The nature of work and its organization has interested managers, economists and social scientists for as long as people have been employed by others to engage in productive activity. Managers have largely been interested in maximizing output from available resources. Job design can be define as the process of putting together various elements to form a job, bearing in mind organizational and individual worker requirements, as well as considerations of health, safety, and ergonomics. The scientific management approach of Frederick Winslow Taylor viewed job design as purely mechanistic, but the later human relations movement rediscovered the importance of workers’ relationship to their work and stressed the importance of job satisfaction. Trends in Job Design Quality control as part of the worker’s job Cross-training workers to perform multi -skilled jobs Employee involvement and team approaches to designing and organizing work Extensive use of temporary workers Organizational commitment to providing meaningful and Continue reading
Operations Management Techniques
A Brief Introduction to Six Sigma Methodology
The creation of Six Sigma Methodology is understood to be traced back to Carl Friedrich Gauss and introduced as a measurement in variation in organizations. Six Sigma name comes from the Greek alphabet “Sigma” which mathematician or statisticians uses in statistics to find a standard deviation. Motorola was the first company to use Six Sigma, to measure the quality of products and services from within. In the process of Motorola using Six Sigma, it helped them to pinpoint mistakes such as finances and operations. Six Sigma’s core philosophy was based on business process and customer requirements, extensive training to employees, focus on the organization, and creating an improved system. Six Sigma Methodology describes a business improvement approach that seeks to find and eliminate causes of defects and errors in manufacturing and service processes by focusing on outputs that are critical to customers and a clear financial return for the organization. Continue reading
Case Study: Zara’s Operational Model
Founded in 1975, ZARA, a Spanish clothing and accessories retailer was originally the brainchild of the Inditex Group owned by Amancio Ortega. Headquartered in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain, Inditex is the world’s largest fashion retailer with ZARA as its international flagship chain store. Beginning with the single store in Spain to the recent launch into Australia, ZARA currently has over 1,700 stores in 78 countries providing exclusive fashion worldwide. ZARA, alone accounted for 64.6% of the Inditex group turnover in 2010. Over time, it has become one of the notable leaders amongst the fashion brands. ZARA was described by Louis Vuitton fashion director, Daniel Piette as “possibly the most innovative and devastating retailer in the world” and CNN described the brand as a “Spanish’s success story” Zara’s Operational Model Shifting from “mass standardization” to “customization” on a global scale is the most interesting aspect of the Zara’s business model. The Continue reading
Difference Between Cost Control and Cost Reduction
A cost reduction program is a type of method which is to improve profitability of the organization or by expected to get a good result that flow to the bottom line of the financial statement and exempted from any serious damage to the organization itself. As this program is much more about reducing cost or reducing expenses of the organization, so a good cost reduction program is all about how to control the damage of an organization. Furthermore, a cost reduction program is said can be improved the profitability of an organization because by reducing expenses, profits are increased without making others changes. On the other hand, if the cost reduction program can matched with a sales improvement program and perhaps, finally it will get the double profit. A cost reduction program must be a complete plan that is results-oriented. A structured cost reduction program will put the company on Continue reading
9 Steps to Implement a Total Quality Management System
Total Quality Management (TQM) is a function to develop quality and performance which resolve surpass consumer expectations. It can accomplished by integrate the quality associated functions and processes through the organization. TQM looks at the particular quality measures apply by organization as well as managing quality development and design, maintenance and quality control, quality assurance and quality improvement. Furthermore, TQM takes account into all quality measures that taken at all stages and concerning all organization employees. Besides that, Total Quality Management (TQM) plans in an effort to maintain competitiveness in categorize to attain consumer satisfaction in the increasing of competition around the world. TQM is an integrative idea of administration for incessantly civilizing the quality of progression and products. TQM is the purpose on the basis that the quality of the products and processes is the dependability of everybody who is concerned with the conception or utilization of the services Continue reading
Factors Influencing Plant Layouts
The basic objective of any plant layout is to ensure a smooth flow of work, material, and information through a system. The basic meaning of plant is the space in which a business’s activities take place. The layout and design of that space impact greatly how the work is done-the flow of work, materials, and information through the system. The key to good plant layout and design is the integration of the needs of people (personnel and customers), materials (raw, finishes, and in process), and machinery in such a way that they create a single, well-functioning system. Recommended reading: Plant layouts – Definition and Objectives The following are some important factors, which influence the planning of effective layout to a significant degree. 1. Nature of the product: The nature of the product to be manufactured will significantly affect the layout of the plant. Stationary layout will be most suitable for Continue reading