Technology's Impact on Amcor: Production, Marketing, and Transport

This report examines the significant impact of technology on Amcor's business functions, focusing on areas such as production, transportation, and marketing. It highlights how technological advancements have improved Amcor's performance by reducing costs, enhancing product quality and quantity, and optimizing delivery processes. The report also discusses the challenges Amcor faces in adopting new technologies, including system integration, staff acceptance, and the need for adequate training. It showcases Amcor's strategic investments in innovation, such as the Liquiform concept and vacuum coating techniques, to balance flexibility and cost-effectiveness, ultimately improving productivity and achieving performance objectives related to product quality, quantity, and environmental protection. The report concludes with recommendations for continued investment in research and development to further enhance Amcor's operational efficiency and competitive advantage.

REPORT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The report summarizes that technology has a wide effect on an organization's functions.
The company which was selected for the report was Amcor. A detailed discussion about the
areas which are influenced by the technology shows that Production, transportation and
marketing are the areas most influenced by the advancement in technology. The technology
affects certain performance objectives of the organization. The report evaluates that through
technology the performance of the Amcor increased. Through the use of various advancements
the company was able to cut cost, improve the quality and quantity of the products and also
improve the delivery process. The report also discusses the challenges that the company faces in
the adoption of new technology. And to over come these challenges the Amcor had to make
certain changes in the functions of the organization.

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Identify and discuss the areas where technologies are/could be applied in business operations 1
Describe the role of technologies in enhancing the performance objectives.........................2
Discuss how technology investments are matched with the volume/variety requirements to
provide the appropriate trade-off between flexibility and cost..............................................3
The challenges that an organization facing in adopting new technology into the business...4
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
New technology is a crucial part in the enhancement of performance of an organization.
This report is based on the influence of technology on the business operations. The report will
discuss the sections where the company can introduce technological advancement in business
operations. The report will cover the role of technology in the improvement of overall
performance objectives of the organization (Scarbrough, 2013). The technology influences the
performance of the business in large way. Moreover, it will also include the ways to achieve
balance between flexibility and cost with the help of technological investment. Further, it will
discuss the challenges faced by an organization in adoption of new technology. The company
chosen for the study is Amcor. It is manufacturing company which produces rigid and flexible
plastic packaging.
Identify and discuss the areas where technologies are/could be applied in business operations
Technological advancement is necessary in order to enhance productivity and
profitability. The companies with advanced technology produce the products faster and with less
costing. These technological advancement provide a wide array of opportunities to the company.
Amcor has introduced various technological advancements in order to improve its business
operations. There are various areas of innovation and technical up gradation in a company.
 Production : The line of production of the manufacturing process is the most critical and
important stage for technical advancement. With the new machinery and tool quality and
quantity of the products can be improved. This also minimizes the man power used in the
process of production (Dominik, 2017). Through the use of these advancements, the man
force is minimized and the production process is more dependent on the machinery.
Amcor has developed and introduced various up gradations in the production line to
improve quantities of plastic bottles and other packaging material. The company
developed Liquiform concept which uses liquid instead compressed air to form and shape
the bottles. This concept reduced the cost of production up to 25% and also improved the
quality of the product. The support of advanced technology impacts the process of
production line. With the improved pushpop concept of packaging kit, Amcor was able to
help in delivery of medicines safely in the remote areas of Africa.
 Transportation : An effective and fast transportation enhance business operations in a
large way. With improved delivery or supply process the business can enhanced through
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advanced technology. The customers of the company can be satisfied with the delivery of
product on time. New delivery vehicles and transportation ways also ensure the delivery
of product safely. With the improved pushpop concept of packaging kit, Amcor was able
to help in delivery of medicines safely in the remote areas of Africa.
 Marketing : marketing in an important element of business operations. The marketing is
concerned with the sale of products. New marketing techniques and use of advanced
technology make the marketing more effective. Amcor is focusing in using the modern
time marketing techniques to create awareness among the customers about their products.
The use of internet and social media to spread awareness about its advanced ways of
packaging (Fentahun, 2017). They have also developed an effective pricing policy to
compete in the market. The company also advertises about its new production techniques
and products through different mediums to improve customer base.
Describe the role of technologies in enhancing the performance objectives
Performance objectives are the time based goals made by the company to enhance the
performance of the company. These performance objectives concentrate on improving the
product quality, quantities produced, fast delivery, environment protection, etc.
 Fast delivery : Supply or delivery of product is an important concern to a company.
Amcor is highly focused on the delivery of product on time. The company makes bottles
for various beverage companies and flexible plastic containers for food, drink pouches
pharmaceuticals and hospital supplies etc, these products are delivered to the clients from
its located production factories. The company makes sure to deliver the bottles and other
packaging suppliers safely and swiftly.
 Quality of product : The quality of product can be improved with the use of new better
technology. The Amcor developed and introduced a new technology liquiform which
enhanced the quality of the bottles manufactured by the company (Harm-Jan, 2017). The
use of liquid instead of compressed air make the shape of bottle more flexible and easier.
This added to the quality of bottles. All the plastic products made by the company are
made of PET and give a stronger base to the bottle improving its quality.
 Quantity : The quantity produced by the unit of production in a particular period is
called the productivity of company. The enhancement of productivity is the primary
performance objective of an organization. Acmor improved the quantity of the products
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produced through the use of various technical advancements. Introduction of new and
better machinery increases the units of production.
 Environment protection : Environment protection is an important part of performance
objectives. Acmor considers the environmental hazards as well. The company uses the
raw material which are post consumed recycled PET. Acmor has developed as printing
technology which provides a metallic effect on tobacco packaging. This technology is
environment friendly, that is it produces less waste and reduced carbon footprint.
 Cost effective : Another important and basic performance objective is cost effectiveness.
Company focuses on reducing the price of production of the product so as to make more
profits with the sale (Carlsson, 2012). The Liquiform concept developed by Acmor made
an effective step in this aspect. The new technology had cost effective features, 25% cut
in the cost per unit of production is expected of the technology.
Discuss how technology investments are matched with the volume/variety requirements to
provide the appropriate trade-off between flexibility and cost
Technology provides a great balance between the flexibility in working and cost of
production. The company's prime goal is to enhance productivity and increase profits.
Technology helps in achievement of this goal through innovation and advancement. Amcor has
invested in the development of several technologies to enhance their productivity and produce
new variety of products to achieve customer satisfaction (Chryssolouris Et Al. 2013). The
research and development unit of the company is dedicated to improvement in current
technology of the company. Through intensive research and innovation they created many
technical advancements. The company found a new concept called Liquiform which form and
fills bottles by using consumable liquid instead of compressed air. This process works on
hydraulic design which improves the shaping of bottles and also is viable in sense of cost as it
cuts the operating cost by 25 %. The company produced more bottles at lower cost and also the
technology provided faster production. Amcor also developed a new vacuum coating technique
which improved the quality of packaging provided by it. The new vacuum coating provided
more protection to the food and beverages. This variant in the product was flexible to inculcate
into the production also provided more satisfaction among consumers.
The research and development plant also developed lamination made of PET. These
laminations are stronger and have a significant new quality of no curl. This provides the
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lamination smooth finish and also resistant quality towards external harm keeping the product
safe. This product is also more flexible to implement in the product line (Szwejczewski, 2015).
This also takes less material to manufacture which cuts the cost of production. This technology
investment Amcor more advanced techniques and technology to produce better products with
hike in productivity.
The challenges that an organization facing in adopting new technology into the business
The business operations include a lot of functions and technology effect them in broad
way. Implementation of a new technology in the business organization present many new
challenges to the company. Amcor faced number of difficulties in the introduction of new
technology into the production and business operations.
 Implementation of systems and procedure : For successful implementation of the new
technology just the installation is not enough. With the introduction and installation all
the current systems and procedures are needed to arranged to take full advantage of the
technology (Brogan, 2016). It is installed to increase the potential of the organization,
lack of arrangement in the present systems will lead to further disruption in working.
Amcor introduced the new concept of liquiform in the company which was different from
the technology present in the company.
 Acceptance of staff in regard of advancement : The staff of the organization can be
rigid and would not accept the technology. It is hard for the workers to work on new and
unfamiliar machines. This lead to disagreement, the workers prefer to work with the
technology which is familiar to them and they want the orthodox approach to continue in
the organization. Amcor introduced the new concept of liquiform in the company which
was different from the technology present in the company. This technology needed the
workers to perform different tasks which changed their roles and working environment.
 Proper training of the staff : The new technology is advanced and different to operate.
The staff of the organization find difficulty in operating the new technology. This may
create hindrances in the performance and even negative results due to outdated
knowledge of the technology. The company needs to provide the workers with adequate
training and performance guide to operate the mechanism. This will help the company to
reach its optimal potential and take full advantage of the technology (Mahalik, 2010).
Amcor introduced new technology into the company and also before the installation of
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the technology provided the workers with proper and needed training to operate the new
mechanism which helped the company to enhance its production and quality by the using
the new technology.
CONCLUSION
The report summarizes the influence of technology on a business. The report concludes
that there are many areas in which technology provides assistance in operations of business.
Technology plays an important role in the performance of Amcor. Further, it concludes that the
innovation bought by technology provides the improvement in the productivity and also reduces
the cost of operations. The report discussed barriers faced by Amcor in introduction of
technology and also the way in which barriers are removed. It is recommended that the company
should invest more in the research and development department to enhance its productivity.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Brogan Rylands, Tillmann Böhme, Robert III Gorkin, Joshua Fan, Thomas Birtchnell, 2016
"The adoption process and impact of additive manufacturing on manufacturing systems",
Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, vol. 27, no. 7, pp.969-989.
Carlsson, B. ed. 2012. Technological systems and economic performance: the case of factory
automation (Vol. 5). Springer Science & Business Media.
Chryssolouris, Et Al. 2013. Flexibility and complexity: is it a trade-off?. International Journal of
Production Research, 51(23-24). pp.6788-6802.
Dominik Deradjat, Tim Minshall. 2017 "Implementation of rapid manufacturing for mass
customisation", Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, vol. 28, no. 1,
pp.95-121
Fentahun Moges Kasie, Glen Bright, Anthony Walker 2017, "An intelligent decision support
system for on-demand fixture retrieval, adaptation and manufacture", Journal of
Manufacturing Technology. Management, vol. 28, no. 2, pp.189-211.
Harm-Jan Steenhuis, Leon Pretorius. 2017, "The additive manufacturing innovation: a range of
implications", Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, vol. 28, no. 1, pp.122-
14.
Mahalik, N.P. and Nambiar, A.N. 2010. Trends in food packaging and manufacturing systems
and technology. Trends in food science & technology, 21(3). pp.117-128.
Scarbrough, H. and Corbett, J.M. 2013. Technology and Organization (RLE: Organizations):
Power, Meaning and Design. Routledge.
Szwejczewski, M, Sweeney,M& Cousens, A 2015, "The strategic management of manufacturing
networks", Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 124-
149.
Online
Fujitsu Forum 2016, The next generation of manufacturing as the key focus of Japanese
Industry-Latest trends and in-house practices, Fujitsu Journal. [Online]. Available through
<http://journal.jp.fujitsu.com/en/2016/06/24/02/>. [ Accessed on 8 September 2017].
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