Explain, with great detail, the strategy that Coca-Cola used to establish their company, and products in Africa?
In: Operations Management
Power Train, Ltd.
We have smashing systems for reporting, tracking, and controlling costs on design projects. Our planning of projects is better than any I have seen at other companies. Our scheduling seemed to serve us well when we were small and we had only a few projects. Now that we have many more projects and schedule using multiproject software, there are too many occasions when the right people are not assigned to the projects deemed important to our success. This situation is costing us big money, headaches, and stress!
Claude Jones, VP, Design and Operations
Page 293
HISTORY
Power Train, Ltd. (PT), was founded in 1970 by Daniel Gage, a skilled mechanical engineer and machinist. Prior to founding PT he worked for three years as design engineer for a company that designed and built transmissions for military tanks and trucks. It was a natural transition for Dan to start a company designing and building power trains for farm tractor companies. Today, Dan is no longer active in the management of PT but is still revered as its founder. He and his family still own 25 percent of the company, which went public in 1998. PT has been growing at a 6 percent clip for the last five years but expects industry growth to level off as supply exceeds demand.
Today, PT continues its proud tradition of designing and building the best-quality power trains for manufacturers of farm tractors and equipment. The company employs 178 design engineers and has about 1,800 production and support staff. Contract design projects for tractor manufacturers represent a major portion of PT’s revenue. At any given time, about 45 to 60 design projects are going on concurrently. A small portion of their design work is for military vehicles. PT only accepts military contracts that involve very advanced, new technology and are cost plus.
A new phenomenon has attracted management of PT to look into a larger market. Last year a large Swedish truck manufacturer approached PT to consider designing power trains for its trucks. As the industry consolidates, the opportunities for PT should increase because these large firms are moving to more outsourcing to cut infrastructure costs and stay very flexible. Only last week a PT design engineer spoke to a German truck manufacturing manager at a conference. The German manager was already exploring outsourcing of drive trains to Porsche and was very pleased to be reminded of PT’s expertise in the area. A meeting is set up for next month.
CLAUDE JONES
Claude Jones joined PT in 1999 as a new MBA from the University of Edinburgh. He worked as a mechanical engineer for U.K. Hydraulics for five years prior to returning to school for the MBA. “I just wanted to be part of the management team and where the action is.” Jones moved quickly through the ranks. Today he is the vice president of design and operations. Sitting at his desk, Jones is pondering the conflicts and confusion that seem to be increasing in scheduling people to projects. He gets a real rush at the thought of designing power trains for large trucks; however, given their current project scheduling problems, a large increase in business would only compound their problems. Somehow these conflicts in scheduling have to be resolved before any serious thought can be given to expanding into design of power transmissions for truck manufacturers.
Jones is thinking of the problems PT had in the last year. The MF project is the first to come to mind. The project was not terribly complex and did not require their best design engineers. Unfortunately, the scheduling software assigned one of the most creative and expensive engineers to the MF project. A similar situation, but reversed, happened on the Deer project. This project involved a big customer and new hydrostatic technology for small tractors. In this project the scheduling software assigned engineers who were not familiar with small tractor transmissions. Somehow, thinks Jones, the right people need to be scheduled to the right projects. Upon reflection, this problem with scheduling has been increasing since PT went to multiproject scheduling. Maybe a project office is needed to keep on top of these problems.
A meeting with the information technology team and software vendors was positive but not very helpful because these people are not really into detailed scheduling problems. The vendors provided all sorts of evidence suggesting the heuristics used—least Page 294slack, shortest duration, and identification number—are absolutely efficient in scheduling people and minimizing project delays. One project software vendor, Lauren, kept saying their software would allow PT to customize the scheduling of projects and people to almost any variation selected. Lauren repeated over and over, “If the standard heuristics do not meet your requirements, create your own heuristics that do.” Lauren even volunteered to assist in setting up the system. But she is not willing to spend time on the problem until PT can describe to her exactly what criteria will be used (and their sequence) to select and schedule people to projects.
QUESTION: After reading the case, analyze the scheduling problem that is happening at Power Train and develop a set of descriptive rules and/or processes that Power Train can adopt so that it is well positioned to handle its expansion into the truck power train business.*********
In: Operations Management
What are the effects/impacts of the various "Basic Responsibilities" on governance?
In: Operations Management
Assess the effectiveness of Emirates’ leadership. Discuss how Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum and then Sir Tim Clark illustrated the activities of strategic leadership. (300words)
subject : BUS310
In: Operations Management
Epsilon Airlines services predominantly the eastern and southeastern united States. The vast majority of Epsilon’s customers make reservations through Epsilon’s website, but a small percentage of customers make reservations via phones. Epsilon employs call center personnel to handle these reservations and to deal with website reservation system problems and for the rebooking of flights for customers whose plans have changed or whose travel is disrupted. Staffing the call center appropriately is a challenge for Epsilon’s management team. Having too many employees on hand is a waste of money, but having too few results in very poor customer service and the potential loss of customers.
Epsilon analysts have estimated the minimum number of call center employees needed by day of the week for the upcoming vacation season (June, July, and the first two weeks of August). These estimates are as follows:
The call center employees work for five consecutive days and then have two consecutive days off. An employee may start work on any day of the week. Each call center employee receives the same salary. Assume that the schedule cycles and ignore start up and stopping of the schedule.
Develop a model that will minimize the total number of call center employees needed to meet the minimum requirements.
| Let | Xi = the number of call center employees who start work on day i |
| (i = 1 = Monday, i = 2 = Tuesday...) |
| Min | X1 + | X2 + | X3 + | X4 + | X5 + | X6 + | X7 | ||
| s.t. | |||||||||
| X1 + | X4+ | X5+ | X6+ | X7 | |||||
| X1 + | X2+ | X5+ | X6+ | X7 | |||||
| X1 + | X2+ | X3+ | X6+ | X7 | |||||
| X1 + | X2+ | X3+ | X4+ | X7 | |||||
| X1 + | X2+ | X3+ | X4+ | X5 | |||||
| X2 + | X3+ | X4+ | X5+ | X6 | |||||
| X3 + | X4+ | X5+ | X6+ | X7 | |||||
| X1, | X2, | X3, | X4, | X5, | X6, | X7 | ≥ | 0 |
Find the optimal solution.
| X1 | = | |
| X2 | = | |
| X3 | = | |
| X4 | = | |
| X5 | = | |
| X6 | = | |
| X7 | = |
Total Number of Employees =
Give the number of call center employees that exceed the minimum required.
Excess employees:
| Monday | = | |
| Tuesday | = | |
| Wednesday | = | |
| Thursday | = | |
| Friday | = | |
| Saturday | = | |
| Sunday | = |
In: Operations Management
Why is it important for a cooperation to create collaboration between the two sectors of a company?
In: Operations Management
Using the template provided in DocSharing (using this form is required), create a list of ten (10) structured interview questions and submit it to your Dropbox by the end of Week 5 using the following guidelines:
In: Operations Management
When deciding whether to go global, companies have to look at possible risks. Is there an example of a company that took a risk by entering a market and ended up benefitting greatly from it?
In: Operations Management
Research an article where a stakeholder challenged the status quo of an organization that eventually led to major changes in the social responsibility of the organization. Place close emphasis on the sources of values created that transpired in the article that you researched.
In: Operations Management
Alan is a trained and licensed plumber. He carelessly installed a steam heater in Bob’s restaurant, and, as a result, Bob was seriously burned when a heater pipe exploded. Claire is a qualified medical doctor who treated Bob at the hospital. She prescribed an incorrect medication as treatment for the burn, which made Bob’s injury worse. Bob had to undergo an expensive and painful skin graft operation to correct his condition.
a) Discuss Alan’s responsibility to Bob (3 points)
b) Claire’s responsibility to Bob (3 points)
In: Operations Management
a. Optimal order quantity
b. Number of orders per year
c. The supplier is willing to give a discount of 3% on the price of each set if the manager of the store orders 3,000 sets at a time. Should the manager accept the offer?
In: Operations Management
Problem 9-15 (Algorithmic)
Doug Casey is in charge of planning and coordinating next spring’s sales management training program for his company. Doug listed the following activity information for this project:
| Immediate | Time (weeks) | ||||
| Activity | Description | Predecessor(s) | Optimistic | Most Probable | Pesssimistic |
| A | Plan topic | — | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| B | Obtain speakers | A | 1.5 | 2 | 2.5 |
| C | List meeting locations | — | 2 | 2.5 | 9 |
| D | Select location | C | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| E | Finalize speaker travel plans | B, D | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| F | Make final check with speakers | E | 4 | 4.5 | 8 |
| G | Prepare and mail brochure | B, D | 1.5 | 2 | 2.5 |
| H | Take reservations | G | 0.5 | 1 | 1.5 |
| I | Handle last-minute details | F, H | 3 | 3.5 | 4 |
| (i) | (ii) | ||
| (iii) | (iv) |
| Activity | Expected Time | Variance | ||
| A | ||||
| B | ||||
| C | ||||
| D | ||||
| E | ||||
| F | ||||
| G | ||||
| H | ||||
| I | ||||
| Earliest | Latest | Earliest | Latest | Critical | ||||||||
| Activity | Start | Start | Finish | Finish | Slack | Activity | ||||||
| A | ||||||||||||
| B | ||||||||||||
| C | ||||||||||||
| D | ||||||||||||
| E | ||||||||||||
| F | ||||||||||||
| G | ||||||||||||
| H | ||||||||||||
| I | ||||||||||||
In: Operations Management
1. Explaining your answer with examples, compare the programmed decisions and the unprogrammed decisions with defining the curricula (model) that decision makers depend on in each type, whether at the individual level and the organization?
2. Explain the main factors on which decision makers depend in making organizational decisions in emergency situations?
In: Operations Management
If you were selected to become the Ethics Officer in a new organization, describe how you would develop an effective ethics program. While doing this, keep an industry or business you are familiar with in mind and select the biggest obstacle to your program. Discuss how this obstacle might vary between industries.
In: Operations Management
Corporate-level strategy involves deciding which industry the firm will operate in. What should organizations be looking for when thinking about an industry (we discussed this with Porter’s Five Forces and industry analysis)
In: Operations Management