Lesson-4

DQ 1: Healthy Hots, a fast-food restaurant that offers heart-healthy food, is experiencing several difficulties with operations. Although customers like the idea of heart-healthy foods, and surveys indicate that customers find the food to be tasty and appealing, business has fallen off in recent weeks. At this point, the restaurant is not making a profit. Customers have complained about slow service, and employee turnover is high. Explain briefly how techniques described in Chapter 7 cold be used to improve operations. Be specific about which techniques could be used, how they could be used, and why you think those techniques would be helpful.

DQ2. Explain why a new electronic component manufacturing firm should move into your town or city. List at least five reasons.

3. What are the pros and cons of relocating a small or midsized manufacturing firm (that makes mature products) from the US to Mexico or Vietnam

DQ 4.1

Although Healthy Hots, a fast-food restaurant company is offering a tasty and appealing food to its customers, it seems that the restaurant is not making a profit due to the fact that slow customer services and high turnover rate of employees. In this case, something got to be done in order to improve the operation. There are some of techniques that can be used to respond customer the problems, and motivate employees to enhance their performance without less turnover rate.

·         Workers can be a valuable source of insight and creativity because they actually perform the jobs and are closest to the problems that arise (Stevenson, 2015). It is, therefore, the restaurant should develop a spirit of cooperation between employees and managers so it can reduce the turnover rate. In addition to this, proper compensation should be done so that more and more employees are motivated to work even in a better way.

·         It can be seen that the restaurant is lacking the training while delivering the products or services. To improve the effectiveness of service, the restaurant should provide its employees the training about works or customer behavior.

·         Job rotation or enrichment can be done to improve the behavior of employees. It helps to mitigate the boredom of employees as they always try to do something new by taking a variety of works or increased responsibility.

·         Work measurement could be a technique to determine how long it takes to serve a customer in the restaurant. In this technique, a standard time should be fixed or stopwatch time study can be established so that it can be said that how quickly a customer can be served in the restaurant.

·         Some of other techniques widely used are case & effect diagram, pareto analysis, control chart, and check list etc. which can be used to measure the performance and improve accordingly.

In a nutshell, working on all these techniques, of course, is likely to improve two basic problems-Employee turnover, and slow customer services. When these things are performed well then the restaurant can operate its activities by making a profit. Thus, I suggest the restaurant to apply these techniques as soon as possible to get positive results.

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 4.2

There could be lots of reasons about moving a new electronic component manufacturing firm into my town, and they are described as follows:

1.      Gaining a fist mover advantage: Though there are lots of electronic parts manufacturers, most of them are very far from my town. But when a new one will be opened nearby my town, it can gain a fist mover advantage.

2.      Easily accessible markets: When a new electronic part manufacturer will be started in the town, it can be easily marketed into nearby markets where there are higher demands for these products/services so that it could be easy to gain a profit with a cheaper transpiration cost.

3.      Cheaper labor costs: In my town, there is relatively a cheaper labor cost that can help to reduce the cost which means that it can improve the firm to make a more profit. When labor cost is cheaper then, of course, it could be easy for a new electronic firm to produce its parts or spheres.

4.      Facility of infrastructure:  Another reason could be infrastructures that are easily available in our town such as transportation, electricity, water, and so on. With the help of these facilities, a firm can operate efficiently and effectively without any troubles.

5.      Easily accessible supplies of raw materials or parts: It is also possible for the firm to get supplies of raw material or parts from the nearby markets so that inbound logistic can be easily operated in our town so that quality products can be produced at a very cheaper cost so that other competitors which are far from my town cannot compete with the firm located in my town.

In short, while there are many reasons for gaining a new market or expanding the markets with a cheaper product in my town, the basic 5 reasons are stated above can be a very beneficial for any new firm to gain a competitive edge in the markets. Thus, I would be glad if a new firm which produces electronic component comes in my town.

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 4.3

It is inevitably true that no matter where we locate our small manufacturing firm; there is always some sorts of pros or cons which must be considered before relocating any firms. Some of the important considerations are as follows:

·         Market potential and level of competitions

·         Safety of working environment

·         Government policies and allowances

·         Availability of resources or infrastructure

·         Customer tastes,  preferences and demands

·         Innovation and technology

When a midsized manufacturing firm is being relocated from the US to Mexico or Vietnam, then it has to go through some pros and cons as stated follows:

Pros:

·         Lower labor cost: When a manufacturing firm is relocated in the Mexico or Vietnam, there are lower labor costs in comparison to the US.

·         Easy accessibility of raw materials or parts: It is possible to get required raw materials in Mexico or Vietnam than in the US.

·         Less Tax: In Mexico or Vietnam, there will be less taxes levied on the production of goods and services whereas taxes in the US is always higher due to government policies made by the US.

·         Product/Market Expansion: It is possible for the firms to expand more markets when it will be opened in Mexico or Vietnam because making new products or selling the existing products in the new market can help to grow the markets so that more return on investment is possible.

Cons:

·         Cultural Barriers:  In Mexico or Vietnam, there will be always cultural barriers in terms of language used, lifestyle they follow, custom and tradition they pursue etc.

·         Instability of government policies: Like in the US, there are no stable government policies in Mexico or Vietnam. The US government is very efficient in making government policies suitable for the firm.

·         Lack of qualified employees: In Mexico or Vietnam, there will be lack of qualified employees who can perform very well while doing business activities. Although labor costs are higher in the US, there are qualified people who can work very effectively and efficiently.

·         Inferior technology: In Mexico or Vietnam, there can be a lack of better technology for the production of goods and services so that it can be difficult to produce the quality goods and services.

·         Terrorism attacks/Crimes: In Mexico, there is higher rate of crimes being conducted so that producing the products/services in such places can be dangerous in making a profit.

Hence, having discussed both pros and cons, it can be said that relocating the manufacturing firms from the US to Mexico or Vietnam can be challenging as well as a full of opportunities. Thus, as a manufacturer, we have to consider lots of things regarding its location, culture, government policies and laws and the like.

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.