Bronner’s Christmas Store is one of the largest in America. Bronner’s currently has one store located in Frankenmuth, Michigan. Bronner’s has decided to open up a second store in Heidelberg, Germany. Reflecting on each chapter in our textbook, respond to each of the following questions as though you were hired to be a consultant to Bronner’s.
Should Bronner’s be concerned about German government policy? Explain.
In: Operations Management
Explain how recruitment and selection information from job analysis is used.
In: Operations Management
A paint booth operation runs 5 days per week. As the production supervisor, you track the number of errors produced by the paint booth by week. Errors can be of any type (over spray, inadequate coverage, etc.), may occur on one or more pieces of equipment, and the number and type of equipment painted varies greatly. Ten weeks of data were collected and the number of errors identified are found in the following table. Construct a control chart with 3-sigma control limits to determine if the process is in control. Week Number of errors 1 5 2 4 3 5 4 4 5 4 6 3 7 0 8 2 9 0 10 3 1. What are the CL, UCL, and LCL? 2. Draw the control chart and plot the 10-weeks of data? 3. Does the control chart suggest that the paint booth operation may be out-of-control? Explain. 4. After investigating, you determine that there is a special cause. The paint booth had become wore and was overhauled after Week 5. What, if anything, should you do to continue monitoring the paint booth operation? Please demonstrate what should be done.
In: Operations Management
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS How do the controls Newell uses fit its strategy??
In: Operations Management
CASE ANALYSIS (30 Marks)
Mars Inc.: merger of the European food, pet care and confectionery divisions
Mars Inc. is a diversified multifunctional company whose primary products include foods, petcare, confectionery, electronics and drinks. Owned and controlled by the Mars family, this US giant is one of the world’s biggest private companies, but also one of the most secretive. Mars’ decision in January 2000 to merge its food, pet care and confectionery divisions across Europe – and eventually with headquarters in the UK – has split the marketing industry. The most well-known brands within the three divisions are:
Mars UK says the decision to pool the businesses was taken to strike at the company’s international competitors in food and confectionery, such as Nestlé and Unilever. The move also coincides with plans to create a single European market and highlights the company’s belief that its consumers’ needs are the same across the continent. However, the combination of food and confectionery with pet care is not clear to all industry observers. One industry analyst made the comment: Generally speaking, Mars is doing the right thing by merging divisions to squeeze profits out of them. Before the advent of the euro it was acceptable to run separate companies in different European countries but not anymore. Another analyst said: ‘I can’t imagine it marketing all three sides of the business together. They’re too different.’ The only visible benefit appears to be an improvement in distribution. Tastes across European markets are very different, whether you’re selling products for animals or people It’s all very well Mars saying it will tackle competitors such as Nestlé and Unilever, but they are only rivals in food and confectionery. If Mars starts laying down too many controls by merging all its businesses – and therefore also its marketing and management strategies – it may streamline communications, but could lose the creativity available in different regions.
Questions:
1. Discuss the two views of organizing Mars’ European activities.
2. Did Mars Inc. do the right thing in your opinion? (20 marks)
In: Operations Management
legal and cultural considerations for human resources
for an international firm in India when hiring top level management
using the
Hofstedes Cultural dimensions
In: Operations Management
Identify a warehouse that you encounter in daily life, and describe the products, facilities and the material handling machines being served/used.
• Suppose the
manager wants you to help improve the warehouse operation
efficiency, what do you suggest?
• If you finally decided
to reallocate the warehouse layout, what information do you need
the manager to gather?
In: Operations Management
Fast-fashion giant Zara is equipping its stores to also ship online purchases, betting that the move will boost sales of full-priced items that can be delivered to customers more quickly than from a warehouse. The rollout encompasses around 2,000 stores in 48 countries, including the U.S., making it one of the largest-scale attempts by an apparel company to repurpose downtown shops to help fulfill online orders.
Zara’s efforts are part of a broader push among retailers to rethink how they can better use their network of brick-and-mortar stores to compete with Amazon, whose dominance in the retail industry has depressed profits and set new standards for speed of delivery. While some have considered traditional retailers’ vast store networks costly and antiquated, industry executives are increasingly equipping them to fulfill online orders to quicken delivery times, cut delivery costs and lift sales. “There has been a trend lately to think of a store as a liability,” an industry expert said. “It’s an asset—but you need to learn to use it correctly.”
Traditionally, retailers shipped items from warehouses to downtown locations writes The Wall Street Journal (Aug. 1, 2018). (But warehouses on the outskirts of cities are not as close to consumers as stores are). As online shopping grew, many retailers created inventory lines specifically for internet orders. Retail companies including Zara have been working to merge their inventory for online and in-store purchases rather than keeping separate stocks, to minimize lost and discounted sales. ship-from-store initiatives are one pillar of efforts by Zara and others to tackle the far bigger problem of mismanaged inventory, which, by one estimate, cost retailers nearly $1.4 trillion in lost sales in 2017. While shipping online orders from downtown stores can lower delivery costs, some retailers have struggled to make it profitable because they lack the technology to track in-store and in-warehouse inventory accurately.
Classroom discussion questions:
In: Operations Management
How does peopod’s strategy differ from amazon?
In: Operations Management
Process Capability MKS Inc., produces meter sticks that have a target length of 100 centimeters with upper and lower specification limits of 100.05 and 99.95 centimeters respectively. Their existing process produces meter sticks with an average length of 99.97 centimeters and a standard deviation of 0.015 centimeters. They are considering the purchase of a new machine that can hold a process output average exactly to target with a standard deviation of 0.02. Which machine will provide better process capability and why? (Show all your work in order to receive the full credit.) 1. Calculate capability index for the old machine. (8 points) 2. Calculate capability index for the new machine. (8 points) 3. Compare capabilities, decide which is better, and explain why. (4 points)
In: Operations Management
Research has shown that although the largest firms in the world also tend to be the world’s largest exporters, export intensity is not positively correlated with the size of a firm. Explore the reasons for this. Then pick two industries. Discuss the levels of export intensity you would expect to find in the two industries. Explain your reasoning and compare differences across the industries.
In: Operations Management
Building an Organization Capable of Proficient Strategy Execution: Three Key Actions.(1.staffing the organization 2. acquiring, developing and strengthening the resources and capabilities required for good strategy execution 3. Structuring the organization and work effort)
Start a discussion thread, explain how the three Key Actions need to work together for proficient strategy execution.
In: Operations Management
A- It's possible that the contradicting factors may have happened because of how the Leadership Award was awarded. Looking at the outside of the business, they do have impressive numbers with Minorities and Women, as they have a high percentage of Leadership roles in the company. The EEOC would look at individuals in the business like they did in this case.
B- Companies need to understand that people will always age and the people in their leadership positions will continue. L'Oreal needs to look at how time changes, but also keep their older customers. I think they could still do television advertisement as the Older generation doesn't using social media as much compared to the newer generation.
In: Operations Management
Think about your current or former job. If the organization where you were working were to go off track strategically, was there any readily available control mechanism to alert management of the deviation? Make sure to complete the Chapter 15 Reading, prior to beginning your participation in the Unit 5 Discussion.
In: Operations Management
What conflicts, political differences, philosophies, and ethical dilemmas come into play as people talk about the ACA and America’s health care needs? What is different or similar about those discussions today compared to when they were first raised during the Obama administration? Who benefits and loses from changes to health care?
In: Operations Management