Assignment 2

MB0028

Production and Operations Management

Answer the following questions:

Q1. Discuss Data-Driven approach to Process definition

Data driven approach ,most commonly used in relational and object oriented analysis
efforts, analyzes the life cycle of each major data entity type. The approach defines the
process for each phase or change the data undergoes the method by which the data is
created, the reason for the change and the event that causes the data to achieve its
terminal state. In a data driven process logical data model must be completed before the
process modeling and analysis begin. This method assures that all data action is
accounted for and that there are meaning full associations between the data and its
process.

MAJOR POINTS OF INTREST IN CONSTRUCTING A LOGICAL PROCESS

MODELARE
♦ What is the Purpose of the process?
♦ Who will participate in the process?
♦ The Order in which the steps of the process are done.
♦ Which data to be included in the process?
♦ What Decisions that will be made during the execution of the process?
♦ The rules you will use to define the various part of the process
♦ Disposition of the data at the end of the process.

There will be other element in the business process that needs to be included in the
model. The more complete the model, the easier it will be implement the soft ware, and
the more successful the process will be in producing the desired output.

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If the definition of the process is ambiguous or lengthy, it is usually a candidate for
decomposing in to the sequential process .All functions are decomposed to process, and
all process are ultimately decomposed in to sequential process.

CONSTRUCTING THE PROCESS MODEL DIAGRAMS

Once the functions, process and sequential process have been identified and defined, the
analyst uses process modeling software to construct a set of diagrams to graphically
represent the business process under scrutiny. Be mindful of areas in the process where
more than one task may be performed simultaneously. In these areas you may need to
show data being shared among participants or different sub sets of the data being made
available to each participant. This indicates that the process has been completed and that
all the data generated by the process can be identified.

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Q2. Elaborate on the Project Management Life Cycle

The project manager is the one person who carries joint responsibilities for all aspect of
the project. Project manager’s life cycle overlaps with the development life cycle in the
middle, at the beginning and end they are both different. Project manager’s duty starts
before development and continue after delivery of the project.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PROJECT MANAGER

♦ Budgeting and cost control
♦ Task Scheduling
♦ Resources allocation
♦ Tracking project expenditures
♦ Ensure technical quality
♦ Manage relation with customers and company.

PHASES OF THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT LIFE CYCLE

♦ Analysis and evaluation phase

 Starts with receiving need identification from the customer.
 Project manager must provide inputs to top management covering
a detailed analysis of chances of success and key success factors.

Project manager has to do the requirement analysis (determine over all requirement),
Trade of analysis (examine various alternatives), Estimation (rough cost estimate,
manpower requirement & functionality), Systems design (chose a general design that can
fulfill the requirements) and at the end project evaluation has to be done (evaluate the
project in terms of expected profit and risk involved)

Project manager has to deliver the Project Feasibility Study and Preliminary Project
Evaluation report during the analysis and evaluation phase.

♦ Marketing phase

In marketing phase project proposal is to be prepared by a group of people including the

project manager. Importance of the proposal is to

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  Define exactly what the project will achieve and what items it will
deliver.
 Convince the customer that your proposal will meet there
requirements better than any other company’s proposal.
 Outline the solution to the customer and how the deliverables are
to be produced to convince the customer that you understand the
problem involved.
 To convince the customer that you are fully competent to produce
the desired system.

♦ Design phase

In design phase design of new system is to be produced, the inputs received

are
 Project Feasibility Study
 Preliminary Project Evaluation
 Project Proposal
 Customer Interviews

And the out put produced are as

 System Design Specification
 Program Functional Specification
 Program Design Specification
 Project Plan
 Technical Specification

♦ Test and delivery phase

 During this phase, the project does all work under guidance of
project manager.
 Project manager’s ability to lead and manage the team as required.

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Specific responsibilities of Project manager during this phase is to ensure accurate
implementation of design, project tracking, managing the customer, marketing for future
and perform quality control work.

♦ Post completion analysis phase

Analyses the just completed project and produce

 Project lessons and learned document
 Project marketing opportunity report
 Staff performance evaluation.

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Q3. Explain the seven Principles of Supply Chain Management

Supply chain is a net work of facilities and distribution options that performs the
functions of procurement of materials, transformation of these materials into intermediate
and finished products, and the distribution of these finished products to customers.
Supply chain exists in both service and manufacturing organizations, although the
complexity may vary from industry to industry and firm to firm.

Supply chain management is required by an Enterprise as a tool to enhance management

effectiveness with an increase in Functional effectiveness of existing systems like ERP,
Accounting Software and documentation like Financial Reports/Statements/ ISO 9000
Documents etc.

Supply chain management means transforming a company’s supply chain in to an

optimally efficient, customer satisfying process, where the affectivity of the whole supply
chain is more important than the affectivity of each individual department.

Realistic supply chain has multiple end products with shared components, facilities and
capacities

Seven Principles of Supply Chain Management are as

1. Group customer by needs: -

Effective supply chain management groups customer by distinct services needs-

regardless of industry- and then tailor services to those particular segments.

2. Customize the logistic network: -

In designing their logistics network, companies need to focus on the service

requirements and profit potential of the customer segment identified.

3. Listen to signals of market demand and plan accordingly: -

Sales and operational planners must monitor the entire supply chain to detect
early warning signals of changing customer demand and needs. This demand
driven approach leads to more consistent forecasts and optimal resource
allocation.

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4. Differentiate the product closer to the customer: -

Companies today no longer can afford to stockpile inventory to compensate for

possible forecasting errors. Instead they need to postpone product differentiation
in the manufacturing process closer to actual consumer demand. This strategy
allows the supply chain to respond quickly and cost effectively to change in
customer needs.

5. Strategically manage the source of supply: -

By working closely with their key suppliers to reduce overall costs of owing
materials and services, supply chain managers maximize profit margins both for
them selves and their suppliers.

6. Develop a supply chain wide technology strategy: -

As one of the corner stones of successful supply chain management, information

technology must be able to support multiple levels of decision making. It also
should afford a clear view and ability to measure the flow of product, services
and information.

7. Adopt channel spanning performance measures: -

Excellent supply chain performance management systems do more than just

monitor internal functions. They apply performance criteria to every link in the
supply chain-criteria embraces both service and financial metrics, including as
each account’s true profitability.

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Q4. Describe considerations when Planning and Implementing Integrated Material
Handling Systems

An Integrated state is a desired state when one speaks of a particular material handling
installation as an integrated system; reference is generally being made to at least one of
three possible characteristics of the installation. In discussing these characteristics, the
word automation will be used, and is indeed an integrated handling systems will employ
some automation, and will employ computers to control the automation.

Automation is not the objective, automation is merely a tool. The objective is material
flow patterns which have been arranged to flow logically. It is a material handling tasks
that have been simplified before any thought is given to automating the task. It is in
creating flexibility, both in what can be handled and the way it can be handled. And it is
in achieving a level of coordination in the material flow process which is unprecedented.
It is to these ends that Indian industry should be devoting its energies. To the extant that
these objectives are realized is the extent to which a firm foundation exists for developing
an integrated material handling system.

There are three characteristics of an Integrated Material Handling Systems. The first and
most important characteristics of an integrated material handling system has very little to
do with the mechanical aspect of handling material.

Secondly, an integrated material handling system can also be characterized by a unbroken

material flow “link” between successive stage in a manufacturing or warehousing
operation. The implication is that individual pieces or unit loads are picked up or injected,
transported and then deposited at a destination with little or no human intervention, other
than perhaps the pushing of a start button.

Thirdly, an integrated material handling system characteristically interfaces two or more

material handling devices in order to form the bridge between work stations or other
discrete points of origin and destination with in the material flow cycle.

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Q5. Write a note on Implementation of JIT through Optimization of Resource
Utilization

While modern ERP systems are designed with sufficient user friendliness towards
customization of Just in Time (JIT) and unstructured approach might prove to be counter
productive. Apart from JIT principles being absent such an approach might even
destructively alter the primary capabilities of the ERP system it self. The following
passages outline the essential features which are picked out from the ERP for JIT
customization in the order in which they are listed:

 Order processing for JIT

♦ Multiple order type
♦ Multiple pricing structures and commissions
♦ Shipping Locations
♦ Online customer credit information at order entry
♦ Conversation of quotes of order
♦ Customs EDI interface
♦ Contacts
♦ On line inquiries on order, customer or part status

 Shipping and Sales Returns

♦ Shipping facility for partial or whole orders
♦ Automatic back order of partially shipped orders
♦ Acceptance of sales returns to inventory or back order
♦ Credit invoices based on returns
♦ Generate packing slips and related shipping documents
♦ On line inquiry of open shipments by customer, part or date

 JIT-Shop Floor Control

♦ Tie up of manufacturing order back to multiple customers or build
to stock

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 ♦ Automatic generation of operation details and material
requirements
♦ Extensive operation instructions
♦ Automatic generation of PO requisitions for raw materials and
subcontracting

 Labour Reporting
♦ Bar coded employee badges and manufacturing orders
♦ On line data collection scanners on the shop floor
♦ Reports on labor hours, goods and scrap quantities in real time
♦ Tracking of employee attendance through the time clock
♦ Manual entries/adjustment of time card

 Job Costing
♦ Costing by job
♦ Costing by operation
♦ Tracking of labor, burden, material and subcontract costs
individually

 JIT Purchasing
♦ Creation and approval of purchase requisitions
♦ Automatic generation of Pos from requisitions
♦ Creation of Pos with multiple line items and releases
♦ Creation of regular, blanket or subcontract Pos
♦ Availability of status by vendor, part or date

 Receiving and Return

♦ Receipt of material into inventory against purchase line items
♦ Tracking of material from different vendors by bar coded tags
♦ Tracking of Rejected material from different vendors by bar coded
tags
♦ Tracking of rejected material with reason codes

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 ♦ Automatic back order for partial receipts

 JIT Inventory
♦ Tracking of finished goods, raw materials, assemblies and
components
♦ Creation of multilevel bill of materials and view product structures
♦ Tracking of on hand, allocated, available, on job and on order
quantities
♦ Maintenance of lead times and recorder levels
♦ Issue of materials to jobs by tag
♦ Multiple Units of measure for sales stock and purchase

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Q6. Enumerate Quantitative Decision Making

We face numerous decisions in Supply chain management. We can use computers to

analyze the potential outcomes of various decision alternatives. But use of

Quantitative models can make decision making more efficient and powerful.

Rough estimates and thumb rule methods have always tended to be poor reflection of
decision making ability in management.

Decision making has its own drawbacks

 High level of uncertainty
 Little precedent to follow
 Variables less scientifically Predictable
 When facts are limited
 When “ facts” Do not clearly point thy way to go
 When analytical Data are of “little” use
 Several alternatives with “Good” arguments for each
 Time is limited
 Implicit favorite model

Diagram of Quantitative Approach

Formulate
Identify and Analysis Test Implement
Problem Implement Model Results solution
Model

Unsatisfactory
Results

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