英语.doc

kristina sandalova - 9 -id: 1000 24 891chapter 5 1. what capacity problems are encountered when a new drug is introduced to the market? manufacturing capacity decisions making in pharmaceuticals is complex given the number of options a company faces. it is an expensive gamble due to the high capital cost of manufacturing facilities and the opportunity cost of restricting investment in other projects. some of the problems that are faced: the expected value of the drug under different scenarios; the consequences if the production capacity is constrained; the best possible solutions for sharing the product capacity and in the same time keeping the fixed capacity constrains the time that it takes for a company to bring the new capacity on stream; the balance between the demand on the market and the sufficient capacity of the manufacturer the possibilities of outsourcing and the use of third party contractors 2. list some of the limits to economies of scale; that is, when should a plant stop growing?the increase of efficiency in production as the number of goods being produced increases. typically a company that achieves economies of scale lowers the average cost per unit through increased production since fixed cost are shared over an increased number of goods. some of the limits are: after a point an increase in size can result an increase in the production cost the cost of the input doubles lost quality ; significant discounting of the product3. what are some capacity balance problems faced by the following organizations or facilities? an airplane terminal maintaining the internal processes in accordance to the market demand in an airplane terminal means to find the best balance between the human labor unit and the final output as the number of planes being ready for a flight; another example can be how to manage between having a less number of guards and still the airplane terminal to be secure a university computing center if we look from the side of the administrators of the computing system, what they are trying to manage is the flow of data so that each disk unit has an equal percentage of used and unused space; some capacity problems that can be encountered are: when several disk units contain the majority of the data and the newly added disk units very little information. a clothing manufacturerwhen we are analyzing the processes in a factory it might seem luring to isolate each process and look it separately; therefore the demand of the fashion market should not be balanced with the capacity, but with the flow; the production of clothes should be planed in such a way that the inventory to be reduces to minimum, otherwise the company are facing many losses; as well in order to be up to date, the company should be able to react as fast as possible to the new trends and for this they need the right amount of workers and equipment;4. what are some major capacity considerations in a hospital? how do they differ from those of a factory? the production capacity is affected by facilities, equipment, processing methods, labor, and supplies. the strategic capacity in a hospital is dependent on the skills and knowledge of the staff; the service that they provide like care or quick responses to the patients needs; the service capacity should be located in central place in healthy environment; everything depend on the human resources. 5. management may choose to build up capacity in anticipation of demand or in response to developing demand. cite the advantages and disadvantages to both approaches. def. capacity planning this is the process of determining the production capacity in anticipation of the market changes. capacity as a whole is a relative term; in an operations management context, it may be defined as the amount of resource inputs available relative to output requirements over a particular period of time. a discrepancy between the capacity of an organization and the demands of its customers results in inefficiency, either in under-utilized resources or unfulfilled customers. the goal of capacity planning is to minimize this discrepancy. demand for an organizations capacity varies based on changes in production output, such as increasing or decreasing the production quantity of an existing product, or producing new products.the broad classes of capacity planning are lead strategy, lag strategy, and match strategy.lead strategy is adding capacity in anticipation of an increase in demand. the possible disadvantage to this strategy is that it often results in excess inventory, which is costly and often wasteful.lag strategy refers to adding capacity only after the organization is running at full capacity or beyond due to increase in demand (north carolina state university, 2006). this is a more conservative strategy. it decreases the risk of waste, but it may result in the loss of possible customers.match strategy is adding capacity in small amounts in response to changing demand in the market. this is a more moderate strategy.the capacity level selected has a critical impact on the companys response rate, its cost structure, its inventory policies, and its staff support requirements. if capacity is inadequate, a company may loose customers through slow service or by allowing the competitors to enter the market. if the capacity is excessive, accompany may have to reduce prices to stimulate demand; underutilize its workforce; carry excess inventory; or seek additional, less profitable products to stay in business.6. what is capacity balance? why is it hard to achieve? what methods are used to deal with capacity imbalance? in a perfectly balanced plan, the output stage 1 provides the exact input requirement for stage 2. stage 2s output provides the exact input requirements for stage 3, and so on. in practice, however, achieving such a “perfect” design is quite impossible. one possible reason can be that the best operating level for each stage generally differs. another reason is that variability in product demand and the processes themselves generally leads to imbalance except in automated production lines, which, in essence, are just one big machine. there are various ways of dealing with imbalance. one is to add capacity to stages that are bottlenecks. this can be done by temporary measures such as scheduling overtime, leasing equipment, or purchasing additional capacity through subcontracting. a second way is through the use of buffer inventories in front of the bottleneck stage to ensure that it always has something to work on. a third approach involves duplicating the facilities of one department on which another is dependent. 7. what are some reasons for a plant to maintain capacity cushion? how about negative capacity cushion? often the firm decides on some capacity cushions that will be maintained between the project requirements and the actual capacity. a capacity cushion is in excess of expected demand. however when the company designs a capacity less than the required to meet its demand, it said to have negative capacity cushion. some of the reasons to have positive capacity cushion can be because of the fact that you want to satisfy the needs and the demand on the market as fast as possible and to be able to react if the demand grows, however sometimes you can not predict some external factors and this is where the negative capacity cushion comes to existence.8. at first glance, the concept of the focused factory and the capacity flexibility may seem to contradict each other. do they really?the concept of the focused factory holds that a production facility works best when it focuses on a fairly limited set of production objectives. however by being in one globalizing market the companies should be able to compete on the market through multiple objectives. one way of achieving that is through using the capacity flexibility the ability to rapidly increase or decrease the production levels, or to shift production capacity quickly from one product or service to another. such flexibility is achieved through plants, processes, and workers, as well as through strategies that use the capacity of other organizations.chapter 6 1. compare mcdonalds old and new processes for making hamburgers. how valid is mcdonalds claim that the new processes will produce fresher hamburgers for the customers? comparing mcdonalds new processes to the processes used by burger king and wendys, which process would appear to produce the freshest hamburgers? in order to illustrate the advantages of the new technology for preparing fresher and more delicious hamburgers in mcdonalds, i am going to observe the development of the methods of cooking through the years and make a comparison between the old and new ways for preparation. from the very beginning the traditional manner was make-to-order- the customer places an order with all the specifications about the hamburger. however in this process the quality of the hamburger is highly dependent on the skills of the cook. the inventory (both work-in-process and finished goods) is kept to a minimum. theoretically, one would expect that response time would be slow, because all the activities need to be completed before the product is delivered to the customers.the hamburger-making process in mcdonalds from its foundation was based on make-to-stock process produces standard products that can be delivered quickly to the customers. in general, a make-to-stock process ends with finished goods inventory; customer orders are than served from the inventory. a target stocking level, for example, can be set, and the processes would be periodically activated to maintain the target stocking level. however this can be organized in more efficient way that is called hybrid processes it combines the features of both make-to-order and make-to stock. this is the new process introduced by mcdonalds in 1999. by combining the latest technology and clever processes, mcdonalds managed to develop very quick responses to the customer orders. the product is fresh, delivered quickly, and to the exact specifications by the customers. in comparison to some of its major competitors mcdonalds appear to be high-volume leader. the burger king core competency is the unique taste achieved by the special preparation techniques (the generic product is made and stocked at some point of the process). wendys appeals to those who want their hamburgers prepared in the old-fashioned way. each one of the three companies is preparing very delicious and fresh hamburgers, the difference is the timing that they are delivered. however each one of them is aiming at different target groups and different market approaches. 2. state in your own words what littles law means. describe an example that you have observed where littles law applies. the littles law estimates the time that an item will spend in work-in-process inventory, which can be useful in calculating the total throughput time for a process. if the law is used in manufacturing, the managers could maintain close control over the cycle time of its products (from the time it leaves the release point until it has completely finished) and could safely predict to the customers what they could expect in terms of delivery. example: at the supermarket checkout operator has an average of 4 customers and they arrive at least every 2 minutes. therefore the customers on average will be on the line for 8 minutes. 3. explain how having more work-in-process inventory can improve the efficiency of a process. how can this be bad? according to my opinion the work-in-process helps maintain more than one system in the manufacturing process. for example it directs and monitors the flow of products in a factory; it supports the management system; it ensures that the product receive the intended processing; can be used to determine the actual processing received by finished goods. the work-in-process inventory can improve the efficiency of a process. traditionally has been considered and is currently being shown as an asset from an accounting point of view; however the excess wip inventory may have negative effect on the operational measurements evaluated.4. recently some operations management experts have begun insisting that simply minimizing process velocity, which actually means minimizing the time that it takes to process something through the system, is the single most important measure for improving a process. can you think of a situation in which this might not be true? the velocity management process aims at the most reliable way for operating people and systems at high speed in order to enable fast responses to orders and inquiries. however in certain case like the airplane construction the accuracy and the reliability of the final product depend on the quality of the processes which can be achieved through more detailed and consistent methods, not through speed. case: ikea design and pricing 1. what are ikeas competitive priorities? good quality at law prices functionality; unique design; environmentally friendly; efficiency in transportation; warehousing; store display( flat packages) maximum functionality of the product at the lowest cost minimization of waste global network of distribution centers inspiration for interior solutions2. describe ikeas process for developing a new product. the low price begins at the drawing board. the team behind each product consists of designers, product developers, and purchasers who get together to discuss design, materials, and suitable suppliers. the first task in the process is the process of choosing the most appropriate manufacturer that is going to provide us with the least costly raw materials. the second step is to get the maximum functionality at minimum cost and this can be achieved through the design of the product. the third step to be at the right store at the right time deliver efficiency. the last step but not the least is actually the way that the products are displayed in ikeas shops providing the most rational choice in combination with unique style. 3. what are additional features of the ikeas concept that contribute to creating exceptional value to the customers? ikea products broadcast an ethos for living in the modern world: except all the functionality and low prices of their products, they are offering unique experience for the whole family when they enter their shops. they know how the please the people mind through the creation of a separate world inside in its stores a kind of theme park masquerading as a furniture outlet where normal rules and expectations do not apply. the subconscious pleasure of shopping there is a feature that adds value more than any of the above. 4. what would be important criteria for selecting a site for an ikea store? the areas that the shops should be placed are: areas outside the city that are going to create the feeling of being away from hectic atmosphere within the city in the same time it should not be that far, because the target market are families with children it should be easily reached and a state transport should be provided case: merrill lynch financial service 1. discuss how different demographic situations contribute to different financial needs among female investors? demographic segmentation is dividing the market into groups based on variables such as age, gender, family size, income occupation, education, religion, race and nationality. the analysts in the present case have based their observations on the relations between age and income. the needs and wants of the target groups change through their life cycle. in particular the three target groups are affected not only by the stages in their life, but also by many external factors like marital status, children and occupation. on the first place the young career woman is concentrating on rising her financial capital and looking for multiple ways of reduction of the taxes. than it comes on second place the middle aged woman that is affected by the factor family and children, the result is more secure portfolio that is going to provide her with stable cash flows. on the place are coming the older investors on the market that are so well informed and in the same time looking for less risky income that is going to generate steady flow from dividends and interest. to summarize - the age factor here is one of the major variables that influence the decisions that are taken by the investors. 2. how might each of these segments be further segmented demographically? what would be the advantage and disadvantage of further segmentation of this market? as i mentioned above the demographic segmentation can be even more comprehensive which results in detailed personal profiles. one of my suggestions is to use the factors education and occupation. education - in the three groups we assume that the people with better education are going to be more informed; they are going to make more rational decisions and in the same time they would be active investors. occupation we can observe two cases people that have a good salary and one to invest part of it in order to increase their future income & people that are not satisfied with their current income and want to increase it by taking more risky actions.2. which internal and external