Focused factories - limited vertical integration, Strategic Management

Assignment Help:

Focused Factories - Limited Vertical Integration

Japanese companies prefer specialisation (derived from Adam Smith's theories on division of labour), with a limited or focused span of activity. They believe that with fewer activities to control, their abilities to master skills and improve productivity, are enhanced. There are some stark comparisons. The Singer Sewing Machine Company in Scotland, once had 14,000 employees working simultaneously on one site. Today IBM in Scotland who are engaged in the large-scale production of personal computers believe their plant has reached an 'optimum' size with 3,000 workers. Under no circumstances, would they allow their plant to approach the dinosaur proportions of the now extinct Singer plant. The issues of organisation and productivity are closely linked. Group technology (GT) This is a technique which is well documented by the British academic, J L Burbidge in his article 'The Future for Batch Production', 1985. Instead of laying out the plant by department specialism, it is considered more sensible to group product families together in cells. The purpose of their grouping is to improve material flow and span of control. For instance, less set up time is needed between parts requiring similar processing. More use can also be made of shared facilities. Group technology has been around for some time - it was widely used by the Soviet Union during World War II to produce tanks. After the war, it was imported to Europe. However, as the literal translation of the Russian is 'family planning' (which has other meanings!) it was altered to group technology.


Related Discussions:- Focused factories - limited vertical integration

Calculate the economic order quantity, (a) XUZ Company produces readymade ...

(a) XUZ Company produces readymade garments for men. The purchasing officer collects the following information:-               Annual demand for Jeans                      40,0

Explain economic value added, Q. Explain Economic value added? Economic...

Q. Explain Economic value added? Economic value added was developed by Stern Stewart & Co and is a registered trademark. EVA is an estimate of economic profit, measured as Net

Determine the level of rents of social housing, Explain what is meant by 'n...

Explain what is meant by 'non-market housing' and by what means it is delivered in either the UK or a country of your choice. What problems arise in its delivery? Outl

What are the four types of strategic control, QUESTION 1 The most impor...

QUESTION 1 The most important purpose of strategic control is to help Top Management achieve organizational goals through monitoring and evaluating the strategic management pro

Case study report, what is equivalent INR amount stand for

what is equivalent INR amount stand for

Influences on consumer behavior, Using online research and the resources on...

Using online research and the resources on the Student Portal: 1. Identify aspects of culture which may have an impact on the international marketing of your selected marketing

Principles of total quality, There are three principles of total quality: c...

There are three principles of total quality: customer focus, continuous improvement, and teamwork. Using the South University online library, find three articles that describe curr

What is the eva for this division, Division Y has annual operating profit o...

Division Y has annual operating profit of £40 million after charging £6 million for the development cost of a new product which has been launched and is expected to last this year

Delta products case instructions, Here is the "Delta Products" case for Gra...

Here is the "Delta Products" case for Graduate Operations. You need to determine the number of hours for Mike's and Nikki's plan. To do this you need to compute the number of hours

Activities in strategic management process, a) identify and explain the key...

a) identify and explain the key activities in the strategic management process. b) why do businesses need to go international .?

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd