Title: Efficient Production Layout for Smog Co.

The Smog Co. aims to improve its production layout by adopting a capital-intensive approach that ensures the quality of products while minimizing waste and excess inventory. This layout will enable the company to maintain a balance between stock levels, reducing the risk of shortages or surpluses. Additionally, it will streamline processes, reduce labor costs, and minimize material handling costs. The implementation of an ERP system will further enhance productivity and profitability by providing real-time visibility into business processes, automating workflows, and enabling data-driven decision-making.

operational research
[Document subtitle]

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Executive Summary
The operations management is being defined as those functions of the business which
perform the various activities of controlling, organizing, planning and leading the
resources which are needed in order to produce or generate the products and the
services of the organization to create the value. Further, to study the operations
management deeply, the case of Smog Co. production system has been taken. Further,
the report will help in understanding that how the company changed the production
system and how it went wrong to some extent. Moreover, the report will help in
understanding that how distinct layout of the operations and the types of process are
estimated as the most appropriate one for the production of distinct products in
accordance to the model of four Vs. Then, the present layout of the company will be
accessed in order to improve and define the advantages of shifting to a more suitable
layout. Further, the importance of the ERP system will be addressed which will help the
company in order to solve the issues like surplus or shortage of the stock, damages of
stock, increased cost and how the ERP system will help the company in achieving
sustainable competitive advantage.
Operation Layouts and Process Types with Reference to four V’s
Model
The operation layouts and the types of processes can easily be demonstrated as the
nexus of the organization where the direct labor takes place. If we take the case of
Smog Co. then we can easily say that the operations of the company are task-oriented
and follows the adequate steps till the service is not completed (Slack et al., 2013).

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Further, the model of four V’s has been used in order to show the appropriateness of
operation layout and the type of processes. The examples have been taken in order to
show the appropriateness by using the model of four Vs. Further, the processes of the
operations have a single thing which is in common, they take the inputs such as
knowledge, raw material, equipment, capital and time and then transform these inputs
to outputs. Furthermore, in order to perform this activity four V’s model is used i.e.
variation, variety, visibility and the volume.
 Volume
The McDonalds has the huge volume and offers a product at low cost. The volume of
their operation is the way they organize their business. The operations of the business
are in systematic order despite the repeatability of the operations.
 Variety
Let us take the example of the taxi and the bus service. A bus had the specific and
defined schedule and route whereas, the taxi has the greater dimension of variety as it
will pick you and drop you at the desired place. Therefore, it can be said that the model
of low cost can be easily gained with the minimum variety.
 Variation
Let us take the example of building contractors, who build homes by showing a
catalogue and the other one provides customized homes so that the person can walk
through and take the decision. Therefore, the second company has the greater cost
level and the reduced volume as compare to the other company.

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 Visibility
This focuses in tracking the order and experience of the customers by the process of
operations. For example, the courier companies have the greatest visibility as the
orders can be tracked and the companies of web design have the lower visibility as
compared to the courier companies.
Therefore, it can be understood from the above-given examples that the Smog Co.
should carefully barrel with these aspects in order to ensure sustainable competitive
edge and maximize the profitability (Pahl, G. and Beitz, W., 2013). Further, this will help
the company to create the value and satisfy the customers according to their changing
needs without even changing the operations layout.
Improvisation in the Present Production Layout of the Smog Co.
The production layout of the Smog Co. can be improved which will help the company to
solve the issues which it is facing at present like the company will be able to improve
the quality of products by satisfying the changing needs of the customers, shortage and
the surplus of stock, increased cost, damages of the stock, etc. Further, the improved
production process or layout is given for the company which the company can use to
maximize the competitive edge and profitability (Malakooti, B., 2013).

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The engineered components will be received, and for the process of assembling, they
will go through the fabrication line for the part A of the components. Similarly, there will
be separate fabrication lines for the part B and C of the engineered components. The
technique will be capital intensive and will not at all be labor intensive. Further, the
products will be assembled at the assembly line, and they will be further tested in order
to ensure that there will be no damaged product and whether there will be surplus or
shortage of stock. After the testing of the products, the stock will move to the store of
finished products and they will be further packed and labelled for the final shipment of
the product. This process will help the company to keep the stock for the longer period
of time even if it is not required by the customers at the present time. The product will
not get damaged because the technique is capital-intensive based (Hill, A. and Hill, T.,
2012). This production layout will not become outdated even if the demands of the
customer changes with the time. This layout will help in creating a balance among the

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stock level, and the Smog Co. will be able to achieve sustainable competitive edge for
the longer period of time.
Benefits from the Improved Production Layout by using Distinct
Measures of Performance
There are various benefits which the company will get if it will use this improved
production layout (Canen, A.G. and Williamson, G.H., 2013).
 The process will include the less time of flow of the product from the stage of
input to the stage of output, and the product will not get damaged at any step.
 The planning of production and control will be easy, and it will include less labor
as it will be capital intensive based.
 There will be less occurrence in the cost of material handling.
 It will ensure that there will be no shortage or surplus of the stock as it will be
capital intensive based and the labor will ensure about such things with ease.
 The machines will not get affected because of the repetition of the jobs.
 There will be minimum inventory of work-in-process will be required.
 It will help in creating a balance among the levels of the stock.
 The company will be able to create the value and will be able to maximize the
profitability.
Further, the company can use the performance measure of the supply chain in order to
maintain the balance between the quality and the quantity of the products. Moreover,
this performance measure will help the company to know when to minimize the cost of
the product and minimize the level of inventory. This will help the company to reduce

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the probability of the stock out. Also, the customer loyalty and responsiveness will
increase. Further, the company will be able to analyse the duration of hours take place
in the particular activity and what will be the total price of the complete engineered
product (Estampe et al., 2013). The performance measurement of the supply chain will
help the company to estimate the capacity of the system and further it will help in
maintaining the machinery as the technique will be completely capital intensive based.
Implementation of ERP System
The Smog Co. can implement the ERP system in order to increase the productivity and
the profitability of the company by satisfying the changing needs of the customers.
Initially, the project team will be developed which will identify the main causes and the
solutions of the company while implementing the effective ERP system. Further, the
project team will work on the configurations for the implementation of the system and

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the various standard procedures will be documented (Kurbel, K.E., 2013). Then the
phase of development will take place which will include various activities like
customizations, training and the importing of data. Further, the testing of the software
will occur, and the employees will be given adequate training so that they can perform
their task effectively and efficiently. Then, the ERP system will be employed in order to
check the validation. Further, the changes will be made in the ERP system according to
the configuration.
If the Smog Co. implements the ERP system, then the company will be able to achieve
various advantages like (Madapusi, A. and D'Souza, D., 2012):
 The company will be able to increase the visibility into the various processes of
the organization. And the company will be able to have a cross check on the
various issues at the initial stage only.
 There will be a coherent and automatic workflow from the single function to the
other in order to make sure the smooth and the quicker transition of the process.
 The company can also use the functionality of the business intelligence which will
provide the greater insights to the processes of the business in order to identify
the areas for the improvement.
 The company will be able to identify the reasons for the surplus and the shortage
of the stock.
 The company will be able to unfold the reasons for the high cost of the product
and the damage of the product.
 The company will be able to keep track of the all the engineered components
once they are entered in the organization.

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Usage of Lean, Agile and JIT Concepts in the Implementation
The Smog Co. will be using the Lean concept like the company will specify the value for
their work and what they provide to their customers. Then, the company will unfold the
value stream in order to configure the various activities which sometimes deliver value
and sometimes don’t. Then, according to the concept of Lean the company will ensure
that all the processes of the business are connected so that the unnecessary and
interrupted detours can be removed for the success of the company. Moreover, if the
Smog Co. will use the concept of Agile, then the companies will be able to spend more
time and effort in documenting the actual flows of the business process (Sharma et al.,
2015). By using this approach, the company will be to keep track of all the products and
services until they are shipped to the customers. Furthermore, the Just in Time will help
the company to keep track of the stock and will allow the company to drive the
spontaneous need as compared to the projected sales. Further, this concept will help
the company to streamline the process of the production (Green et al., 2014).
Therefore, by using these concepts, the Smog Co. will be able to achieve the
sustainable competitive advantage and the company will be able to maximize the
profitability.
Conclusion
It can be clearly understood from the above-given information that the Smog Co. will be
able to improve their production layout or process which will help the company to
identify and solve the issues which they are facing at present. Further, the company will
be able to provide the products and the services to the customers according to the

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changing needs of the customers. Also, the implementation of the ERP system will be
beneficial for the company to a great extent and the company will be able to create the
value and will develop the great brand image for the longer period of time.

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REFERENCES
Canen, A.G. and Williamson, G.H., 2013. Facility layout overview: towards competitive
advantage. Facilities.
Estampe, D., Lamouri, S., Paris, J.L. and Brahim-Djelloul, S., 2013. A framework for
analysing supply chain performance evaluation models. International Journal of
Production Economics, 142(2), pp.247-258.
Green, K.W., Inman, R.A., Birou, L.M. and Whitten, D., 2014. Total JIT (T-JIT) and its
impact on supply chain competency and organizational performance. International
Journal of Production Economics, 147, pp.125-135.
Hill, A. and Hill, T., 2012. Operations management. Palgrave Macmillan.
Kurbel, K.E., 2013. ERP System Implementation. In Enterprise Resource Planning and
Supply Chain Management (pp. 159-188). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Madapusi, A. and D'Souza, D., 2012. The influence of ERP system implementation on
the operational performance of an organization. International Journal of Information
Management, 32(1), pp.24-34.
Malakooti, B., 2013. Operations and production systems with multiple objectives. John
Wiley & Sons.
Pahl, G. and Beitz, W., 2013. Engineering design: a systematic approach. Springer
Science & Business Media.

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Sharma, V., Dixit, A.R., Qadri, M.A. and Kumar, S., 2015. An interpretive hierarchical
model for lean implementation in machine tool sector. International Journal of
Productivity and Quality Management, 15(3), pp.381-406.
Slack, N., Brandon-Jones, A. and Johnston, R., 2013. Operations management.