Production levels at the North Yorkshire potash mine need to be stepped up as a result of a successful tender bid that will require a batched delivery schedule to meet the requirements of a seasonal business. The Operations Director has expressed a number of concerns about quality standards and has made a decision to acquire ISO Quality Management accreditation which will increase the attractiveness of the business to potential customers and suppliers.
In order to achieve this is evident that the current systems require an overhaul, which will also support the effective servicing of the new tender to a consistently high standard.
As a work-placement student, the Operations Manager asks you to complete a project which requires you to investigate a range of operational processes, evaluate current practice and makes recommendations to support improvements to operational practice in a number of areas. The operations manager provides you with the following brief:
1. Provide an evaluation of process types, referring to the volume-variety effect
2. Appraise the types of activities that contribute to effective planning and control as a support to enable the supply of products and the demands of customers on the operations with a clear approach to capacity and inventory management, using the following detail:
The planned 23-mile tunnel to the Teeside coast has been completed and the total journey now comprises 25-miles from the loading site to the docks. Each container journey takes 30 minutes with a further 15-minutes loading and unloading time at each end (30 minutes in total). The tunnel is operational for 12-hours each day and containers travel through the tunnel in batches of 100, the transport mechanism then returns to the mine, taking 30 minutes. Each container has a capacity of 10 tonnes. However, the documentation completed by the loading and dispatch department indicates that the average fill per containers is only 80%.
This is due to a periodic shortage of stabiliser as there is no clear ordering sequence. Your investigation suggests that 5000 tonnes of stabiliser is required each year and the cost of placing an order is £50 each time and the annual cost of holding inventory is 20% of the purchase cost which is £120 per tonne. Recommend the amount of stabiliser that should be ordered, using Economic Order Quantity as a basis.
EOQ = The square root of this calculation: (2 x Co x D) divided by Ch
3. The board of directors have taken a decision to seek quality management accreditation. Analysis the benefits of using TQM as a foundation for implementing an efficient operations management policy throughout the organization.
4. Supporting academic theory, using correct and complete Harvard referencing protocols.
5. Professional, business standard presentation using international business English. Clear structure with