Operation Management Assignment

Program	Diploma in Business
Unit Number and Title	Operation Management Assignment
QFC Level	Level 4

Introduction

Operations management basically deals with the organization and management of the resources and inputs in the organization in such a way so as to lead to most cost effective and efficient utilization of resources in production of the outputs or end results. The current study basically deals with the study of the process of operations management in an organization and developing of an understanding of the various activities involved in the process of operations management. The organization for this purpose is the Kingslice at Toronto, Canada, which undertakes the production of various kinds of bread for its restaurant business and the organization is well known for its bread and relevant products like pizzas. Thus the study of the various processes of the operations management at the company is aimed at developing an understanding of the competitive and cost advantage to the company without having to compromise the quality. Thus the study basically aims to develop an understanding of the various techniques used in planning of the operations in a company including network planning, critical path analysis, etc. Also the light is thrown on the utility of the operational outcomes and use of operational planning and control for an organization. The role of tour operations management in maintaining of the quality of production and realization of the five operational objectives as speed, quality, cost, flexibility and dependability, thus the whole study is focused on making the operations of the firm as economic, effective and efficient as possible.

LO 2 Produce a system daigram to illustrate business

LO 3 Understand how to organize a typical production process

3.1 Explain linear programming

In operations management in case of any organization, linear programming deals with reduction or elimination of inequalities (Chase et al, 2007). In case of organizations, it is used to maximize the profit or any other variable from the given or limited amount of resources like labor or human resources and finances or money, etc. For example a company obtains profits from production of x number of basic items and y number of deluxe items and it wishes to maximize the profits with 60 hours labor available and with a capital of 100 $. Thus the profit P could be demonstrated as

10x+15y=p

The capital of 100 $ will be used as follows in the production,

100 > or =4x+5y           equation 1

The labor of 60 hours can be used in production of basic or deluxe items with the aim of profit maximization as follows

60> or =2x+4y           equation 2

By solving the two equation 1 and 2

      100=   4x+ 5y

      -120= -4x+ -8y      (equation2 *2 for solving)

We get y=6.7 and x= 16.7

Thus as shown in the graph, the values of the x and y can be figured out to be 16.7 and 6.7 respectively and thus the profit by substituting the values in profit equation is found to be 267.5 $.

3.2 Explain critical path and network planning

The network planning deals with the identification of the various activities undertaken by any organization or task say completion of a project or decision making of tea and then the sequence of the activities is identifies along with the duration of the each activity. The critical path is the longest path of the project initiation and the completion and thus it determines the completion time for any project. It can be understood in terms of making of a tea by a tea seller which involves various activities like

A Collection of raw material (including milk, sugar, tea bags, spoon, strainer, cup and pan) = 5 minute

B lighting up the gas burner                                                                                                                =0.2 minute

C keeping the pan over gas                                                                                                                 =0.3 minute

D adding milk, tea and sugar to the pan                                                                                                = 1 minute

E boiling                                                                                                                                             = 3 minutes

F straining                                                                                                                                          =0.5 minutes

Gserving (end process)                                                                                                                        =0 minutes

Thus the network of the various activities involved in the task can be depicted as follows:

 

Critical path is the longest duration path of any task and involve various activities in the process (Fredrick, 2009). The critical path elaborates the minimum time taken to complete the task and involve the key activities. Thus the critical path of the process of making tea by a roadside tea seller could be calculated by the two paths

Path 1 A-B-D-E-F-G = 5+0.2+1+3+0.5 =9.7 minutes

Path 2 A-C-D-E-F-G = 5+0.3+1+3+0.5= 9.8 minutes

The critical path for the above process is ACDEF and the duration of the process is 9.8 minutes which means the process could be earliest finished in this duration.

3.3 Explain the need for operational planning and control

The organizations are continuously involved in controlling of the labor time, costs and inputs of resources in the production process in order to improve the efficiency of operations and all this is done with the aim of attaining a desired level of output with a desired quality and timeframes (Hill, 2008). Thus the operational planning is related to making forecast about the future demands of the products and meeting the moves of the competitors. Also the company may plan new product range development by analyzing the changing trends in customers or target markets. Thus the operational planning and control include making decision about quality of raw materials and outputs, schedules of the manufacturing process as per demands, analyzing any changes in the processes or shifts, inspection of the whole process, checking for dispatch in appropriate time, quality and quantity, managing inventories for uninterrupted operations, etc (Hoop et al, 2011). All this is done to ensure hassle free and well performing of the operations of the organization.

LO 4 Be able to aplly techniques of production of a operational plan

4.1 Produce a set of clearly defined operational outcomes

The objectives or the operational outcomes for the organization must be specific, measurable, realistic or attainable, time related and orientation must be to the end results. Thus in case of the company Kingslice which operates in the restaurant business, the operational outcomes could be, (a) reducing the lead times: whenever a customer places an order for a particular product from the company, the operational manager must be capable of meeting the demands from the customers promptly even in case of online orders and in case of demand from retailers, the company must reduce the time between order and supply; (b) customer loyalty enhancement: the company must yield customer satisfaction through the quality, price and timely delivery of orders  and must provide them with coupons or discounts on use of membership cards; (c) meeting peak demand periods effectively: on holidays or festival seasons, the demand is usually high so the operational manager must be prepared to meet fluctuations in demand and may use additional staff during peak periods (Chase et al, 2007).

4.2 Produce a network path and indicate critical path.

In case of an organization, the procurement of raw materials involves various stages and it can be done as follows:

TASK	ACTIVITY	ESTIMATED DAYS TIME	PREDECESSOR
A	SEARCH SUPPLIERS AND PREPARE STORAGE	0	-
B	QUOTATION AND APPROVAL	20	A
C	ORDER PLACING	5	B
D	INFORM THE ACCOUNTS DEPT	10	C
E	RECEIPT OF GOODS	20	H
F	RECEIPT OF INVOICE	15	A
G	CHECK GOODS	5	F,C
H	MAKE PAYMENT	15	A

The network diagram for the above said activities can be depicted as follows:

 

Thus calculating the time duration for various paths as follows to identify the critical path

For ABCG END, 20+5+5= 30

For AHE END, 15+20=35

For AFG END, 15+5= 20

For ABCD END, 20+5+10=35

Thus there are two critical paths (longest) in this case as A-B-C-D- END and A-H-E- END as both take 35 days to complete.

4.3 Explain how quality can be defined and maintained

The perception and the relative importance of the Quality is variable in the types of the organizations while in case of the restaurant operations business of the Kingslice at Toronto, the quality management means the excellent customer services to the customers and meeting the expectations of the customers in terms of taste and innovativeness. The vision and culture of the organization in maintenance of the quality of the products and services of an organization and it is reflected in the working and decisions of the managers (Malakooti, 2013). Also in case of production based organization where the quality is defined as per the specific standards of the goods like ISO 9000 standards (International Standards Organization) and the quality of the production process is aimed to eliminate wastages, increase in most efficient utilization of the inputs, reduced number of reject in case of outputs, etc. The capability of the organization in meeting the objectives and continuing improvements and innovation are in built arts of the quality of work processes of many organizations like Kingslice where the customers are maintained through best services, products and being continuously innovation oriented while forecasting the future to understand the demands and changes in taste and preferences of customers.

Conclusion

In the case of the modern business organizations the role of the operations management is continuously expanding while previously the stress was only o the management of the production efficiency of the organization involved in production of certain kind of goods and service and to minimize the overall costs for the organization. Now, the focus is on the maintaining of the labor relations to reduce the impact on the production efficiency and on time production along with the creation of the relevant policies. The main aspect of the operations management in an organization deals with the capability of the manager to manage the costs, timescales, quality of products and services, etc. By undertaking the understanding of various techniques of the operations management, it has been clear as how the network planning and critical path analysis are helpful to the organization in terms of managing its operations in terms of efficiency, economy and effectiveness of achievement of the goals including quality and quantity. Thus the five operational objectives of the firms involving in the production of the goods are cost, speed, quality, dependability and flexibility and all this is done to attain the maximum customer or retailer satisfaction through providing the best quality and low priced goods or services on time. This helps the company in attainment of the overall company objectives of revenue or profits maximization and building of the brand reputation.

Refferences

Operations Management. (2012). Operations Management.(Online)
available at http://www.operationsmanager.com/operations-manager-fields/operations-management-careers/attachment/opmgmt_graphic/. last accessed on 18 June 2016
Kingslice (2016) (Online)available at http://www.infobel.com/en/canada/king_slice/toronto/CA101691840-4165363738/businessdetails.aspx last accessed on 18 June 2016
Hopp, W. And Spearman, M. (2011) Factory Physics, 3rd ed. Waveland Press(Online)available at www.factoryphysics.com last accessed on 18 June 2016
Investopedia. (2011). Operations Management. (Online)available at
 http://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/operations-management.asp#ixzz1j2qL9mmN  last accessed on 18 June 2016
 Malakooti, B. (2013). Operations and Production Systems with Multiple Objectives. John Wiley & Sons .pp 257-68
Operations management (2016) (Online)available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operations_management last accessed on 18 June 2016
Kingslice (2016) (Online)available at http://www.kingslice.ca/ last accessed on 18 June 2016
Adilman, N.(2014) Follow Friday: Pizza Week Special (Online)available at http://toronto.eater.com/2014/3/21/6257501/follow-friday-pizza-week-special last accessed on 18 June 2016