Operations Management: Supply Chain and Just-in-time System

This article discusses the concepts of supply chain management and just-in-time system in operations management. It explains the importance of quality and technology in supply chain management and how it affects the overall business. The article also highlights the challenges faced by supply chain managers and the strategies to overcome them.

Running head: OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Operations Management
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Section 1: Supply Chain Management
Supply Chain refers to the system of organization, people and information which is
involved in the process of moving a product from that of supplier to the customer. The
activities pertaining to supply chain helps in the transforming of the raw materials to finished
product that can be delivered to the end customer (Christopher, 2016). Supply Chain
Management refers to the managing of the flow of goods along with services from the point
of origin to point of consumption.
The supply chain of Coca Cola plays an integral part in relation to their business and
it helps in ensuring that the environment impact is minimised. Quality is laid stress in the
company and they have deployed continuum measurement that can help in moving their food
safety culture to the next level (Hugos, 2018).The suppliers of Coke provide it to the state
distributors who then circulates it to the super market chains. The supermarket chains then
distribute it to the local stores who helps in providing it to the end customer.
The supply chain managers have to face issues in daily basis that can affect their
business in various substantial ways. The supply chain managers have to know the number of
suppliers and the manner of handling delays. Globalization pertaining to the supply chain has
brought concerns pertaining to quality of products which is made in various countries
(Fredendall & Hill, 2016). This puts the companies at the risk of recall. The supply chain
managers have to ensure that the products maintain quality standard.

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The global issues pertaining to supply chain management arises because of the fact
that manufacturing process is not perfect. The industry needs to have certain quality
pertaining to the products. Complexity forms a part of the production process and the
unfamiliar sources not adhering to the defect level can give rise to a problem (Christopher,
2016).The firms have to experience issues in the event of dealing with the companies that are
on other side pertaining to the country. The purchasing of the items at that of a delivered
price can prove to be easy but the process of shipment being delayed can give rise to
problems (Brandenburg et al., 2014). The companies have to look at the aspect of social
compliance when they have to emerge into the field of global sourcing. The companies have
to abide by child labour practice, forced labour along with fair compensation practice.
Industry is moving from the traditional system to more automated methodology. The
automated systems prove to be efficient and they can help in providing better data capture.
There are various kinds of hand held mobile device that can help in the aspect of monitoring
real time transportation. It can help the managers in addressing the operational anomalies
(Chyr & Huang, 2016).The using of technology pertaining to Customer Relationship
Management can help in providing visibility pertaining to the supply chain operator.
Technology can help the leaders in identifying inefficiencies along with bottlenecks
pertaining to commercial operation.

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Section 2: Just in-time and lean system
The core beliefs pertaining to just-in-time system is that one should get right quantity
of the goods at right place and at that of the right time. It is a philosophy pertaining to
eliminating waste. Broad view of Just-in-time covers the entire organization and it is also
termed as the “lean system”. The philosophy lays focus on serving the customers and it is
built on the aspect of simplicity (Hugos, 2018).The philosophy of lean system lays emphasis
on the fact that problems that are visible should be identified and it should also be solved.
Just-in-time inventory system helps in aligning raw material order from the suppliers
directly with that of the production schedule. This strategy proves to be useful in decreasing
waste and the goods are received in production process can reduce the inventory costs. This
method can help in reducing cost by the elimination of the warehouse storage need. The
companies can spend less amount of money pertaining to raw materials as the purchase the
exact amount of resources that is required for the ordered products.
Push system pertaining to inventory control makes use of forecasting inventory need
that can help in meeting the demands pertaining to the customers. The companies in this case
have to predict regarding the products that will be bought by the consumer and the amount of
goods that would be bought by the customer (Davis, Katok & Santamaría, 2014). Pull system
starts after the order made by the customer. In this kind of a strategy, the companies
manufacture the amount of product that can fulfil orders pertaining to the customers.

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The just-in-time model of inventory can help the manufacturers in reducing overhead
expenses and it takes care of the fact that different parts are available pertaining to
manufacturing of the products. This helps in providing better service to the customers of a
company and it can lower the cost in relation to doing business. Warehouse excess inventory
can prove to be very expensive (Wanke et al., 2017). Reduction of amount pertaining to the
inventory can help in the reduction of the carrying cost. The companies making use of just-in-
time system can reduce number pertaining to the warehouses and this inventory system can
help them in the elimination of the warehouses.
Total Quality Management can prove to be crucial for JIT as poor quality would
hinder the process of delivery of the right products at right time. The poor quality pertaining
to the products would pave the way for a lot of time spent on fixing of the product. It can also
lead to the scrapping of the mending of the product in the event of it not being able to fix it
(Chyr & Huang, 2016).
The key elements in relation to just-in-time manufacturing relates to continuous
improvement, elimination of waste and good housekeeping. It helps in attacking of the
fundamental problems and the devising of systems can help in the identification of the
problems. This inventory system can help in maintaining workplace cleanliness within the
organization (Bookbinder & Dilts, 2016). In the event of just-in-time system the workers are
responsible for the quality pertaining to the output.

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References:
Bookbinder, J. H., & Dilts, D. (2016). Logistics information systems in a Just-In-Time
environment.
Brandenburg, M., Govindan, K., Sarkis, J., & Seuring, S. (2014). Quantitative models for
sustainable supply chain management: Developments and directions. European
Journal of Operational Research, 233(2), 299-312.
Christopher, M. (2016). Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson UK.
Chyr, F. C., & Huang, S. Y. (2016). The Maximum Setup Time and Setup Cost of Achieving
Just-in-Time System. Journal of Business Theory and Practice, 4(1), 75.
Davis, A. M., Katok, E., & Santamaría, N. (2014). Push, pull, or both? A behavioral study of
how the allocation of inventory risk affects channel efficiency. Management
Science, 60(11), 2666-2683.
Fredendall, L. D., & Hill, E. (2016). Basics of supply chain management. CRC Press.
Hugos, M. H. (2018). Essentials of supply chain management. John Wiley & Sons.
Wanke, P., Alvarenga, H., Correa, H., Hadi-Vencheh, A., & Azad, M. A. K. (2017). Fuzzy
inference systems and inventory allocation decisions: Exploring the impact of priority
rules on total costs and service levels. Expert Systems with Applications, 85, 182-193.