Fluent Essays

Scenario: Imagine that you are the vice president of operations at a production or service organization. You have noticed that your organization’s current operations strategy is not supporting the challenges that the organization is presently facing. In order to maintain a competitive edge, you must address these challenges with your Chief Executive Officer immediately.Select an existing production organization. Analyze the organization’s current vision, mission, business strategy, operation strategy, supply chain, total quality management, just-in-time philosophy, forecasting method, statistical technique, facility location, work design, project life cycle, and project management. Note: You will need this information in order to complete this and subsequent assignments.Selected Company is General Motors. Attached you will find information from the first assignment. Here are the instructions for this assignment:Write a six to eight (6-8) page paper in which you:Evaluate two to four (2-4) weaknesses that are evident in the selected organization’s product life cycle. Generate a new product design and product selection, and then determine three (3) strategies that the organization needs in order to strengthen the operation. Provide support for the rationale.Determine the key components of supply chain management for the company you have selected.  Determine three (3) major issues that could affect the structuring, sourcing, purchasing, and the supply chain of your organization. Provide a solution to each issue.Develop a total quality management tool that identifies and analyzes any future issues. Provide a rationale for developing the selected tool. Analyze three (3) advantages in employing the just-in-time philosophy in your organization. Evaluate three to five (3-5) means in which the philosophy could potentially impact quality assurance. Provide specific examples to support your response.Determine a qualitative and quantitative forecasting method for your operation. Next, create a table in which you identify the characteristics of the operation that relate to each method. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each method.Use at least three (3) quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not quality as academic resources.Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length. Scenario: Imagine that you are the vice president of operations at a production or service organization. You have noticed that your organization’s current operations strategy is not supporting the c Michigan based General Motors is one of the top automotive companies in the world. The company wants to ensure that its customer service is of the highest quality and that its customers are respected, well-taken care of, and treated appropriately not only when they buy a car, but throughout the entire ownership period. The goal is to earn customers for life. The commitment to its customers makes GM come up with high quality, durable, and safe cars. The companys mission and vision are to be a leader in automotive and transportation services and products (Kissinger, 2017). The company also wants to earn the trust and enthusiasm of its customers by continually improving its product and services through innovation, integrity, and teamwork. The beneficiaries of the high-quality products and services that GM offers not only benefit the clients of the company, but also all the stakeholders in the company, such as employees, the communities where they are located, and the shareholders invested in the company. General Motors main aim and purpose are to acquire customers for a lifetime. Evaluate the key elements of the selected production or service organizations operational efficiency with its operational strategy. Determine three (3) tasks that do not align with the operational strategy. Determine the weaknesses that are evident in each task. The companys primary operation strategy is to expand operations Globally, specifically to open more plant in China during 2018 (Our Company, n.d.). This is part of their overall corporate strategy, “to earn customers for life,” (Corporate Strategy, n.d.). The company wants to tap into the Asian market which has been on the rise regarding the sheer number of customers and an increase in their purchasing power. The expansion into Asia, primarily China will also enable the company to pool cheap local labor that will be helpful in areas such as engineering, research and development, and design, purchasing, marketing, and manufacturing. General Motors also wants to focus on developing luxury and SUV vehicles mainly. The company is hopeful that the global strategic expansion approach will be helpful in further increasing the clientele base and the revenues generated from sales. It also hopes that it will be able to afford shareholder payouts from this strategy and increase shareholder profits. For the strategy to be successful and effective, the company will have to engage in several different tasks (Reid & Sanders, 2013). One such task is ensuring that it closes some of its manufacturing outlets in some countries. The company has already begun engaging in this process with centers in Australia, Indonesia, and Russia closing. This was not an entirely useful step as it meant that the company lost some of its global appeal and facilities. The company should have restructured these centers to try and maintain its global facilities and market share. The company could also be able to make some profits from the restructuring process. Chevrolet, one of the companys brands would hugely benefit concerning increased sales in European countries. Another task that the company will engage in ensuring that free cash flow to shareholders is reconstituted. While it is important to have shareholders in possession of free cash, it is believed that some of the funds that will be freed will be reinvested into the company’s global expansion strategy coupled with research and development, and manufacturing. Formulate a new operations strategy for the selected organization based on the four (4) competitive priorities (i.e., cost, quality, time, and flexibility). The most appropriate operations strategy would be to restructure the company’s approach to the European market. The company faces stiff competition in the market from companies such as the Volkswagen group and Daimler. The financial resources for such an endeavor could be acquired from the free cash flow from shareholders as described above. The provision of free cash flow would also be helpful in research and development and marketing the company’s products overseas. The company will, therefore, be able to reach a larger target group and significantly improves its revenues and profit margins. Analyze both the structure of the competitive priorities and infrastructure of the production process. Develop three (3) new enablers that are aligned with the long-term plan of the selected organization. Evaluate three (3) pros and three (3) cons of the new enablers. The primary operation strategy for GM is expansion into China, seems an ideal fit for the company. The company will not only be able to acquire a new and cheap source of labor, but it will also be able to expand into new unchartered markets. With five new plants opening in 2018, GM stands to see an increase of over 5 million vehicles annually, (Our Company, n.d.). The competitive priorities for GM will be mainly in the form of cost and quality, nonetheless time and flexibility also remain essential factors. For the company, the enablers to be taken into consideration include the new target market in the new countries that would undoubtedly help the company expand and grow further. Improved decision-making processes and effective strategic implementation would also be enabled to help the company (General Motors Strategic and Operational Overview, 2016). The advantages of these enablers would be that the company would be able to introduce new products to the market that giving it an edge over their rivals. The company will also be able to focus solely on expansion through specialization. General Motors would then have a better understanding of its target market and provide customers with a better experience. As for disadvantages, the company will have to invest heavily regarding time and cost. The research into the new markets may also be erroneous, and therefore the company may incur huge losses due to a poor grasp of the foreign market it wants to expand into. The company will also fail if it does not take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves due to strategies such as reward acceleration. References Corporate Strategy. (n.d.). Retrieved July 22, 2018, from https://www.gm.com/investors/corporate-strategy.html General Motors Strategic and Operational Overview. (2016, September 21). Retrieved July 22, 2018, from https://www.gm.com/content/dam/gm/events/docs/5237319-645997-GeneralMotorsStrategicandOperationalOverview-9-21-2016 Kissinger, Daniel. General Motors’ Vision Statement & Mission Statement (Analysis). (2017, June 1). Retrieved July 22, 2018, from http://panmore.com/general-motors-vision-statement-mission-statement-analysis Our Company. (n.d.). Retrieved July 22, 2018, from https://www.gm.com/company/about-gm.html Reid, R. D., Sanders, N. R. (2013). Operations Management, 5th Edition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Retrieved from https://strayer.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781118819685