OPSMGT.255 Assignment 1: Operations and Supply Chain Management Report

This report offers a detailed examination of Rocket Lab's operations and supply chain management. It begins with a brief history of the company and identifies key qualifiers and order winners. The report then explores the concept of economies of scale within Rocket Lab, discussing how the company can leverage these economies to increase profitability. Furthermore, it analyzes two specific operational strategies employed by Rocket Lab, including the potential for reusing rockets. The report also delves into the challenges the company faces, such as maintaining temperature within the launch environment. The second part of the report addresses capacity management and process design, with examples from Rocket Lab's operations. It highlights the interrelationship between capacity management and process design and provides a trend analysis based on a provided figure, along with a forecasting section. The report uses APA style for citations and includes a comprehensive reference list.

Running head: Operations and supply chain management
Operations and supply chain management
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Table of Contents
Introduction........................................................................................................... 2
Task 1.................................................................................................................... 2
1. Brief history of the Company.............................................................................2
2. Qualifiers and order winners for Rocket Lab’s customers..................................3
3. Economies of scale are in the context of Rocket Lab.........................................3
4. Discuss TWO ways involving operations at Rocket Lab.....................................4
5. Describe another challenge that Rocket Lab is potentially faced with..............4
Task 2.................................................................................................................... 5
Question 6 (a)........................................................................................................ 5
Question 6 (b)........................................................................................................ 5
Question 7............................................................................................................. 5
Question 8............................................................................................................. 6
9. Forecast............................................................................................................. 7
Reference list......................................................................................................... 8

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Introduction
The study is going to highlight the details of Rocket Lab Ltd regarding the
operation of the company. Now it is important for the study to highlight the
company layout, parent and subsidised component of the Company and how
they are dealing with the business. Not only the study will definitely highlight the
incorporation of the company related problems but will also indulge the
corporate strategy that has been taken by the company in order to thrive within
the economy. The study will also highlight the economies of scale and how the
company is using the economies of scale in increasing their profit revenue.
Task 1
1. Brief history of the Company
The company is mainly dealing with various launching of satellites and
other launching accessories for the space centre. The company is providing lots
of services in the form of Mission integration analyses (CLA, Thermal, Trajectory),
Creation and management of the Interface Control Documentation and
Associated verifications, Facilitation of the range safety review process, Provide
required signals for payload deployment, Electrical interface testing with
payload, Assurance of temperature, humidity, and cleanliness control in the
fairing and many more. The main aim of this company is to smooth out the
launching process of the small satellites around the orbit of earth at an
unprecedented speed. The company has been doing phenomenal business in
making small rockets around the orbit. Taking into the corporate strategy, the
Rocket lab company has raised about $140 million in a dry project. This is an
important aspects in the sense that through the increasing level of the rocket
production, the company will be one of the largest company. Now in order to
give competition to Space X, the Rocket Lab Company is definitely going to reuse
the rockets so as to increase the production with cost minimisation. The
company will do this in the mid-air with the help of helicopter.

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2. Qualifiers and order winners for Rocket Lab’s customers
Qualifiers are the products of any companies which has not successfully
passed the standards of consumption. These kinds of goods are not banned but
may be taken away from the market for limited period of time. Among the
products that has been built by the Rocket Lab some of the products can be
classified as the order qualifiers within the aerospace industry. The order
qualifiers products are Payload fuelling services and hardware, Custom payload
adapters. Moreover, these two services are being considered as the order
qualifiers because of the fact that it takes lots of time to identify the gaps that
has been seen in the services and hardware. Moreover, fuelling of the payload
services should be improved so as to consider these products into standard
product. Moreover, through this process, the company will be able to focus more
on the rocket launching services that will definitely increase the quality of the
products.
The order winners for the company are the products that will definitely
aim in improving services in the form of Assurance of temperature, humidity, and
cleanliness control in the fairing, ISO 8 equivalent processing facilities with
temperature and humidity control. It is important to increase the development of
this products because of the fact that maintaining the temperature within the
launch pad is important so that any kind of risks that are associated with the
launching is minimised.
3. Economies of scale are in the context of Rocket Lab
Economies of scale will definitely help the company in increasing their rate
of production with minimisation of the production of costs. Moreover, through the
use of internal economies of scale Rocket Lab will be able to identify the
resource and will be able to bring in patent control that will help in the increase
of production and patent control will bring an improvement in the resource
channelization and resource distribution. In order to achieve the internal
economies of scale, the Company need to establish a patent for majority of their
services they are providing to the aerospace engineering industry. The second
strategy that will help the company in achieving the economies of scale in the
form of external economies of scale through the help of buying the internal parts
and other raw materials in bulk. Moreover, through the incorporation of better
amount of economies of scale the Rocket Lab Company will be able to produce in

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an efficient manner. The benefits of the economies of scale is that the company
through the efficient allocation of resources will definitely going to help in the
improvement of marketing as Rocket Lab is going to highlight their competitors
and how they are performing.
4. Discuss TWO ways involving operations at Rocket Lab
In order to increase the development of resources it is clear that Rocket
Lab need to minimise its gaps within the business. In order to give competition to
the companies like Space X the Rocket Lab will definitely have to think
something out of the box. Now in order to increase the development of
resources, it is important for the company to identify the efficient ways of
reusing the rockets. This is one of the important aspects in the sense that if the
rockets are reused then the cost of production will be minimised. However, the
technicians have considered a technology of getting the rocket in the mid-air
with the help of a helicopter (rocketlabusa.com, 2019). After the dispatch of the
rocket parts, Rocket Lab will with the aircraft hooking on to the rocket's
parachute array during the descent. Instead of building launch pads every time
from the scratch, the company will definitely aim in minimising the costs by
reusing the vessels for the launch of the rockets.
5. Describe another challenge that Rocket Lab is potentially faced with
Another form of challenge that the company may face with the reuse of
rockets will be maintaining the temperatures within the launching radar. The
plan of the Company is to send off Electron Rocket once again to the orbit of
earth and challenge will be the costs. Currently most of space scientists are
claiming some cheap rockets as the current cost is around $100 million. Most of
them wants them to build up rockets at about $50 million. About 70% of the
Earth’s orbit is covered with dead rocket bits that are more dangerous (Sheetz,
2019). There is a chance of getting collided as many companies are sending
rockets to the earth’s orbit.

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Task 2
Question 6 (a)
Knowledge of capacity management is important because of the fact that
it will help the company managers to identify the resources that will be required
for production of any particular commodity. If the company manager is not
aware of the capacity management then the company will order either excess
quality of raw materials or less quantity of raw materials. On the other hand,
process design is important for operation of any company is mainly through a
unique process, the company will be able to produce products that will be able to
compete with the competitors. This is an important part in the sense that
through these process the companies will be able to create different product.
Question 6 (b)
One example that is showing the fact the company is having knowledge of
capacity management is KICK STAGE. In this stage, multiple burns can take place
while placing payloads into different and customised orbits. If the company
managers are not well aware of the fact then the small satellites that are being
sent to the orbit will get hampered and cost of company will increase in long run.
The second stage of their product Electron is Rutherford Engine that will have
improved performances in vacuum. This stage is mainly associated with process
design and if the engine is not designed by considering the thrust of 22 kN
(5,000 lbf) and ISP 333 sec then problems may arise while dispatching the
satellite (Wall,
2019).
Question 7
There is a inter relationship among the concept of capacity management
and process design as it will help in the incorporation of better level of
communication among the managers and the operators. Since the company is
dealing with the service of sending rockets to the earth’s orbit thus all the
functioning of rockets is interlinked. There is a need of strong programming so
that Rocket Lab will be able to dispatch the satellites in the customised orbits.
This will definitely increase the efficiency level that will indulge the process of
decision making systems in an effective manner. Custom cryogenic valves and

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helium pressurization systems and this actually helps in increasing the reliability
of the dispatch chamber of satellites.
Question 8
Jul-18 Aug-18 Sep-18 Oct-18 Nov-18 Dec-18 Jan-19 Feb-19 Mar-19 Apr-19 May-19 Jun-19
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
130
95
112 121
75 81
91
114
85
150 141
125
Demand
Figure 1: Trend in demand
(Source: created by author)
The trend that is being shown is following a mixture. This is mainly due to
the seasonal index that is being present within the months over past 12 months.
9. Forecast

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10.

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Reference list
Dobrzykowski, D., Deilami, V. S., Hong, P., & Kim, S. C. (2014). A structured
analysis of operations and supply chain management research in
healthcare (1982–2011). International Journal of Production Economics,
147, 514-530.
Engadget is now a part of Oath. (2019). Retrieved 10 August 2019, from
https://www.engadget.com/2019/08/06/rocket-lab-reusable-rocket-plans/
Fahimnia, B., Sarkis, J., & Davarzani, H. (2015). Green supply chain management:
A review and bibliometric analysis. International Journal of Production
Economics, 162, 101-114.
Hugos, M. H. (2018). Essentials of supply chain management. John Wiley & Sons.
rocketlabusa.com (2019). Retrieved 10 August 2019, from
https://www.rocketlabusa.com/assets/Uploads/Rocket-Lab-Payload-Users-
Guide-6.4.pdf
rocketlabusa.com. (2019). Rocket Lab | Electron - satellite launch vehicle |
Rocket Lab. Retrieved 10 August 2019, from
https://www.rocketlabusa.com/electron/
Saenz, M. J., Koufteros, X., Touboulic, A., & Walker, H. (2015). Theories in
sustainable supply chain management: a structured literature review.
International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management.
Sheetz, M. (2019). Rocket Lab raises $140 million in 'dry powder' to fast-track
business of small rockets. Retrieved 10 August 2019, from
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/15/rocket-lab-raises-140-million-to-fast-
track-business-of-small-rockets.html
Wall, M. (2019). Changing the Launch Equation: Q&A with Rocket Lab CEO Peter
Beck. Retrieved 10 August 2019, from https://www.space.com/41794-
rocket-lab-peter-beck-interview.html
Wang, G., Gunasekaran, A., Ngai, E. W., & Papadopoulos, T. (2016). Big data
analytics in logistics and supply chain management: Certain investigations
for research and applications. International Journal of Production
Economics, 176, 98-110.