個案總覽

Process Mapping & Management, written by Sue Conger of the University of Dallas, is a 10-chapter book published by Business Expert Press. The book comprises three sections: Process mapping mechanics, process improvement analysis, and process redesign and justification. Written for executives and graduate students, the text offers practical techniques for simplifying and improving business processes that are immediately actionable. The improvement analysis is based on lean six sigma techniques and discusses leaning for the removal of process waste, cleaning for improving the remaining steps, and greening for evaluating methods that either automate or off-load work. A call-center case study runs through the book to illustrate many of the techniques. At this point in the book's coverage of process mapping, all current mapping is complete, and waste or non-value adding steps have been removed from the process to the extent possible. In Chapter 7, cleaning techniques are applied to remaining process steps to improve their efficiency and effectiveness. The author explains two techniques critical in complex process control: statistical process control, which is discussed in terms of its use in surfacing areas for improvement, and root cause analysis, a technique used to determine all possible causes of an error or outage incident. She then turns to several simple "cleaning" techniques that improve the functioning of individual process steps.

Process Mapping & Management, written by Sue Conger of the University of Dallas, is a 10-chapter book published by Business Expert Press. The book comprises three sections: Process mapping mechanics, process improvement analysis, and process redesign and justification. Written for executives and graduate students, the text offers practical techniques for simplifying and improving business processes that are immediately actionable. The improvement analysis is based on lean six sigma techniques and discusses leaning for the removal of process waste, cleaning for improving the remaining steps, and greening for evaluating methods that either automate or off-load work. A call-center case study runs through the book to illustrate many of the techniques. Once a process is lean and clean, the next step is to decide on the following factors: whether to outsource, how to engage customers to do the work for you, the extent to which automation can speed and reduce the cost of the process, and finally, the extent to which the process can become environmentally safer without adding to its cost. Chapter 8 covers those topics through the following sections: Outsourcing; Co-production; Automation, Mechanization, or Both; and Environmental Process Greening.

Process Mapping & Management, written by Sue Conger of the University of Dallas, is a 10-chapter book published by Business Expert Press. The book comprises three sections: Process mapping mechanics, process improvement analysis, and process redesign and justification. Written for executives and graduate students, the text offers practical techniques for simplifying and improving business processes that are immediately actionable. The improvement analysis is based on lean six sigma techniques and discusses leaning for the removal of process waste, cleaning for improving the remaining steps, and greening for evaluating methods that either automate or off-load work. A call-center case study runs through the book to illustrate many of the techniques. Chapter 9 discusses process redesign via techniques examined in the previous chapters. The process for developing a redesign is to evaluate all recommended changes to this point in the project, first rationalizing them into a smaller set, and then analyzing which sets are beneficial in terms of cost to the organization. Many of the techniques used in other aspects of the analysis are applied to making sense of the recommendations, evaluating their worth, and selecting those most likely to result in a coherent, useful process. Topic headings include Compliance Management, Innovation in Redesign, Validation, Case-for-Change Financial Analysis, Failure Mode and Effect Analysis, Statistical Process Management Revisited, and Force Field Analysis.

Process Mapping & Management, written by Sue Conger of the University of Dallas, is a 10-chapter book published by Business Expert Press. The book comprises three sections: Process mapping mechanics, process improvement analysis, and process redesign and justification. Written for executives and graduate students, the text offers practical techniques for simplifying and improving business processes that are immediately actionable. The improvement analysis is based on lean six sigma techniques and discusses leaning for the removal of process waste, cleaning for improving the remaining steps, and greening for evaluating methods that either automate or off-load work. A call-center case study runs through the book to illustrate many of the techniques. In the tenth and final chapter, the author adds quantitative depth to her analysis of processes with a section on techniques of measurement, including a substantive consideration of the Balanced Scorecard model. She also summarizes the contents of a business case that constitutes the final project report for a process improvement project. In that section, the future of project management and the role of process management in moving white-collar work to a service orientation are discussed. She concludes with a brief discussion of processes in the context of information technology (IT) service management.

The (B) case gives an update on the development of knowledge management at Danone two years after the (A) case: The Networking Attitude spread throughout the company and the question is posed whether Danone should move to virtual networking in addition to face-to-face networking.

The (C) case provides an update on the B-case decision and describes the introduction of Dan 2.0, an internal social virtual network for the purpose of knowledge sharing in a company that was only used to face-to-face networking.

The director of operations at Avalanche Corporation was faced with some major decisions. The firm was experiencing considerable difficulties in matching supply with demand. As a result, the company was overproducing and had to sell the excess at a loss. At a recent board meeting, the vice president of marketing reported on a new snowboard product, the Avalanche Racer. She presented her rationale for introducing a new ski product at this time by highlighting the growth of the ski equipment sales over the past five years. The board meeting concluded with the general manager tasking the director of operations with developing an analysis and reporting back his findings to the board the following week.

This case, a supplement to Value Chain and IT Transformation at Desko (A), describes Desko’s customer order process.

Baria Planning Solutions (BPS) is a consulting firm that specializes in using spend analysis to help companies identify savings through reduced procurement costs and improved supplier performance. Management is concerned about the disappointing performance of the sales team in attaining new clients and renewing existing ones. The Sales directors feel they do not get the help they need from Sales Support to close new deals, while the Sales Support directors believe they could provide better support by organizing into industry-specific divisions. The consulting industry is becoming increasingly competitive and inefficiencies in the sales process at BPS may interfere with the company's ability to win new business. The recently hired director of North American Sales Support must analyze the current process flow for Sales Support and identify the problems facing the sales organization. The president of the company has asked her to present a proposal for improving the performance of the entire group.

Spreadsheet Supplement for 4568.

The Morrison Company develops and manufactures radio frequency identification tags (RFID) known as "smart labels" for the retail and pharmaceutical industries. RFID technology is a fast-growing and increasingly competitive industry. Sales have risen dramatically over the past year and production levels have had to increase to meet monthly and quarterly shipping targets. However, the increase has exacerbated existing manufacturing problems and has led to increased shipping delays and inadequate inventory on hand. In addition, sales to pharmaceutical companies are increasing while sales to retail companies are much lower than forecast. The newly hired director of operations must address the short-term problems quickly and devise a long-term solution for improving the company's operational capabilities.

Spreadsheet Supplement for 4564.

Dental Associates of Northern Virginia is one of the largest dental networks in northern Virginia. In this series of two cases, the head administrator is caught between staying abreast with new technology by investing in innovative all-porcelain crown-making machines and holding steadfast to a laggard strategy of wait and see. This choice also aligns with the head administrator making a larger decision of whether to enhance the core competency of his network by developing a complete in-house laboratory or continuing to rely on an expensive, but reliable, outside laboratory for all-porcelain restorations. Together the two cases in the series are rich in concepts dealing with cost, timeliness, quality and flexibility as students are forced to see an operations problem from both patient and doctor perspectives. The cases also consider the ever-changing world of technology and how it impacts a doctor's practice along with an entire network of offices.

Dental Associates of Northern Virginia is one of the largest dental networks in northern Virginia. In this series of two cases, the head administrator is caught between staying abreast with new technology by investing in innovative all-porcelain crown-making machines and holding steadfast to a laggard strategy of wait and see. This choice also aligns with the head administrator making a larger decision of whether to enhance the core competency of his network by developing a complete in-house laboratory or continuing to rely on an expensive, but reliable, outside laboratory for all-porcelain restorations. Together the two cases in the series are rich in concepts dealing with cost, timeliness, quality and flexibility as students are forced to see an operations problem from both patient and doctor perspectives. The cases also consider the ever-changing world of technology and how it impacts a doctor's practice along with an entire network of offices.

A manufacturer of spiral freezers, which allow food manufacturers to replace a batch freezing process with single piece flow in a fraction of the space, reviews the economics of replacing a batch freezing process with a spiral freezer for a customer. The case enables students to demonstrate an understanding of process analysis, bottlenecks, and Little's Law in the context of an economic cost/benefit analysis.

The director of operations at Avalanche Corporation was faced with some major decisions. The firm was experiencing considerable difficulties in matching supply with demand. As a result, the company was overproducing and had to sell the excess at a loss. At a recent board meeting, the vice-president of marketing reported on a new snowboard product, the Avalanche Racer. She presented her rationale for introducing a new ski product at this time by highlighting the growth of the ski equipment sales over the past five years. The board meeting concluded with the general manager tasking the director of operations with developing an analysis and reporting back his findings to the board the following week.

What is the best way to motivate employees to do creative work? Help them take a step forward every day. In an analysis of knowledge workers' diaries, the authors found that nothing contributed more to a positive inner work life (the mix of emotions, motivations, and perceptions that is critical to performance) than making progress in meaningful work. If a person is motivated and happy at the end of the workday, it's a good bet that he or she achieved something, however small. If the person drags out of the office disengaged and joyless, a setback is likely to blame. This progress principle suggests that managers have more influence than they may realize over employees' well-being, motivation, and creative output. The key is to learn which actions support progress-such as setting clear goals, providing sufficient time and resources, and offering recognition-and which have the opposite effect. Even small wins can boost inner work life tremendously. On the flip side, small losses or setbacks can have an extremely negative effect. And the work doesn't need to involve curing cancer in order to be meaningful. It simply must matter to the person doing it. The actions that set in motion the positive feedback loop between progress and inner work life may sound like Management 101, but it takes discipline to establish new habits. The authors provide a checklist that managers can use on a daily basis to monitor their progress-enhancing behaviors.

A renowned manufacturer and designer of niche vehicles for major automobile companies has traditionally competed on flexibility using a highly skilled design and manufacturing workforce and low levels of automation. However, the European auto market is threatened with a shakeout. The director of operations must decide whether to accept an offer from Mitsubishi to become the exclusive European manufacturer of a sport utility vehicle. The order would more than double the company's manufacturing volume and relieve pressure to replace models currently in production. However, the fit of the order with existing manufacturing strategy is poor, and major changes in facilities and equipment as well as people and systems would be required. The case is suitable for use in an operations class to introduce or apply basic concepts in operations strategy or to discuss operations capability and strategy with executives.

Process capability, as revolutionized by Motorola, can be defined as the extent to which a process's natural variation falls within specifications. This note is a succinct introduction to the process capability ratio, which compares set specifications against the three standard deviations on either side of the process mean--six in total, referred to as Six Sigma. This introduction assumes a normal distribution of observations and a process that is performing predictably over time.

Most business failures-such as engineering disasters, product malfunctions, and PR crises-are foreshadowed by near misses, close calls that, had luck not intervened, would have had far worse consequences. The space shuttle Columbia's fatal reentry, BP's Gulf oil rig disaster, Toyota's stuck accelerators, even the iPhone 4's antenna failures-all were preceded by near-miss events that should have tipped off managers to impending crises. The problem is that near misses are often overlooked-or, perversely, viewed as a sign that systems are resilient and working well. That's because managers are blinded by cognitive biases, argue Georgetown professors Tinsley and Dillon, and Brigham Young University's Madsen. Seven strategies can help managers recognize and learn from near misses: They should be on increased alert when time or cost pressures are high; watch for deviations in operations from the norm and uncover their root causes; make decision makers accountable for near misses; envision worst-case scenarios; be on the lookout for near-misses masquerading as successes; and reward individuals for exposing near misses.