International Operations and Innovation Management Portfolio Task

This portfolio assignment provides a comprehensive analysis of international operations and innovation management through four distinct tasks. Task 1 involves creating input-output diagrams for a textile manufacturer and a bank, detailing the responsibilities of the Operations Manager in each c...Read More

Running head: INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT
International Operations and Innovation Management
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author’s Note:

1INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Portfolio Task 1...............................................................................................................................2
1. Input output diagram.............................................................................................................2
2. Significant responsibilities performed by the Operations Manager.....................................3
3. “Definition of cost, speed, quality and flexibility” in relation to that context......................4
Portfolio Task 2...............................................................................................................................5
1. Supply network diagram.......................................................................................................5
2. Considerations for determining a suitable location for that context.....................................6
3. Specification of capacity measured in each case and justification for the same..................7
Portfolio Task 3...............................................................................................................................8
1. “Level production plan for Covolo Diving Gear”................................................................8
2. Rationale for the implement of a chase plan........................................................................9
3 a. “S&OP update with rolling planning horizons help alleviate Patricia’s concerns”..............9
3b. “Advantages in using S&OP”................................................................................................9
Portfolio Task 4...............................................................................................................................9
1. “Evaluate the inventory policies at WFA”...........................................................................9
2. Changes recommended in inventory management to Mike...............................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11

Input
nufacturing specification, CAD Drawings, fabrics, fastening, lay plan
Feedback Loop
Information, customer opinion, new thoughts and expertise
Processing
Designing, Modelling, quality control, pattern making, manufacturing
Output
Customer Satisfaction, End Product, Employee Satisfactio
2INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT
Portfolio Task 1
1. Input output diagram
Figure I/O Diagram of Textile manufacturer
(Source: As created by author)

3INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT
Input
Bankers, Buildings, Safes
Feedback Loop
Customer Response, Analysis of Economic Trends
Processing
Advice, Discuss, Lend, Lock
Output
Bank Accounts
Figure I/O Diagram of Bank
(Source: As created by author)
2. Significant responsibilities performed by the Operations Manager
Textile Manufacturer
Some of the main input processes involved in the textile manufacturing is considered
with preparation of laying out patterns of the fabric and working out on costing of materials. The
processing division ensures quality control, designing as per CAD model and proceeding with
the final manufacturing process. The output process ensures preparation of the final product
along with employee and customer satisfaction. The feedback collection ensures flow of new
information such as new ideas, customer feedback and expertise (Heizer 2016).
Bank
The input processes in bank includes employing of bankers, purchasing of land and
building and arranging safes from different third-party vendors. The main process involves
discussion, advice and providing services in keeping money in the safest way possible. The main

4INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT
output is bank accounts. The feedback consists of customers response analysis of overall
economic trends (Slack 2015).
3. “Definition of cost, speed, quality and flexibility” in relation to that context
Textile Manufacturer
The cost involved in this process is identified with the total cost for purchasing of
machinery, raw materials, overhead cost, cost of purchasing factory premises and hiring new
employees. The speed aspect is involved with the time taken for designing, modelling and
manufacturing of each items. The flexibility aspect is associated to use of same raw material for
different products. For example, cotton is required for preparing both shirts and trousers. The
quality aspect is related to the number of defects per batch of production units. In the given
situation the cost and quality aspects are winning attributes since the return on investment will be
based on total labour cost and cost of purchasing raw materials. It is also important to ensure that
there is a minimum percentage of defects per batch of production for ensuring maximum
capacity utilization (Jacobs, Chase and Lummus 2014).
Bank
The cost aspect is identified with total cost incurred for purchasing of land and buildings,
safes and employment of staff. The speed is defined as the responsiveness in delivering a
banking service. The flexibility is related to the changing of a service according to future needs.
For instance, a credit card holder may be willing to increase the total credit limit on earning high
income with the same credit card (Hitt, Carnes and Xu 2016).

5INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT
Contract
Supplier
Tier 3
Supplier
s
Tier 2
Suppliers
Tier 1
Suppliers
Contract
Supplier
Fisher Price
(Manufacturer) Distributor Retailer Customer
Upstream
Capacity, payment terms, inventory level, delivery
schedule
Orders, return request, payments, services and repairs
Downstream
Portfolio Task 2
1. Supply network diagram
Figure: Supply network diagram of Toy Manufacturer
(Source: As created by author)

6INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT
R.M. Suppliers Distributor Agents Store Unit Retail Sales Consumers
Upstream
Tier 3 Tier 2 Tier 3
Downstream
Information Flows
Cash Flows
Figure: Supply network diagram of Retail store
(Source: As created by author)
2. Considerations for determining a suitable location for that context
Toy Manufacturer
 Geographic factors- A toy manufacturing unit is ideal to be set up in moderate climatic
conditions with lower humidity content.
 Raw material- It needs to ensure that the raw materials are cheaply available and best
suited for the production purpose
 Power-The toy manufacturer needs to ensure that the availability of some of the sources
of power such as coal, hydroelectricity and mineral oil are available easily.
 Labor- is important to ensure that the laborers are equipped with adequate knowledge and
can be hired with competitive pay packages

7INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT
 Transport- The connectivity to major cities needs to be ensured in case of a toy
manufacturer (Stevenson and Sum 2015)
Retail store
 Type of goods- Deciding on the nature of the retail store whether it is dealing in
convenience or speciality items.
 Population and customers- It is important to go through local papers and other small
businesses operating in the area before setting up retail store.
 Accessibility visibility and traffic- The retail store needs to ensure that the customers and
delivery trucks can get in and get out of the parking lot with ease, whether the area is
served by public transportation and that is adequate space for parking
 Competition and neighbours- It is important to determine the types of business nearby
which are compatible with the store and consumer behaviour existing in the area.
 Location costs- Factors such as law maintenance, building maintenance, average utility
bill and property taxes are also important to be taken into consideration (Smith, Maull
and CL Ng 2014).
3. Specification of capacity measured in each case and justification for the same
Toy Manufacturer
 Geographic factors- Humidity Content Percentage, Average Daily temperature. This
consideration is important for ensuring sensitive toy parts are not damaged.
 Raw material- Availably Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 Raw materials. Ensuring availability of
raw materials from all sources will ensure cost reduction.
 Power- Minimum power consumption for 365 days
 Labor- Total Specialised Labor along with other factory staff
 Transport- Total number of medium and heavy size vehicles. This is required for easy
transportation of the raw materials
Retail store
 Type of goods- 1convenience Store or 1 Speciality Store. Focusing on a store will
guarantee better customer segmentation and attractiveness.

8INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT
 Population and customers- No. of average return customer and total population
 Accessibility visibility and traffic- Total parking spaces, total entry and exit gates and
number of public transports. This is important to ensure smooth delivery and
procurement operations.
 Competition and neighbours- Total number of competitors. This is important for
assessment of potential threats the business.
 Location costs- property tax required, total maintenance cost estimation and total staff
employed for lawn maintenance (Matthias et al. 2017).
Portfolio Task 3
1. “Level production plan for Covolo Diving Gear”
Sep-13 Oct-13 Nov-13 Dec-13 Jan-14 Feb-14 Mar-14 Apr-14 May-14 Jun-14 Jul-14 Aug-14
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
35,000
40,000
45,000
Level Production Plan
Figure: Level Production Plan for Covolo Diving Gear
(Source: As created by author)
The main advantage of this plan is with a positively increasing trend line. The mid-year
crisis or fluctuations in the sales forecast may be considered as a disadvantage.

9INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT
2. Rationale for the implement of a chase plan
Yes, Covolo would be able to device a chase plan due to increasing trend line predictions
made through sales forecast.
3 a. “S&OP update with rolling planning horizons help alleviate Patricia’s concerns”
A monthly S&OP planning will be able to ensure better responsiveness and monitoring to
alleviate Patricia’s concerns.
3b. “Advantages in using S&OP”
Even though there is change in sales forecast, S&OP planning fosters better alignment,
decision-making, visibility into long-term perspectives, financial integration, new product
introduction, “accountability, teamwork and risk management”.
Portfolio Task 4
1. “Evaluate the inventory policies at WFA”
Stock Record Sample
Items
Usage
items/Year
Cost
per
item
Number
in Stock
Order
Quantity EOQ
Total Number
of Orders in a
Year
Plastic Joints 12000 0.3 450 2000 490 24
Blankets 10000 0.7 4000 10000 447 22
Sail Pipe 8500 2.8 6420 10000 412 21
Compression
Joints 7500 3.8 8500 10000 387 19
Tinned Food 5500 0.35 240 1000 332 17
Copper pipe 4600 3.65 0 50 303 15
Buckets 3500 0.5 320 1000 265 13
Sealant (tubes) 3200 0.2 20 1000 253 13
Dehydrated
food packs 2050 0.4 3800 5000 202 10
Petrol Cans 60 2.9 10 50 35 2
Water Pumps 9 555 9 10 13 1
Portable
generators 4 1050 1 1 9 0.45
Water trailers 3 450 2 5 8 0.39

10INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT
The inventory policy needs to be based on the economic order quantity evaluated for each
individual item. The highest priority for EOQ is given to plastic joints, blanket and said pipe.
This is evident with an EOQ value of 490 units of plastic joints, 447 units of blanket and 412
units for said pipe. The total number of orders for plastic joints is seen with 24 times, for blanket
22 times and for said pipe it is 21 times. The main issue in present ordering procedure seen with
excessive ordering of items such as blankets, sail pipe and compression joints.
2. Changes recommended in inventory management to Mike
The main changes recommended in the inventory management is considered with
reducing the excessive ordering of items such as blankets, sail pipe and compression joints. This
is evident with ordering 10,000 units for blankets whereas the required EOQ is only 447 units
and 10,000 units of sail pipe whereas the required EOQ is only 412 units. The company should
aim at optimizing the inventory as per annual demand (Kazemi et al. 2015).

11INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT
References
Heizer, J., 2016. Operations Management, 11/e. Pearson Education India.
Hitt, M.A., Carnes, C.M. and Xu, K., 2016. A current view of resource based theory in
operations management: A response to Bromiley and Rau. Journal of Operations
Management, 41(10), pp.107-109.
Jacobs, F.R., Chase, R.B. and Lummus, R.R., 2014. Operations and supply chain
management (pp. 533-535). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Kazemi, N., Shekarian, E., Cárdenas-Barrón, L.E. and Olugu, E.U., 2015. Incorporating human
learning into a fuzzy EOQ inventory model with backorders. Computers & Industrial
Engineering, 87, pp.540-542.
Matthias, O., Fouweather, I., Gregory, I. and Vernon, A., 2017. Making sense of Big Data–can it
transform operations management?. International Journal of Operations & Production
Management, 37(1), pp.37-55.
Slack, N., 2015. Operations strategy. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Smith, L., Maull, R. and CL Ng, I., 2014. Servitization and operations management: a service
dominant-logic approach. International Journal of Operations & Production
Management, 34(2), pp.242-269.
Stevenson, W.J. and Sum, C.C., 2015. Operations management. New York: McGraw-Hill
Education.