Operationsand Supply Chain Management Questions
Operationsand Supply Chain Management Questions
Question1:
Inyour own words, what are the objectives of workcenter scheduling?Distinguish between a workcenter, a GT cell, and an assembly line.
Aschedule refers to a sort of timetable aimed at allocating activitiesand facilities and utilizing resources maximally. The objectives of aworkcenter scheduling are to maximize machine utilization, help meetdue dates, reduce work-in-process inventory, reduce setup cost orduration, and to reduce lead time (Jacobs, 2014). However, it isoften undesirable and highly unlikely to simultaneously achieve allthese objectives. For instance, the practice of maintaining a recordof all employees or equipment in an organization may lead to too muchinventory. Also, regardless of perfectly 99% score in meeting all thedue dates, an organization may suffer detrimental effects if the 1%missed due date was of major importance. In summary, similarly toother production activities, it is essential to understand a system’sperspective so as to ensure a sync between an organization’sworkcenter objectives and operation strategies.
Distinguishbetween a Workcenter, a GT cell, and an Assembly line.
Aworkcenter refers to an area in a corporation where the organizationof productive resources and the completion of work takes place. AGroup Technology cells (GT cells) has the benefit of transforming theefficiencsies of a product layout to an environment of the processlayout. Finally, an assembly line refers to a principle ofmanufacturing, where individual employees are assigned with specifictasks, then the process is presented on to the next employee, and soon, until completion of the task (Jacobs, 2014). However, aworkcentre, a GT cell, and an assembly line all closely relate toeach other. A workcentre can be a group of machines, a single machineor a specific area where a particular kind of work is done. One orall of these workcentres may be organized according to functionalityby a Group Technology cell (GT cell), an assembly line, product in aflow or in a workcentre configuration.
Question2:
Howdoes Goldratt`s Theory of Constraints (TOC) differ from other currentapproaches to continuous improvement in organizations? How is itsimilar?
Goldratt’sTOC argues that constraints exist in all firms and that it is theseconstraints that control their performance. According to TOC, aconstraint refers to any elements capable of slowing the duration ofproduction, hence, decreasing profits (Jacobs, 2014). The theory addsthat if a firm has no constraints at all, then it has unlimitedprofits, which is impractical. Unlike other approaches such as LeanThinking and Six Sigma that focus on waste removal and variationreduction, TOC focuses on managing a firm’s constraints, regardingthe entire system rather than independent processes.
Themain difference between Goldratt’s TOC and current approaches suchas Lean Thinking and Six Sigma is the TOC’s primary focus onmanaging a system’s constraints, while the other approaches beardifferent targets. TOC focuses on operations or activities thatmajorly hinder the ongoing of an organization`s critical process(bottleneck operations), affecting the organization’s performance.On the other hand, current approaches to an organization’scontinuous improvement focus on cost reduction at all phases ofproduction by minimizing variability and employing the use of wasteelimination techniques in an organization.
Unlikethe other approaches, TOC may also have some major setbacks. TOC’sapproach to improving a firm’s independent processes at once couldlimit an organization’s ability to provide goods or services at alow cost (Jacobs, 2014). Moreover, TOC’s emphasis on a singleconstraint at a time is only possible through a localized effort.This is so because the process of managing and exploiting constraintswithin a firm is a process requiring much time.
Nonetheless,both the TOC and the current approaches share similarities, in that,they are all aimed at enhancing a system’s efficiency andproductivity. By employing either of the structured and rigidprocedures for a firm’s continuous growth, outcomes of entireprocesses in the firm will improve by reducing production time andactivity cost.
References
Jacobs,F. & Chase, R. (2014). Operationsand supply chain management.New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
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