Operations Management DBN509: Bluebird Foods - Analysis and TQM Report

This report provides an analysis of operations management principles within the context of Bluebird Foods. It defines capacity management, examines maximum and optimum production strategies, and presents a plant layout diagram. The report emphasizes the importance of continuous improvement through Total Quality Management (TQM), detailing its foundations, building blocks, binding mortars, and roof. It also covers the Kaizen process for waste management and discusses components essential for sustaining production and meeting customer demand. The analysis concludes by highlighting the need for Bluebird Foods to integrate TQM and waste management practices to align production with market demand.

Running head: OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Operations management
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author note

1OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Executive summary:
The report further describes that there is a need for continuous improvement in total quality
management with further recommendations in the waste reductions. The study explains the
functions of inventory in terms of the raw materials and finished in terms of sustaining the
productions and customer demand. From the above discussion it can be seen that the firm
need to operate under the firm need to operate as per the total quality management and in
addition to this the firm need to operate under waste management so that it can produce as
per the demand of the market.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
Definition of capacity management:..........................................................................................3
Maximum Management:............................................................................................................3
Optimum management:..............................................................................................................4
Plant layout:...............................................................................................................................5
Principle of space utilisation:.................................................................................................6
Principle of overall integrity:.................................................................................................6
Continuous improvement:..........................................................................................................6
Foundation:............................................................................................................................7
Bricks:....................................................................................................................................8
Binding Mortar:......................................................................................................................8
Roof:.......................................................................................................................................9
Kaizen process:......................................................................................................................9
Components to Sustain Production:.........................................................................................10
Components of supply to meet customer demand:..................................................................11
Conclusion:..............................................................................................................................12
Reference:................................................................................................................................13

3OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Introduction:
The current study is based on understanding the definition of the capacity
management in perspective of the machines, materials and labour. The study takes into the
consideration the maximum as well as the optimum management as how the Bluebird foods
produces the products and how the employees are employed in the production procedure of
manufacturing snacks. The report would provide the diagrammatic layout of the plant in the
organizations.
The report further describes that there is a need for continuous improvement in total
quality management with further recommendations in the waste reductions. The study
explains the functions of inventory in terms of the raw materials and finished in terms of
sustaining the productions and customer demand.
Definition of capacity management:
Capacity management can be defined as the procedure that is used to make sure that
the capacity of the Information Technology is capable of meeting the present and future
business needs in the cost effective manner (Dale, 2015). The capacity management states
that planning and applications consists of management areas that are proactive and reactive in
nature. The capacity management refers to the management of the limits of a company’s
resources namely the labour forces, manufacturing and office spaces, technology and
equipment, raw materials and inventory. Capacity management is associated with the
capacity of the organization’s procedure such as development of new product or marketing.
Maximum Management:
Bluebird foods production process comprises of controlled quantities of raw materials
and process liquids that are premixed and it is dosed with the objective of feeding the
extrusion platform constantly (Ross, 2017). The production process of Bluebird foods is
automated at higher capacity processing with faster automated changeovers. The production

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process of Bluebird Corporation comprises of the use of the wide range of ingredients and
process flexibility to provide the facilities of product features.
The working shift are conducted in three eight hour shift under the variety of
operational conditions to generate snacks exact grains and densities. A wide variety of size,
shapes and fillings together with the operational kits are undertaken during the production
procedure (Sallis, 2014). The cost effective intensified transformation procedure helps the
Bluebird foods to generate raw materials, water and energy with easy maintenance and
compact designs together with the lower requirements of space. The snacks production
capacity ranges from 200 kg/h to 2000 kg/h.
Optimum management:
For optimum production management of the Bluebird foods snacks the company has
set up the optimum production line which is stated below;
a. Shorter times of set-up: In terms of the nature all the setting procedure leads to
waste. Bluebird foods ties up the labour and equipment without adding any value
(Goetsch & Davis, 2014). Bluebird foods imparts training to improve the efficiency
and provide workers with the accountability for setting up production and attaining
optimum production line.
b. Empowering the employees: Bluebird foods divides the workforce in smaller teams
and provides them with the accountability of numerous tasks to improve the
efficiency of the production line.
c. Pull Production: In the bid to reduce the inventory Bluebird foods holds the costs
and the lead times in production (Oakland, 2014). Bluebird foods has pioneered the
system where the quantity of materials, labour and energy increased at every level of
production procedure that is entirely reliant on the demand for the snacks from the
next stage of production.

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Platformmmmmmmmmmm
Conveyor
Crusher
Mixer
Power
Racks
Press
Oil DrumsPump
Office
Packaging Space
(Optional)
)
Tank
Warehouse
Boiler
Storage
Potato
Frying
Plant layout:
Figure: Diagram for plant layout
(Source: As created by the author)
Selected organisation has utilised the following tow principles of the plant layout
(Chauhan et al., 2015):
 Principle of space utilisation
 Principle of overall integrity
Details regarding the above mentioned principles of the plant layout are as follows:

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Principle of space utilisation:
As per this principle of the plant layout, it is essential for the firm to utilise the
available space in such a way that both horizontal and vertical space of the firm can be used.
In addition to this, layout of the firm need to be flexible enough to adopt required changes in
case of future changes (Wu et al., 2016). It this will provide essential flexibility and ability to
develop the operation of the firm in future.
Principle of overall integrity:
This principle of the overall integrity of the firm is used to provide services and
facilities and it need to be located in such a place which is close proximity to the essential
resources as well as aids the firm to minimise the product travel time. It would help firm to
reduce the cost of operation (Xin et al., 2016).
Continuous improvement:
In order to have continuous growth of the business organisation it is essential to
provide focus on the quality because it is one of the essential parameters that aids the firms to
outshine their competitors and improve their growth path under the fierce market
competition. When it comes to the Bluebird foods, then there are many firm that operates in
New Zealand in the snacks industry in the state that makes the market competitive in nature.
In addition to this, growth of the industry during the last one decade with the shift in the
demand of the consumers from the fast food to the healthy snacks has attracted many new
firms towards the snacks market (Dale, 2015). Under this situation, in order to deal with the
performance benchmark as well as evolve through the daily endeavours total quality
management has become essential for the firm. Under the total quality management
framework there are four broad categories, which are sub divided in four subsections. As per
the framework, following are the four groups of the total quality management that can
provide the Bluebird foods continuous development (Ross, 2017):

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 Foundation
 Building Bricks
 Binding Mortar
 Roof
Details regarding the following subdivision of the total quality management is as follows:
Foundation:
Foundation of the total quality management is made of three sections, which are ethics, trust
and integrity. Total process of the total quality management is dependable upon the strong
foundation of the organisation, ethical binding of the firm, integrity within the operational
framework of the organisation and trust among the employees of the business. Irrespective of
the level of working and designation, it is crucial for all the employees to maintain
organisational ethics, trust and integrity that provides good flow of the business (Sallis,
2014).
Ethics: ethics within the firm is the understanding of the employees regarding the good and
bad. A tiny line of difference is present within the good and bad and the firm need to
establish of the same that aid the workers to enjoy an unbiased working environment within
the framework of the firm.
Integrity: it is one of the essential element for the smooth operation of the firm that provides
honesty, values and sincerity of the individual towards the work. As per the total quality
management framework of the firm, for the smooth operation of firm, it is essential to
introduce proper training regarding the understanding of the integrity and how it can
influence the working of the business. In addition to this, it aids to make better decision that
aids the management of the firm to flow transformation within the firm without any
escalation from the employees (Goetsch & Davis, 2014).

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Trust: without trust no business can evolve into a big sized business and thus it is first and
foremost importance towards the firm’s management to create a trustworthy environment in
the workplace so that the workers can work within a trustful environment. With trust issues
among the workers, firms wouldn’t have elaborated its business and thus Bluebird foods need
to encourage their employees to trust each other so that the operation of the firm can operate
smoothly.
Bricks:
Bricks are the pillars of the organisation foundation of any business that provides
essential amount of support towards the growth of the business. It is sub divided into the
three essential parts which are training, teamwork and leadership.
Training: this essential component of the total quality management is aimed to educate and
make the workers potential to perform different job within the operational framework of the
firm. Training is essential for the firm to provide technical know-how, educate the workers
regarding the decision making skills and aid them learning regarding the problem solving
skills and many more.
Teamwork: a business is not a solo game and thus without the teamwork a firm cannot
become larger and survive under the fierce competition of present date. Thus Bluebird foods
need to bring in teamwork within their operational framework (Oakland, 2014).
Leadership: It is crucial for the firm’s growth because in absence of the proper leadership, it
will not be possible for the firm to take the market with crucial strategies.
Binding Mortar:
Made of three essential communication framework, binding mortars of the firm
influence the communication flow within the business. Binding mortar is built with the three
type of communication within the firm, which are (Obeidat et al., 2016):

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Downward communication: it flows information from the higher level of management to the
employees
Upward communication: it flows the information from the employees to the top level of
management
Sideways communication: it takes place among the different departments of the firm and
flow the information to the employees of different departments.
Roof:
It is the catalyst and incentive towards the employees to work for the growth and
development of the firm. As per the framework of the total quality management, within
proper rewards and recognition, a firm can influence its workers to work and work more in
order to fulfil the organisational goal while fulfilling the personal goal.
Kaizen process:
Apart from the total quality management, it is essential for the firm to follow the
Kaizen process of waste management, that helps the firm to work as per the corporate social
responsibility and aids the firm to fetch lower level of inspection from the regulatory
authority. With smooth implementation feature, Kaizen process argues in favour of
elimination of the overproduction and improvement of the quality in order to control the
waste production. In addition to this, Kaizen process depicts that, with enhancing the
production efficiency and reducing unnecessary activities within the firm, by the means of
developing money saving method of profit making can aid the firm in their waste
management (Voehl et al., 2016). With the main focus on the systemic development of the
firm’s working environment and development of the low waste generation procedure of
production, Kaizen process reduces waste. It aids the firm to produce low waste and help to
operate as per the regulated waste production margin.

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Components to Sustain Production:
Depending upon the production circle Bluebird foods prioritizes the wide areas of
resources namely the production, design of the product, value recovery and supply circle
management.
Production:
Bluebird foods have made a tremendous amount of gains by applying the programs of
improving the labour and production capacity. These efforts can enhance the production
resources if they are undertaken to encompass the criterion for lowering the consumptions of
energy and raw materials (Aquilani et al., 2017). The company adds the methodology of lean
value-add recognition to map down the energy conservation at each step of their operational
procedure. This enable the company to thermodynamically compute the requirement of the
minimum energy. Moving further than the pitch analysis Bluebird foods extends the lean
program to enhance the energy efficiency by optimizing the energy integration in the process
of heating and cooling operations.
Design of the product:
By introducing the energy and parameters of materials in the snacks product design
approaches, Bluebird foods could reduce the use of the materials that are non-renewable and
hazardous materials (Khanam et al., 2016). Furthermore, the company has undertaken the
changes in the design of the product and reusing the components following the end of the
product life cycle. The designers help in prioritizing the incorporation of the sustainable
features in the products to lower the effect of the products that have on the environment.
Undertaking value recovery:
Bluebird foods satisfies the needs of resources by recycling and reusing the materials
to historically eliminate the waste. Greater amount of technological advancement helps in
attaining the recycling and organics of processing and waste to energy conversion (Fu et al.,

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2015). Waste-Collection operators and recyclers of Bluebird foods focuses on the building
new building models by working with the manufactures to recognize and develop the
opportunities for recovery of value. This usually consists of assisting the manufacturers of
Bluebird foods to design products and process of productions to facilitate the use of
materials.
Supply Circle management:
Majority of the activities that creates an impact on the resources of the productivity
and sustainability of the Bluebird foods includes the acquisition and transporting of raw
materials, assembling the parts that is used in the process of manufacturing and using the
disposal of final products. Bluebird foods arranges the productions shifts to create the better
understanding of the footprint of supply (Mohammad, 2014). This usually consists of not
only the materials that are used but also comprises of the total amount of volume and the
extent to which the energy is used to manufacture the product.
Components of supply to meet customer demand:
The demand procedure of Bluebird foods is associated with creating the balance
among the requirement of the customers through its supply chain capabilities. This comprises
of the demand forecasting and synchronizing with the same with the production, procurement
and distributions capacities (Kiran, 2016). A better demand management procedure enables
the Bluebird foods to be highly proactive in anticipating demand.
An important component of the Bluebird foods demand management is discovering
the process through which the company reduces the variability of demands and enhancing the
operational flexibility. Bluebird foods brings forward an argument that lowering the demand
variability helps in constant planning and lowering the costs which ultimately increases the
flexibility of responding quickly to the internal and external events.