Medaille College MBA-621 Operations Management Case Study #2 Donner Company 3/8/2006 Amr Abbas Problem Definition The three-year old Donner Company has positioned itself well within both the small volume, customized (contract) printed circuit boards market as well as the large volume, generic (captive) printed circuit boards market. Large electronic firms (AT&T, IBM) produced their components in captive shops, while smaller sized companies, or when large and small quantities of simple technology or fast turn-around prototype boards were required, these requests usually are fulfilled by contract shops. With 750 competitors in the US alone, and a market that is volatile, Donner’s ability to anticipate and resolve design …show more content…
Please refer to the information flow chart (exhibit 2) and the order process flow chart (exhibit 3). Donner promised its customers 3 weeks delivery on orders of 1000 boards or less, and 5 weeks on orders larger than 1000 boards. Rush orders (orders of 8 boards or less) were delivered after 4 days. Donner operated at a plant that was carefully chosen by management to minimize installation costs, preserved the life of expensive machinery and isolated the operation’s diverse environment. After being in the same location for a year and a half, neither the machines nor the graphic equipment exhibited any signs of corrosion. In fact, by October 1986, Donner began to expand their current location, which was fully utilized, by installing an 1800 sq ft addition. This addition was due to be completed by November, 1987. Donner’s management had to implement policies that, in addition to manufacturing, had to be cost effective, as Donner was not able to attract outside capital (cited earlier: managed primarily by engineers, not necessarily business oriented). Analyzing Donner’s current situations, it is evident that the company is suffering from several problems relating to its manufacturing, labor, quality and delivery. Following is a highlight and a
The ordering process begins with the decision of the customer to submit their order simply by either calling, faxing or mailing their order information. When a customer calls in their order, the customer service representatives takes down pertinent customer information, which includes the customer's name, billing and shipping address, product number and description, quantity and shipping instructions. While taking down the order, the customer service representative access the company's order entry system where inventory checks are conducted as well as credit checks are processed. In addition, delivery options are advised to the customer. Here the customer decides
Frank Addante got his motivation to work from financing his college life in the first years. He worked on his own, sold and installed car alarms and automatic starters. From this time on he continued to earn money through ad-hoc jobs to make his way through college, but he was always conscious for good ideas, which he could transform into businesses. This chance was given when he installed some high-speed communication lines for an office where two mar-keting companies had their headquarters. When the owners of the two companies were argu-ing about any new ideas, they came up with a “search engine” for the internet. Addante was listening to them and came up with his own interpretation of the “search
Although the company has been in business for over a hundred years it has encountered several challenges. One weakness is its image. As described earlier this image is not conducive to one to be associated with the kindler, softer side of humanity. Another threat or weakness is the continued outsourcing of manufacturing of parts and accessories into overseas markets and companies. Although, there is no set percentage
2. Draw a system diagram showing the processes and information flows (and product flow) between WGD and Fast-Fit starting when Fast-Fit places an order until payment is made. This diagram will have two processes/systems (circles in the diagram) and five arrows/flows with the labels on the arrows. Put Fast Fit on the left and WGD on the right.
The Customer relationship, Order fulfillment, and Supplier relationship processes need to be analyzed from the perspective of process structure, process improvement, layout, and capacity.
Research your employer (or a company of your choice) and, using Table 6.1 (p. 187), determine which of the six potential manufacturing options has the greatest impact upon the organization and why. Submit a two to three page, APA style paper explaining your reasoning.
Another way of displaying information for easier understanding is to use a flow chart. A flow chart can be used as a step by step guide.
Poor Quality - Items returned by customers increased from 1% to 3%. One tenth of the boards returned to the Donner Company were damaged or out of tolerance while the rest were returned due to the company not completing one or two different required operations.
4. Provide a workflow diagram in Visio or equivalent software to illustrate how the system will work.
Kathryn McNeil’s was recently hired and her undertakings as an IBM product manager were complex and extensive. She dealt with the stream of stock for all IBM PCs across the nation, which arrived at the averaged to $40 million every month. To do this, she spoke with the IBM Corporate Headquarters Team regularly to place requests and ensure that each retail outlet had a six-week supply of PCs available. The procedure included arranging conveyance dates and guaranteeing that conveyed items met client details. When IBM reported another product, McNeil evaluated the plausible effect it would have on current items and decided the amount of the new change that ought to be bought. She additionally gave the Sayer administration staff with every day, week by week, and month to month examinations of the product offerings as reports and spreadsheets. At last, McNeil remained in near contact with the field delegates who sold the PCs at the different Sayer-claimed retail outlets all through the nation. She issued declarations to the field delegates when there was a change or an issue with an item, and her phone was an open line for any illustrative who had a question or consumer loyalty issue that required McNeil 's consideration. Her reports were dependably on time and sensibly elegantly composed, great
Each flowchart step is placed in the “Lane” for the group responsible for completing the task (Marketing, Sales, HR, etc.).
Time: Frequent changes were allowed to be made in in-house prototype shop during three to five design cycles that made the tension of lead time in line with their corporate strategy – to be the leader in high-end
7. With the preceding flow net information, a flow net is sketched and presented in Figure 3 of the attached Appendix 1.
Wriston Manufacturing Corporation (WMC) is faced with a Detroit plant that is no longer viable because of underinvestment, labour issues, and product-process mismatch. This has lead to low sales figures, low return, and high burden rates (as calculated by the company). The issues at the Detroit plant will be reviewed and options will be presented. A recommendation to address the Detroit plant will be be made based on this review.
This paper aims to support Natalie York, the operations manager at Harnswell Sewing Machine Company (HSMC), in her intent to improve product quality in the company. In addition to analyzing production process data of half-inch cam rollers and explaining the results, this paper also gives advice on which actions Natalie should take and how she should approach the CEO and founder of her company.