Span of processes - make or buy, Operation Management

Assignment Help:

Span of Processes - Make or Buy

When Henry Ford developed his famous moving assembly-line method of producing the Model T car at the River Rouge plant in Detroit, he chose to 'own' all stages of its production, ie the widest possible span of processes. His company owned the rubber plantations that supplied the raw materials for the car's tyres; it owned the forests that supplied the wood for the car's wheels; it owned the iron mines, steel plants, foundries, forges, rolling mills and machine shops which manufactured the engine and other components. Its ownership of the complete span of processes even extended to the company's shipping line and railroad for the transport of materials and product. Today, no car manufacturer tries to manage such a wide span of processes; the lessons of Skinner's 'factory focus' have been learned, and many of the car's components are bought from specialist suppliers. Returning to the example of the gas-turbine component and the process sequence, consideration would be given to how much of the span of these processes should be carried out by the company itself. Instead of installing and managing all of the processes, a plausible alternative would be to buy the precision forgings from a specialist supplier, and restrict the internal focus to the machining operations. In the case of the airline service discussed earlier, it might be decided to focus on the long-haul flights between hub airports, leaving the feeder flights to and from the hubs to be provided by other airlines. Likewise, the in-flight entertainment and catering provisions might be outsourced to specialist suppliers.


Related Discussions:- Span of processes - make or buy

Maxmin and minmax strategies, In a War , faighter planes typically descende...

In a War , faighter planes typically descended down on bombers from above in the direction of the sun (so it was difficult to see them). Against this strategy, the gunners on the b

Current trends in operation management, What is the relationship between ma...

What is the relationship between mass customisation and rapid product development

Calculate the mean absolute deviation, Since May of 2005, the purchase mana...

Since May of 2005, the purchase manager at a department store has been using a 4-period moving average to forecast sales in upcoming months. Sales data for the months of January th

Explain whole foods market has a mission, 1. What evidence do you find in t...

1. What evidence do you find in this case, either explicitly or implicitly, that indicates that Whole Foods Market has a mission, core values, or is practicing decision-making that

Differentiate between quality assurance and quality control, Question: ...

Question: (a) ‘Quality has been identified as one of the performance objectives.' Give three reasons why quality is important for a service provider such as a Tourist resort

Calculate the expected value, C and S Metal company produces stainless stee...

C and S Metal company produces stainless steel pots and pans. C and S can pursue either of two distribution plans for the coming year. The firm can either produce pots and pans for

Managing global operations, what are the key issues to be considered for ma...

what are the key issues to be considered for managing global operations

Explain what the term data redundancy means, Describe what the term "data r...

Describe what the term "data redundancy" means in database design. Explain if it is bad and if a normalized database design is always the best design. Discuss the pros and cons of

What are the steps you took to address the issue, Consider a time when you ...

Consider a time when you have acted as a leader in the past and had to mitigate an issue. Examine how you resolved the issue. If the issue was not resolved, examine the steps you t

Explain what is statistical process control, What is Statistical Process Co...

What is Statistical Process Control? What are the advantages and disadvantages of SPC? Identify two or three applications in your organization that could benefit from Statistical P

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