Challenges faced by operations managers
Discuss about the Challenges to Business Success an Operations Management.
There are numerous challenges that the operations managers are facing due to the changes in the business environment and technological advancements. This essay discusses these challenges face by the operations managers with regard to the changes in the technologies, due to globalization of the markets, the changes in the Expectations of the customers, the changes being brought about in the job designs, difference in the quality management practices and the changes in the Global manufacturing practices adopted by the organizations.
Apple Inc. is a multinational organization designing, developing and marketing electronic products and has built its entire business on the principles of flexibility and innovation. The operations managers at Apple Inc. face numerous challenges that have become significant to their responsibilities and the decision making process carried out on day to day basis. Apple Inc. develops electronic devices that thrive on technology. Changing Technologies form the basis of the product designing and the operations decision making for the organization. The changes in technology also impact the product portfolio of the company which in turn defines the activities and tasks carried out by the operations managers. The continued globalization of the market where the first and the second world countries are merging their markets has become an important aspect of the operational decision making. Globalization has made the supply chain more complex and there are diverse cultures, customer expectations, who rules and regulations, time zones and laws that need to be considered by the organizations when deciding on their operations (EDGAR Online, Inc., 2011).
The organizations are increasingly becoming consumer centric and the electronic market is driven by innovation and improvisation of the existing products and technologies in line with the consumer expectations and demands. Since Apple Inc. is catering to the audience from all age groups, ethnicities and nationalities, they need to keep their expectations from the organizations and their products at the center of their operations management. If the organization wants to stay competitive in the market, they need to continue with the introduction of innovative products that are able to gain consumer attention and are able to make use of the modern concepts of operational management like advanced supply chain management practices lean manufacturing process and the steps to maintain the quality of the product. With the changes in the type of products and their production and manufacturing process, the organization also faces a lot of changes in the job designs of its key people. These differences also continue further for the rest of the employees where are the roles and responsibilities to be fulfilled by them are changed with the changes in the working environment. Apple Inc. and their operational managers need to keep up with these changes and design the jobs with regard to them in order to stay competitive in the market.
Apple Inc. and Changing Technologies
Apple Inc. is known for the quality of products manufactured by them and the organization is ranked the highest in terms of product quality and innovation. The products introduced by the company are trusted by the huge customer base and your organization has adopted the principle of Total Quality Management to minimize the possibilities of human errors happening in the system. Total quality management not only ensure that the organization is able to deliver good quality products but also reduces the chances of mistakes and errors by reducing the waste and making the manufacturing process lean (Miller, 2017).
This philosophical approaches to operations management have led the organization to its present position of a global leader which is internally focused and is constantly working towards cost reduction while also minimizing the wasteful expenditure. The total quality management approach by Apple Inc. places the quality of the products produced by the company as the primary consideration and internal structure of the organization is aligned to address the supply chain towards value creation at every point. The total quality management approach has seen the improvement of the quality of products, reduces the cost of operations for the organization and improve their service provisioning to the customer who may be located at any part of the globe. This is the responsibility of the senior management taking care of the operations of the organization. It is generally practiced by analyzing the current processes of the company and training the employees by providing them the required knowledge and guidance and empowering them in order to achieve better quality for the products of the company and the reduction in their operational costs (Valentine & Goedhals-Gerber, 2017).
Apple Inc. also believes in stimulating creativity by establishing long term partnerships with their suppliers and providing the required learning for the individuals. Apple Inc. does not make use of market research for product development and for designing and presenting new gadgets. The organization mostly goes by their own instincts for operations management and product development. The Global manufacturing practices of the company allow them to adopt the operational management strategy that makes the entire operations Management process more agile and helps in addressing the needs of the customers by not just practicing product differentiation but also offering them at a premium price range (Beasley, 2014).
The Lean manufacturing philosophy followed by Apple helps in preserving the agility and flexibility of the production and manufacturing process of the company and mitigate the negative impact that the operational management decisions have on their working. The manufacturing operations of Apple Inc. happened by outsourcing the production, inventory management and supply for the organization so that they can enjoy the differences in the economies and their infrastructure. Globalization is a strong influence on the operations of Apple Inc. and the Global manufacturing practices adopted by them allow the organization to gain a competitive advantage and also allows them to differentiate themselves among the similar organizations offering same products all products with similar functionalities to the customers (Apple Express, 2017).
Globalization and Operations Management at Apple Inc.
In the near future the factors like changing technologies, globalization and the changes in the Expectations of the customers are going to impact the operation of Apple Inc. The organization needs to bring about the necessary changes in the management process so that they can continue to maintain their position in the market and a strong hold on the consumer base.
Apple Inc. is often known across the world for the excellent supply chain management practices and expertise in operations management. The organization is not only a world leader in innovation but is also known for the excellent product design and the branding and marketing activities which allow them to sell their products through the online channels, retail stores and through the direct sales. Over the years your organization has evolved from its humble beginning and your organization was given the title of the most valuable brand in the world. Much of the success of the organization can be contributed to the excellent supply chain management practices adopted by their leaders. The supply chain of Apple is ever evolving and they have extraordinary control over their inventory along with sophisticated software that supports the supply chain decision making for the operational managers of the company (Hettiarachchi, 2016).
The sustained leadership demonstrated by Apple Inc and their management has led to the development of a new notion for supply chain. The organization is constantly keeping a check on the supply chain which is ever evolving and the blaze new trails by creating exceptional capabilities for anticipating the demand and fulfilling it with highly innovative products. Although the organization does not divulge much about the supply chain management practices, there is no doubt that this decision making is extremely complex and essential for the success of the company. Some perspective received on the practices of the organization for their suppliers and manufacturers along with the end users is very different (Wilson, 2012).
Simplicity is the basic principle that your organization has adopted in more ways than one for designing and implementing the supply chain decision and carrying out operational management in the company. The supply chain planning for Apple Inc. begins with intense research and development with regard to the present technology and devices present in the market. After acquiring the data and information regarding the consumer demand and developing new technologies, the organization games the licence for the intellectual property for the innovation. The organizations now conduct market research and carries out product testing for determining its features and benefits. The organization also assembles cost data and identify any potential defect that may be present in the products. This is followed by the pre-launch preparation by Apple Inc. where the production ramp issues are managed by the operations managers and the software for the new devices is decided. The material purchase commitments for the upcoming product are also maintained and managed by the operation manager and the quantity of the product to be made available at the time of the launch are decided by the company (Saha, et al., 2015).
Customer Expectations and Their Impact on Apple Inc.
At the time of the launch, Apple Inc. ensure that the backlogs are resolved by them and they make a demand forecast for at least the next 100 days. Only when the organization realizes the potential off the device to hold the attention of the people for an extended period of time do they begin with the launch of the product. This is followed by a regular review of the market conditions and the product performance. During this time the operational managers review the level of the inventory and make any changes that are required in the demand forecast. The managers and the decision makers also keep a close watch on the status of the product life cycle for the new product and also update its status on the new product development grid. The level of sales for the company is closely monitored by them along with the management and analysis of the trends for monitoring the component costs.
Inventory management is an essential part of the management of the organizational operations. It provides organizations an edge over their competitors and also impact the free cash flow for them. If the Inventory of the organization moves at a faster pace, they can bring about more changes and can charge the people a lower price for the product which not only increases the velocity of the inventory movement but also attracts more customers leading to productivity and profitability of the company in the long run. Apple is known for the engineering profession and perfection and efficient inventory management process by the company also allows them to get the product designed by them to the customers at the lowest possible cost for the company. The Inventory of the products related to technology lose their value very soon and this is a fact that Apple realizes and acts on at all times. As soon as a competitive announces a new product which is better in its features and specifications as compared to the one offered by Apple, their inventory begins to lose its value. The organization closely monitors the number of suppliers to ensure that there is enough competition that they give the best business to the organization. Apple Inc. also managers the warehouses while acting towards the reduction of the stocking costs borne by them (Foundation, 2018).
The organization also indulges in fair amount of forecasting for balancing supply and demand Logistics for them. The inventory turnover for Apple Inc. is 69.4 and the average days of inventory maintained by them is about 5 days. This indicates that for every store run by the organization the product remains inside the store for about 5 days before they are sold. The supply chain and inventory management process for Apple Inc. is well appreciated and imitated by numerous organizations worldwide. Reduce the inventory holding cost for them and has increased the pace of product movement from the manufacturers to the suppliers and ultimately to the customers.
Job Design and Its Effect on Apple Inc.
Apple follows the philosophy of total quality management where in the organization focuses on delivering products of excellent quality to their customers at all times. The functional as well as the operational manager of the organization take care of all the activities and carry out complex decision making to ensure that a high quality is maintained for all the products manufactured by them. Apple Inc. sells its products worldwide and the different levels of management of the organization RH assigned a duty to ensure total quality management and minimization of the human errors for them (Kaur & Arora, 2015).
The leader and Apple are obsessed with quality and have a well-defined development process which turns out products with the best quality always. It is a very forward looking organization having a modern approach to all the strategic management processes including quality management. The organization is operating in one of the most competitive industries in the world and has still maintained from position among the different companies offering similar products. Apple Inc. demands for excellence and has vertically integrated the entire production process. They develop their own hardware as well as software which provides them the necessary strategic advantage and also helps them in developing strong corporate reputation. The quality policy of Apple Inc. comprises of the standards and procedures that ensure that the products of only the highest quality are produced and delivered which make them a service oriented organization. There are numerous standards and procedures that are followed by the company for the development of the product. The certification used by Apple Inc. to certify their product include the ISO 9001:2008 certification, ISO 14001:1996 certification as well as the ISO 14001:2005 certification. They also provide their products with energy star rating and the CMM level for the products follows the procedure of CMM-5, PCMM and the CMMI (Apple Express, 2017).
The standard help in ensuring that the customers are satisfied with the products that they get and encourage innovation while also increasing the market share of the company. The management principles followed by Apple include customer focus, leadership, improvement of their people, process approach, system approach to management, continuous improvement, factual approach to decision making and supplier relationships that are mutually beneficial for all the parties involved. The organization also has an environmental policy that it abides by and even the manufacturing site of the organization or ISO Certified. The structured management system for environmental management by Apple Inc. make use of advanced Technologies to determine the impact that the organizational operations have on the environment. Addition to this, the energy star ratings by the company also help in reducing the energy uses by them and building products that are more energy efficient and in line with the standards internationally recognized by all organizations.
References
Apple Express, 2017, We don’t just talk about quality management, we actually deliver it, https://www.appleexpress.com/about-us/quality-management/
Beasley, M 2014, The quality assurance manager responsible for iOS 8.0.1 also oversaw—you guessed it—Apple Maps, https://9to5mac.com/2014/09/25/apple-maps-quality-assurance-josh-williams/
EDGAR Online, Inc., 2011, Apple Computer, Inc., https://files.shareholder.com/downloads/AAPL/0x0xS891618-94-21/320193/
Foundation, I 2018, Apple’s Product Development Process – Inside the World’s Greatest Design Organization, https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/apple-s-product-development-process-inside-the-world-s-greatest-design-organization
Hettiarachchi, H 2016, Apple’s Supply Chain Strategy, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313240886_Apple’s_Supply_Chain_Strategy
Kaur, S & Arora, S 2015, Case Study of Supply Chain Management: Two foremost Smart phones. International Journal Of Business Management, 2(1), pp. 1-10, https://www.ijbm.co.in/downloads/vol2-issue1/63.pdf
Miller, J 2017, A Few Words On Apple’s Quality Control, https://mac360.com/2017/04/a-few-words-on-apples-quality-control/
Saha, P., Nath, A. & Salehi-Sangari, E 2015, Transforming Supply Chains in Digital Content Delivery: A Case Study in Apple, https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a8c2/003baa34ed207547f720c40a888f8cdfd495.pdf
Valentine, A. & Goedhals-Gerber, L 2017, The temperature profile of an apple supply chain: A case study of the Ceres district. Journal of Transport and Supply Chain Management, pp. 1-8, https://scholar.sun.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10019.1/100651/dutoitvalentine_temperature_2017.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Wilson, J 2012, Apple –The Global Supply Chain, https://www.jackmwilson.net/Entrepreneurship/Cases/Case-Apple-Supplychain.pdf
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