to manage the increased workload. The case study presents Coral Snodgrass as the company’s operations manager. According to the account given by the foremen working with Ed, Coral is informed that Ed is not happy with the increased workload and overtime hours that the company adopts to enable it to complete the necessary parts in time. Coral appreciates the commitment and reliability of Ed and knows that it was difficult for the company to get such experienced machinist. Furthermore, Coral is aware of the risk that the company may face if Ed opted to quit the job since he was the only employee with the qualifications required to run the machine. He is worried about the actions that the company might take in case of such a vacancy. The case study also presents the implications of the decision to utilize the MRP system within the company. The system is associated with the reduction in inventories, which ultimately translated to improvement as far as on-time deliveries are concerned.

MRP for SAC

Development of an MRP is one of the strategic measures towards enabling companies to improve efficiency and meet customers’ needs (Apiyo & Kiarie, 2018). The move is fundamental towards allowing the company to realize a competitive advantage and outshine other corporations dealing with similar commodities. The information is vital in influencing the development of the MRP to enable the company to improve its performance. The planning will aid the company in the development of active, running, and smooth manufacturing processes. The development of this company’s MRP is entirely dependent on three main elements. The three components will be considered to facilitate the realization of an effective system that will ultimately lead to positive transformations within the company. The first element is the Bill of Materials. BOM constitutes a comprehensive inventory detailing on the parts, assemblies, components, and subassemblies that an organization needed during the process of manufacturing a particular product. Precisely, this element entails all the items required to produce a given product. The second element required is MPS. The MPS refers to a plan concerning each of the commodities that the organization intends to create at any given time (Martin et al., 2020). The third element that needs consideration when developing the MRP is the Gross Requirements.  GR refers to dependent and independent demands towards generating upper-level items. Such unified requirements necessary at facilitating performance at any period are referred to as Gross Requirements. The representation below shows a suitable MRP for SAC.

Gemini (In Weeks)

1 = 600

2 =400

3 = 700

4 = 500

5 =500

6 = 600

Saturn (In Weeks)

1 = 300

2 = 400

3 = 400

4 = 600

5 = 300

6 = 300

 

Ways/Measures to Improve Sub-Assemblies

The performance of the Sub-Assemblies unit plays a crucial role in dictating the quality of products when companies are dealing with diverse commodities (Barrientos et al., 2010). Companies adopt various models in facilitating the day-to-day production activities and influence the levels of operational success realized after the whole production process. Mostly, organizations take the mixed-model assembly line to facilitate their production activities. The case study under analysis gives an insight into the production approaches utilized by the company. The two Sub-Assemblies constituting the company use one machine to facilitate all the production activities. Inevitably, the company needs to consider the integration of several improvements to increase its productivity. Arguably, the inclusion of such enhancements is critical towards enabling the company to maximize profits and perform better when compared to other producers in the industry. The persistent changes in demand and the increased call for more products dictate the reasons why it is fundamental to have improvements. The MRP system is essential since it helps in controlling inventories. Besides, the system facilitates the scheduling of productivity hence vital in enabling the company to transform its production processes. To meet the 3079 demand, the company has to formulate measures to improve its production.

There are diverse approaches to improving production efficiency within the company. It is worth appreciating that Space Age Furniture Company points out some fundamental but inevitable changes that the company should consider. First, the company recognizes the need to minimize change over time. The achievement of such an objective is dependent on distinct factors. The operations manager and other managers within the company know that having a set limit of one thousand units per batch is one of the measures that can enable the corporation to realize such an objective. On the other hand, the managers are sensitive not to compromise the capacity of the equipment used in the production process. As such, the best approach to enable the company to realize such an objective is to ensure that there is an elimination of time wastage as far as the production activities are concerned.

Even though there are distinct approaches through which the company can enhance efficiency, the adoption of the most effective measures is critical to enable Space Age Furniture Company to realize profit maximization. As such, the company should adopt the most effective actions and approaches to improve the overall production efficiency within the company. One of the promising strategies through which the company can enhance production efficiency is the integration and involvement of configurations in its production activities. Many scholars appreciate that the involvement of configurations is one of the most effective strategic approaches that can enable companies to have an efficient production process. Efficiency in production leads to sales and profit maximization, which forms the basic desire by all individuals venturing into the business world. The integration and involvement of configurations have notable implications when considering the performance of sub-assemblies. White and Vonderembse are among the distinguished scholars whose work reflects on the probable consequences of incorporating configurations within an organization’s production activities. Fast movement of the lot volume is one of the factors that translate to the efficiency of the sub-assemblies (Vonderembse & White, 2013). As such, the involvement of the configurations is an excellent strategic move that can enable the company to improve efficiency.

An overview of the machining processes is another essential consideration that can enable the company to adopt necessary measures to enhance efficiency as far as its production processes are concerned. The concept of ‘saving as part’ is a significant consideration by various successful organizations that are associated with the continued performance effectivity enjoyed. SAC is not an exception. The company should consider how such a concept may translate to positive implications as far as its performance is concerned. Most companies dealing with production activities adopt diversified sub-assemblies as a strategic consideration towards enhancing performance. Work standardization is one of the concepts considered by manufacturing companies in their attempts to improve efficiency (Lee, 2016). The adoption of ambiguous production approaches hinders organizations from maximizing the available resources and time. As such, addressing the ambiguity is one of the considerations towards enhancing performance efficiency. Work standardization is an excellent approach to enable manufacturing companies to eliminate concerns of uncertainty in the production or distribution processes. Secondly, quality control is an essential consideration by successful organizations. Offering quality control is fundamental in enabling the organization’s management team to formulate excellent decisions and policy frameworks to improve efficiency. Standardization of work is a strategic approach adopted by a successful organization to enable the management team to come up with excellent control of the products’ quality. Another concept concerning the methods of improving efficiency relates to the analysis of production workflow. This enables the management team to have a keen follow-up to the production steps and address any flaws that might lead to a lack of smooth flow. The company can adopt these approaches and concepts to enhance the flow of work and efficiency.

The trade-off between OC and IC

OC refers to the finances used by a company to cater for the payment of workers who rendered services for extra hours. Distinct companies adopt varying overtime hours, depending on the market demand and production efficiency among the workers. On the other hand, IC refers to the expenses incurred by organizations to cater to the management of the firm’s inventory, storage, and procurement (Adeyemi & Salami, 2010). The two costs are incompatible. Nevertheless, there exists some considerably great balance between the two, which is achievable when a corporation opts to integrate the MRP system. Besides, the involvement of the MRP system in an organization translates to a reduction in the two costs. This dictates the essentiality of integrating the system since it translates to the amount of money used by a company like overtime or inventory costs. The integration of the system enables an organization to save such costs, thus can use the funds to cater to some other monetary requirements. Most organizations consider the reflection of the two costs as a basis for satisfying stochastic needs. The aspect of overtime is an essential consideration when reflecting on the two charges. The representation shows that additions on the amount of money used by the company to cater for overtime hours translate to an upward surge as far as the inventory is concerned. It is worth appreciating that most corporations always adopt measures aimed at reducing inventory costs. For example, some companies consider the inclusion of miscellaneous budgets as one of the approaches towards lowering IC. Lowering the IC is critical in enabling an organization to manage its operational costs. Monitoring and effective follow-up are some of the approaches to reducing such costs. Manufacturing companies have diverse KPIs, which influences the nature of production and distribution activities taking place within the organization. Having closer monitoring to such KPIs is an excellent approach that enables organizations to minimize their costs incurred for inventory purposes. As such, SAFC can consider such an approach to allow the company to reduce the costs. The reduction of such expenses translates to profit maximization, which is the ultimate goal of any organization.

New MRP that Improves the Base MRP

There are distinct considerations that can enable an organization to have an enhanced base MRP. Such concerns are primary towards allowing corporations to realize the desired outcomes. The company ought to improve its base MRP to ease goal attainment. Improvement of the existing process of MRP is an excellent approach towards transforming the company positively. The company can adopt various measures to improve its traditional processes of MRP. Mitigating the defections evident in the existing methods is one of the approaches to enable the company to realize such improvement. This will be achieved by having an in-depth analysis of the current processes, pointing out the defections, and formulating strategic approaches to mitigate them. For example, poor time management is one of the frequent defections that curtail functional efficiency. Reducing such defection, if it exists, will lead to the improvement desired by the management team. The mathematical calculation for the new MRP can be deducted as follows.

The presentation below shows the number of Genesis and Saturn for the six weeks

Total for Gemini = 3200

Saturn Totals      =   2300

Plan table of Arrangement

Gemini (In Weeks)

1    533

2     533

3     533

4     533

5     533

6     533

Totals        3198

Saturn (In Weeks)

1     383

2     383

3      383

4       383

5       383

6        380

Totals           2298

Totals for 3079 (In Weeks)

1     916

2      916

3      916

4      916

5      916

6       916

Totals          5496

Types of Product Processing

Understanding product processing approaches is critical in shaping and facilitating the adoption of excellent decisions by the company’s management team. Companies dealing with manufacturing should understand such approaches to ease the adoption of faultless measures when dealing with production activities.

1. Job Shop

In the manufacturing process, a job shop refers to a situation where there is the manufacture of small batches at each specific period. There are various unique procedural steps involved in this type of manufacturing processing. In this type, the production processes and actions involved fall consecutively one after the other. As such, this type is associated with a highly flexible system, considering the items produced. The production processes involved in this type utilize multipurpose machines.

2. Batch

Some corporations deal with automated tasks without necessarily depending on manual interference. It is worth noting that such techniques utilized by organizations are referred to as batch processes. The aspect of the production line is similarly essential in this aspect type of production process. Operators feed the production line with clear and precise instructions, which ultimately translate to the performance of diverse tasks without having to integrate human intervention. Production approach utilizing batch technique has notable and better results when compared to other methods (Vonderembse & White, 2013). Arguably, this dictates the reasons why most organizations consider utilizing this approach in their production processes.

3. Repetitive/Continuous Production

Different organizations adopt diverse approaches in their manufacturing cycles. During such periods, some companies may opt to have the production of a series of similar commodities. Organizations that utilize the technique of production of related products during the manufacturing cycles are said to have adopted repetitive production (Vonderembse & White, 2013). According to the articulation by the two scholars, many organizations opt to take such a manufacturing cycle to reduce inventory costs. Companies with reduced inventory enjoy the benefit of low costs of production, thus translating to competitive advantage.

Primary Mode of Production

I think that the standard mode utilized is repetitive. Several considerations are influencing the decision. First, there is a repetition in the procedures used by the company in the process of manufacturing. For example, the machine that the company uses is operated by a single person who repeats specific procedures. As such, the company utilizes this as the primary mode to facilitate its production endeavors. There are diverse factors that might have the company to use this type. First, the lack of many machines is a probable factor associated with the decision. Secondly, the lack of enough personnel might have forced the management team to integrate the approach in its processing processes.

Methods of Tracking the Job Status

There are diverse approaches that the company can adopt to help it keep tracking the job status. Tracking job status is essential in facilitating goal acquisition. It enables an organization to come up with extraordinary measures as far as the establishment of the demands and inventories are concerned. Tracking of the product is one of the necessary actions towards achieving such goals. Secondly, job operations’ automation is an excellent move towards enabling organizations to have an effective follow-up and tracking of the job status. Arguably, job operation automation allows organizations to have efficient functions, thus leading to effectiveness and customer satisfaction.

Recommendations

1. The company should minimize/reduce the culture of using and depending on a few workers, especially when such a workforce risks quality deterioration.
2. The company should integrate temporary workers to help the fulltime workers to finish the quantity of goods required during the times of high demand.
3. The company should consider utilizing multiple machines to optimize performance.
4. The challenge of overtime was a significant concern to the company. As such, the management team should hire some more machinists to ensure there is efficiency and reduction of overtime hours.
5. To respond to the problem of delays in the supply chain, the company should strengthen its supply chain management. The move will translate to ultimate success.
6. Automation of the processes involved in mechanical engineering is another fundamental move that the company can adopt to improve its performance.

Conclusion

The paper reflects on the performance of manufacturing companies and some of the essential considerations that influence the levels of operational success realized. Companies should consider distinct measures to improve their efficiency and outdo other firms posing competition in the market. The analysis reflects on the scholarly work by White and Vonderembse among other scholars and academicians. Their work looks into the aspect of manufacturing processes and some of the measures that companies can consider to improve their performance. Besides, the paper reflects on the significant implications of integrating MRP in an organization and the essential considerations for improving organizational performance. The recommendations offered relate to the strategic measures that the company can adopt to enhance its efficiency in production processes.

 

 

 

References

Adeyemi, S. L., & Salami, A. O. (2010). Inventory management: A tool of optimizing resources in the manufacturing industry, a case study of Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Ilorin plant. Journal of Social Sciences, 23(2), 135-142.

Apiyo, R. O., & Kiarie, D. M. (2018). Role of ICT tools in supply chain performance.

Barrientos, S., Gereffi, G., & Rossi, A. (2010). Economic and social upgrading in global production networks: Developing a framework for analysis. International Labor Review, 150(3-4), 319-340.

Lee, T. (2016). Lean and Six Sigma: these process improvement strategies from the business world can be used effectively in your office. Contemporary OB/GYN, 61(6), 28-35.

Martín, A. G., Díaz-Madroñero, M., & Mula, J. (2020). Master production schedule using robust optimization approaches in an automobile second-tier supplier. Central European Journal of Operations Research, 28(1), 143-166.

Vonderembse, M. A., & White, G. P. (2013). Operations management. Bridgepoint Education.