Managing Capacity in an Electricity Company
Discuss how an electricity company might manage capacity.
Capacity in electricity indicates the maximum electric power level that the power plant is able to supply at some specific point under certain circumstances. An electricity company can manage capacity by carrying out appropriate capacity planning so that the associated costs can be controlled.
Capacity management in an electricity company consists of various things starting from planning, administrative actions and IT monitoring which help the managers in ensuring that there is optimum utilization of the vital resources in the company (Rumpf and Bjørnebye 2019). By managing capacity within the organizations, electricity companies help in balancing costs that they incur for the resources required and balance the supply against the demand of the capacity in the markets. Capacity management can be done using the human resources in the electricity companies in the most effective manner so that they can use the networking equipment optimally in order to offer their best performances.
The electricity company can make use of equipment that is energy efficient so that it can manage the capacity and replace some of the lighting systems with CFLs and LEDs so that the consumption is lesser and the capacity can be utilized for other vital purposes. The business hours in the company can get rescheduled for some time so that there is effective capacity management and the company can save on the additional costs (Hennig et al 2020). The use of solar panels can also help the electricity companies in managing capacity effectively by reducing their reliance on the electricity grids. The larger equipment in the company can get downsized and the use of compact devices should be encouraged so that capacity gets well managed in the companies.
The management of capacity in the electricity companies depends on the size and budget of the companies and the objectives that they prefer to achieve (Müller et al 2022). In managing capacity effectively in the electricity company, the capacity problems must first be identified by the company and then effective measures need to be taken in order to control the issues. In order to adjust the capacity consumption in different departments of the company, various kinds of incentives might be introduced by the managers in this regard to get maximum positive results. Finally, the capacity utilization in the company must be tracked on a regular basis in order to ensure that there is effective management of capacity.
Conclusion:
The conclusion that gets drawn is that by managing capacity effectively, an electricity company can save on its production costs and run business in a sustainable manner for a long period of time.
Discuss what is meant by quality for a fast-food restaurant such as Burger King or Kentucky Fried Chicken, and explain how it might manage quality standards.
Maintaining high quality is of great importance for fast-food restaurant chains like Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken as customers expect to get fresh food delivered from such reputed companies and this helps in offering competitive advantage to the companies in the market.
Quality Standards for Fast-Food Restaurants
Quality maintenance and commitment are two prime factors on which the fast-food companies operate in the market. Companies like Burger King and others always aim at keeping their crown standard of quality at the highest position so that the trust of the customers over the brand never get lost and deteriorated (Musonera 2019). They never supply old stock of food items to the customers and always ensure preparing fresh orders on getting the demands from the customers. The fast-food brands in the market ensure that they use fresh ingredients in their food items without the use of artificial colors and preservatives which can damage the quality of the food items. Companies like Kentucky Fried Chicken and Burger King have eliminated the use of 120 non-essential artificial products from their food items to ensure that they can serve only real and authentic flavors to the customers. The companies also ensure that they meet the dietary needs of the people while making their food items to ensure optimum quality.
Another quality standard that the reputed fast-food restaurants maintain is that they use freshly cut vegetables and meat products in their food without adding any preservatives so that quality never gets hampered (Destri Ayuningsih 2021). Every product is flame-grilled which ensure that optimum quality standards are maintained. The fast food restaurants also maintain great hygiene in their food handling standards so that nothing wrong gets delivered to the customers. They also follow the health standards and the food safety local rules to ensure highest quality in their services. KFC assures quality to its customers by stressing on the factors of cleanliness in food preparation, maintenance, hospitality, accuracy in services, product quality and service speed offered to the customers (Saffar and Obeidat 2020). The fast food restaurant runs pest control activities at regular intervals to ensure that optimum hygiene is maintained and best quality food gets served to the customers. The employees preparing food at the fast food restaurants never touch the food items bare hands. They always prefer the use of disposable gloves at the time of food preparation as well as serving.
Conclusion:
The above discussion, therefore, proves the fact that maintaining standards in quality is of utmost importance for the fast food chains and restaurants like Burger King and KFC so that they can maintain their reputation in the market and gain the confidence of the customers (Lu et al 2019). The premium quality that they offer to the customers helps them in achieve competitive edge in the market.
In the last 18 months, many global supply-chains have been affected by the pandemic. Discuss how companies can use supply-chain and inventory management techniques to deal with these effects.
Research shows the fact that global supply chains have undergone huge disruptions during the pandemic situation which hindered the business transactions of several large companies in the world. There has been stoppage in flow of materials and manufacturing. Companies are trying to use the best techniques to overcome the situation.
The covid-19 had brought about global disruptions in every sector starting from trade, finance, education and even the supply chain (Queiroz et al 2020). The uncertainty of the economic environment owing to the pandemic disrupted the supply chains specifically. Companies had to deal with fluctuating demands, delays in the arrival of key raw materials, stoppage in manufacturing processes and much more. This created a lot of pressure on the supply chains of the companies. To deal with the effects of the pandemic the inventory management and supply chain techniques that are being adopted by the companies include enhancing the visibility of the supply chain and making it more resistant so that they can face future challenges quite easily (Siebert, Brandenburg and Siebert 2020). The companies are aiming to automate the inventory and supply chain techniques so that there is getter visibility of operations and the efficiency of the supply chains get enhanced.
Dealing with Supply-chain Disruptions During the Pandemic
The global companies are trying to make the supply chains more resilient rather than stressing on the costs factors now as the pandemic has helped them in understanding that it is better to have a future-proof supply chain and inventory management mechanism rather than optimizing costs. Another technique being adopted is diversifying the supplier segment and moving towards contract manufacturing so that sustainability in the global supply chain can be achieved (Farooq et al 2021). It is also important to reskill the workforce involved in supply chain management so that they can adopt the new technologies being incorporated in the system quite well.
The technique for inventory management to deal with the effects of the pandemic is that performing audit of the stock on a regular basis so that forecasts can be made accurately and the customers can be served in an optimum manner. The use of electronic shelf labels is also going to help in the maintenance of the inventory in an optimum manner and is also going to assist in the prevention of loss of inventory.
Conclusion:
Therefore, to manage the shifts in the supply chain strategies, enhancing resilience of the system is of utmost importance so that the inventory and supply chain mechanism turn future-proof and the companies are able to continue business smoothly even between adversities.
References:
Rumpf, J. and Bjørnebye, H., 2019. Just how much is enough? EU regulation of capacity and reliability margins on electricity interconnectors. Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law, 37(1), pp.67-91.
Müller, H., Kharitonov, A., Nahhas, A., Bosse, S. and Turowski, K., 2022. Addressing IT Capacity Management Concerns Using Machine Learning Techniques. SN Computer Science, 3(1), pp.1-15.
Musonera, E., 2019. Merger of Burger King and Tim Hortons: analysis of marketing strategies in the quick service restaurants. International Journal of Strategic Business Alliances, 6(4), pp.267-283.
Destri Ayuningsih, V., 2021. The Impact of Price Discount, Promotion Through Social Media and Service Quality in Repurchasing Decision (An Empirical Study for Burger King Surakarta) (Doctoral dissertation, Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta).
Saffar, N. and Obeidat, A., 2020. The effect of total quality management practices on employee performance: The moderating role of knowledge sharing. Management Science Letters, 10(1), pp.77-90.
Lu, P., Cai, X., Wei, Z., Song, Y. and Wu, J., 2019. Quality management practices and inter-organizational project performance: Moderating effect of governance mechanisms. International Journal of Project Management, 37(6), pp.855-869.
Queiroz, M.M., Ivanov, D., Dolgui, A. and Fosso Wamba, S., 2020. Impacts of epidemic outbreaks on supply chains: mapping a research agenda amid the COVID-19 pandemic through a structured literature review. Annals of operations research, pp.1-38.
Siebert, J.U., Brandenburg, M. and Siebert, J., 2020. Defining and aligning supply chain objectives before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. IEEE Engineering Management Review, 48(4), pp.72-85.
Farooq, M.U., Hussain, A., Masood, T. and Habib, M.S., 2021. Supply chain operations management in pandemics: a state-of-the-art review inspired by COVID-19. Sustainability, 13(5), p.2504.
Hennig, R., Jonker, M., Tindemans, S. and De Vries, L., 2020, September. Capacity subscription tariffs for electricity distribution networks: design choices and congestion management. In 2020 17th International Conference on the European Energy Market (EEM) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.