Operations Management Assignment Solution and Analysis Details

This operations management assignment solution analyzes several key areas. It starts by calculating productivity improvements, followed by an examination of how major events like hurricanes and terrorist attacks impact operations. The solution then explores the influence of trade legislation (WTO and NAFTA) and the internet on operational strategies. It covers strategic choices like differentiation, low-cost leadership, and response strategies. The assignment also includes a Pareto chart for defect analysis, identifying the primary causes of errors within a company. The solution provides a thorough understanding of operations management principles and their application in real-world scenarios. The document showcases the use of various tools and techniques to address operational challenges and improve efficiency.

OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
STUDENT ID:
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Problem 1
Current productivity = 1000/5 = 200 square yards per labour hour
New productivity = 1200/5 = 240 square yards per labour hour
Productivity= No .of square yards of fabric for eachton of raw cotton
No .of labou hours
Change in productivity = (240-200)/200 =0.20
Hence, the productivity has increased by 20%.
Problem 2
a) The occurrence of a major storm or hurricane
Hurricane or major storm has sizable and considerable impact on the total worth, facilities
and scheduling of the company. Damages incurred through wind storm or flooding or minor
earthquakes can also make the facility unusable or also disturb the capacity. It may also
destroy the raw material and create significant damage to the supply. The time required to
commence the services again and recovery can be high which would cause negative impact
on company’s progress. Further, the demand of builders would also become high after a
major storm and hurricane which leads the enhancement of the capacity of the firm to handle
rapidly increased demand.
b) Terrorist attacks of 9/11/01
Terrorist attacks are always very harmful for any country and has significant impact on the
organization and their OM strategy. This is because company has to think again about the
current OM strategy and re-evaluate about their social network and level of security system
and also the inventory safety stock. Further, the question regarding the risks of the expansion,
and foreign location would also need to be considered in case of terrorist attacks.
c) Trade legislation such as WTO and NAFTA and changes in tariffs and quotas
WTO and NAFTA and changes in tariffs and quotas directly change the trading rules of the
company. This potential results in opening of new market for business. Further, it also creates
change in the role of labour and capital such as more emphasis on the improvement of capital
use when the labour is available on low cost.
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d) The internet
It has significant impact on MO strategy for a company as it promotes globalization of the
market and also reduces the barriers of the geography connection and time mismatch across
different time zones.
Problem 3
Operations managers does call upon to support the organization’s strategy and the
combination of the one of three strategies are highlighted below.
 Differentiation – This strategy focuses on choosing a strategy which leads to
differentiation in the product in terms of functionality and/or quality of the product.
 Low-cost leadership – This strategy focuses on ensuring that the costs of operations are
minimised which would lead to the organisation becoming the lowest cost producer.
 Response – In this strategy, the response is essentially based on the action taken by the
competition to which the underlying player needs to respond.
Problem 4
Normal view
Formula view
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Pareto chart
For organising the defects of the company, the best tool is to use a pareto chart which has
been used above. It is evident that more than 50% of the errors account because of the failure
on company’s part to check if the stated amount matches with the company records. Other
significant problems include the failure to issue invoices to various entities along with the
phenomena of late payment.
Problem 5
The requisite diagram is shown below.
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