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Business Analysis of Gulf States Metals Inc. Essay

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Business Analysis of Gulf States Metals Inc. Gulf States Metals Inc. (GSM) is a large nickel refinery plant that has suffered poor financial performance and is under the threat of being shut down by its parent company International Metals Inc. This paper aims to, firstly, analyse the issues that are contributing to the low performance, secondly, to provide some options for moving forward and thirdly, to present a set of substantiated recommendations. The analysis will be tackled through …show more content…

Within these directorial areas there is a structure based around process and time. There are supervisors that oversee one of each the processes of material handling, copper extraction, cobalt extraction, ammonia sulphate extraction, and nickel extraction. There are also supervisors who manage production for swing, graveyard and weekend shifts. In the case of GSM, there is an absence of integration to bridge the division between the operations and maintenance. The two areas are at odds and compete for access to machines. Production requires the machines to continue running and producing nickel, while Maintenance requires windows of time to perform maintenance of those machines. This systemic conflict between Maintenance and Operations is a classic example of allocation leading to sub-optimisation. Rather than focusing on goals of the business, each division is narrowly focussed on their own goals. The structure within the Operations Division may also be contributing poor performance. The structure consists of two types of supervisors: those who supervise a part of the production process and those who supervise particular shifts. As a result, operators are essentially reporting to both an Operations Area Manager and a Shift Supervisor. There is a similar structure within the Engineering Division. This

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