Question

Identify a problem at a company that you feel can be improved by implementing a new process or technology. Note: This must be a real company and a real process that you feel needs improvement but the focus should NOT be on the company but rather on the process to be improved.

Note: You may want to start with either a problem that you have identified at a company OR a technology advancement or tool that you feel could help with a problem at a company, rather than starting with the company itself.

LO 1: STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Identify an operations problem that could negatively affect the efficiency and/ or productivity of the organization. This problem must be one that can be resolved by implementing a new technology.

Clearly define the current process (“current state”), including the problem, in detail, and provide supporting flowcharts and diagrams. *You may have to create these.

Break up large problems into smaller sub-problems.

Clearly state the impact and the extent of the problem on the organization and/or customer

Clearly state the purpose of the paper as an attempt to solve the problem you have identified.

LO 2: PROBLEM ANALYSIS

Identify relevant factors leading to the problem (e.g. social, political, economic, and legal). One example of a factor would be an OSHA Safety Regulation.

Clearly state possible causes of the problem

Be sure to identify the difference between a symptom and a problem

Clearly state all issues (reasons why the problem is important to resolve), including any secondary or ‘non-obvious’ issues

Prioritize issues

LO 3: PROBLEM SOLUTIONS

Research emerging technology or process innovations that could be an opportunity for the company and this process.

Identify and describe a minimum of two possible solutions to the problem through the implementation of researched technology innovations.

Describe fully the possible solutions, including supporting flowcharts and diagrams

Discuss merits of both solutions, including all relevant factors necessary to make a decision between the two. Be sure not to neglect cost factors (you may need to provide estimated costs)

LO 4: SOLUTION JUSTIFICATION

Clearly state your proposed solution (one of the two options proposed in LO3: Problem Solutions)

Explain in detail why you are recommending this solution and how you feel it will specifically solve or alleviate the problem(s) and issues you identified (Justify solution)

Describe solution benefit(s)

Discuss the feasibility of the solution

Present an implementation plan for your proposed solution

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Correctly defined terminology used

Used analytical tools and technology in paper

Performed appropriate calculations

Used analysis to find and justify decisions

Paper well organized and sections clearly defined

APA format

Correct grammar and spelling

Answer 1

LO 1: STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

The company in reference is a publishing company which publishes scholarly. The company uses traditional process for publishing which actually takes 28 days to publish an article online and another 8 days to print the journals. Due to global competition, the company was faced with the pressure of faster publication. The competitors published their journals within 12 days. The purpose of this paper is to address this operational problem of faster publication.

LO 2: PROBLEM ANALYSIS

The possible causes for the delayed publication in the publishing company are:

-Economic factors- The Company was faced with cost pressures to reduce considerable cost and time by enhancing the faster publication than the competitors. Due to globalization, a global competition forced the company to think about improving the efficiency of the process for faster publication.

-The symptom was when the Impact Factor (IF) was reduced considerable in comparison to the competitor journals.

- The real problem was identified when the cause and effect relationship was analyzed for the reduced IF.

LO 3: PROBLEM SOLUTIONS

The emerging technology or process innovation was to assign the articles as soon as they reached a certain stage in the process. This was called ‘Article Based Publishing’. The company was the first to introduce the concept of ABS to increase the publication speed. It is the process where final and citable articles are published online without the need to wait for the print issue is complete. The articles of final citation are assigned on article-by-article basis. It is within just a few weeks as soon as the article has been accepted, can the article be published online with citation. ABS is the key part in improving the efficiency of the company’s process to speed up the process thus combating the global competition.

Another technology is to reduce the redundant steps in the publication process.

Manuscript->submission->review-decision (yes/No)->Accepted articles enter the production process.

In the production process, it goes through several stages such as S50, S250, Proof reading, author proof and editor proofs, etc.

ABS is assigning an article just after proof reading is completed to the particle issue that is in the process of publishing.

LO 4: SOLUTION JUSTIFICATION

The best solution for the problem is the new technology concept of Article Based Publishing as it increases the publication speed and the final and citable article is published online within few weeks of its publication. This is the highly recommended solution because the journals were tested for feasibility and it the acceptance level increased considerably. The plan is to move journals set by set. The journals with simple workflows would be moved first. The journals with complex workarounds would be moved later after reducing the complex workarounds so that the article is published online as soon as possible.