Needs for trade- offs - business strategy, Operation Management

Assignment Help:

Needs for Trade- offs - Business Strategy

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

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


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

Operation Management, what are the factors that affect productivity

what are the factors that affect productivity

Explain uses a level material usage approach has collected, A firm that ope...

A firm that operates 300 days in a year and uses a level material usage approach has collected the following data: Annual Demand = 30,000; Daily Demand = 100; Daily production= 300

Explain staff development, Staff Development Please respond to the follo...

Staff Development Please respond to the following: Analyze the different development approaches and discuss which approach (or which combination of approaches) would be most

Explain implementation of tqm, Why is a system view so important to have if...

Why is a system view so important to have if you are going to implement TQM?

Disney entered europe with many incorrect assumptions, Disney entered Europ...

Disney entered Europe with several incorrect assumptions and poor research. Identify the problems that arose and how Disney should adjust for the immediate situation and what shoul

Treats older workers differently than the younger workers, Carlos, age 24, ...

Carlos, age 24, and Samuel, age 47, are employed as security officers for Jackson Security Co. In an effort to retain qualified officers and to be more competitive with the salarie

Describe costco''s inventory before it is sold, The following table shows f...

The following table shows financial data for Costco and wal mart: CostcoInventories: $3,643Sales (net): $48106COGS: $41651 Wal Mart:Inventories: $29447Sales (net): $286103COG

Explain when great technological projects, Superior expertise about how tec...

Superior expertise about how technologies work does not guarantee superior judgment about how they should be used, regulated, or governed. As technology becomes more sophisticated,

Explain concerns for product design in a dfma program, Name and briefly des...

Name and briefly describe the four primary concerns for product design in a DFMA program.

Explain what is its current yield, Consider a $1,000 par value, 7% annual c...

Consider a $1,000 par value, 7% annual coupon bond. The bond matures in 9 years. Assuming the bonds required return is 10%, what is its current yield? (Semi-annually compounding)

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