Operation Management and Process Design

This report discusses the importance of process design in an organisation and the factors that influence the manufacturing process design. It also highlights the efficiency of lean principle in the same. The report focuses on Apple Inc. as a case study to understand the process design and its importance in the organisation. The report concludes that Apple gained success in considering and addressing the influential factors in the manufacturing process design. The implementation of lean principle has been verified with reference to Apple for understanding its utility in gaining efficiency.

Running Head: OPERATION MANAGEMENT AND PROCESS DESIGN
Operation Management and Process Design
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

1OPERATION MANAGEMENT AND PROCESS DESIGN
Executive Summary
Process design is a set of activities undertaken by the organisation for determining the workflow,
required equipments and implemented requirements in a particular process. Understanding a
process design of a product or service can help understanding the product manufacturing process.
There are various types of design that are implemented by various organisations according to
factors that influence is the decision making process. The influential factor that alters the process
design in case of Apple is discussed in the report for gaining greater understanding the process
design and its importance in the organisation. The results reflects that Apple gained success in
considering and addressing the influential factors in the manufacturing process design. However,
the implementation of lean principle has been verified with reference to Apple for understanding
its utility in gaining efficiency. The affectivity of lean principle of the same and the benefits of
using is reflected in the final part of the report.

2OPERATION MANAGEMENT AND PROCESS DESIGN
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Factors Influencing Manufacturing Process Design........................................................................4
Quality..........................................................................................................................................4
Cost..............................................................................................................................................5
Flexibility.....................................................................................................................................6
Nature of Demand........................................................................................................................7
Demand Pattern............................................................................................................................7
Environmental Sustainability.......................................................................................................8
External Regulation......................................................................................................................9
Implementation of Lean Principle for Greater Efficiency.............................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................14
Reference.......................................................................................................................................15

3OPERATION MANAGEMENT AND PROCESS DESIGN
Introduction
Aim of every organisation regardless of the industry is to satisfy the customers need and
value creation through the quality product development. The product or services developed by an
organisation revolve around the customers need for the particular product with specific
characteristics to attain success in satisfying the need, which in turn helps in gaining competitive
advantage in the market. This makes the companies to develop the products and services
accordingly prioritising the customers’ needs while satisfying the organisational goal at the same
time. Process design as communicated by Slack, Chambers and Johnson (2007) is accountable to
consider the appropriateness of the process to overall goal, while delivering customer value. This
requires customer involvement in various stages of product development in the organisation.
Turner, Strong and Gold (2014) on the other hand defined it as a set of activities undertaken by
the organisation for determining the workflow, required equipment and implemented
requirements in a particular process. Understanding a process design of a product or service can
help understanding the product manufacturing process. Different types of process designs are
adopted in product or service industries that can be put into three categories that are analytical,
experimental and procedural. Analytical centred design identifies and prioritises quality of the
object being delivered (Turner, Strong and Gold 2014). Success of the design is established only
on the attainment of the desired quality. Experimental design on the other hand is the takes
innovative approach. This design aims to address sustainability in the product development. This
is satisfied when the sustainable innovation is attained. Procedural or operation centred design
lastly focuses on the efficiency of the existing design in the changing product according to the
desired outcome. This design also involves experimental process that changes the alters and

4OPERATION MANAGEMENT AND PROCESS DESIGN
accommodates new requirements by designing new process and systems for getting adequate
outcome.
Process design further depends on several factors, which makes it necessary for
individual organisation to select separate design to address the need. This justifies the difference
process designs incorporated in different organisations in single industry. The following part of
the report will be identifying factors determines the process design in case of Apple
incorporation and state efficiency of lean principle in the same.
Factors Influencing Manufacturing Process Design
The significant variables that influence process design are cost, quality, flexibility,
environmental sustainability, quantity of the product and external regulations.
Quality
Quality of the product being delivered is one of the important factors that influence the process
design. Responsibility if the managers as put forwarded by Stevenson (2009) is to provide
quality products or services to their customers along with the responsibility to generate high level
of revenue from the business process. Creese (2013) argued that the process design failing in
producing and delivering high quality products or services is a clear sign of design failure, hence
requires rejection. The process design that fails in attaining desirable quality, irrespective of the
cost-effective nature is a strategic failure and hence requires revision. Apple is known for its high
quality products that they deliver to their customer. The process design of apple address the need
of quality for their products and they position themselves as high quality product deliverer in the
target market. Their quality control process incorporated by the company incorporate various
quality check procedures in the production process. Innovation is another approach incorporated

5OPERATION MANAGEMENT AND PROCESS DESIGN
by the company in the assuring the high quality. Fotevski (2016) on the other hand identified the
feedback mechanism included in the process design provides them to enquire the difficulties in
the quality control hence mitigating the same. The organisational culture on the other hand as
identified by Lashinsky (2011) is considered as the key determinant of the high quality products.
The concept is deeply embedded in the organisational culture that helps them holding the image
of high quality producer for longer period. This influential factor makes the manager decide their
process design accordingly to deliver the quality of products perceived by the customers.
Cost
The second factor under consideration after quality in the process designing is the cost. It
is the primary goal of any company to earn the maximum possible profit out of the product or
service being sold without compromising the quality of the product. Hence, as expressed by Pries
and Quigley (2013), it requires the management of the organisation to design their business
process accordingly and making it cost effective for extracting maximum profit out of it. There
are various ways a business can reduce their product or service costing. The company under
consideration is Apple and the popular products offered by the company are IPhone, IPad, Mac,
some other electronic devices. Moreover, the company also have cloud storage and owns their
own operating system named iOS. Other than these, the company has also developed various
services like iTune, iPlay etc. that enables the customers to enjoy the full features of the products
sold by the company and experience the satisfaction. These products and services delivered by
Apple is perceived as high quality products that puts the company in the leading position in the
international market. Apple sells their high quality products in exchange of a hefty amount of
money compared to the other brands. However, the quality assured by the company satisfies the
market need. Apple on the other hand generates optimum revenue despite of delivering high

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quality products due to the process design adopted. The cost process as put forward by Mac
Dowell and Shah (2013) is the investment incurred in the process of manufacturing the products.
These include the raw material, labour cost, equipment cost, etc. The company according to
Bergvall-Kåreborn and Howcroft (2013) uses outsourcing as their cost cutting strategy. This
involves the company to distribute the production responsibilities to the manufacturing
companies. This also reduces the threats as the risk is distributed over various manufacturing
companies. Asia is the best-known market for manufacturing electronic devices and parts of it.
This is due to the cheap resources available along with low labour cost. This helps the company
in considerably reducing the production cost, hence increasing the profit margin. Moreover, as
stated by Haslam et al (2013) this further enables the company in focusing on their R&D
department for developing innovative products for satisfying the customers’ needs.
Flexibility
Flexibility is yet another important factor a company needs to consider while developing
process design. The contemporary market with intense competition requires the companies to
have a degree of flexibility in their production process that enables them to modify their products
accordingly to the every changing need of the customers. This according to He et al (2014) eases
up the manufacturing process even there is a change in the product need. Moreover, it also helps
the company to reduce the wastage as it allows them to continue with the materials with slight
modification. Lack of flexibility in the production process potentially increases the cost incurred
by the company. This according to Brettel et al (2014) is required in a greater level in the
electronic industry due to the rapid advancement and innovation in the market. Apple being a
leading company in the electronic market with high-end product line has successfully adopted
flexibility in their process design. The company has introduced a number of versions for each of

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their developed products in just a decade and have launched a number of models that surplus the
other in technological advancement. In their IPhone line for example, they have introduced a
total of nine generations models. These were introduced in a year gap from the previous launch.
Moreover, each of the generation is comprised with a number of varieties that satisfies wider
range of customers with specific needs. This according to Brettel et al (2014) is a result of
flexibility adopted in the manufacturing process that enables the company in constantly
innovating their products and developing them accordingly to the customer needs without
incurring significant wastage of materials. This helps the company holding their competitive
edge in the market by constantly upgrading their products and provides customers the latest
technology available in the market. This is attributed to the incorporation of flexibility in the
manufacturing process, which creates a level of gap in the production that helps to adjust
according to the requirement.
Nature of Demand
This is another important concern influence the process design communicates the nature
of the product demand. This further includes various factors like pricing, quantity etc. Customers
reflects a tendency of purchasing greater number of products or services for a cheaper price and
high quality. This greatly modifies the process design. Moreover, the quantity of the products
also falls under this, which communicates the amount of products required in the specific target
market. Shift in quantity of product demand modifies the process design (Kumar, Luthra and
Haleem 2013). The products delivered by Apple are in high demand. The nature of the demand
of Apple products in the international market requires the company to incorporate mass
production strategy in their manufacturing process design for satisfying the customers’ demand
in their international market.

8OPERATION MANAGEMENT AND PROCESS DESIGN
Demand Pattern
Demand pattern on the other hand as put forwarded by Kwag and Kim (2014) is the rise
and fall of the product demand in particular seasons. Various products and services reflects
seasonal demand, when the products or services are sold in maximum quantity. For instance,
demand in the hospitality industry is seasonal and it rises in particular seasons according to the
festivals of the particular nation. However, electronics industry hardly faces any as such demand
pattern and are sold around the year. This eliminates Apple to consider any as such demand
pattern for their manufacturing process design.
Environmental Sustainability
Environmental consideration in contemporary business market is of prior importance.
The current market condition demands the companies to address the environmental safety in the
process of their product manufacturing. According to Howcroft and Light (2010), integration of
detailed CSR policies in the business process is held important, which in successful attempts
facilitates the companies in value proposition. In other words, social and environmental
sustainability helps the companies in increasing brand value. Environmental sustainability in the
manufacturing process as communicated by Khan, Alam and Alam (2015) is to have minimum
adverse effect on the environment during the product development. This is applicable in both
product and service industries with different guideline addressing to the similar cause of
environmental sustainability. Hence, the manager of a company, either in manufacturing or
service industry needs to design their process accordingly of increasing their brand value. Apple
in their production facilities around the world have successfully incorporated this in their
business process design and has reduced carbon footprint in their production facilities. They have
gained success by converting their energy source into renewable energy sources. They now

9OPERATION MANAGEMENT AND PROCESS DESIGN
utilise hydro and wind energy, geothermal energy and solar energy in their facilities around the
globe (Samoladas et al 2003; Zhang, Shah and Papageorgiou 2013). The company still had to
face criticism due to the negligence in CSR for their Chinese facility. The significantly adverse
environmental impacts caused by the company’s operation within the Chinese border. This
significantly hampered the brand value of the company around the world, which the need to fix
in an urgent concern.
External Regulation
These are the conditions imposed by the governments through various regulations and
standards. As mentioned by Deutz, McGuire and Neighbour (2013) these are the factors
forcefully imposed by different governments that narrates some of the standards and procedures
the company has to maintain while operating within the boundaries of the same nation. These
standards primarily focus on the environmental causes and the quality standards of the products
being delivered to the target market. The primary environmental standards the companies in
general have to follow are solid and hazardous wastes, effluents, air emissions etc. have carbon
footprint in the nature. On the other hand, the governments set various standards that can be
considered as the minimum criterion of the quality of product. As notified by Tseng, Tan and
Siriban-Manalang (2013), these standards and regulations are independently applicable in
specific nations and the standards are modified as soon the products crosses the border of the
same nation. Hence, it is important for the international organisation like Apple to consider
developing a universal regulation for the company to address general standards of the nations. It
is important for the organisations for addressing these issues regardless of the cost incurred in the
process. These likely facilitate in increasing the production cost and modifies the process design.
Apple in both the cases has successfully addressed the standards. The company gained its

10OPERATION MANAGEMENT AND PROCESS DESIGN
reputation for delivering quality products to its customers. They as mentioned earlier outsources
their production that enables them to produce high quality products for a cheaper price and
address the environmental standards set by the governments around the world. Apple has further
invested a lump sum in converting their energy sources to renewable energy that helps them
regulating carbon footprint. This can be attributed to the manufacturing process designs
incorporated by Apple.
Implementation of Lean Principle for Greater Efficiency
Powell et al (2013) defined the lean principle of manufacturing as the manufacturing,
industrial or service operations that consumes minimum resources with little or no wastage.
Adaptation of lean manufacturing facilitates in increasing the manufacturing process efficient
that is comprised with value adding steps alone throughout the process. This process hence,
reduces the non-value added steps in the manufacturing or operation process. As proposed by
Wu, Low and Jin (2013) customers purchasing a product or service are willing to pay for the
value adding steps alone, leaving the non-value adding process that company has to bear in the
process. Hence, lean manufacturing process provides the organisations opportunity to eliminate
or reduce the non-value added processes, which in turn increases the profit margin. Rodríguez et
al (2015) argued that some of the primary type of wastes that can be identified under lean
principle are over-production, inventory, transportation, halt, movement, defects and over-
processing. The former three of the wastes are considered to be related to the material flow. The
buffering in process in the material flow hampers the overall flow of the materials hence,
reducing the efficiency of the production by holding down to a particular segment of
manufacturing process (Soh and Sia 2005; Albliwi et al 2014). Implementation of lean

11OPERATION MANAGEMENT AND PROCESS DESIGN
manufacturing enables the company to maintain continuous flow and establish ideal
manufacturing situation.
Figure 1: lean Six-Sigma
Source: Cucoranu, Parwani and Pantanowitz (2014)
According to Damsgaard and Karlsbjerg (2010), six sigma identifies the quality product
development without incurring waste has to be within the range of plus-minus six sigma to
reflect maximum profit. The process of implementation of lean six-sigma on the other hand
involves five phases that are highlighted below with description of the opportunity it will provide
to Apple.

12OPERATION MANAGEMENT AND PROCESS DESIGN
Figure 2: Lean Six-sigma
Source: (Drohomeretski et al 2014)
Define – This phase identifies the need of identification of the problem. As proposed by
Drohomeretski et al (2014), Apple is able to identify the problem that is contributing in
increasing the production cost incurred by the company. The identification of problem will help
in focusing on the specific needs of the customers in the target market that will ultimately help
reducing Apple’s waste incurred in the manufacturing process. Apple can conduct macro
environmental survey in the process of identification of customers’ need. The macro
environmental analysis will serve Apple well in identification of customer need. They can be

13OPERATION MANAGEMENT AND PROCESS DESIGN
trend analysis, market segmentation etc., which will provide insight on specific purchasing
behaviour of the customers.
Measure – The second step in lean six-sigma model helps in framing the process of data
collection required for gaining the insight on specific issues mentioned above. As put forward by
Fadly Habidin and Mohd Yusof (2013) this not only helps in identification of the process
required to measure the need of the customers, but also contributes in identifying the gap
required to be filled in the process. This means that implementation of the step will help Apple in
identification of the process of data collection of specific need as well as the identification of the
gap in manufacturing process. Comparison of these data will help in identification of the change
in the manufacturing process required by Apple.
Analyse – This step involves analysis of the data collected from the previous stages. This in turn
will help Apple in concluding the issue that has been identified.
Improve – This is the implementation of change required in the process design. This step will
help Apple in identification and implementation of the process design required to minimise the
waste incurred by the company.
Control – The last step proposed in the lean six-sigma management is the process of sustaining
the change implemented in the process design. Apple will have to put extra effort in securing the
change implemented in the process for gaining long-term benefits.
However, Apple has already initiated waste management program and their products are
customer focused. Moreover, the research and development department of Apple has
successfully incorporated innovation in their manufacturing process design. Implementation of
lean six-sigma model will further supplement the company in identification of the gap that is

14OPERATION MANAGEMENT AND PROCESS DESIGN
causing them to attract criticism in the international market. As mentioned above, they have
recently attracted media attention in their Chinese market due to the failure in addressing CSR,
which in turn increased the waste costing of the company.
Conclusion
The above discussion makes it possible to conclude that the process designing in either
manufacturing or service industry is important that narrates the overall business process
incorporated by an organisation. Various determinants influence the decision-making of the
process design. These external and internal factors significantly alter the need. The case of Apple
review in similar terms identifies that the company has considered all the influential factors that
modifies the manufacturing process, which ultimately helps the company in delivering high
valued products to their customers. The final part of the report contributes in identification of the
efficiency of lean management process that can help the company gaining greater competence.
The study of lean management reflects that the company has already implemented lean
production in their manufacturing facilities distributed around the world. However, there are
some significant gap in the process design that caused media attention, which can be resolved
using the lean principle of product manufacturing.

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