BE411 Operations and Supply Chain: Sandwich Process and Layout

This essay discusses operations and supply chain management principles applied to a ready-meal manufacturer producing sandwiches for a supermarket. The newly appointed operations manager needs to deliver 400 sandwiches daily on weekdays and 200 on weekends. The essay recommends strategies based on the '4 Vs' (Volume, Variation, Variety, and Visibility) to determine the optimal process type, suggesting a Continuous Flow Process. Furthermore, it proposes a product layout for the assembly line, detailing the advantages such as efficient material handling and uniform product quality, and disadvantages like rigidity and potential process blockage. The essay concludes that a product layout is a feasible production process for sandwich making, balancing the process and enhancing efficiency.

Running head: OPERATIONS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
OPERATIONS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
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1OPERATIONS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
The essay is based on a case study company specialized in manufacturing and supply
of ready-meal to a supermarket brand. The case study company has got a new operations
manager. The operations manager has responsibilities to identify effective and feasible
strategies to be able to manage operations under the given case scenario. The operations
requirement to the newly appointed operations manager is to ensure that the company is able
to deliver 400 sandwiches on a daily basis and 200 on weekends. To help the operations
manager fulfil his new responsibilities a few strategies can be recommended to him. There
are four of the necessary ways need to be incorporated to process for handling of the raw
materials that are associated with making the products (Slack and Brandon-Jones 2018). The
key four elements are associated with the improvement of process and managing the inputs of
the process. The key four elements are Volume, Variation, Variety and Visibility
(Mahadevan 2015). The following paragraphs will be stating about the aspects that are related
to the enhancement of the process that will be concerning factors such as process type and
layout of the operation.
The companies that can be contributing to the enhancement of the operation by
making the differentiation between the traits of the operations. Four Vs can contribute in
differentiating the various phases that are required to add to the improvement of the
organization. Sandwich making process can incorporate the four Vs in the following way.
Volume being one of the major part that is related to providing 400 sandwiches in the week
days along with 200 sandwiches in weekends. It is one of the important part for the
organization to develop the areas based on the volume of production as it will be contributing
to the enhancement of the process (Purvis, Gosling and Naim 2014). Another ‘V’ known as
Variation, it is one of the major phase that is associated with making the sandwiches as it
help in determining the change in the level of demand. In this scenario it can be observed that
the level of demand changes from 400 to 200 in the weekends. There is another part that is

2OPERATIONS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
associated with the enhancement of the process is Variety. It is one of the most important
characteristic that is associated with the enhancement of the product. Sandwich being the
product it is important to identify the variety of the sandwiches. It has to be determined as it
is one of the major aspect that is associated with designing the layout and determining the
type of the process. The last V is the visibility it is one of the major part as it contributes to
providing the access to the customer to experience about the process. Sandwich making
process is one of the commonly known process (Purvis, Gosling and Naim 2014). Here the
visibility of the customer is high and this can contribute towards providing the customer with
the traits that will be contributing to providing the customer an experience.
The above four Vs can help in determining the type of the process that can be
contributed to the enhancement of the phases that are related to the enhancement of the
operation of making sandwich. Considering the four Vs for making the sandwich it can be
overserved that the best suitable process that is associated with making the sandwich. The
chosen process that can be contributing to the part that are necessary for the development of
the operation is Continuous Flow Process (Rubio‐Martinez et al 2016). It is one of the major
part that is associated with engaging the various aspect that will be contributing to the
engagement of the organizational aspect that are related to the process of making sandwiches.
Flow process is including the manufacturing of the product that will be going through the
each of the associated process (Brown and Bessant 2013). The process of continuous flow is
important for making the sandwich as it is one of the major part that is associated with the
enhancement of the product. It is one of the major aspect that is associated with development
of the process. Flow process can help in delivering the parts that are associated with
developing the sandwiches by going through the each step of making the sandwiches. It can
help in making the process of sandwich making efficient and lean (Krajewski, Ritzman and

3OPERATIONS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Malhotra 2013). It is one of the major aspect that will be contributing to the enhancement of
the process that will be ultimately be responsible for making the process of sandwich.
From the above paragraphs it is important to understand the features that are
contributing to the advancement of the process. There is another important factor that is
needed to be considered that is the layout for the process of sandwich making. The layout that
have been considered by adopting the process is the product layout (Pheng and Meng 2018).
It is one of the major characteristic that can be a factor to the enhancement of the process of
making the sandwich as this layout can perfectly complement the aspects that are
contributing to the various phases that are related to the enhancement of the process. It is one
of the most important part for the organization while involved in the process of making the
sandwich. The product layout helps in arranging the resources that will be used to make the
product. This layout incorporates the use of resources in a sequential manner (Myerson
2015). It is one of the major aspect that will be helpful for incorporating the type of process
that have been considered for the sandwich making process. The product layout will be
incorporating the unplaced type of work as there will be employees in the process of making
the sandwiches, so the process can incorporate the phases related to pace of the production. It
is one of the major attribute as there can be variable demand and this will be help full in
incorporating the variation in the demand. So the ultimate product layout for sandwich
making will be inclusive of the following. The product layout for making the sandwich will
be incorporating the sourcing of raw materials such as bread, butter sauce and fillings. The
first station in the layout for making the sandwich will be incorporating the assembling the
buns then another station will be allocated to put the fillings inside. Last two stations will be
incorporated with the task to perform the packaging of the product. Layout is one of the
major part that can play a part to the making of the desired product.

4OPERATIONS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
However, there are advantages and disadvantages associated with the implementation
of the process. It is one of the major property that is associated with incorporating the process
to make the sandwiches. The advantages that are associated with the implementation of the
product layout in combination of the qualities that are associated with making the sandwich.
The advantages that can be found by incorporating the aspects are following. The first
advantage is the material handling (Vaidya 2013). It is one of the major attribute that is
related to the enhancement of the process of making the sandwich. It is one of the major part
as sandwich incorporates various material and it is important for the employees to handle the
materials correctly. There is another advantage as uniformity in the quality of the product that
will be contributing to the enhancement of the product (Simiz et al. 2015). It also helps in
determining the aspect that are related to the delay in the process of production. It is one of
the important part for the organization to be involved in the process that is associated with
delivering the product in the right time. There is another advantage of the product layout is
that it helps in determining the factors that can be contributing to the development of the
attributes that are related to the controlling the materials and costs associated with it
(Centobelli et al 2016). However, there is existing factors that can be challenging by
incorporating the flow process. The disadvantages that are associated with the enrichment of
the aspects that are associated with the implementation of the product layout is stated
following. The first disadvantage that can be found if the flow process is incorporated can be
in form of rigidity as it is one of the major aspect that can contribute to the development of
the sandwich (Nahmias and Olsen 2015). There is another disadvantage that is associated
with implementing the layout, which can adversely affect the process of sandwich making,
which is any single blockage in the process can obstruct the whole process of sandwich
making. However, it is one of the most suitable process that can be adopted for the betterment

5OPERATIONS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
of the aspects that are contributing to the process of sandwich making as it can help
stabilizing the process and balancing the process.
To summarize the study it can be stated that the product layout is one of the major
contributor that can be incorporated while concerning with the production of sandwich. It has
been considered in such a way that can be developed by concerning the type of the process.
The study have also considered the four Vs that have helped in forming the type of the
process. Thus it is one of the most feasible production process that can be adopted while
making sandwich.

6OPERATIONS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
References:
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