Question

Discuss whether transportation and warehousing management could play a critical role in realising manufacturing company's competitive strategy
(50marks)

This is an essay question,Do it if you have knowledge in Operations Management.
Make sure explanation you are giving can earn 50 marks

Answer 1

A manufacturing company's busniess is to manufacture things. What is being manufactured may vary from simple clay and cutlery through engineering components, textiles etc. to highly complex space ship building components.

When you look at the big picture, a manufacturing company will have the following divisions;

1. Design
2. Material procurement
3. Manufacturing
4. Warehouse / storage
5. Transportation / distribution
6. Marketing
7. After sales support / customer relations

Competetive strategy of a manufacturing company will involve the below;

1. Cost of production (this will include cost of manpower, material, machinery, other establishment etc.).
2. Manufacturing and supplying capabilities.
3. Innovative / advanced technologies including IT and automation.
4. Pricing.
5. Financial prowess and risk taking abilities of the company.
6. Marketing ability.
7. Sustainability.
8. Brand, customer perception and the like.

The order of importance of things of the above is from top to bottom for a new company through an established company.

Think about a small company. There things will very basic. A design of the thing to be manufactured. A team to source the raw materials, a team to manufacture things, a space to store it and a team to deliver the goods. But as things become big, operational complexity also increases. But the basic process remains the same.

All divisions / departments of a manufacturing company has its importance in keeping up the competitiveness of the company. The design department will have to bring up with good designs. Otherwise, companies cannot sustain. See the example of Apple. Innovation has been the steping ladder for that company towards success. Then the material procurement or sourcing team. They have to ensure that sufficient material as per requirements is available at all times within their reach. The manufacturing department is the core of a manufacturing company. They should have enough technical knowhow, machinery etc. for making things happen. Then comes the warehousing and transportation division. This department, eventhough it may sound, has nothing to do with a manufacturing company, is very important. Finished products will have to be removed regulary from the manufacturing premises for new work to come in. Then only manufacturing can happen. The marketing team has to find new markets to support the warehousing and transportation team here. A very good example as I formulate this answer is the drop in fuel prices due to non usage and non availability of storage area due to the COVID19 issue. Fuel production is happening rapidly. But due to non availability of warehouse and transportation / disribution facilities, production / manufacturing is going to be affected. Like this, every dvision has its own importance in an organization. Every division has to function at the best possible to create competitiveness in any organization.

The essay should be structured like the above. Detail how work flow happens in a manufacturing company. Define functions of every department. Then go for factors dealing with competitiveness. Explain all those factors. Then go on to detail the importance of every division, add in examples from real world. Basically the warehousing team, transporation team and marketing team needs to function parallelly to take the produced materials out from the system. There is no point in keep on producing things or keeping it stored in a warehouse. Detail the essay by explaining all these factors.