Carol Wittenberg's first major task as president of the Asia/Pacific business for Parker's Biscuits is to set up a joint venture to manufacture biscuits in China. The team that Wittenberg has put together to find a joint venture partner has narrowed the choice down to two quite different Chinese enterprises. One partner is larger, has broader product lines, and offers a better estimated financial payback on the investment. The other appears to be much more open to Parker's manufacturing management methods. Either choice will represent the company's largest single investment in a joint venture to date.
This note provides an introduction for a course or module covering the basic elements of production or service operations and how processes are managed. Begins by discussing the activities that take place in a "process." Analysis tools such as the process flow diagram are provided. The types of management choices involved in designing, operating, and improving processes are described. Measures of process performance and basic process analysis are introduced. The different cost structures, capabilities, and performance characteristics of alternative types of processes are touched upon. Finally, the note focuses briefly on the complexity stemming from uncertainty and variability in processes and their external environments. A rewritten version of an earlier note.
Three examples of capacity analysis are provided. Calculations for cycle time, manufacturing lead times, capacities, labor cost, labor content, and utilization are performed for three different types of processes: a bread-making process with two independent lines; a croissant-making process involving two parallel dependent lines, one for making the dough and one for mixing the filling; and an automobile component assembly operation. The impact of process imbalance, machine reliability, and scheduling on available capacity is illustrated.
A manufacturer of cable TV transmission equipment is faced with redesigning its network of international plants that make set-top converters and decoders. One possibility is to have each plant dedicated to manufacturing and engineering support for different product lines. Another is to operate only one "full service" plant, with engineering and ramp-up capability for all product lines and a set of low-overhead, high-volume satellite plants. Depending on what is decided, the company will probably end up closing a different plant. Students must analyze the impact of various sources of market and technological change in order to develop a good manufacturing network strategy for a firm in this fast-changing environment.
As Brazil begins lowering its tariffs on imports, Microlite S.A., the country's largest producer of dry-cell batteries, is faced with becoming internationally competitive. It is consolidating production of zinc-carbon batteries in its northeast plant, presenting the opportunity to replace its batch assembly machines with an automated assembly line for its AA-size products.