Operation Management For FMCG Companies

Quality Dimensions

The increasing use of quality management is depicted to be essential in initiating the necessary steps towards improving the overall quality in the organization. The management team is further seen to make use of the management and planning tools which are required for decision making process for contributing to the competing priorities (Christopher, 2016). In the given case study of ABC Garments, the board has realized that the strategic options as per the operation’s manager needs to be segregated from ‘Quality” and “Grade”. “Quality” is defined as the conformance to a specific requirement. Therefore, it is important to understand that “quality” for ABC Garments will comprise of conformance to certain requirement. These are mainly inferred with the customer requirements.

On the other hand, “grade” is a category assigned to the deliverable’s as per the technical configurations. This suggests that products of varied range of configuration are maintained according to separate grades.   Therefore, in case of the manufacturer such as ABC Garments, grades need to be assigned to the process as per technical configuration. For instance, it may adopt ISO 9001 as its grade which will define set of inherent characters which will fulfill the requirements.   Similarly, it may also adopt six-sigma.  It can be inferred that Quality management system such as TQM gave birth to grading or methodologies such as six sigma and ISO. While grades like six sigma and ISO focuses on increasing efficiency and reducing variation, TQM emphases on long term improvement in the quality. 

The importance of the data contributing to the success of ABC garments can be directly depicted in form of instant availability of the information. In addition to this, the company will be also able to contribute to the relevant form of the areas which is considered with protecting the interest of the business (Brandenburg et al., 2014). 

The information and data collection policy need to be ensured by realization of the strategic options which is needed by the operations manager of ABC garments. It is also important to understand the quality of the policy pertaining as specified by the directors of the company.  The respective information needs to be further aligned with the interests of the board of directors as per the competitive advantage. The information sharing policy need to understand the requirement for the quality management systems which is not seen to depict the relevant nature of the information pretreating to techniques like Six Sigma and TQM.  The relevant nature of the data and information is applied with the understanding of difference among the quality and grade (Brandenburg et al., 2014). 

Fitness for Purpose

The maintenance of a formal review and processing of data is essential to follow a standardized process. The main operational objectives of the company are completed as per daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis to ensure that it is runs uninterruptedly. It is required for the organizations to define the rules which are stated as per the scope, methods and quality. The standardized process is further inferred with some of the evident benefits such as improving the clarity, guarantying quality, promoting productivity, boosting morale of the employees and improving the customer service. The importance of formal process needs to be depicted as the quality process which will be able to capture the valuable and important data. The standardizing is further considered with minimizing the chances of missing crucial details and ensuring appropriate policy and procedure of documentation (Pagell & Shevchenko, 2014). 

The creation of the formal process needs to promote eliminating the inefficiency. This may be depicted as the main result of the sorting out the ambiguity and proving the appropriate quality control technique. Therefore, the new policy will ensure that the operations will be able to carried out in terms of lesser form of quality control issues. The benefit of eliminating the alternative procedures may be important in reducing the conflicts and unhealthy competition. The standardization process will also be important for boosting the morale of the employees and creating a sense of achievement among the people.  The capturing of valuable information should be also included with making a connection between the relevant standards followed in the organization and avoiding needless processes. The improved sense of the customer knowledge is also depicted to be important as per ensuring lesser scope of ambiguity and higher total output thereby increasing the employee morale and productivity (Pathak, Hazarika & Pandey, 2015). 

The importance of ISO 9001 certification is depicted with adhering to the requirements which will be able to meet the requirements of the customers. In addition to this, the companies will be able to get More Revenue and Business from New Customers. This is evident in form of responding to the “requests for quotes (RFQ)”. Some of the various types of the other importance of ISO 9001 certification can be traced with Improving the Company and Product Quality. This will be ensured with adopting the QMS as per the improved quality level for the entire organization. It needs to be also discerned that the importance of increasing Customer Satisfaction with the products is considered with the various types of the stated reasons which are adhering to the implied requirements. The organizations need to also ensure that the relevant measures are applied for Describing, Understanding and Communicating the overall processes of the company. Lastly, the importance also lies in Developing a Specialized Culture and improve Employee Morale (Hazen et al., 2014). 

Compliance

The relevance of TQM in business should be inferred with commitment and understanding of the employees. Secondly, the operations of the company can be significantly improved in terms of culture and quality improvement in the operational process. Some of the other benefits are directly associated to the various types of the measures which are considered as per continuous improvement in the process. Moreover, the operations of the company include focusing on the customer requirements and implementing effective control. This is recognized to be evident with focusing on the customer requirement and building strong relationship with the customers. It needs to be further seen that that the various types of the focus of the company is seen with customers paying relevant attention with the long-term survival as per the policies prescribed under TQM (Govindan et al., 2014).  

The process chart shown above relates to supervision and monitoring of the diameter of the buttonholes within a specified time period. The considered range for the operational procedure is seen with 0.25 to 1.0 cm. The initiation of the process is considered with placing of request and approving the decision. In case this is approved then the purchase order will be created. The next step is considered with receiving of the goods which involves sending the invoice and considering the Invoice receipt into payment system. In case this step is approved then the ordering process needs to be proceeded with receiving of final payment for the orders. In case Goods are received but not invoiced then the invoke needs to be released for the final payment for range of 0.25 to 1cm (Genovese et al., 2017).   

Scenario 4- Understand the production process at each step

The complaints manager needs to ensure that the various types of the process involved with several steps. These are considered with the process beginning from the initiation of the idea to the finished product. Some of the duties in the monitoring process needs to be depicted with process of product Design, process of Fabric Selection and Inspection, process of Patternmaking, process of Grading, Marking, process of Spreading, process of Cutting, process of Bundling, Sewing, process of Folding, process of Finishing and Detailing, process of Dyeing and Washing and process of quality checking. Therefore, it is necessary for the company to ensure whether the complaints manager is able to include the necessary process pertaining to the different types of the products produced by ABC Garments. The issues need to be fixed in terms of using of the valuable information in an appropriate manner, keeping up to date with the technological advancements and enhancing the efficiencies by saving of time and cost (Mylan et al., 2015). 

Value

The two strategies discussed are identified with lead strategy and lag strategy. The lead strategy is defined with upfront investment in case there is requirement for higher capacity. For instance, the new vineyard may anticipate lesser than 10 acres of land in the first 5 years. However, the purchase of 100 acres of land is considered as the long-term investment in the business. On the other hand, lag strategy is seen with current capacity is stretched with the limits before making provisions for higher capacity. This strategy can be referred in a call center with 10 staff who doesn’t require to hire more number of employee’s unit all the employees are seen to be working overtime. This may considerable serve as a boost to efficiency and productivity as soon as the current resources are utilized with maximum intensity (Azadi et al., 2015). 

The recommendation of two capacity planning strategy needs to be inferred with match strategy. This will involve adding capacity in small qualities for responding to the changes in the demand of the market. This is seen as a moderate strategy for the organization. The incorporation of the second strategy for the organizations needs to be identified as per the adjustment strategy. This strategy is further in line with making adjustments as per capacity of the small or large amounts pertaining to the consumers demand and making changes to the system architecture (Dubey et al., 2017).   Furthermore, in the context of system engineering this strategy is seen to be in relevance with number of factors which will be able to enhance the long-term decision making to enhance the overall decision making of the firm. The excess capacity needs to be monitored against critical decision making. The failures pertaining to the same needs to be depicted as per the decisions which will be affecting the overall performance and delays in the present operational areas (Martínez-Jurado & Moyano-Fuentes, 2014).    

The most suitable capacity planning strategy for the given case needs to be proceeded with Lead strategy. As per the given situation the Call US plumbing company Limited is depicted to be constrained with regional plumbers, retailers and contractors based in New Zealand. The manufacturing process of the company is further borne with the number of issues which are seen to be based on the various types of the considerations of increasing demand for one particular items. Therefore, the lead strategy adoption will enable the company to focus on a more streamlined opportunity of improving the predictions of future customer requirements for the products. In addition to this, the lead strategy will be also appropriate for adopting to the seasonal changes in the demand (Ellram & Cooper, 2014). 

The incorporation of the capacity planning in the given case will be able to bring about possible improvement pertaining to throughput, timely delivery of the required unit of the product and lead time information along the items included in the WIP. Some of the other advantages of the capacity planning as per lead time needs to be seen with better management of the production cost and allocation of the resources. Some of the other advantages of such a process can further consist of the various types of the additional information which are directly related to the on-time delivery. The lead time capacity planning for the plumbing supplies will be able to provide time required by the suppliers for deciding on the exact cost allocation for the specific overheads. This needs to be condoned as per production cost during the Elbow, Tee, Reducers and other pipe fittings. Furthermore, the manufacturer will be also able to know about the resource utilization for the plumbing supplies. These are needed to be discerned in form of deciding time required for the delivery of the products (Rozar et al., 2015). 

The description of the two inventory models has been represented in form of pull inventory model and hybrid push-pull method. The pull inventory model refers to the ability of the organizations to manufacture the products as requested by the customers. This model of inventory is often referred as just in time or JIT. In addition to this, another relevant model can be discerned with hybrid push-pull method for appropriately managing the inventory/ stock items. The companies are seen to adopt this model for tracking the product and supplies as per future demand. This model is often referred as the lean inventory strategy which the companies heavily rely upon during the forecasting process and adjusting the levels of inventory as per the actual sales amount (Rostamzadeh et al., 2015). 

The application of the first model to the given case is EOQ. Call Us Plumbing needs to predict the lowest amount of inventory without going out of stock. This is will be conducive for the company in knowing about the peak customer demand and obsolete inventory. The application of this model is aimed at increasing the order predictions for producing a particular item. In addition to this, there is additional opportunity for the organization to prevent the present issues such as delays in the production of the component material. Secondly, it will be also able to create more amount of provision for creating less interdepartmental and staffing conflict due to better utilization of the resources (Rajeev et al., 2017).

The adoption of the second process of inventory is applied with ABC analysis. This is process will allow Call Us Plumbing to segregate the inventory into three categories. For instance, in A category of the items, the plumbing supplier can decide to allocate the best-selling items which do not consider all the space in the warehouse. Similarly, in the B-items Call Us Plumbing may deicide to allocate the various types of the mid-range items which are sold regularly but cost more than the former category. This will allow the company to identify the rationale for the product returns in the global market. Similarly, in the C-Items, the rest of the inventory will make up for the most of the inventory cost. This strategy will allow the supplier to track the missed global opportunities (Formentini & Taticchi, 2016). 

The ideal model Inventory Management system needs to integrate the present practices with the cost barriers, attitudes of the managers and the owners. This will allow to tackle the prevent problems which are associated with the umber of issues such as overstretching of the manufacturing and production resources, inability of the workers to track the provision for rapid growth and resolution of the conflicts among the staff.  Furthermore, the various instances of the interdepartmental and conflicts for staffing can be traced from the non-adherence of the internal demand for the production equipment and constant stress on the workers (Silvestre, v2015). 

The necessary use of information for creating ideal inventory management framework can be inferred with creating report alerts. Several industries in the past have adopted this methodology for generating inventory analysis by individual product, knowing about the sales history of a specific customer and creating inventory reorder reports.  This will be particularly useful for Call Us Plumbing Supply for keeping track of the growth progress in terms of ordering of the items. The reporting techniques will be useful in effectively forecasting of the future demands of the products and creating the appropriate breaking point. In several types of the other instances, there has been a delay in the pipe fittings for the final assembly of the products. Therefore, the report on the individual issues with the production process will allow the company to track the relevant types of the problem which are seen to be exiting in the company (Jabbour et al., 2016). 

The discussion of the individual processes in a FMCG company with the sub processes are listed as follows:

The planning process in the FMCG is considered with various types of the decisions pertaining to the Shelf-life restrictions. In the planning phase the company ensures which the business is able to remain profitable. The shelf-life planning is considered with the perishability of the products (Fahimnia et al., 2017).

The process improvement, implementation and spend analysis. The process improvement is discerned with empowering and qualifying the suppliers to determine the purchase specifications. Moreover, this implementation will be able to assist the baseline development with the customization of the current specification (Fahimnia et al., 2017).

The process and distribution in the FMCG sector is associated with precisely strategizing, assembling and distribution of the goods in the relevant channels of sales. This section of the process and distribution strategy is further based improving the overall flexibility and collaborating through customer relationship via CRM, BI and multi-order channel processing (MORAIS & Silvestre, 2017).   

The inputs in the stage 1 needs to be depicted as per the Input- Procuring for the orders, which will include Procuring the orders from distributor X. This stage is further depicted to be followed by releasing the orders to be processed. The output of the process needs to be inferred with finalization of the pick-up point of the product. The next stage of the process is determined with ensuring selection of the individual zone cases for the cases to conveyors and apply labels. The overall output of the second stage of the process can be discerned with Selecting cases on pallets at intermediate consolidation point. The various types of the proceedings in the third stage can be considered with deciding whether the pick zone is primary. Moreover, this stage will also encompass the relevant details about the placement of the document to the appropriate personnel. The output in this stage needs to be considered with including drop pallets in staging lanes and verify pickup. The last stage needs to be taken into account with the assuming whether primary zone is overstock. This will be able to consider the various types of the factors needed for Picking of full pallet of foods and applying labels. The net output for this stage will include placing the pick document to the last case (Silvestre, 2015). 

The effectiveness in the organizational capabilities needs to be incorporated by defining the relevant IMP group with thee external standard and the manner in which organizations have met the demands of the organization. The effectiveness in the SCM strategy needs to be in line with the various types of the initiatives which are seen to be depicted with including the customers, partners, supplier and vendors. Therefore, measuring the effectiveness is determined with the actions having an effect on the customers and supply as a whole.

The organizational efficiency is defined with the internal standard of the performance. The efficiency in the SCM is seen with company’s process thereby harnessing the resources in the best possible manner. This may include the various types of the considerations which are seen to be evident in terms of financial, human, technological or physical resources. The definitions pertaining to the efficiency is identified with improving customer service. This might be able to bring out better efficiency by minimizing cost for the products and specifying the exact specifications. The concept of efficiency also relates identifying the factors in the supply which are seen to be affecting the main areas of the business. Therefore, it is seen to be important for an organization to combine both efficiency and effectiveness factor in the SC process (Silvestre, 2015). 

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