(PDF) Knowledge-based integrated Production Management

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
OF
PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................1
1.1 Overview of the company......................................................................................................1
1.2 Aim........................................................................................................................................1
1.3 Scope......................................................................................................................................2
1.4 Assumption and delimitations................................................................................................2
2.0 OPPORTUNITY IDENTIFICATION.......................................................................................2
2.1 Market Overview...................................................................................................................2
2.2 Opportunity Assessment........................................................................................................3
3.0 CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................5
4.0 RECOMMENDATIONS...........................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Knowledge Management is the processes of product innovation is assist and creating
new technologies and techniques that help to innovate the new product, which plays an important
role in the innovation process (Hislop, Bosua and Helms, 2018). Therefore, knowledge and
innovation is strong combination that share new ideas and transfer knowledge effectively that
helps to achieving the sustainable competitive advantage. Thus, many organization focus on
overcome the challenges of new market and take the opportunities by focusing on generating and
successfully integrating knowledge related to innovation planning.
The present report is based on Knowledge Management and product innovation on
cement Australia Pty Limited. The report will cover the various aspects of innovation
opportunities such as identify the sources of opportunity, market structure and current trends of
b2c market. Lastly, report will Demonstrate the recommendation that how to take opportunities
to achieve competitive advantages.
1.1 Overview of the company
Cement Australia was established in 2003, it is the Australia company they have variety
of product and also firm developed an extensive range of products which makes the sustainable
waste transformation product. Thus, cement Australia has makes the high quality of products
and company majorly deals in business to business market (B2B) and business to consumer
market (Gernhardt and et.al., 2016). Therefore, in B to B market firm deals with large-scale
construction projects. On the other side, In B to C market firm deals with the packaged goods
market including the both services which is brick & block home construction sector. Therefore,
organization famous for deliver the high quality bulk cement for the biggest commercial and
industrial applications. In recent decades firm lunch their new and innovative product in B2C
market which is packaged cement-based products and supply this product to Do it yourself
retailers in Australia.
1.2 Aim
Main aim of this report is that it helps to identify the Emerging trends in the Australian
DIY/renovation market by producing the packaged cement based product in order to increase
sales and future expansion.
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1.3 Scope
The purpose of this report is that produce new and innovative product to maintain and increase a
company's market share by satisfying a consumer demand. Further, this project also have usage
in B2B and B2C sector which has become
1.4 Assumption and delimitations
Assumptions:
 The sales of Cement Australia is increased.
 The profit margin of company is also increased to the greatest extent.
 Customer base of company is also heighten.
Delimitations:
 Cost limitation: it might be happen that the budget of the new product development will
be increased due to some extra expenses.
 Time limitations: it might be happen that the project cannot be completed on due data as
market research has taken too much time.
2.0 OPPORTUNITY IDENTIFICATION
2.1 Market Overview
In 2017, Australians approximately spent USD16.3 billion (AUD22 billion) on online
purchases. From 2016-2017 the local e-commerce market grew by 11.5%. In comparison, the
bricks and mortar retail market grew by 3.3% over the same period to reach USD193 billion.
According to the current trend, the market is continuously changing as the underlying technology
for many key marketing functions (Handfield and et.al., 2015). In the context of Cement
Australia there are some market trends. Market trends defines all those trends which are going on
in the market and are the highest in demands. Home renovation is involved in market demand.
Attractive renovation boosts home improvement sales.
It is stated that home improvement continued to perform effectively with healthy year on
tear value sales growth of Australian markets. Cordless power tool is also in trend for home
improvement because Australian are becoming more aware, educated and confident about
carrying out cordless power tools at their home. The other main important market trend in the
context of home improvement that can increase the sales of Cement Australian is decorative and
attractive paint. It is called a key trend which helps them in home improvement. There are some
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factors that are natural growth drivers for decorative paint such as population growth, income
growth, GDP growth etc.
There are other market trends which are being adopted by competitors of Cement Australia. It is
stated that Techtronic industries Australia leads home improvement. There are some reasons
which shows its success. The main reason and market trend which is being used and focused by
this company is cordless power tools, durability of paints, convenience and prices etc. this
market trends allow them to enjoy a strong and healthy sales as well as strong share growth.
Floor covering is also included in market trends in the context of home improvement
which can help Cement Australian to increase their profitability and sales (Shani, Tenkasi and
Alexander, 2017). National Tiles, that is a Victoria based company flooring company makes it
presence at a national level in floor covering (Home Improvement in Australia, 2018). Floor
covering with attractive tiles is also in the market trends which leads home improvement. There
are market trends which are in rise in Australia for Cement and other companies whose main aim
is home improvement. Quality, durability and reliability of paints and cement is also being
preferred by Australian while focusing on home improvement.
2.2 Opportunity Assessment
Innovation opportunity is set of activities taken by the business in order to expand the
business in all over the world. It is very important for Cement Austria company to conduct the
assessment as it is used to identify the opportunities and risk associated so that business can
understand the market prior to building or expanding an offering. There are various opportunities
that Cement Australia company have been as follows-
An underutilised Resource: This is also one of the most important and have the best
opportunity to increase the market share by selling the products directly to the customers. There
are various resources in the company which are not utilised to such extent like machineries,
human resource and the most important is use of technologies was not up to mark and etc. So, for
marketing of the product of Cement Australia Company which is Just Add water can be
marketed and promoted by personal selling by using of human resource. Further, company will
also use the technologies to bring innovation that also raise the possibility to grow and develop
the business in B2C segment as well (Soini and et.al., 2017).
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A new Resource: Discovery of new product with many potential uses is also an
opportunity associated with the B2C marketing segment. In B2C companies target more
customers across a wide variety of demographics, socio-economic and psychological etc. So,
Cement Australia company will use online platform as a new resources and start targeting more
customers through social media. Social media also helps in gaining the views and opinion of
customers which is also a way to reach innovation.
Low Cost Leadership: Its is the human tendency that people attract with the low cost
products. To get better opportunities from B2C, Australia Cement company will provide this
new cement on low cost so that they can cover the large market share in the market and after
covering the large market, company can raise the price (Obeidat and et.al., 2016).
Product Innovation Charter (PIC) is that document which helps the company to
organise and plan for new product development with ensuring the commercialisation of that
product. This would be containing and having objectives, guidelines and goals of the stated
products and projects that need to be innovative. This is basically related with products of
company and not for its process which must be innovative in any way out and then documented
laying out conditions under which the firm is operating. This documentation will be prepared by
senior management team who will be designing and providing guidance for Strategic Business
Units of Cement Australia based on role of innovation.
This document will be having certain parts including background in which major ideas
and analysis of market with that of situation will be done. Then there will be focus which clearly
states the technology dimension or the market dimension which need to be match with each
other. Then there will be goals and objectives that could be both short and long term with
evaluating the measurement. Toward the end guidelines will be there which will having rule of
road including any requirement which is been imposed by senior management. These
requirements could be order of market entry, time taken, cost incurred, quality maintained,
innovative idea and others (Murungweni and et.al., 2016).
Thus Cement Australia will be using it for its new product which is “Just add water” so
that it could be successful in market. This will be influencing the B2C strategic business unit of
company in long and short run both. With this Cement Australia can also ensure that product
development is consistent and useful by evaluating the measurement which is taken. Thus
product innovation charter is very much important aspect for the setting up strategy for company.
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This will be outlining what exactly innovation means for Cement Australia and where firm is
standing into market. R&D or the product development is equally important part of any business
unit so it is essential that corporate innovative product must be successful in market. As product
innovative charter is laying out the goals, objectives, guidelines and focus for company so this is
very much essential and important part of Cement Australia (Djenontin, and Meadow, 2018).
3.0 CONCLUSION
Thus, from the above analysis it can be concluded that Cement Australia which is
operating into 2 key strategic business namely B2B and B2C. In B2B company is planning for
large scale construction projects and within B2C it is dealing into package goods including brick
and block for home construction sector. The company is planning to start with new product
development which will be made up of pre-blended dry products that would be from cement base
and just water would be added to it. There are number of market opportunities which are there
into this B2C market for Cement Australia. The company could be using up their underutilised
resources like that of human, machineries so that they are able to use most form them all. This
will help company to expand into better market area having opportunities and for attracting more
and more customers as well. This will be promoting the personal selling of products from market
area and expanding it to greater utilisation of underutilised resources. Cement Australia could
also be using better technology for gathering up more and more information so that their
customers demand. The company can also be using online platform for their market development
so that they could promote their products in national and international markets as well.
4.0 RECOMMENDATIONS
The company should be using correct type of resources, raw materials and technology as it is
stated into deontology theory of moral philosophy. This theory states that company should be
performing the right action which is based on what is right and wrong under particular series of
rules and not based on consequence of action. Cement Australia should be using good quality of
materials so that more and more customers could be attracted towards their products. This also
includes using ethical practice which will be better for customers, company and overall
community as well (Grandinetti, 2016). Cement Australia when is using online platform they
should be planning according to market demand and need. This includes market analysis and
overall identification of proper need and demand of customers who are there in market so that
company can be able to use the available resources.
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Training and Development is one of the best way to achieve the desire goals and
objectives of the company. Cement Australia will provide training to there employees so that
they provide training on customized design of cement so that they can achieve the best customer
respond. Further, Company should also provide technical training to there employees so that the
skills can be improved and online platform of company will be improved to the greatest extent.
Training also improved the productivity at a whole which is very essential part of the company
(Pilkington and Meredith, 2018).
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Hislop, D., Bosua, R. and Helms, R., 2018. Knowledge management in organizations: A critical
introduction. Oxford University Press.
Gernhardt, B and et.al., 2016, June. Knowledge-based Production Planning within the Reference
Planning Process supporting Manufacturing Change Management. In ASME 2016 11th
International Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference (pp. V002T04A013-
V002T04A013). American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Handfield, R.B and et.al. 2015. How can supply management really improve performance? A
knowledge‐based model of alignment capabilities. Journal of Supply Chain
Management, 51(3), pp.3-17.
Shani, A.B.R., Tenkasi, R.R.V. and Alexander, B.N., 2017. Knowledge and practice: A
historical perspective on collaborative management research. In Academic-Practitioner
Relationships (pp. 17-34). Routledge.
Soini, E and et.al., 2017. Efficient secondary use of representative social and health care data in
Finland: Isaacus data lake, analytics and knowledge management pre-production
project. Value in Health, 20(9), p.A777.
Obeidat, B.Y and et.al., 2016. The impact of knowledge management on innovation: An
empirical study on Jordanian consultancy firms. Management Research Review, 39(10),
pp.1214-1238.
Murungweni, C and et.al., 2016. Climate-smart crop production in semi-arid areas through
increased knowledge of varieties, environment and management factors. Nutrient Cycling
in Agroecosystems, 105(3), pp.183-197.
Djenontin, I.N.S. and Meadow, A.M., 2018. The art of co-production of knowledge in
environmental sciences and management: lessons from international
practice. Environmental management, 61(6), pp.885-903.
Grandinetti, R., 2016. Absorptive capacity and knowledge management in small and medium
enterprises.
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Pilkington, A. and Meredith, J.R., 2018. The diffusion network of research knowledge in
operations management. International Journal of Operations & Production
Management, 38(2), pp.333-349.
Online
Home Improvement in Australia. 2018. [Online]. Available through :
<https://www.euromonitor.com/home-improvement-in-australia/report>.
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