Needs for trade- offs - business strategy, Operation Management

Assignment Help:

Needs for Trade- offs - Business Strategy

In recent years another reason for questioning the need for trade-offs has arisen. In manufacturing industries great efforts have been expended in developing process technologies, and in particular the application of computers, to create production systems capable of mass customisation. Unlike a mass production system, which produces a standard product at low cost, a mass customisation system would produce 'specials' (traditionally the province of the high-cost job shop) at similar low cost. Such a system has been developed by Levi Strauss, the jeans manufacturer, allowing customers to have their jeans made to measure.

The customer's sizes are sent electronically to the factory, where a computer-driven production system automatically produces the jeans to the specified sizes. A few days later the customer may collect the jeans. Impressive though such technology may be, it raises issues. What then to measure? Ideally, the measures chosen will relate directly to the business qualifiers and order winners. However, care is required in the choice of operations performance measures; the order winners themselves may be inappropriate. For example, consider a business which has identified low price as the prime order winner. Price is an external (market) variable, which may rise or fall for reasons other than operational performance eg in response to competitors' pricing, sales promotions, seasonal price variations, etc. It would be unreasonable to measure the week-to-week performance of operations personnel on the basis of such a variable, which can change substantially for reasons outwith their control. What is needed is an internal (operational) variable, relevant to the order winner concerned: in the case of price it might be appropriate to measure unit cost, labour productivity or equipment utilisation.


Related Discussions:- Needs for trade- offs - business strategy

Explain what is the expected value with perfect information, ABC Company, a...

ABC Company, a soft-drink vendor, has created a table of payoffs for three stocking decisions for three different states of nature: States of nature (Demand) Alternatives He

Depict a layout for the assembly operation, Base on the case study: Weldon ...

Base on the case study: Weldon Hand Tools; Design a layout for the assembly operation (to include the fly press work) including the tasks to be performed at each part of the system

Explain regulatory organizations, "Regulatory Organizations" Please respond...

"Regulatory Organizations" Please respond to the following: • Evaluate the effectiveness of JCAHO%u2019s recommendations for emergency preparedness. Discuss which recommendation

Explain how are sla''s performance standards agreed upon, How are SLA's per...

How are SLA's performance standards agreed upon? Give three examples of SLA's and how they would be agree upon.

Explain goals should not be clearly articulated, Clearly-defined goals are ...

Clearly-defined goals are the essence of great teamwork. Which of the following statements is most true about how goals should be articulated by teams: a. Goals should not be clear

Explain business systems analysis, Subject: Business Systems Analysis. Assi...

Subject: Business Systems Analysis. Assignment 4 Using the book 'Essentials of System Analysis and Design, 4th Edition Read the Hoosier Burger scenario on page 199 in Chapter 6 of

Production control, Production Control Meaning and Definition ...

Production Control Meaning and Definition Production control involves implementation of production plans or schedules by coordinating different activities. It seeks to

Assignment, Analyze the strategic role of operations management in terms of...

Analyze the strategic role of operations management in terms of organizational and operational objectives.

Explain improving operations, What would you recommend to the company if th...

What would you recommend to the company if they asked you to advise them in improving their operations?

Define hr technology impact the human side of human resource, Technology ha...

Technology has changed the role and some functions of HR. Have these changes resulted in HR losing sight of its role towards employee relations and support? While companies are see

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