1. Read "Wegman's Food Markets”
(pp. 32-35). Answer questions 1-3 on p. 35.
Introduction
Wegmans Food Markets is one
of the regional supermarket chains in the United States, Rochester, New York.
It is one of the top 75 U.S. supermarkets in terms of sales volume and is widely
respected in the industry. It is also important to note that it employs over
37,000 people, and has annual sales more than $3 billion. In this paper, I will
discuss how Wegmans Food Markets is performing its operational activities over
70 stores (Stevenson, 2015) . I will also discuss the quality of a
supermarket and its success factors to gain an edge over its competitors.
Customers’ judgments for the quality of a
supermarket
The
quality of a supermarket in the minds of customers is very important so that
Wegmans’ managers are more responsible for checking and maintaining product and
service quality in the quality department. The company gives more emphasis on
customer satisfaction. For instance, if a customer is not satisfied with a
product then company is offering a choice of a replacement or a refund. It is
also true that if there is a problem regarding its products then it is sent to
the test kitchen to determine the real cause and corrective action will be
taken if necessary. Thus, Customers are
judging its products in terms of product features, services and quick responses
etc.
Important factors responsible for the
successful operation of a supermarket
There are many factors which are very
important for the successful operation of a supermarket. They are described as
follows:
a.
Customer Satisfaction: Customer satisfaction
is directly related to successful operation of a supermarket. For example, if a
customer is satisfied with a product that the company is offering then there
are higher chances of getting successful operation.
b.
Forecasting: It is one of the major tools for
predicting the sales and determining the required level of products and
services as per customer needs. A supermarket is successful when it analyzes
the sales demand and produce accordingly to fulfill the orders of customers.
c.
Capacity Planning: Planning is setting
objective, goals, and strategies. Process required setting products in the
supermarket and capacity available to have their product in the supermarket
have direct impact on successful operation of the supermarket.
d.
Location: Setting location should be
convenient for its customers so that customers are more attracted to buy the
products or services.
e.
Inventory management: Too much inventory will add to their
department costs and too little inventory will result in shortage so that
inventory should be managed by using Japanese technique- just-in-time.
f.
Layout of the store: Layout of the store
should be well-equipped and managed for the customers so that it looks awesome.
g.
Scheduling: Scheduling is directly related to
the out flow of finance with the supermarket. Proper scheduling helps reducing
the costs and hence in the profitability of the supermarket
Some of the ways Wegmans uses technology to
gain an edge over its competition
Wegmans
always believes in new technology to maintain its competitive edge. When the
new technology appears in the market, the company is likely to adopt it for
continuous improvements. By so doing, the company will be able to track the
inventory and manage its supply chain activities for maintaining freshness in
the meat department. Also, the technologies are used to determine if any
departments are to be added in the firm (Stevenson, 2015). It is, thus, very
important for Wegmans to use new technology to be a leader in the market
effectively and efficiently.
Summary
and conclusions
This paper presented Wegmans food
markets activities that are very successful in operating its various activities
such as superstores, produce department, meat department, ordering, inventory
management, employees, quality and technology. Due to these success factors,
the company has a strong reputation for offering its customers high product
quality and excellent service.
References
Russell & Taylor. (2011). Operations
Management: Creating Value Along The Supply Chain. USA: JOHN WILEY &
SONS.INC.
Stevenson,
W. J. (2015). Operation s Management. Penn Plaza, New York: McGraw- Hill
Education.
DQ-2: Discuss how the recent outsourcing of
parts and services that had previously been produced internally has altered the
"playing field” for operations managers.
DQ-2:
Answer:
Every
business firm wants to maximize profit either directly or indirectly through
cost reduction. No matter how big the business firms are, they always seek to
reduce the costs such as cost of production, wages, technology and labor costs,
material costs and the like. Although most of business organizations used to
produce the necessary parts or services by themselves in the past, it is
changing now rapidly than ever before due to recent emergence of outsourcing of
goods or services. Outsourcing means the purchase of goods or service from
outside source. Thus, it is now important to having outsourcing if the low
labor cost or raw materials are found cheaper in other countries or country
within different places than producing them internally by the company.
In these days, there are many
places where outsourcing is massively used so that it can be said that it has
altered the playing field of operation mangers significantly. The decision to
outsource usually stems from a focus on lowering costs and improving the
efficient allocation of resources within a company. For instance, Boeing 777 is
a company which outsources its parts more than 65% in operating its activities.
There are many advantages of using
an outsourcing for operation managers such as lower tax boundary, less
government regulations, easy availability of human resources, raw materials and
parts. It is important for operation managers to realize them so that business
firm can achieve a competitive advantage by outsourcing the parts or resources
which are cheaper than producing them internally by the company (Chase, Jacbos,
Aquilano, & Agrawal, 2008). Thus, it is inevitably true that outsourcing
has changed the playing grounds of operation mangers in the present days.
References
Chase,
R. B., Jacbos, F. R., Aquilano, N. J., & Agrawal, N. K. (2008). Operations management for competitive
management (11th ed.). New York: Tata McGraw-Hill.
Stevenson,
W. J. (2012). Operations Management
(11th ed.). New York: Tata McGraw-Hill Irwin.
DQ 1.3. Can
a factory be fast, dependable, and flexible; product high-quality products; and
still provide poor service from a customer's perspective? Discuss.
DQ 1.3: Answer:
Of
course, it can be possible to for a factory to be fast, dependable, flexible
for producing high quality product although its service from a customer’s
perspective is poor. However, managing both product and services equally can
help to improve the productivity and efficiency of the company. The products
are high quality when productions are done properly as said in the statement:
fast, dependable, and flexible. On the other side, how products are delivered
to the customers can play a pivotal role while measuring its services from the
eyes of customers, and that is called service.
It
can be made from an example. Suppose a laptop company produces its parts or activities
quickly, easily and in a flexible way then it is possible to produce high
quality laptops but what if it doesn’t have customer services as expected by
the customers? At that time, its services are poor though its products are high
quality. Hence, having said that, to improve the overall productivity of the
company, both product and service should be managed and performed accordingly,
but when customer services are poor then they gauge the service as a poor
regardless of its high quality product (Russell & Taylor, 2011) .
References
Stevenson,
W. J. (2012). Operations Management
(11th ed.). New York: Tata McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Russell & Taylor. (2011). Operations
Management: Creating Value Along The Supply Chain. USA: JOHN WILEY &
SONS.INC.
DQ1.4: What are the major priorities associated with
operations strategy? How has their relationship to one another changed over the
years?
DQ1.4:
Answer
Strategy
can be defined as a blueprint or roadmap for future direction. Unlike
organizational strategies, operations strategy deals with carrying out a set of
operational activities in order to produce effective results. It importantly relates
to products, processes, methods, operating resources, quality, costs, lead
times, and scheduling (Stevenson, 2015) . There are some of
major priorities associated with operations strategy that are as follows.
1.
Product/
service design: The
primary priority associated with the operations strategy is the design of good/
services the business firm going to offer to its customers. Operation manager
should address questions like what product or service should we offer or how
should we design our products and services.
2.
Process
selection strategy (Selection of technology): The designed product and services need to go
through process so as to get it produced. Here, what equipment and technologies
are required for the production process are made and operation manager acts
accordingly.
3.
Quality
control (TQM): All
of the stake holders are responsible for the quality of goods or services they
offer to the customers. The provided quality must be quantitative as well as
qualitative so that every customer they serve will be satisfied.
4.
Location
strategy: Location
of the firm from where they serve their customers is another important factor
associated with the operation strategy. The more convenient the location is,
the more customers will visit the firm and eventually that helps for successful
operation of the firm.
5.
Layout
strategy: Layout
strategy is associated with the operation strategy of any firm. The proper
management of the physical assets in the firm, placement of required facility
in the firm aid in the operation strategy.
6.
Human
resource management (HRM): Operation
manager always needs to be aware of creating workable environment in the
business firm or quality of work life to the employees. There must be balance
of what business firm gives to its employees and what employee gives to the
firm. Too much work pressure decreases the efficiency of the employees whereas
high wages and salaries will have adverse effect on profitability of the
company.
7.
Raw
materials (Inventory): The
other strategy associated with the operation strategy is raw materials. The
company has clear views of how much inventory of each item should they have and
when to re-order the inventory helps is smooth operation of the firm.
8.
Production
planning, scheduling and controlling: The
proper planning, scheduling and controlling is another major priorities
associated with operations strategy. This will help the company to determine
conditions like are we better off keeping people on the payroll during
slowdowns or is subcontracting production a good idea.
9.
Supply
chain management: Decisions
regarding making or buying of the item required for the business firm, who are
our suppliers and how many suppliers we should have are related to supply chain
management. Supply chain management, thus, is associated with the operations
strategy of the firm.
10.
Maintenance
management: Determining
who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of the assets of the firm, at
what interval should they be checked are related with maintenance management
which in turn is associated with the operations strategy.
In Summary, it can be said that these major priorities
associated to operations strategy are very important to evolve new concepts
that are being used widely. Earlier only a few business operations were used to
perform operational activities but it has now changed entirely due to the
development of e-commerce, technologies, internet, globalization and other
major areas.
References
Russell & Taylor. (2011). Operations
Management: Creating Value Along The Supply Chain. USA: JOHN WILEY &
SONS.INC.
Stevenson,
W. J. (2015). Operation s Management. Penn Plaza, New York: McGraw- Hill
Education.
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