Ikea Operations Management

* IKEA’s low cost structure has been the very core of its success. It’s low-cost and high-quality strategy fits with the current state of the economy. Offering convenience factors within IKEA’s stores would fit well with IKEA’s low cost structure. It maintains its low-cost business model by creating a different furniture shopping experience. IKEA supplies customers with all possible materials needed to complete their shopping when they enter the store (that are, measuring

IKEA is a “privately held, international home products company that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture such as beds and desks, appliances and home accessories” (www.worldisyouroyster.com). The company was established in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad in Sweden when he was just 17 years old. Kamprad himself, who still owns the private company, is rumored to be the world’s richest man. IKEA is currently the world 's largest furniture retailer and arguably the most successful global retailer. Being one of the biggest global retailers, IKEA benefited a lot by the globalization of its business; IKEA’s target market is the global middle class who is

IKEA is an abbreviation of Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd. The initials come from the name of the founder, the farm where he grew up and his home parish. The firm has grown rapidly since it was founded in 1948. From a very young age, Kamprad started selling furniture and he always kept his low costs - so low that other furniture stores pressured the National Association of Furniture Dealers in Sweden to stop providing Kamprad with products. The first store of IKEA was opened in Almhult, Sweden. The next stores are in

His target was to successfully hit the mass market of the American consumers so in the initial stage he chose to distribute his product in the local grocery stores and also in the ordinary shelves of the supermarkets.

started so he lost all his money and barely had a house.His store did not recover until 1940’s but

Kev then began traveling the country with various products and discovered many of the products on supermarket shelfs simply

IKEA is the world’s largest retailer of home furnishings. It strives to provide simple, functional, modern, and useful products at affordable prices to as many people as possible in as many places regardless of their geographical location. IKEA concept is implemented from the start of idea, implemented into the design, manufacture, logistics, sales and final assembly of each product. IKEA was developed by Ingvar Kamprad from southern Sweden, where people are known for surviving and making the most from limited resources.

An objective of writing this report is to identity and analyzes operation system applied in IKEA, the well-known low cost yet high quality home of furnishing. Function, process and strategy of IKEA operation system will be accessed to identity the core competency that lead to the successfulness of IKEA in the world. Besides, other purpose in complete this report is to analyze the strength and weakness of operation system in IKEA. Operation management is procedure where processes of production or deliver goods and services is being monitoring and managing. Operations management is the activity of managing the resources which produce and deliver products and services (Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2010). Operations

At IKEA we design the price tag first and then build up the product to suit that value. IKEA product developers and designers work openly with suppliers to make sure that creating the low prices starts on the factory ground. They contemplate maximizing production tools, using raw equipments proficiently and applying mechanical innovations and the best potential design. It is all about making the most of our production process, keeping waste to a complete least and considering flat-pack transportation and self-assembly. IKEA of Sweden in Älmhult, Sweden, develops the total IKEA range.

Ikea, the world’s largest home furniture retailing company, was founded by Ingvar Kamprad. He built his business empire through developing a distinct corporate culture. The Ikean

IKEA is the largest furniture chain in the world, and in 2011 the Swedish company operated over 270 stores in 25 countries. In 2011 IKEA sales soared to over $35 billion, or over 20% of the global furniture market. Most of its stuffs believed IKEA will massive growth throughout the world in the coming decade because IKEA could provide what customer wanted: good design, and good made contemporary furniture with an affordable price. In one word, IKEA’s global approach focuses on simplicity, attention to detail, cost consciousness, and responsiveness in every aspect of its operations and behavior. (Jones, 2013)

Based in Denmark, IKEA International A/S is one of the world 's top retailers of furniture, home furnishings, and housewares. The company designs its own items, and sells them in the more than 140 IKEA stores that are spread throughout approximately 30 different countries worldwide. The company also peddles its merchandise through mail-order, distributing its thick catalogs once a year in the areas surrounding its store locations. IKEA is characterized by its efforts to offer high-quality items at low prices. To save money for itself and its customers, the company buys items in bulk, ships and stores items unassembled using flat packaging, and has customers assemble many items on their own at home. The company is owned by

The history of the company is very colorful and interesting. IKEA was founded in 1943 in the south of Sweden in Smaland. Its founder was seventeen - Ingvar Kamprad. The boy had a great deal of business, and IKEA was not his first venture. Previously, he was selling matches in his hometown. His capital for the establishment of IKEA comes from his father, who rewarded him for good academic performance. He called his company IKEA from the first letters of his name, and the names of the family farm and the village Agunnaryd Elmtaryd. The company initially dealt with the sale of feathers, frames, wallets, tablecloths, watches, jewelry, stockings and fine furniture. Kamprad to transport their goods, borrowed a truck from the local milkman.

IKEA’s BUSINESS IDEA (www.ikea.com): “We shall offer a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them."

IKEA established itself as the largest furniture retailer in Sweden by the early 1970s by reinventing the wheel of furniture manufacturing at that time. Majority of furniture manufacturers in Sweden produced expensive products with designs that were basic or passed down generation to generation, additionally other manufacturers stores where located in downtown congested areas. IKEA’s strategies which consisted of low cost low priced furniture, brave intricate designs, self-assembly,