Masters of Business Administration MBA Semester 2 MB0044 Production & Operations Management Assignments (BOOK ID B1627)

Transcription

1 Summer 2014 Exam Oct/Nov 2014 Masters of Business Administration MBA Semester 2 MB0044 Production & Operations Management Assignments (BOOK ID B1627) Q1. Explain the four basic varieties of layouts for manufacturing facilities. (Description of each basic type of layout) 10 marks Answer. Four basic varieties of layouts for manufacturing facilities: The four basic varieties of layouts for manufacturing facilities are: 1. Process layout This type of layout is concerned with the grouping of machines, process, or services according to their function. This grouping of machines by function is characteristic of job shops and batch type production facilities. Hence this type of layout is also called as functional layout. Process layout typically uses general purpose machines that can be changed over rapidly to new operations for different product designs. Consider a car service and repair centre. Each car entering into the service centre will follow the following steps: Arrival at office Customer informs about the type of problem Front office guides the customer to drive the car to the required departments Car is given the necessary service Customer returns to front office and makes payment Car exits from the service centre Page 1

2 Fig.: Process Layout 2. Product layout Product layout commonly referred to as 'line layout', focuses on the sequence of production or assembly operations required for manufacturing or assembling a part or a product. These are used in mass or continuous production. Examples are automobile assembly, cement manufacturing, oil refining. In contrast to process layouts, they are not flexible as they are specifically designed for making or assembling one product. Fig.: Product Layout Page 2

3 3. Group technology layout In group technology, machines are grouped into a cell. The cell acts like a product layout which is land within a larger process layout environment. It requires that each cell process is a family of parts that have many common characteristics, such as machining operations, similar machine set - ups and common raw materials. Due to these common characteristics, the parts can be produced in a different path through a cell much like a product layout. Fig.: Facilities Arrangement in a Group Technology Layout 4. Fixed position layout In this type of layout, the product is located in a fixed position and all the resources like workers, materials, machines and equipment's are transported to that location. Missile assembly, large aircraft assembly, ship construction and bridge construction are examples of fixed-position layouts. These layouts are used when a product is bulky, large, heavy or fragile. Page 3

4 Q2. The major decision areas in supply chain management have both strategic and operational elements. Explain these decision areas in detail. Answer. Supply chain decisions Strategic and Operational Decisions as depicted in figure. Strategic decisions are made typically over a longer time horizon. These are closely linked to the corporate strategy and guide supply chain policies from a design perspective. Operational decisions are short term and focus on activities over a day-to day basis. The effort in these types of decisions is to effectively and efficiently manage the product flow in the strategically planned supply chain. There are four major decision areas in supply chain management: location, production, inventory, and transportation. 1. Location decision: The geographic placement of production facilities, stocking point sand sourcing points is the natural first step in creating a supply chain. The location of facilities involves a commitment of resources to a long term plan. Once the size, number, and location of the production are determined, the possible paths of product supply to the final customer can be determined. 2. Production decision: The strategic decisions include what products to produce and which plants to produce, in allocation of suppliers to plants, plants to distribution control system (DCS), and then DCS to customer markets. As mentioned earlier, these decisions have a big impact on the revenues, costs, and customer service levels of the firm. These decisions Page 4

5 assume the existence of the facilities, but determine the exact path through which a product flows to and from these facilities.. 3. Inventory decisions: Inventory decisions refer to means by which inventories are managed. Inventories exist at every stage of the supply chain as either raw material, semi-finished or finished goods. They can also be in process between locations. Their primary purpose is to buffer against any uncertainty that might exist in the supply chain. Since holding of inventories can cost anywhere between 20 to 40 percent of their value, their efficient management is critical in supply chain operations. It is strategic in the sense that top management sets goals. 4. Transportation decisions: Transportation decisions are closely linked to the inventory decisions, since the best choice of the mode is often found by trading-off the cost of using the particular mode of transport with the indirect cost of inventory associated with that mode. While air shipments may be fast, reliable, and warrant lesser safety stocks, they are expensive. Meanwhile, shipping by sea or rail may be much cheaper, but they necessitate holding relatively large amounts of inventory to buffer against the inherent uncertainty associated with them. Q3. Business process is a total response that a business undertakes utilizing the resources and delivering the outputs that create a value for the customer. Business process modeling refers to a set of activities undertaken to optimize the business process. Business process modeling can be categorized into two parts Logical processing modeling and physical process modeling. Explain in detail of the two processes of modeling. Answer. Page 5

6 Business Process Modeling Business process modeling can be categorized into two parts Logical processing modeling and physical process modeling. Figure depicts the types of modeling. Logical process modeling Logical process modeling is the representation of putting together all the activities of business process in detail and making a representation of them. The initial data collected has to be arranged in a logical manner so that, links are made between nodes for making the workflow smooth. Steps to be followed to make the work smoother The steps to be followed to make the work smoother are given as follows: 1. Capture relevant data in detail to be acted upon 2. Establish controls and limit access to the data during process execution 3. Determine which task in the process is to be done and also the subsequent tasks in that process 4. Make sure that all relevant data is available for all the tasks 5. Make the relevant and appropriate data available for that task 6. Establish a mechanism to indicate acceptance of the results after every task or process. This is to have an assurance that flow is going ahead with accomplishments in the desired path. Some of these activities may occur in a sequential order whereas; some of them may run parallel. There may even be circular paths, like re-work loops. Complexities arise when the process activities are not connected together. A few of the logical modeling formats are as follows: Process descriptions with task sequences and data addresses Flow charts with various activities and relationships Flow diagrams Function hierarchies Function dependency diagrams Page 6

7 Every business activity, when considered as a logical process model, can be represented by a diagram. It can be decomposed and meaningful names can be given to the details. Verb and noun form combinations can be used to describe each level. Nouns give the name of the act activity uniquely and are used for the entire model meaning the same activity. Process Descriptions Flow Charts Flow Diagrams Function Hierarchies Function Dependency Diagrams Fig.: Ways of Representing Logical Process Modeling Physical process modeling Physical process modeling is concerned with the actual design of database meeting the requirements of the business. Physical modeling deals with the conversion of the logical model into a relational model. Objects get defined at the schema level. The objects here are tables created on the basis of entities and attributes. Remaining answers are available in the full assignments... For full assignments Contact us Naveen Kumar: smuassignment2014@gmail.com Website: Note: Paid assignments will be in word format as per SMU s new guidelines without any watermark. Page 7