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Sammanfattning – KURS 190: FÖRETAGANDE –
OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT – VT08
Operations management p. 3-35
What is operations management?
Operations management is the activity of managing resources which are devoted to the
production and delivery of products and services.
3 core functions
- Marketing function – communicating the products to the market.
- Product/service development function – creating new products/services.
- Operations function – fulfilling customer requests.
Support functions
- Accounting/finance function – help making economic decisions.
- HR function – recruits/develops staff.
All operations are input-transformation-output processes
Services – customers form part of the input to, and the output from, the operation.
Transformed resources (resources that are treated, transformed or converted in a process)
- Materials – transform physical properties; change location; change possession; store.
- Information – transform informational properties; change possession; store, change
location.
- Customers – change physical properties; store; transform location; transform
physiological state; transform psychological state.
Transforming resources (resources that act upon the transformed resource)
- Facilities
- Staff
Operations management is about managing processes
3 levels of operations analysis
- The supply network – flow between operations
- The operation – flow between processes
- Processes – flow between resource
Operation as a function – the part of the organization which produces products for external
users
Operation as an activity – the management of the processes within any of the organization’s
functions.
Operations processes have different characteristics
- Volume of output (McDonald’s)
- Variety of output (Taxi vs. bus)
- Variation in the demand for their output (hotels)
- Degree of visibility which customers have of the production of the product or service
(shops vs. internet sales)
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The activities of operations management
Why it is important:
- Reduce costs
- Increases revenue by increasing customer satisfaction
- Reduce investments
- Provide basis for future innovation
Process design p. 39-69
The design activity
Process design and product/service design should be considered together.
Process design should reflect process objectives (if an operation competes on its ability to
respond to customer request quickly, its processes need to be designed to give fast throughput
times).
Measures of process flow performance
- Throughput rate
- Throughput time – the time for a unit to move through a process
- Work in process – the number of units in the process
- Utilization – ratio of the actual output from a process or facility to its design capacity
Process types – the volume-variety effect on process design
Low volume operations processes – high variety of products/services (vice versa)
Process types
- Project processes – well defined start/finish; long time between projects. E.g.
shipbuilding, construction projects (low volume – high variety).
- Jobbing processes – each product share operations resources with others. E.g.
toolmaker, furniture restorers.
- Batch processes – like jobbing but part of operation has periods when it is repeating
itself. E.g. machine tool manufacturing, gourmet frozen food.
- Mass processes – high volume – narrow (in terms of fundamentals of the product
design) variety. E.g. automobile plants.
- Continuous processes – often products are inseparable. E.g. electricity utilities, steel
making.
- Professional services – high contact organizations with high levels of customization.
E.g. management consultants.
- Service shops – levels of customer contacts placed between professional and mass
services. E.g. banks.
- Mass services – many customer transactions, limited contact time and little
customization. E.g. call centers.
Detailed process design
- Process mapping – describes processes in terms of how the activities within the process
relates to each other. Several different symbols are used.
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Little’s law
Throughput time = work in process * cycle time
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Throughput time – the time for a unit to move through a process.
Cycle time – the average time between units of output emerging from a process.
Work in process – the number of units within a process waiting to be processed further.
The effects of process variability
Variability may occur in processes because of late/early arrival of materials, breakdown of
process technology etc.
Two fundamental types of variability
- Variability in the demand for processing at an individual stage within the process.
- Variation in the time taken to perform the activities at each stage.
The relationship between average waiting time and process utilization (diagram on p. 62).
To improve utilization and/or waiting time, a process designer has three options:
- Long waiting time/high utilization
- Low utilization/short waiting time
- Reduce variability in arrival times and/or activity times and achieve high utilization and
short waiting time.
Layout and flow p. 73-107
What is layout?
The layout of an operation or process means how its transforming resources are positioned
relative to each other and how its various tasks are allocated to these transforming resources.
General objectives that make a good layout
- Inherent safety – dangerous processes should not be accessible by unauthorized.
- Length of flow – minimizing the distance traveled by transformed resources.
- Clarity of flow – e.g. colored lines painted on the floor in hospitals.
- Staff conditions – provide a pleasant environment
- Management coordination – supervision to be assisted by the location of staff.
- Accessibility – machines should be accessible.
- Use of space – e.g. the entrance lobby of a high-class hotel.
- Long-term flexibility – layouts need to be changed periodically as the needs of the
operation change.
Layout is related to process type.
The basic layout types
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Fixed position layout – the material or people being transformed do not move but the
transforming resources move around them. E.g. motorway construction.
Functional layout – all similar transforming resources are grouped together in the
operation. E.g. tinned- and frozen goods as well as vegetables in a supermarket.
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Cell layout – the resources needed for a particular class of product are grouped together
in some way. E.g. a maternity unit at a hospital, who are unlikely to need the other
facilities of the hospital.
Product layout – the transforming resources are located in sequence specifically for the
convenience of products or product types. E.g. automobile assembly.
Mixed layout – a combination of elements of some or all of the basic layout types.
The higher the volume, and the lower the variety are, the more the layout type moves from
fixed position- to product layout (diagram on p. 85).
Detailed design of the layout
Fixed position layout
The layout should allow all the transforming resources to maximize their contribution to the
transformation process by allowing them to provide an effective service to the transformed
resources. Resource location analysis is important when designing the layout.
Functional layout
It is about arranging working centers relative to each other, which lead to a very high number
of combinations for relatively small number of working centers. The task is to minimize the
distance traveled by the transformed resources through the operation.
Cell layout
The task is to group the products types such that convenient cells can be designed around their
needs.
Product layout
It includes a number of decisions:
- The cycle time to which the design must conform.
- The number of stages in the operation.
- The way tasks are allocated to the stages in the line.
- The arrangement of the stages in the line.
The cycle time of each part of the design, together with the number of stages, is a function of
where the design lies on the ‘long thin’ to ‘short fat’ spectrum (figure on p. 102)
Introduction to Service Operations Management p. 111-144
What is service operations management?
Service operations management is the activities, decisions and responsibilities of operations
managers in service organizations such as consultancy firms, hospitals, call centers etc.
Operations managers are responsible for:
- The service operation.
- Some or all of the organizations resources (inputs).
- Some or all of the organizations customers.
- Processing customers in the service operation.
- The services and goods delivered to their customers.
Service product = service experience + service outcome
E.g. car insurance, a restaurant meal etc.
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Service experience
The customer’s direct experience of the service process. It concerns the way the customer is
dealt with by the service provider.
Service outcome
The result for the customer of the service delivery. Involves tangible outcomes as well as
intangible outcomes, such as value, emotions, judgments and intentions.
Many service operations, compared to manufacturing operations, ‘process’ customers.
Many challenges facing service operations managers
Managing multiple customers – e.g. a nursery’s customers include the child, parents,
authorities, staff etc. A service operations manager must: 1. understand who the customers
are; 2. understanding their needs and expectations; 3. developing relationships with them.
Understanding the service concept – e.g. a nursery could be seen both as a babysitting service
or a critical educational experience. A service operations manager must: 1. articulate and
communicate the service concept; 2. ensure it can be delivered.
Managing the outcome and the experience – e.g. a customer in a restaurant is buying both the
meal and the way it is served. A service operations manager must: 1. manage both outcome
and experience simultaneously; 2. clarify the experience which the organization is selling; 3.
develop performance measurements.
Managing the customer – e.g. a restaurant where the customer is a part of the operation. A
service operations manager must: 1. develop a design that take account of how one customer
affects another customers experience; 2. develop a design that has a positive impact on
employees’ feelings; 3. create a good ‘servicescape’ (atmosphere).
Managing in real time – e.g. children screaming for attention in a nursery. A service
operations manager must: 1. in an appropriate way manage resources and staff; 2. create an
appropriate culture.
Coordinating different parts of the organization – A service operations manager must: 1.
integrate marketing, resource- and people management etc; 2. understand the need of
customers; 3. oversee logistics of supply chain; 4. ensure that the operation supports the
strategic intent of the organization.
Understanding the relationship between operations decisions and business/organizational
success – e.g. using a webcam in a nursery. A service operations manager must: 1. know how
operations decisions affect business performance; 2. conclude which improvements are
necessary.
Knowing, implementing and influencing strategy - A service operations manager must: 1.
understand their role not only in implementing strategy but also in contributing to it; 2.
provide a platform for competitive advantage.
Continually improving the operation - A service operations manager must often improve both
efficiency and quality.
Encouraging innovation – e.g. the webcam at a nursery. A service operations manager must:
1. seek out new ideas; 2. have the will and support to assess new ideas carefully.
Managing short-term and long-term issues simultaneously – the immediacy leads to shortterm focus. A service operations manager must pay attention to both strategy and the detail of
process to create and sustain a successful organization.
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Different types of services
Business-to-business – e.g. consultancy. Challenges: providing high quality services to
business customers with high purchasing power.
Business-to-consumer – e.g. banks. Challenges: providing consistent service to a wide variety
of customers.
Internal services – e.g. finance and IT. Challenges: demonstrating value for money against
external alternatives.
Public services – e.g. hospitals. Challenges: balancing political pressures and providing
acceptable public services.
Not-for-profit services – e.g. aid agencies. Challenges: dealing with differences between
volunteers, donors and beneficiaries.
Different types of service processes
Two key parameters (diagram on p. 131):
- The volume of transactions
- The variety of tasks
Capability – low volume-high variety (low definition) e.g. five-star hotels.
Commodity – high volume-low variety (high definition) e.g. budget hotels.
Simplicity – low volume-low variety (high definition) e.g. microbreweries.
Complexity – high volume-high variety (low definition).
Judging the success of a service operation
Customer value – customer may recognize value when they receive something they cannot do
for themselves or do not have the time to do. An operations manager must understand that the
customer’s idea of what represent value for money may vary from customer to customer.
Brand value – brand promises must be kept at four levels: the rational-, emotional-, politicaland spiritual level. An operations manager must consider how to build processes to deliver the
brand values.
Financial contribution – the process of service delivery should generate revenue for the
organization. Revenues are linked to customer perceived value. An operations manager can
increase the contribution by providing better customer perceived value and be cost-efficient.
Organizational contribution – creating customer and brand value, financial contribution as
well as enabling the organization to achieve it goals etc.
Economic contribution – the contribution services make to a nation’s economy (at a macro
level).
The Service Concept p. 147-177
The service concept
As products and services become more similar, organizations compete through something that
transcends their service offering – the service concept. E.g. a hotel provides a bed, a bathroom
etc. but looked at as a service concept it can provide anything from a low-cost night’s sleep to
an unforgettable experience.
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The service concept defined
A service concept is a shared understanding of the nature of the service provided and
received. It should encapsulate information about:
- The organizing idea – the essence of the service bought/used by the customer.
- The service experience – the customer’s direct experience of the service process.
- The service outcome – the result for the customer of the service.
- The service operation – the way in which the service will be delivered.
- The value of the service – the benefit that customers perceive to be inherent in the
service weighed against the cost of that service.
The service concept should make it clear what the organization is selling and what the
customer is buying.
- It guides operations staff and managers to know what to deliver and how to deliver it.
- It links operations and marketing.
- It needs to be well defined, so that operations and marketing can be aligned.
Service value
The cost of a service to a customer is a combination of the financial price and the cost
(inconvenience) of making the purchase. The service concept communicates the set of
benefits –
- Outcome
- Experience
- Operation
- Psychological benefits
- to a customer in order to demonstrate the potential value of the service. Value can be added,
or even better, reinvented.
The service concept – a shared view
- The organization – business proposition (the way in which the organization would like
to have its service perceived).
- The customer – perception of service.
The service concept should be a shared understanding of what the organization provides and
what the customer receives.
The DNA of the service concept
The service concept = the service product (all the different parts that form the service –
outcome, experience and the servicescape; 4-, 7- and 8-P’s). An organization should identify
the parts, check them against customer needs, design and deliver them. The service concept is
also ‘the mental picture’ held by the customer.
The service concept should be based upon the organizations:
- Vision
- Mission
- Service ideas
- Brand
- Brand values
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The service concept as strategic tool
Using the service concept to create organizational alignment
The service concept should be used as an alignment tool that links together different
organizational functions with a common standard. It should create:
- A common purpose
- An interrelationship among the various functional groups
It should be written down and agreed upon, to create an explicit signal to customers.
Using the service concept to assess the implications of design changes
By defining the concept, service designers can compare it to alternatives. Changes to service
concepts exposes weaknesses, its ability to co-ordinate various constituencies and its ability to
communicate externally as well as internally.
A capability mapping can enhance already existing concepts as well as creating new ones.
Using the service concept to drive strategic advantage
Thinking about the service concept help managers view their business in ways that can make
it stand apart from other business. Managers may be able to create new concepts by thinking
about the market, the different customer segments and the needs of the customers in those
segments.
Focused and unfocused service operations
Focused service operations
Concentrating on providing a particular segment of customers with a narrow range of
services. The service concept acts like a filter trying to ensure that the right customers will be
drawn into the operation. Focus provides benefits to:
- The organization – such as simplicity of operation.
- The customers – such as high value at low cost.
E.g. fixed menu restaurants; MasterCard and VISA credit cards – narrow range of services for
a broad market segment.
Unfocused service operations
Deliver a wide range of services to either a narrow market segment or a wide market. For a
narrow market, the service concept has to act like a filter, e.g. a country club.
Four service concepts and changing focus
Number of markets served – range of services (figure on p. 168).
Cycle of proliferation and focus – organizational growth first usually comes by increasing the
range of services and then expanding the market. Focus is then achieved by separating out the
organization into distinct operations or organizations focused on providing a particular service
or on a particular market segment.
Achieving the benefits of focus in unfocused service operations
Business focus – split the market into segments with similar needs and expectations.
Operational focus – split the operations into several parts so that each caters for a particular
set of needs. E.g. an upper-class hotel with specific executive lounges for premium customers.
Encounter focus – use frontline staff to customize the initial experience to give the impression
that the service is special for individuals. E.g. reception staff that treat a business executive
differently from a family.
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Service processes p. 181-229
The whole interrelated chains of processes needs to be carefully designed, managed and
controlled to deliver value to customers. Processes depend on:
- Customization (management consulting; high variety – low volume)
- Consistency (call centers; low variety – high volume)
- Skill and knowledge of individual employees (medical doctors)
- Technology
Service processes and their importance
Service processes process:
- Customers
- Materials
- Information
- Staff
The service process is only one part of the service operation, but it is the glue that holds it all
together.
The service process: creating the service experience
The way the customer, materials and information are processed and how the link together
creates the experience. Some tasks take place in the presence of the customer, the front office.
Others take place in the back office remote from customers.
Front office
- Deal directly with customers
- Customers interact with either service employees or technology
- The customer plays an important role in service delivery and is an operational resource
- E.g. management consultancy; call center agent answering customer queries etc.
- Some processes have well-defined routines (call centers) whereas others depend on the
service providers’ skills (management consultant)
- One common problem: the unpredictability of the customer
Back office
- Operates at a distance from customers
- The lack of customer’s presence make back office more efficient
- E.g. preparation of food in a restaurant; cheque-clearing processes for a retail bank
Reasons for shifting activities from front- to back office
- Cost and consistency benefits
- Reduces the need for immediate response to customers requests
- Business operate close to customers, but the work is carried out by technology at a
remote, cheaper location
Shifting activities from back- to front office
- Customers require technical expertise
- Cheap minilabs for film processing
The service experience
The customer’s direct experience of the service process. Examples of interactions:
- Face-to-face
- Telephone – cost effective but possibility of misunderstandings
- E-service
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Customers may perceive some degree of risk in the service process. These are:
- Financial risk – e.g. purchasing a pension plan for non-educated customers
- Physical risk – e.g. an adventure holiday
- Psychological risk – may come from customer’s lack of confidence or competence
(Social interaction – perceived risk figure on p. 189)
Customer variables that complicate the service experience:
- Customer mindset – a customer complaint process will not have the customer in a
helpful mindset
- Customer mood – people complaining might be expected to be angry
- Personality clashes – some people simply do not get on.
The need to manage the total chain of processes
Service operations managers need to be able to manage the total chain of processes, which
link together the back- and front office and finally the end user. Failure to manage end-to-end
(e2e) processes leads to:
- Lack of consistency
- Poor reliability
- Increased cost
A process manager must not only deal with the individual issues regarding front- and back
offices, but also deal with integrating these two. He should design the process from the point
of view of the ‘thing’ being processed.
The process environment – the servicescape
Servicescape – the physical surroundings of the service operation. It includes both the
physical and informational environment in which a service is both created and delivered.
The servicescape can:
Affecting the customer’s experience
The choice and style of facilities should be in tune with the desired service experience (based
on the service concept). E.g. the style of Caesar’s Palace; the memorabilia of Hard Rock
cafés.
Influencing customer behavior
Customers’ behavior, and experience, can be determined by the servicescape; its ambience,
lightning or music. E.g. background music in a store can influence the pace of shopping.
Influencing employees
The physical and informational aspects of a service environment influence employees in the
same way as customers. An appropriate environment results in approach, and they become
more committed to the organization.
Understanding the nature of the service process
Processes need to be engineered and controlled. To do this, one need to understand the nature
of service processes. They are described by three themes:
Service product variety
Runners
- Standard activities and relatively predictable; easy to forecast demand.
- Lend themselves to efficient operations.
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Repeaters
- Standard activities but more complex and they occur less frequently.
- Absorb more resources than runners because lower volume and hence, less automation.
Strangers
- Non-standard activities and difficult to forecast demand.
- They are least well defined in terms of resource requirements.
Types of process: volume and variety
Capability processes (high variety-low volume)
- No service concept as high-volume services but more flexibility to change service
outcome.
- The capability resides with specific individuals, and may be lost when they leave the
organization.
- No consistency in processes.
- Many professional services are in this category.
- Strangers and runners dominate activities.
- E.g. lawyers, accountants, management consultants.
Commodity processes (low variety-high volume)
- The service concept is well-defined, and translated into a series of tightly controlled
processes little flexibility.
- Competing with price.
- Consistency in processes, to ensure customer expectations is met.
- Customer-facing staff is likely to be relatively junior.
- Usually mass services.
- Activities are typified by runners.
- E.g. restaurant chains, supermarkets, telephone banking.
Managers’ task is to create a planned environment where the various activities can be carried
out as efficiently as possible.
Profiling processes
When comparing companies on the capability-commodity spectrum, one must compare
different process types within the same sector.
Off-diagonal processes
The ‘line of best fit’ between capability and commodity is in reality rather wider than just a
thin line.
Operating in the complexity area (high volume-high variety)
Mass customization – provide customers with whatever they want, however and wherever
they want it, e.g. internet banking.
Operating in the simplicity area (low volume-low variety)
Usually inefficient operations because of the low volume. Might suit small niche companies
such as microbreweries.
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Adding value for the customer
Must recognize where value should be added. The categories of value:
- Customer value – what the customer recognizes and pays for.
- Brand value – aspects of the service that communicate the style that the organization
would like to display.
- Financial contribution – earning revenue for the organization.
- Organizational contribution – aspects that do not fall into the previous categories, but
still are essential for the organization.
An operation manager must view the service operations in their entirety, both back- and front
office to recognize where the bulk of the value-adding activity lies.
The Key Decision Area Matrix helps us understand where the prime value is added (figure on
p. 204) and it can give an insight into the impact of changes in service concept.
The four areas (e.g. all four types of KDA: s may be represented in the operations of a bank):
The service factory
- High volume-low variety with runners/repeaters and low customer involvement.
- Back office – KDA and the prime task is efficient and consistent, high volume
operations. Adds value.
- Front office – make service factory look friendly.
- E.g. restaurant chains.
Do-it-yourself service
- High volume-low variety with runners/repeaters and high customer involvement.
- KDA – customer, back- and front office which add value. Balance decisions.
- E.g. fitness clubs.
Service projects
- Repeaters/strangers and low customer involvement.
- KDA – back- and front office which both add value.
- E.g. market research companies.
Service partnership
- High variety with strangers/repeaters and high customer involvement.
- KDA – customer and front office.
- Efficiency depends on personal chemistry.
- E.g. management consulting firms.
Task allocation
Operations managers must make decisions about which tasks are carried out in the back- and
front office or by the customer.
‘Engineering’ service processes
Operation managers and staff look at the service processes from an internal perspective
instead of a customer perspective, and therefore missing problems and errors.
Tools to design service processes:
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Process mapping
- Charting of a service process in order to assist in the evaluation, design and
development of processes.
- Capture all activities and relationships on paper, which is time consuming.
- Either micro- or macro level, created with different symbols.
Walk through audits
- Staff, managers and other acting as surrogate customers and evaluate the service.
- The audit should be based on a checklist of questions.
- Identifies critical elements of the customer experience from first contact to the exit.
Service transaction analysis
- Identifies the reason for the outcome of each transaction so that improvements can be
made.
Five key stages:
- The service concept needs to be agreed and specified.
- Mystery shoppers walk through the actual process to assess how customers assess the
transactions.
- Interpretation as to why the customer arrives at this evaluation.
- The assessments are joined to give a visible profile.
- Service designers and managers then working from the sheet to find improvements that
can be made.
Controlling service processes
An operations manager must try to achieve consistency of outcome for customers. The most
important factor when influencing customer satisfaction is reliability.
Capable processes
Uses statistical process control (SPC) to asses if the process is capable, and creates a normal
distribution to se if the process lies within the promised limit (figure on p. 214).
- To deliver an item on time, is a capable process.
- If not delivered on time, the process is out of control.
If the process is out of control, there are two strategies management must consider:
- To invest in the process, so the customer is ensured the item is delivered on time.
- To relax the process specification (not make any promises).
The SPC is applicable to factory-like processes.
Quality systems
Quality assurance activity is usually focusing on preventing poor quality, but not encouraging
good quality. High volume ‘commodity’-type of services is best suited for quality system
approaches. They can be:
- Mapped
- Consistent standards can be established and monitored.
Standard operating procedures (SOPs) are used to make sure quality specifications are met.
Repositioning service processes
Commodity processes may want to be more flexible and customized, whereas capability
processes may want to increase volume and reduce cost.
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From capability to commodity
- An innovative organization has a requirement for growth, and as it grows, an innovative
solution can be packaged and sold to a wider range of customers.
- The most significant aspect of the transition is the impact on the individuals. They may
have joined because of the professional autonomy they offer. When the organization
grows, they become less motivated.
Implications of growth:
- Customers may require consistency across different locations.
- More effort must be put on sales and marketing activities, and this may take the
organization into cost competition.
From commodity to capability
- Organizations wishing not only to compete with prices may provide a degree of
customization for individual customers.
Mass customization incorporates the following principles:
- Develop standard modules.
- Postpone customization until the latest possible stage – the delivery process is
standardized for all stages until the last.
Significant changes in the operations task frequently include the following:
- Shifting from back office consistency to front office flexibility.
- Customer-facing staff must give individual advices to customers.
- ‘Uppskilling’ customer-facing staff by training and provisions.
- Making processes more flexible.
Strategies for change
For service operations lying in between capability and commodity there are four different
ways to deal with transitions:
1. Building capability through systems and training
- Invest in information systems and expanding the role of the front office.
- Benefit: the organization is well placed to deal with new challenges.
2. Building capability through incremental development
- The organization takes on activities that are outside its normal sphere of action.
- Disadvantages: ‘learning by doing’ may damage customer relationships.
3. Moving to commodity by constraining flexible resources
- Moving a gourmet chef to a fast-food chain.
- Disadvantages: keeping staff motivated and the organization may become
uncompetitive.
4. Moving to commodity through investment in process capability
- The market needs a high-volume version of existing services.
- Disadvantage: require investments and is therefore risky.
Managing the gap between market position and operations
In selling the benefits of a particular service it is common to find that companies emphasize
customer flexibility – while continuing to operate on a mass-production basis. It is effective,
but customer satisfaction may fall into the gap between market flexibility and operation
efficiency. To manage the gap, companies may adopt different strategies:
- Customer service departments – provides human interface.
- Named personal contact – provides some personalized attention.
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Account or client managers – B2B services may use accounts to provide a closer
customer contact.
Change the nature of the service – the process is repositioned from service partnership
to do-it-yourself service.
Change customer expectations – if high volume-low flexibility companies need to
educate customers not to expect personalized service.
Lean operations and JIT p. 233-264
Toyota case-study
Toyota production system
- Just-in-time – coordinated movement of parts throughout the production system and
supply network to meet customer demand.
- Jidoka – humanizing the interface between operator and machine.
These two helps eliminating waste. Seven types of waste (activity which does not add value):
- Overproduction
- Waiting time
- Transportation waste
- Inventory waste
- Processing waste
- Waste of motion
- Waste from product defects
The overall philosophy: that activities, connections, and production flows in a Toyota factory
are rigidly scripted, yet at the same time Toyota’s operations are enormously flexible and
adaptable.
What is lean and just-in-time (JIT)?
Lean (philosophy) = JIT (technique) - producing goods and services exactly when they are
needed, with perfect quality and no waste.
Traditional approach
- Each stage will build up an inventory to prevent stages downstream to stop.
- The larger the inventory is, the greater is the degree of isolation between stages.
- Problems will not be apparent until the inventory in between stages is eliminated.
- Focus on high capacity utilization.
JIT approach
- Items are passed directly to the next stage.
- Low inventory to problems are exposed and solved
- Inventory is a ‘blanket of obscurity’ – rocks in the river.
- Producing only when needed.
- Lower capacity utilization.
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The lean philosophy
Three key issues:
- Eliminate waste
- Involve everyone
- Continues improvement
Eliminate waste (activity which does not add value)
Seven forms of waste (identifying waste)
- Over-production
- Waiting time
- Transport
- Process
- Inventory
- Motion
- Defectives
The 5 S’s (principles for reducing waste)
- Sort – eliminate what is not needed.
- Straighten – position things in such a way that they can be easily reached.
- Shine – keep things clean.
- Standardize – maintain cleanliness.
- Sustain – develop pride in keeping to standards.
Minimize throughput time
Value stream mapping
Visually maps a product form start to finish. Distinguishes between value-adding and nonvalue-adding activities.
Involve everyone
- Teamwork
- Job enrichment
- Multi-skilling
- High degree of personal responsibility
Continuous improvement
- Possible to get closer to the ‘ideal’ over time
JIT techniques (means for cutting out the waste)
Adopt basic working practices
- Discipline – work standards which are critical for the safety etc.
- Flexibility – expand responsibilities to the extent of people’s capacity.
- Equality – implement the egalitarian message.
- Autonomy – delegate responsibilities to people.
- Development of personnel.
- Quality of working – e.g. working area facilities.
- Creativity
- Total people involvement
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Design for ease of processing
- Design improvements can dramatically reduce product cost.
Emphasize operations focus
- Simplicity, repetition and experience breed competence.
Use small simple machines
- Many, small machines are more flexible in production and a breakdown is not as
harmful.
Layout for smooth flow
- Placing workstations close together (no inventory buildup).
- U-shaped lines so that staff can move between workstations.
Adopt total productivity maintenance
- Eliminate the variability in operations processes caused by breakdowns.
Reduce setup times
- Reduce the time taken to change over the process from one activity to the next.
Ensure visibility
- Performance measures or use of visual signals to indicate when a problem occurs.
JIT planning and control
Based on the principle of a ‘pull system’.
Kanban control (a method of operationalizing a pull-based planning and control system)
E.g. a card used by a customer stage to instruct its supplier stage to send more material.
Three different types:
- The move kanban – signal to a previous stage that material can be withdrawn from
inventory and transferred to a specific destination.
- The product kanban – signal to a production process that it can start producing a part.
- The vendor kanban – signal to a supplier to send material to a stage.
The principle is that the receipt of a kanban triggers the movement of a unit.
The single card system (uses move kanbans)
(Figure on p. 251)
Leveled scheduling
- Producing a small amount of output, instead of a large batch.
- Inventory decreases.
- The same routine everyday – scheduling.
- Can be applied to transportation processes.
Synchronization
- The pacing of output should be the same at each stage to provide a steady flow.
- Parts need to be classified according to the frequency with which they are demanded.
- Classifications: runners, repeaters and strangers.
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Mixed modeling
- Processes can be made so flexible that they achieve the JIT ideal of a ‘batch size of
one’.
JIT in service operations
In the service sector JIT can be applied as well. Instead of eliminating inventory, as in
production, one needs to eliminate the queues of material, information and customers.
For example:
- An empty shelf in a supermarket sends a signal to store the shelf – pull control.
- Restaurants cook food when ordered – pull control reduces throughput time.
- Billing customers later than necessary – fast throughput time improves cash flow.
JIT and MRP
Key characteristics of MRP
- Push system – inventory is driven through each process.
- Uses complex computer-based organization.
- Dependent of accuracy of data.
- Assume fixed lead times.
- Excellent at planning, weak at control.
- Necessary for strangers.
Key characteristics of JIT
- Pull system – flow between stages is pulled by demand from the previous stage.
- The control of the pull between stages is accomplished by using cards.
- Decentralized organization.
- Rate-based rather than volume-based.
- Assumes resource flexibility.
- Works well for runners and repeaters.
When to use JIT, MRP and combined systems
(Figure p. 258) Depends on the complexity of product structures and the complexity of the
flow-path routings through which they must pass.
- JIT- simple structures-simple routings.
- MRP – complex structures-complex routings.
The design of products and services p. 267-296
Why is good design so important?
Design objectives:
- Meet customers expectations
- Reliable products
- Manufacturing should be quick and easy
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What is designed in a product or service?
The concept
- The understanding of the nature, use and value of the service or product.
- E.g. patients are not concerned about the ingredients of a drug, but how they will use it
and the benefits it will provide.
The package of products and services
- Should provide those benefits defined in the concept.
- Both products and services are usually part of the package. E.g. a car with warranty.
The process
- The way in which products will be created and delivered to the customers.
- E.g. a car manufacturer designing a new assembly line.
The stages of design
- Concept generation
- Concept screening
- Preliminary design
- Evaluation and improvement
- Prototyping and final design
Concept generation
- Ideas from customers
- Listening to customers
- Ideas from competitor activity
- Ideas from staff
- Ideas from research and development
Concept screening
Evaluation of concept by asking three questions:
- Can we do it?
- Do we want to do it?
- Do we want to take the risk?
The design funnel
Reduces the number of possibilities until the final design is reached.
Balancing evaluation with creativity
The process of evaluation is important but it must be balanced by the need for design
creativity.
Preliminary design
First attempt at both specifying the component products and services in the package and
defining the processes to create the package.
1. Specifying the components of the package
2. Reducing design complexity
- Standardization – minimize variety among products.
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Commonality – the range of which products incorporates the same
components.
- Modularization – designing standardized ‘sub-components’ of a product or
service which can be put together in different ways.
3. Defining the process to create the package – the process should be examined before
the product is finalized.
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Evaluation and improvement
The purpose is to take the preliminary design and see whether it can be improved before the
product is tested in the market. Three methods:
1. Quality function deployment
- A technique used to ensure that the eventual design of a product meets the
needs of its customers.
- Captures what the customer needs and how it might be achieved.
2. Value engineering
- Tries to eliminate any costs that do not contribute to the value of the product.
- It examines the purpose of the product, its basic function and its secondary
functions.
3. Taguchi methods
- A technique that uses design combinations to test the robustness of design.
Prototyping and final design
- Turn the improved design into a prototype so that it can be tested.
- Prototypes include everything from clay models to computer simulation (CAD)
The benefits of interactive design
- Design of products and services on one hand, and design of the processes that create
them on the other, should be integrated.
- Benefits: reduces the time for the whole design activity, from concept through market
introduction, which in turn reduces costs and become a competitive advantage.
Three factors which can reduce time to market:
1. Simultaneous development
- Simultaneous development of the various stages in the overall process.
- Move away from the traditional sequential approach.
2. Early conflict resolution
- Look at design activity as a series of decisions.
- Decisions may be altered during time, depending on the current state.
- By resolving conflicts early, uncertainty is reduced.
3. Project-based organization structures
- Two options: a project group with personnel from the different disciplines and
a project manager, or personnel from different discipline working on the
project but having their own functional manager.
- More effective with a project group on larger projects.
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Supply network design p. 299-336
The supply network perspective
Setting an operation in the context of all the other operations with which it interacts, both
suppliers and customers. The total supply network is made up by:
- First- and second-tier suppliers and customers.
- The supply and demand side.
Why consider the whole supply network?
It helps an understanding of competitiveness
- To understand the customers’ needs the company can rely on the intermediate
customers, or they can look beyond them
It helps identify significant links in the network
- A company must identify the parts of the network which contribute to those
performance objectives valued by end customers.
- The analysis must start by understanding the downstream end of the network.
It helps focus on long-term issues
- A long-term supply network view would be to weigh the relative advantages to be
gained from assisting or replacing the weak link.
Design decisions in supply networks
- How should the network be configured?
- Where should each part of the network owned by the company be located?
- What physical capacity should each part of the network have at any point in time?
Configuring the supply network
Changing the shape of the supply network
- Manage network behavior by reconfiguring the network.
- Operations may be merged – the way responsibilities are allocated.
- E.g. reducing the number of direct suppliers.
Disintermediation
- Cut out the middlemen.
- E.g. airplane tickets can be bought directly from the airline instead of from a travelagency.
Co-opetition
- Any business is surrounded by four types of players: suppliers, customers, competitors
and complementors.
- All the players can be both friends and enemies at different times.
- E.g. an area with many restaurants helps attracting customers to all the restaurants.
In-source or out-source? The vertical integration (VI) decision
VI can be defined in terms of three factors:
- The direction of VI – should an operation buy a supplier or a customer?
- The extent of VI – how far should an operation take the extent of its VI?
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The balance among stages – not about the ownership of the network but rather the
exclusivity of the relationship between operations.
Making the outsourcing/VI decision
- One question: does in-house or outsourced supply in an operation make it more
competitive?
Deciding whether to outsource
- If an activity has long-term strategic importance to a company, it is unlikely to
outsource it.
The location of capacity
Reasons for location decisions
Some operations are where they are because of historical reasons. The cost involved in
changing location often outweighs the benefits of a new location. Two stimuli to change
location:
- Changes in demand – if customers move, suppliers may move with them.
- Changes in supply – if the cost or availability of intermediate products changes, it may
stimulate relocation.
The objectives of the location decision
The aim of the location decision is to achieve an appropriate balance between three related
objectives:
- The geographically variable cost of the operation.
- The service the operation is able to provide to its customers.
- The revenue potential of the operation.
Supply-side influences
- Labor costs – hourly cost or unit cost (includes effects of productivity and exchange
rates).
- Land costs
- Energy costs
- Transportation costs – includes the cost of transporting inputs from their source to the
site of the operation and the cost of transporting good from the site to customers.
Community factors
- E.g. local tax rates, political stability etc.
Demand-side influences
- Labor skills – e.g. a science park close to a university.
- The suitability of the site itself – e.g. a hotel located next to a beach.
- Image of the location – e.g. fashion in Milan.
- Convenience for customers – e.g. location of a hospital.
Location techniques
- Weighted-score method – compares the attractiveness of locations that allocates a score
to the factors that are significant in the decision and weights each score by the
significance of the factor.
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Center-of-gravity method – uses the physical analogy of balance to determine the
geographical location that balances the weighted importance of the other operations
with which the one being located has a direct relationship.
Long-term capacity management
The optimum capacity level
- Decisions on the size of the facility need to be made.
- A larger facility may reduce the average cost, due to economies of scale.
- If the facility too large, the average cost may raise due to diseconomies of scale
(transportation costs due to remote location and complexity costs due to increase in
size).
Scale of capacity and the demand-capacity balance
- If the facility is too large, there will be costly overcapacity, if demand is not constant.
Balancing capacity
- For the network to operate efficiently, all its stages must have the same capacity. If not,
the capacity of the network as a whole will be limited to the capacity of its slowest link.
The timing of capacity change
Two ways of handling an increase in capacity:
- Capacity leads demand – timing the introduction of capacity in such a way that there is
always sufficient capacity to meet demand.
- Capacity lags demand – timing the introduction of capacity so that demand is always
equal to or greater than capacity.
Smoothing with inventory
- Using inventory to locate the operation in between ‘leads and lags demand’.
- Capacity is always fully utilized, but inventory costs.
Break-even analysis of capacity expansion
- Capacity is added in increments, making the first period in each new increment
unprofitable because of increasing fixed costs.
Forecasting – knowing the options
As a manager, the first question to ask is to know how far you need to look, and this depends
on options and decision availability. Three different terms of capacity:
- Short-term capacity management (hiring short-term teachers).
- Medium-term capacity management (hiring new teachers).
- Long-term capacity management (build a new school).
In essence forecasting is simple
To forecast how many children that may turn up in school in a few years, one need to look at
birth figures, death rates and immigration.
Approaches to forecasting
Two different methods:
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Qualitative methods
Quantitative methods
Qualitative methods
Collecting and appraising judgments, options, best guesses and past performance from experts
to make predictions.
Panel approach
- Acts like a focus group allowing everyone to talk freely.
- Difficult to reach consensus and the loudest participant’s opinion may emerge.
Delphi method
- Questionnaires are posted to experts.
- The questionnaires are analyzed and then returned to the experts.
- The experts are asked to reconsider their original opinion.
- This is repeated several times to conclude either a consensus or a narrower range of
decisions.
Scenario planning
- Applied to long-range forecasting, using a panel.
- Panel members are asked to devise a range of future scenarios.
Quantitative methods
Two different methods:
- Time series analysis
- Casual models
Time series analysis
- Plots a variable over and removes underlying variations, such as seasonal variation, to
predict future behavior.
Casual models
- Employ complex techniques to understand the strength of relationships between the
network of variables and the impact they have on each other.
What is Operations Strategy p. 339-372
What is ‘operations’ and why is it so important?
‘Operations’ is the activity of managing the resources and processes that produce and deliver
goods and services. Operations transform resource inputs into outputs of products and
services (input-transformation-output model). Inputs are either material, information or
people. Other resource inputs do the transforming e.g. facilities, machines, human capital etc.
An operation may produce both products and services.
Three levels of input-transformation-output
- Supply network – a supply network is an arrangement of operations.
- Operation – an operation is an arrangement of processes.
- Process – a process is an arrangement of resources.
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Operations management can contribute to the success of any organization by doing the
following:
- Reduce costs by being efficient in the way it transforms inputs into outputs.
- Increase revenue by promoting outstanding customer satisfaction.
- Reduce the amount of investment necessary to produce the products.
- Provide the basis for future innovation by building a solid base of operations-based
capabilities.
What is strategy?
For example:
- Setting broad objectives that direct a firm towards its overall goal.
- Planning the path that will achieve these goals.
- Stressing long-term objectives.
- Dealing with the total picture.
Operations strategy – operations is not always operational
- Operational means detailed, short-term, day-to-day etc.
- Operations strategy is concerned with the total transformation process (the business).
- It is concerned with how the competitive environment is changing.
- It is concerned with the long-term development of its operations resources.
- E.g. IKEA has a clear operations strategy.
Four perspectives on operations strategy
- The top-down perspective
- The bottom-up perspective
- The market requirements perspective
- The operations resources perspective
The top-down per. –operations strategy should interpret higher-level strategy
- Three levels of strategies – corporate, business and functional, which form a hierarchy.
- The corporate strategy forming the business strategy etc.
- The corporate strategy may consist of what type of business the group wants to be in, in
what parts of the world it wants to operate etc.
The bottom-up per. – operations strategy should learn from day-to-day experience
- When reviewing the strategy, a business usually consult individual functions.
- By doing this, it can base its strategy on day-to-day experiences, which may incorporate
customers’ needs in a better way.
The market requirements per. – operations strategy should satisfy the organization’s markets
- Operations strategy must reflect the organization’s market position.
- Must develop an understanding of what is required in order to support that position.
- The needs that define the market will shape the organization’s attempt to satisfy those
needs.
- How the organization chooses to position itself will depend on how it feels it can
achieve an advantage over its competitors.
- The last stage in forming the strategy is to define performance objectives – the aspects
of operations performance that satisfy market requirements and therefore that the
operation is expected to pursue.
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Performance objectives (required performance)
- Quality
- Speed
- Dependability
- Flexibility
- Cost
The operations resource per. – operations strategy should build on operations capabilities
- An organization needs to know what it has (resources) and then decide what actions to
take.
- To understand an operation, one need to examine the interaction between resources,
intangible resources included.
- Informal information flows make up the efficiency of an operation, and is a valuable
resource.
- The concept of routines (formal and informal processes) and intangible assets is the
‘resource-based view’, and together they form the organization’s competitive
advantage.
- E.g. Intel may posses a capability-based performance advantage over its competitors,
but it may be competed away quickly.
- However, the resource-based advantage is still valuable.
So what is operations strategy?
- Operations strategy is the attempt to reconcile all four perspectives.
- The tension between the market requirements (MRP) and the operations resource
perspective (ORP) is central to operations strategy.
- An organization cannot simply follow the market, but it must also develop long-term
capabilities which are inherent in the resources.
- It is a complex interaction which depends on the difficulty in clarifying the nature of
market requirements together with the difficulty in knowing the value, abilities etc. of
their own resources.
The content and process of operations strategy
- Content is concerned with the strategic decisions which shape and develop the longterm direction of the operation and form the building blocks of an operation.
- Process is the procedures which are used to formulate operations strategy.
- The process determines how an operation pursues the reconciliation between MRP and
ORP.
The content of operations strategy – an overview
- Operations strategy attempts to influence the way it satisfies market requirements by
setting performance objectives and it attempts to influence the capabilities of its
operations resources through the decisions it takes in how those resources are deployed.
- Understanding the relative importance of the operation’s performance objectives and
the influence on them of the decision areas that determine resource deployment.
Performance objectives
- The purpose of performance objectives is to articulate market requirements.
- Ways for a company to articulate its position in the market: compare it to competitors;
associate itself with the needs of a particular group of customers.
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In this way, market position is defined by the dimensions price, quality, service etc.
(competitive factors).
They describe the things that a customer can see or experience.
Each company need to know what list of performance objectives that is appropriate to
their business, what competitive factors each represents and how each competitive
factor is to be defined.
Decision areas
The set of decisions needed to manage the resources of the operation.
- Capacity
- Supply networks
- Process technology
- Development and organization
Capacity strategy
- How capacity and facilities in general should be configured.
Supply network strategy, including purchasing and logistics
- How operation relate to its interconnected network of operations.
Process technology strategy
- The choice and development of the systems, machines etc. which act directly/indirectly
on transformed resources to convert them into finished products.
Development and organization
- Broad and long-term decisions governing how the operation is run on a continuing
basis.
Why these decision areas?
- ROA can be broken down into several ratio-measurements, to reflect the different
decision areas.
Structural and infrastructural decisions
- A distinction is drawn between strategic decisions that determine an operation’s
structure, and those that determine its infrastructure.
- Structural issues influence the physical arrangement of the operation’s resources.
- Infrastructural strategy areas influence the activities that take place within the
operation’s structure (compare hardware to software in a computer system).
The operations strategy matrix
- Describes operations strategy as the intersection of a company’s performance
objectives with its decision areas.
- E.g. it should explain how flexibility is influenced by capacity, supply network, process
technology and development and organization decisions etc.
Appendix: the resource-based view of the firm
- Two schools: environmental and resource based and why some firms outperform
others.
Environmental
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A firm’s performance is related to industrial structure of its markets.
Key strategic tasks centered on competitive positioning within industrial sectors.
The firm is an allocator of resources between different market opportunities.
Firm should analyze the forces present within the environment in order to assess the
profit potential of the industry, and then design a strategy that aligns the firm to the
environment.
Resource based
- Good performance is more likely to be the result of the core capabilities inherent in a
firm’s resources than its competitive advantage in its industry.
Operations performance s. 375-408
Operations performance objectives
- Perceived performance is a function of who you are and your objectives etc.
- For operations strategy to be effective, performance must be measured.
- Each group of stakeholders has different performance objectives.
The five generic performance objectives
Relates to an operations basic task in a better way than stakeholder objectives.
Quality
- Two concepts – product specification and operations conformance to the particular
specification.
- Product specification – ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ aspects of specification quality, e.g. features
and helpfulness respectively.
- Conformance quality – operations ability to produce goods to their defined
specification.
Speed
- Time between the beginning of an operations process and its end.
- E.g. time between when materials enter an operation and when it leaves fully
processed.
Dependability
- Keeping delivery promises; honoring the delivery time given to a customer.
- Dependability = due delivery time – actual delivery time
Flexibility
- First distinction to make is between range flexibility – how much the operation can be
changed; and response flexibility – how fast the operation can be changed.
- Next distinction is between the way we describe the flexibility of a whole operation and
the flexibility of the individual resources which, together, make up the system.
Cost
- The most important objective – a financial input to the operation that enables it to
produce its products.
- Three categories of financial inputs: operating expenditure, capital expenditure and
working capital.
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The internal and external effects of the performance objectives
- Must examine how each of the performance objectives affects market position outside
the operation and operations resources inside the operation.
- E.g. if the operation is focused on speed, the customers (market position) will get the
products quickly and throughput time as well as inventory will decrease (operations
resources).
- Different businesses should apply different priorities to its performance objectives
depending on their message to customers.
Order-winning, delights and qualifying competitive factors
- A way of determining the relative importance of competitive factors.
Order-winning factors
- Regarded by customers as key reasons for purchasing the product.
- Can achieve negative or positive competitive benefit, depending on achieved
performance.
Delights
- Aspects of performance that customers have not yet been made aware of.
- The absence of delights will not upset customers, because they are not aware of them.
However, when the operations starts performing successfully in terms of delights, the
potential competitive benefit could be significant.
Qualifying
- Those aspects of competitiveness where the operation’s performance has to be above a
particular level just to be considered by customers.
- No matter how well an organization performs at its qualifiers, it is not going to achieve
high levels of competitive benefits. Customers expect these things.
As delights loose their novelty, they become order-winners, and order-winners may become
qualifying factors as time goes.
The relative importance of performance objectives change over time
Changes in the firm’s markets – the product/service life cycle influence on performance
- One way of generalizing the market requirements that operations need to fulfill is to
link it to the life cycle of the products.
The life cycle as a function of sales volume
Introduction stage
- Few competitors; dominant operations performance objectives (DOPO): flexibility,
quality.
Growth stage
- Increasing number or competitors; DOPO: speed, dependability, quality.
Maturity stage
- Stable number of competitors; DOPO: cost, dependability.
Decline stage
- Declining number of competitors; DOPO: cost.
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Changes in the firm’s resource base
- New technologies may require a fundamental rethink of how operations resources can
be used to provide competitive advantage.
- Other operations-based changes may be necessary to maintain a market position.
Mapping operations strategies
- To understand how an organization’s operations strategy changes over time, one needs
to understand how it views its markets, its operations resources and how it attempts to
reconcile these two.
Trade-offs
- In order to excel in some particular aspects of performance, one must to some extent
sacrifice performance in others.
Why are trade-offs important
Two important characteristics of operations performance:
- All measures of performance will not have equal importance for an individual
operation.
- Performances will trade off against each other.
- E.g. we will not be impressed by a call center that answer our calls quickly at all times
if it charges us high fees.
Are trade-offs real or imagined?
Two schools:
First school
- Excellence in one objective usually means poor performance in some other.
- The key issue of operations strategy is to position the competitive objectives of the
operation to reflect the company’s overall competitive strategy.
Second school
- Trade-offs are not real, since companies (e.g. Toyota) have achieved improvements in
several aspects of performance simultaneously.
Trade-offs and the efficient frontier
- The further out an operation lies in a variety-cost efficiency diagram (p. 398), the
better. If two operations lie on the efficient frontier, they are both efficient but they can
choose a different mix depending on their market strategies.
Improving operations effectiveness by using trade-offs
- If an operation is good at variety but not at cost efficiency, to move to a higher efficient
frontier will usually require it to become even better at variety, but worse at cost
efficiency.
Targeting and operations focus
The concept of focus
- Skinner: first a business must establish a consistent set of policies. Second, because of
trade-offs, one operation cannot provide peak performance in all performance
objectives at the same time.
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By focusing on a narrow set of objectives, an operation can outperform its competitors.
Focus as operations segmentation
- Separate clusters of resources should serve individual market segments.
- The problem is that the basis for segmenting markets does not always map onto the
basis for segmenting operations resources.
The ‘operation-within-an-operation’ concept
- Allows an operation to accrue benefits of focus without the considerable expanse of
setting up independent operations.
- A portion of the operation is partitioned off and dedicated to the manufacture of a
particular product.
Types of focus
Performance objective focus
- Products have similar characteristics in terms of performance objectives.
Product/service specification focus
- Each range of products is targeted at a clearly defined market segment.
Geographic focus
- Market segments are defined by their geographic location.
Variety focus
- Segment operations in terms of the number of different activities it is engaged in.
Volume focus
- Separate operations for different volume requirements.
Process requirement focus
- A particular technology is the point of focus for the operation.
Benefits and risks in focus
Benefits:
Clarity of performance objectives
- Makes task prioritizing easier for those few performance objectives which are
important for the particular market.
Developing appropriate resources
- A narrow set of resources allows those resources to be developed specifically to meet
the relatively narrow set of performance objectives required by the market.
Enhanced learning and improvement
- A combination of clear objectives, together with resources organized to meet those
objectives, can enhance an operations ability to manage its learning and improvement
of its processes.
Risks:
Significant shifts in the marketplace
- A shift in the competitive market environment can undermine the effectiveness of a
focus strategy.
Few economies of scale
- By separating resources which once were bundled, will allow those resources to be
developed appropriately for the market they serve, but they will not achieve the same
economies of scale.
Structural vulnerability
- A shift in the market together with few economies of scale will ruin the focus.
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Drifting out of focus
Unfocused operations are often a result of a gradual drift away form a clear strategy. Reasons:
New products and services
- After developing a new product, companies usually turn to their existing operations to
produce them. The most successful operations are usually perceived as being the best to
cope with the new product, although the operation’s success may be built upon focus.
Strategy drift
- In absence of a clear competitive direction, managers often attempt to perform equally
good (bad) against all of the performance objectives.
Control by specialist
- In absence of an operations strategy, specialists will tend to develop their own systems
at the expense of greater strategic objectives.
Company-wide solutions
- A belief that one solution can cure all the problems, without sufficient regard for the
need to tailor solutions to suit particular circumstances.
Business growth
- When, for example, an operation has to deal with larger volumes, it may loose focus.
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