MAN308 Operations Management Assignment Sample
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Task 1
The cell phone industry can be regarded as the fastest developing sector with respect to the communication industry these days. Presently, internet is the industry which is bringing in more and more people into buying phones globally. The cell phone industry is basically involved in manufacturing smartphones which includes the mobile phone handsets. Presently the industry is emphasising more and more on technology.
The smartphones with advanced form of computing features and connectivity in comparison to the regular phones surfaced in the market in the late 1990s, but could attain the highest level of popularity only when Apple introduced iPhone in the year 2007. The smartphone industry has been witnessing a steady level of rise since then, both in terms of market size as well as suppliers and the phone models (Arthur, 2018).
Nokia was once the most sold band worldwide with a market share of 24 per cent. Now, Samsung is leading the list with around one fifth of the global shipments followed by Huawei and Apple. In the 2018 itself, Apple sold 41.2 million iPhones throughout the world, with a 0.7% rise on comparison to the last year. The shipments with respect to the smartphones are expected to add up to approximately 1.7 billion units in the year 2020. 40 per cent of the population around the world is expected to have their own smartphones by 2021 (Ashford, 2015).
In this report, Lenovo is considered as the business operating in the cell phone industry. The given factors are the challenges the operations managers of the company deals with:
Changing technologies
The digital forensics at the Lenovo is receiving more and more requests on smartphone forensics than ever, owing to the fact that the legal community is figuring out the shift in the usage of smartphones. These pocket sized phones are quite different and separate from the personal computer in terms of investigative and e-discovery requirements. The smartphone giant Apple has incorporated a way to encrypt the back-ups created by its cell phone users, with the help of iTunes, which will not be readily clear to all the users and in case the password is lost for some reasons (which will not be the one used to access the device but a separate one), then all the back ups, inclusive of the forensic images, will turn inaccessible. This concealed gem of technology is bound to create a hue and cry among the users of late as they were not aware of the fact that whether such a technology was selected, and therefore asking for a password to decipher (AFP, 2017).
In the world hacking and cyber crimes which the users and big firms come across every now and then, the need of encrypting the data has become very crucial. It is expected that the future of these smartphones will lead the users and the companies into more complex or advanced features which will be reflected in enhanced camera resolution, the quality of the videos will become even better and more futuristic features will be made available.
Continued Globalization of markets
The mobile communications has witnessed an unseen development and growth and they are going to be one of the best instances of globalisation. In a period of even less than three decades, the very meaning of communications is being changed so much so that a huge chunk of world population has the access data or voice communications. There is no doubt that such kind of changes have been have been brought to effect only by globalisation. Huge amount of resources have been utilised as investments with regard to research is important to devise entirely new systems, the coordination required for standardisation and effort needed for development and it was only possible for the multinational firms, such as Lenovo, which are aiming to conquer the international markets backed by institutions at global level (AFP, 2017).
The ability of the smartphones to bridge the gap between technology and the infrastructure people have in the developing world. The cellular signal is far more effective than hardwiring telephone in the developing world. With the advent of latest technologies, developing countries also get the wave of it. It becomes a real challenge for a company like Lenovo to set foot in countries where the preference of the customers would certainly be different. Therefore, it employs such strategies that can serve the communication needs of people residing in such countries. Access to mobile technology and a series of affordable of smartphones offer economic opportunities and incredible promise for the mobile phone brands across the globe.
Changing expectations of the customers
The consumers rely upon the smartphones in order to satisfy their daily requirements; they keep a track of their daily caloric intakes and their daily steps and they communicate with their peers and even vet dating prospects by swiping through the screens of smartphones. The lives of people in 2019 revolves around the mobile technology, and it is more likely that this mass inclination will certainly witness an increase with the introduction of new technologies, such as VR, and therefore becoming more integrated and sophisticated. As these technological advancements have surfaced huge opportunities for the brands such Lenovo to enhance the customer touch points and go even deeper into the aspect of bonding with the customers, they have also developed various challenges (OECD, 2013).
Even though these days the brands have more options to connect with the customers than ever before, the window to sell of the the products is getting contracted. As a matter of fact, the consumers to the tune of 55% have been observed to spend 15 seconds or less on a given website before switching to another one. 15 seconds of time is just enough time to make a survey of the homepage. More particularly if the users don’t find the content that they are after; there is more possibility that they would leave it in no time. The smartphones have entered into an age where people want fast results. If the brands are unable to provide a required response to the queries within the timeframe that is applicable to the users, there is a chance of getting kicked out from competition.
Changing job designs
There are times when the technology gives complement to the workers by enhancing their ability to carry out specific tasks, and sometimes go on substituting the employees by automating some or all of their tasks. Therefore, it changes the overall job design by refocusing the workers who are on task which are hard to automate and discarding the tasks which can easily be automated.
It can further be analysed to the point that what kinds of tasks can be hard to automate, indicating that several non routine tasks and manual tasks, as well as some social and cognitive tasks have been found difficult to make an automation. Therefore, in such an industry, the technological effect on job design depends upon on a substitution, known as complement continuum. So, it becomes challenging for a brand like Lenovo to retain its customers for long term.
There could well be some other challenges popping up from the changes on technological grounds on the job design. It is observed that technology brings in a broader level of centralisation with respect to the some jobs and provides an option to assess and monitor the employees in different ways (European Commission, 2012).
Quality management
A number of quality initiatives that different business units are taking into account involve: Lean Manufacturing, Process Management, Six Sigma, Reengineering, Quality Awards, Quality Service and ISO Implementation/Re-certification and Quality Service. The senior management is required to take into account the organisational culture, the actual and expected performance of the employees. Since the quality initiatives are implemented, purported benefits are being delivered. The other changes which can put its impact upon the organisation include bolstering the company’s strategic plans, internally as well as externally, by satisfying the needs of the customers (West & Mace, 2010). Therefore, the quality practitioner needs to take into account the change management process and in what way it assists with a successful application of the initiative on quality management.
Global manufacturing
The global manufacturing sector, with special reference to smartphone manufacturing, is dealing with an increasing quantum of compliance and regulatory measures. Everything, ranging from safety, health and waste management measures, is encompassed in the aspect called red tape. Even though it cannot be denied that some of those regulations are crucial, some others could well become huge burden for the manufacturing units- especially at the time when there is as substantial variation from one country to the other (Rashid and Elder, 2009).
In today’s world, the manufacturing units, as Lenovo is having in different countries, must ensure that they are completely transparent with respect to their supply chain to maintain compliance and that of their suppliers. The regulations often ask for facilitating the option to keep a track of the materials and equipments which are being used at the time of manufacturing (West & Mace, 2010).
It’s a consumer driven world and therefore, innovations and product development are moving at an unbelievable speed. In order to stay in competition and relevant among the customers, the manufacturers like Lenovo require to always keep themselves abreast of the trends in the market stay with the pace.
Task 2
Process Selection, Design and Analysis
Apart from the common features that are used, different smartphones are providing applications that provide medical information, collect and interpret data and even help in providing medical information or clinical services. The evolution of app plug-ins has which come up with the software, websites and smart devices like smartphones have led a robust growth in the in the usability of these systems and devices. The pocket technologies are outpacing these attributes which were earlier used by personal computers by making a distribution of creativity and development of plug-in products of smartphones to a community belonging to third party app programmers (Suaréz, 2005).
Into a value chain, each and every producer buys inputs and thereafter adds more value to it, which therefore becomes a portion of cost of the next production stage. The sum total of the value added by everyone into the chain constitutes the final price of the product. Considering the smartphones, swiping from left to right, every unit of the product is supported by the complementary technology which activates communication with the network along with other phones. Brands such as Ericsson, Nokia, InterDigital contribute their own technology to the growth and development of open WiFi and cellular standards. Their standard-essentials patents could well be licensed by the phone makers on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms, providing market access to the small manufacturing units as well (Schilling, 2005).
Every smartphone is composed of a large number of components. Most of them are low valued parts such as resistors and capacitors. However, the manufacturers of such components do earn profits, they account for small portion of the value added along with the supply chain of the product. There are several mechanical parts which constitute the body of the body of the smartphone, the cost of that could be much higher for designing and manufacturing. Most of the smartphones also come up with high value components, such as memory, visual display, key integrate circuits or storage. These parts, which actually are complex systems, are projected to encompass the knowledge that helped to make differentiation on the final output and to command a proportionately high margin of profit. Due to their high cost, these components of inputs will be responsible for the comparatively higher share of the sum of the value that is added. Innovation takes place with regard to these components in a rapid speed, and liable for the fast rate of tech development on the final products (Schilling, 2002).
These complicated set of components might have transnational supply chains. For instance, the an integrated circuit might be devised by a Taiwanese firm but could be fabricated by a contractor in the US and can be encased in its final form of packaging in India before being shipped to the final product assembly unit. For assembling these parts into final product, a good deal of MNCs, such as Foxconn, Wistron and Flextronics comes up with assembly service. These assemblers intensely compete with one another for bulk opportunities and limiting their levels. Apple is concerned with outsourcing all its products, while Lenovo as well as Huawei outsource their production to such contractors (World bank. 2009).
The lead firms in the business provides its marketing acumen, system integration, intellectual property and cost management skills and a brand name which the value of which gets reflected on its innovation, quality and service to the customers. The top firms have the ability to create value by transforming the others innovations into the products that the customers would find usable and beneficial. They might also end up with handling their own online and retail stores. These factors signify the importance of process selection and design for smartphones under Lenovo (Koski & Kretschmer, 2007).
Supply Chain Design
The major smartphone manufacturers such as Samsung, Apple, Lenovo, Huawei have a fierce competition on their design quality and satisfaction level to lure the customers to retain loyalty. However, they are very much inclined on their supply chain infrastructure which is another method of maintaining profitability.
The first step is to win the price and design battle. To avail the right smartphone at the right time before the customers becomes the collateral. To ensure this, a business must make sure that it has the capability to deal with the change- which includes the flexibility of supply chain and the capability to enhance the logistics level when it is required. Such factors become complex as it has to involve itself into a marketing campaign throughout different channels, then the production of smartphones depending upon the campaign success and eventually the transportation of these smartphones to different outlets or warehouses for the purpose of e commerce (Gallagher, 2007).
To achieve success in such a business, the advantage of linking different business lines is very important. The company has to concentrate on producing what is selling in the market rather than being compelled to sell what product was manufactured, which might not eventually match the final demand. Being able to integrate the supply chain, production facilities and the final demand will allow the vendors like Lenovo to avoid costly build up of stocks, optimising the return on capital and safeguard the margins.
On the consensus among the predictions in marketing, sales and finance has been found with regard to a specific smartphone, logistics and production can be adjusted to consider the inventory. If right tools are kept in place, a projected fluctuation can be dealt with different strategies (Cusumano, et. al., 2002).
A state-of-the-art infrastructure can be helpful in saving the smartphone firms from turning into a victim of Bullwhip Effect, which can result in over production of smartphones. Therefore, it becomes vital for Lenovo to manage its supply chain activities in an efficient manner.
Managing Inventories
Inventory management turns out to be a good practice for any organisation, irrespective of the industry or sector. There is a need on the part of the company to count the stocks regularly and keep track of its inventory challenges and inventory errors. A well maintained inventory management can assist a smartphone brand like Lenovo to identify how much inventory is required to have on-hand. It will help the company to lower the chances of product shortages and let the company have just enough stocks without having a pile of products in the warehouse. A good inventory management strategy aids in developing a well organised warehouse. There have been many firms which employs optimisation by putting in top selling products in placed in the warehouse which can be easily accessed. This helps in expediting the process of order fulfilment process and keeping the customers satisfied by delivering the smartphones on time (Argyres, et. al., 2013).
The aspect of inventory management may come up with real time benefits as well as monetary perks. by keeping a record of the products that the company is having on hand, it saves the efforts to do a recount process on inventory to make sure that the records are correctly incorporated. A good inventory management system leads to save a significant amount of money which might otherwise be drained away on the slow moving products. The inventory management tools such as inventory management system software and barcode scanners can help in enhance the productivity and efficiency of the firm in a significant manner (Zainudeen, 2007). These devices will help in discarding the manual process so that the employees working in the given concern can put more emphasis on other important factors/ areas of business. It is an undeniable fact that a well managed inventory management system can lead the company to what it is aiming for, i.e. retaining the existing customers. Hence, inventory management system can lead to meet the demands of Lenovo customers to have right products in stock the moment the customers order for them.
References
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Argyres, N., Bigelow, L., & Nickerson, J.(2013). Dominant designs, innovation shocks and the follower’s dilemma. Strategic Management Journal
Arthur, C. (2018). Lenovo, the Chinese giant that plays by the rules … and loses, viewed on 27th May, 2019, retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/may/12/lenovo-chinese-giant-plays-rules-loses-patents
Ashford, W. (2015). Lenovo to cut jobs as it faces ‘severe’ challenges, viewed on 27th May, 2019, retrieved from https://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500251623/Lenovo-to-cut-jobs-as-it-faces-severe-challenges
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