Question

The Orthotic Group case study demonstrates how performance management is important to continuously improve. As you read the case, think about the balanced scorecard approach and how you would set metrics for your team to generate the results needed to remain competitive. The Orthotic Group, located in Ontario, Canada, prides itself on providing superior service to healthcare professionals globally. A custom manufacturer of orthotics that can be inserted into footwear, the company also supplies compression hosiery and footwear. Healthcare professionals can order online through the website, through two technological options, Gaitscan or OHI1Scan or by sending foot impression forms through the postal service. With a strong customer base, The Orthotic Group is considered a leader in the industry as a result of their quality, order cycle time, and problem resolution process. In 2017, after a competitive analysis, it was determined that delivery times from order placement to delivery in the industry had become more competitive. Along with this new competitive requirement, performance metrics for the past 6 months had been slipping from their previous norms. While there had been some minor turnover amongst the production staff, the turnover was no more than previous years. A new manager had been hired who had been making changes. Some of these changes were popular with the production workers, while others were not. Work-in-Process (WIP) inventory began to pile up in key areas of the production line. The new manager left the organization 3 months prior to the busy fall season. The Vice-President Operations thought it would be a good opportunity to embark upon a Lean Process Improvement initiative with the employees. The goal was to reduce the turn-around-time (TAT) and work-in-process inventory (WIP), while maintaining and improving the quality of their orthotics. The Production Supervisor compiled a team of workers from production to gain their insights into what was slowing the team down. Through observations and collaboration with the team it was noted that the following conditions were preventing The Orthotic Group from achieving their targets: While the company had a metric board on the T.V. screen posted above the production line, the first production step, the Technician cell, did not know how many orthotics they produced as a team. Results were provided the next day as a component of the daily stand-up, Workers were processing orders in batches of 10 or more, There was a high degree of variability in worker productivity, First-in-First-Out (FIFO) priority system was not being maintained as workers would work on “easy” orders first instead of higher difficulty orders to push the orders through. At this point the Production Supervisor is preparing a report to discuss priorities with the Vice President – Operations.

The Orthotic Group case study demonstrates how performance management is important to continuously improve. As you read the case, think about the balanced scorecard approach and how you would set metrics for your team to generate the results needed to remain competitive.

Questions:1 Explain what a Lean Process Improvement plan is? What is involved in this type of initiative? (15%) Please use your original words and thoughts and only use direct quotes to prove a point in your arguments. References may be required if you are utilizing outside resources. Copying word for word or paraphrasing can lead to Academic Misconduct. This applies to all questions.

Question: 2 From a functional perspective, which category(ies) of performance metrics are likely currently in use at the manufacturing center prior to the Lean Improvement Process. Explain why you believe this? Is this the right approach going forward given the Lean Improvement initiative? (20%) See warning in Question 1.

Question: 3 What role does IT have in the company when it comes to performance measurement? In your opinion is the Information Technology resources being employed effectively? What are your recommendations? (20%) See warning in Question 1.

Question: 4 Develop 5-6 key metrics (for the balanced scorecard) the company should measure in the manufacturing environment as a result of a lean Improvement initiative. Why are these important? What purpose do they serve? Try to look beyond the textbook for key ideas of what will influence world-class performance for the company. (20%) See warning in Question 1.

Question: 5 Your group represents the team that has been operating the Lean Improvement Process and you are writing a short executive summary (1 page minimum) to the VP Operations so the VP can show the executive group the recommendations. Based on questions 1-4, and the problems they have identified, write up the executive summary with your conclusions and supporting rationale for these improvements. (25%) See warning in Question 1, and the problems they have identified, write up the executive summary with your conclusions and supporting rationale for these improvements. (25%) See warning in Question

Answer 1

Answer-1 Lean improvement process refers to the process adopted by the organization in order to reduce or eliminating waste, increasing productivity, increase profits through increased customer satisfaction, by reducing cost and inventory in the process of their operation. With the help of this process the company can thus improve and increases the overall efficiency of the company resulting in increased benefits for the organization. The lean improvement process is required in this type of initiative as the manager of the concerned company has left the company in the most required situation and thus things need to be management and in order to effectly manage the working and efficiency of the organization this lean improvement process plan is required by the copany in order to eliminate wastage and increases the overall productivity of the company.

Answer-2 Prior to the lean improvement process and from the functional perspective of the organisation the performance metrics which are likely to be used was customer satisfaction or customer happiness as the company is already having a strong customer base as the company is said to be one of the keader in terms of quality and order cycle which results in customer satisfaction and this is considered almost right approach of the company as the company should always main to provide ultimate customer satisfaction to their customer which will further help the company in iproving the further process and also helps the company in eliminating waste by providing their customer with ultimate satisfaction.

Answer-3 The following is the role of IT in the company in terms of performance measurement

• Helps in comparaing value over time .
• Also helps in obtaining metrics like sales, customer satisfaction , quality of the product eyc
• It helps in identifying the vision, mission, aims, and objectives of the company that it desired to obtain.
• Established a balanced scorecard regarding the performance of the business by collecting and reporting the data.
• Provide alert for the events and its management in the predetermined condition.

According to my opinion the Information technology resources such as computers, hardware, software, servers, etc  are not being used that effectively as it can be used so in order to make proper and efficient use of the organisation the company can make the full use of all the available IT resources in maintaining records of their customer and suppliers, by securing the coonfidential information that can be secured by passwords etc.

Answer-4 The following are the key metrics for the balanced scorecard which the company should measure in the manufacturing environment as a result of lean improvement initiation are-

• Employee productivity- as there can be seen the overall improvement in the productivity of the workers through the lean iprovement process with the time as the employee feel valued and respected.
• Customer satisfaction- The company aims to enhance is customer satisfaction by increasing its product quality through the lean improvement process.As the more superior the quality of the company goods and servives the better will be the satisfaction.
• Product Quality- It needs to improve its product quality in order to provide with satisfaction to their customer by identifying the defects occuring in the manufacturing process anf thus providing it with measures.
• Time saving- It also helps in saving time by thus eliminating the ineffective steps from the manufacturing process which adds the value to the overall productivity of the company.
• Return on investment- It is considered as one of the easiest way to measure the overall productivity by checking on the return of the company's investment thus helps in improving the overall improvement in the cost of manufacturing.

These metrics are considered as important as they help in increasing the overall producitivity of the organization by eliminating or reducting ineffective wastage The purpose it serves the organisation is providing satisfaction to worker or employee and to the ultimate customer with the iproved quality of products.