Ops/571 Week 6

Operations management is essential for the survival and success of any organization. According to Heizer & Render (2011), operations management (OM) is the set of activities that creates value in the form of goods and services by transforming inputs into outputs. Operations managers today contend with competition, globalization, inflation, consumer demand, and consistent change in technology. Managers must focus on the efficiency and effectiveness of processes such as cost, dependability, distribution, flexibility, and speed. The intent of this paper is to discuss the processes and operations management of the Kroger Company.

Riordan Manufacturing, Inc. is a fortune 1000 company with revenues in excess of $1 billion (University of Phoenix, 2012). This wholly owned company is a global plastics manufacturer that employs 550 people with annual earnings of $46 million. Riordan has a reputation for being an industry leader in the industry of polymer materials and has various clout heavy clients such as the Department of Defense and major automotive companies. The company recently went global by relocating its Michigan operation of fan manufacturing to China. This paper will explain lean production and capacity planning for the new process

Confidence intervals allow us to pinpoint data to a degree of confidence. The intervals are used to estimate the reliability of an estimate. Usually, the confidence levels that are calculated are 90%, 95%, and 99%. The confidence intervals for my particular situation are as follows:

Chase, R. B., Jacobs, F. R., Aquilano, N.J. Operations management for competitive advantage (11th ed). New York: McGraw Hill/Irwin.

Based on their past experiences, Riordan may need to consider looking for another company to purchase their motors from in order to foster a make-to-stock operation. This allows for a forecasting of potential sales based on an average of the past three year’s sales and projecting that for the future year sales. This may help in creating a more competitive market for manufacturing and delivery of their product.

Riordan Manufacturing is an industry leader in plastic injection molding with plants in Georgia, Michigan and now China. With the company's expansion into a global market, the electronic commerce (e-business) will be a beneficial form of commerce that is currently flourishing in the modern world of global business. The Internet is used to buy and sell goods and services world wide. Cheeseman (2004) explains that the economic growth of computer technology and e-commerce has exceeded that of manufacturing in the United States economy. E-business is used to increase

Riordan’s organization sells heart valves, plastic bottles, fans, and medical stents. Clearly, Riordan has a large variety of products. Organizations use a competitive strategy with cost leadership, which seeks tight cost controls. Cost controls pursue efficient ways to cut cost and be more efficient than the competition. Decreasing business costs every way

Operations management is defined as the design, execution, and control of operations that convert resources into desired goods and services, while implementing an organizations business strategy (Business Dictionary, 2015). Office Depot Inc. is one such organization that truly understands that solid operations is the foundation to the success they have had in recent years. In this paper, I will give the history and background of Office Depot Inc. and explain why they have been able to keep such a competitive advantage in the consumer and small business supply industry. Additionally, I will

The conversion cycle, which is often called the production cycle, is used in a variety of ways at Riordan Manufacturing. “The goal of a production cycle is to convert raw materials into finished goods as efficiently as possible” (Bagranoff, Simkin & Strand, 2008, p. 147). The conversion cycle is initiated when raw materials are ordered. To assist in tracking materials ordered and arrival times, Riordan uses a scheduled orders receiving report, which is submitted weekly. Additionally, a raw materials usage form is used to determine the quantity of subassemblies and final products completed daily. Furthermore, the sales department completes orders and enters them into the customer shipping and billing system. Next orders are tracked from the time they are shipped until final destination arrival. The inventory system is updated daily. At year end a physical inventory is conducted to compare discrepancies. The cycle is complete when the finished goods are transferred to

Operations management (OM) is that phase of an organization where inputs are put into operations to acquire required output (services) without compromising on quality. In other words operations management is also described as combining and transforming various resources in the operations sub-system into value added services in line with formulated policies of the organization. (Kumar and Suresh, 2009)

Krajewski, L. J. & Ritzman, L. P. (2002) Operations Management: Strategy and Analysis, 5th edition [University of Phoenix Print Version]. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice

In reviewing the current and historical sales and marketing information for Riordan Manufacturing, Inc., it became clear that there is a need for a new streamlined system to track the past and present workings of the company. There are past marketing plans being stored in one location in a file cabinet, limiting the personnel that has access to it (Riordan Manufacturing, Inc., 2012). Sales employees are using different methods to track their numbers, in some cases using pencil and paper (Riordan Manufacturing, Inc., 2012).

My knowledge of operations management's impact on organizational effectiveness has grown considerably in this course. I now have a better understanding of how the design and improvement of operational processes and systems can be structured so that the resources required for producing and delivering goods and services are optimized to their full potential. I have a newfound appreciation for the role of operations managers. They take on the challenge of improving productivity to grow and enhance the business an effort that spans all business units and divisions including purchasing, manufacturing, shipping, packaging, supply chain, human resources, marketing, finance, and information technology.

Our firm has set out to Internationalise its operations by opening to different facilities One in China Assembling and Maintaining Aircraft Engines and the other in Europe fabricating turbine blades for Aircraft

Brown, S., Lamming, R., Bessant, J., & Jone, P. (2005). Strategic Operations Management. Burlington, MA: Elsevier.