Nature of the Business
The success of any organization is dictated by the way the organization handles its operations. Strategizing is an aspect that is essential for any company that needs to achieve its desired goals. However, it has proven that the management of an organization can lead to its success or demise. Despite the company being established in Australia, it is serving different regions, and that has been made possible through strategizing and investing in aspects that are essential to an organization’s success. The report will look at how Steel Blue has performed in the JIT/Lean System, Quality Management, and Supply Chain Management.
The organization that was visited is a manufacturing organization that is known as Steel Blue. The company is based in Australia, and it manufactures different types of footwear including boots. The headquarters of the company is located in Western Australia. The company was founded in 1995, and the founders had different intentions. The first intention was to manufacture safety footwear and the second vision was to make sure that there was footwear in the market that looked after the health of the customers.
The company has demonstrated to reach a specific level of maturity, and this is due to the fact that it no longer serves the customers of Australia alone. Steel Blue has extended its business to the United States and Europe, and that is an indication that the company has grown immensely. The ultimate goal of the company is to promote comfort, and that is the strategy that has been implemented to achieve its current performance state in the market.
Steel Blue has made sure to present its products to the market when it is the right time and in the right quantity. The strategy that has made the company achieve this goal is research in its new markets (Godinho, Moacir, Gilberto, and Angappa 2016, 7523). Before introducing its products in a new market, the company makes sure to conduct extensive research that makes it understand the quantity and the time that the quantity is needed in the market (Upadhye, Nitin, Deshmukh, and Suresh 2016, 50). An organization that does not consider the lean system in its operations is likely to incur losses.
The success of Steel Blue can be associated with the lean system in different ways. The first way is associated with the aspect of time. In the global business world, time is of the essence and any organization that does not consider time is at the edge of collapsing. Steel Blue knows the best time to present its products in the market. Different factors affect the purchasing power of the customers as well as the business environment (Dubey and Tripti 2015, 50). The aspect of research comes in handy to help Steel Blue make decisions on the best time to introduce its products in the market. Knowing the best time to present the products in the market has helped the company to avoid losses and returning products in its stores. At the same time, the company has been able to control its manufacturing processes, and this is because the products that are released to the market have an influence on the units that need to be manufactured.
Investigating Key Operations Topics
The aspect of quantity has also proved to have a significant effect on the success of Steel Blue. An organization that does not monitor the quantity that is needed in the market is exposed to two different risks (Jasti, Krishna, and Rambabu 2015, 870). The first risk is distributing excess units in the market thus affecting the demand and price of the products. The second risk is supplying lesser units than the demand, and that leads to the company missing out its profits. Through the implementation of the lean system, Steel Blue has been able to make sure that only the right quantity is introduced to the market and that is one of the reasons why the company is still expanding its business to different regions.
The quality management of any given organization is dictated by the business model (Ross 2017, 17). For the past three years that Steel Blue has been in North America as its new market, the business model has changed with the aim of making sure that the products are manufactured in line with the needs of the customers in that region. Steel Blue is aimed at making sure that whenever the quality demands an increase, the company will be able to adopt a business model that helps it to meet the needs of the customers in the market (Sallis 2014, 56). The adoption of different business models in different markets has been an added advantage to Steel Blue. It is imperative to note that different markets have different needs. When an organization employs a uniform business model to all markets, it exposes itself to risks that might lead to its dissolution. The aspect of changing business models in different markets has proven that Steel Blue is guided by the Operation Management Theory in different ways.
Flexibility in any given global business is essential. Steel Blue is an organization that serves more than one region, and that puts it in a position that it must be flexible. The needs of the customers in Europe and the needs of the customers in North America are likely to be different. The aspect of employing different business models has made it easier for Steel Blue to meet the needs of customers from each region. The company does not only change the business model with the aim of outstanding in different regions; the company changes the business models with the aim of meeting the needs of the customers (Sallis 2014, 53). Before the implementation of any business model in any region, Steel Blue invests a lot in research. The findings of the research help the company to know different things. The first one is the business atmosphere of the region. The business atmosphere of any given region can affect the business positively or negatively. It is therefore essential for the company to understand the business atmosphere before investing in any region.
Success Factors: JIT/Lean System
Second, the research is aimed at knowing the factors that impact the customers positively and negatively. Presenting a product in the market is not enough. A manufacturer should make sure that he or she knows some of the factors that may influence the customers to buy or not to buy. Steel Blue makes sure that there is enough data to dictate the factors that influence the customers. The data is later aligned with the business model with the aim of implementing a business model that promotes efficiency and meets the needs of the customers (Oakland 2014, 19). The flexibility of business models helps in managing the quality of the goods that the company manufactures. This happens because each business model is aligned with the needs of the customers at the specific region and that means that Steel Blue maintains the quality that meets the expectations of the customers in the specific region.
Steel Blue is an organization that sees itself as a sales and marketing organization. The reason behind it is because the company takes the responsibility of marketing its products. Engaging in marketing has also motivated the company to deal with its supply chain without including the third party (Boonjing, Pisit, and Chalermsak 2015, 555). As a result, the company is also able to reach the retail customers without the barrier or constraints of the suppliers. The strategy that the company uses to penetrate the markets and to make sure that the customers choose its products is maintaining the quality of the products that it manufactures (Gil, Jay, Simeon, and Sandeep 2010, 319). The company has also been able to maintain its supply chain because of engaging in research. Before venturing in any market, it is always essential for an organization to understand the market to avoid setbacks; the company invests in research to make sure that it understands the markets where it wants to supply its products (Arndt 2004, 9). The constraint that faced the company during its first days of the operations was associated with the price of its products. The company manufactured products that were 50% more expensive than other products in the market. As a result, it became evident to the company that the inclusion of another supplier would lead to extra costs (Christopher 2016, 24). When the price is already high, adding extra costs would mean that the price of the products would chase the customers for being too high.
In line with the supply management, Steel Blue has demonstrated that it is guided by the Operations Management Theory in its processes. Operations Management Theory is mostly utilized with the aim of making sure that efficiency is promoted. Efficiency should not only be concentrated on the aspect of production or selection of the raw materials, but it should also be promoted when it comes to delivering goods and services (Hugos 2018, 34). When Steel Blue takes the decision to source the raw materials, manufacture the products, and later deliver the products to the potential customers, the company eliminates the risks of inefficiency. The reason behind it is because the company controls the quality of the products that reach the customers and at the same time, the company makes sure that the quality of delivering the products is promoted.
References
Arndt, Holger. Supply Chain Management. Gabler Verlag Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, Wiesbaden, 2004.
Boonjing, Veera, Pisit Chanvarasuth, and Chalermsak Lertwongsatien. “An Impact of Supply Chain Management Components on Firm Performance.” In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Engineering, Project and Production Management, pp. 555 565. 2015.
Christopher, Martin. Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson UK, 2016.
Dubey, Rameshwar, and Tripti Singh. “Understanding the complex relationship among JIT, lean behaviour, TQM and their antecedents using interpretive structural modelling and fuzzy MICMAC analysis.” The TQM Journal 27, no. 1 (2015): 42-62.
Gil, Reynaldo, Dipayan Gangopadhyay, Jay Zhou, Simeon Gordon, and Sandeep Nayak. “Supply chain management.” U.S. Patent 7,761,319, issued July 20, 2010.
Godinho Filho, Moacir, Gilberto Miller Devós Ganga, and Angappa Gunasekaran. “Lean manufacturing in Brazilian small and medium enterprises: implementation and effect on performance.” International Journal of Production Research54, no. 24 (2016): 7523 7545.
Hugos, Michael H. Essentials of supply chain management. John Wiley & Sons, 2018.
Jasti, Naga Vamsi Krishna, and Rambabu Kodali. “Lean production: literature review and trends.” International Journal of Production Research 53, no. 3 (2015): 867-885.
Oakland, John S. Total quality management and operational excellence: text with cases. Routledge, 2014.
Ross, Joel E. Total quality management: Text, cases, and readings. Routledge, 2017.
Sallis, Edward. Total quality management in education. Routledge, 2014.
Upadhye, Nitin, S. G. Deshmukh, and Suresh Garg. “Lean manufacturing system implementation barriers: an interpretive structural modelling approach.” International Journal of Lean Enterprise Research 2, no. 1 (2016): 46-65.
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