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Operations Management Assignment - BOM 505
BALAMURUGAN CHINNIAH, K09610972/4/2011
Contents
1. Introduction.........................................................................................................................4
2. Material handling................................................................................................................4
3. Transformation Process......................................................................................................6
3.1 Manufacturing..................................................................................................................73.1.1 Blow-Room..............................................................................................................73.1.2 Carding.....................................................................................................................73.1.3 Drawing...................................................................................................................83.1.4 Ring Frames.............................................................................................................83.1.5 Winding/Spinning....................................................................................................9
4. The 4 V’s Analysis.............................................................................................................9
5. Operations Performance Objectives.................................................................................10
6. Design Process..................................................................................................................12
7. Need for Technology........................................................................................................13
8. Quality..............................................................................................................................14
9. Benchmarking...................................................................................................................16
10. Logistics............................................................................................................................17
11. Recommendations.............................................................................................................17
References................................................................................................................................19
K0961097 BOM 505 Page 2 of 19
Executive Summary
It is very important for an organization to have operations management internally,
which helps the company to increase its performance, growth and to compete with the
competitors in the market. This assignment in operations management explains about one
such company ‘Shri Vishnu Perumaal Spin Yarn Ltd’ in India, where the author worked.
Company’s production and material handling techniques are explained in brief and places for
improvement has been found.
Initially the methods used in inventory handling inside the firm is explained. Then the
transformation process from a raw material to a finished good through various stages named
blow-room, carding, drawing, ring frames and winding/spinning is discussed in brief. The
next is the 4Vs analysis i.e. the variations in volume of goods, visibility of production to the
customers, variation in demand in the market and variety of the products manufactured are
analyzed with respect to production and the market, industry in which the company operates.
The operations performance objectives of the firm is analyzed from production and market
perspective of the firm. The analysis is carried out for production costs, customer
dependability, flexibility of the firm in production, quality of product and speed of the
production process.
The degree of overlap of process and product design is discussed with the mass
production perspective. The need for technology is inevitable for a company which operates
in manufacturing sector, an overview of this is given. The most important factor that the
production has its concern is quality, the quality measurements and the specification along
with quality management system followed and the method of determining total cost of quality
is discussed. Next is the performance benchmarking, the way in which the company bench
marks its performance is discussed. The transportation of unfinished and finished goods in
the company is explained in the logistics section.
Finally the recommendations, such as installing latest technology machines for
producing different types(varieties) in the same product, using wireless communication
devices, electronic labeling with bar codes, installation of automated material handling
machines and knowledge transfer with a foreign firm are suggested. These recommendations
K0961097 BOM 505 Page 3 of 19
will enhance the overall performance of the company. This assignment will take you through
all the above mentioned.
1. Introduction
Operations Management involves all activities of goods production and services in a
company. The processes involved in goods production are developing, designing,
manufacturing and delivery of goods. In simple words it is the management of conversion
process of input into output. This explains the way in which the businesses produce goods
and services effectively and efficiently (Slack N 2010, p.7)
Inputs Manufacturing Process (Operations) Output
In today’s competitive environment operations management plays vital role for the
success of a firm. This assignment will discuss about the operations with respect to
manufacturing in a Spinning Mill based on the author’s previous work experience. The term
spinning is the process of converting fibres into a continuous long yarn or thread. The
operations involved in a spinning mill are customer management, employee management,
administration management, power (electricity) management, material handling, and
production process (spinning process). The two main operations among the above mentioned
are the material handling and production (manufacturing) process. Operational management
issues mostly arise in material handling and production process in a spinning mill, which are
the important ones in the context of operations in this industry.
2. Material handling
This mainly deals with the movement and storage of raw materials, unfinished, finished
(input and output) products, wastes, slivers, rovings, laps and maintenance tools in and
around the company. The industry receives natural or artificial fibres in trucks in the form of
bales. The weight of the bale varies with respect to type of raw materials. Each synthetic fibre
bale weighs around 290 to 310 kg and each cotton bales weighs 165 to 180 kg on average
scale. These bales are transported manually to the storage with the help of bale trolleys and
forklift trucks. Figure 1 and Figure 2 shows the bale trolley and forklift truck.
K0961097 BOM 505 Page 4 of 19
Figure 1: Bale Trolley
Figure 2: Fork Lift Truck
The bales are transported to bale openers, where the bales packs are removed and the fibres
are moved to the mixing process and then to blowroom. After this process, the fibres in the
form of laps are transported to carding and drawing process using conveyor belts. The K0961097 BOM 505 Page 5 of 19
unfinished product from this process is untwisted rope like structure, which are stored in
sliver cans. These cans with the unfinished product are then transported manually to the
roving process, where the thickness of the rope is reduced. The thin ropes are then fed to the
spinners through the inlet available in the spinner machine. The output from the spinners is
taken to the winding, where the finished product ‘yarn’ is winded on a bobbin or cone. The
winded cones are then transported to store for dispatch/delivery purpose. The company uses
equipments which are operated manually with the help of man power, to transport the
resources. The equipments are chosen based on the factors such as storage capacity, store
facility, medium of arrival and delivery of the products, amount, shape and type of the
resources which should be transported.
3. Transformation Process
Manufacturing is the processes involved to transform the input into output with the
help of the resources present in spinning industry. The input for the spinning mill is raw
materials such as cotton/artificial fibre. The inputs are transformed into outputs through a set
of processes. Properties such as shape, weight, strength of the input are changed (Slack N
2010, p.11). The resource helps in transforming process. The resources which help in the
transformation are manpower, machinery, power (Electrical Energy) and tools. The output
which is obtained after the transformation process is the Yarn (output). At the end the product
is stored in the storage for delivery or dispatch purpose. This changes the possession of the
product, it is moved to a different place for sales purpose. The Figure 3 is a diagrammatic
representation of the transformation process of a spinning mill.
Figure 3: Transformation Process in the Spinning Mill
K0961097 BOM 505 Page 6 of 19
The entire process of manufacturing from blow-room to spinning is explained in detail in the
following segment.
3.1 Manufacturing
There are different stages to transform raw material into finished goods. Figure 4
shows the diagrammatic presentation of the processes involved in the spinning mill. The fibre
bales which are opened with the help of bale opener and mixed manually in a mixer, provided
with temperature of 25 Degree Celsius. This temperature is maintained to avoid excess
moisture content in the fibre. The mixed fibre is then transported to Blowroom. This mixing
process is done only in occasional circumstances as per the customer’s requirement.
3.1.1 Blow-Room
The fibre in the opened bale is fed into the Blow-room manually by a worker. The
fibre fed into this machine is broke using a ‘breaker’ to remove the dirt. By considering the
quality of the raw material the output from different breakers are mixed and moved to the
scutcher, this scutcher is manually operated in-order to maintain even texture in the output. In
this scutcher the fibre is further cleaned, to get rid of the impurities, dirt in it. The fibre output
is in the form of a thin ‘blanket’ which is also known as ‘lap’ which has an even texture. Thus
the blow-room process ends with the fibre output in the form of ‘blanket’. Thus the output is
transformed to next level of processing called carding.
3.1.2 Carding
This process is done by a machine called ‘card’, where the fibres are separated and the
texture is reduced to its maximum. The output is unlike to the output of blowroom, it
resembles an untwisted rope structure. Thus the blanket like structure is converted to
untwisted rope in this process. Then the output is taken to drawing process.
K0961097 BOM 505 Page 7 of 19
Figure 4: Process Involved in Spinning Mill - Source Designed by Author
3.1.3 Drawing
This process is carried out using a machine named ‘draw frames’. The frame in this
machine further straightens the fibre. The output from various cards are combined here in-
order to obtain a more uniform product. The combining the outputs of cards is known as
‘doubling the rope’. A process called combing is done before drawing in-order to get a high
quality output by removing the short length fibres. The output of this drawing is a loose rope
with untwisted structured.
3.1.4 Ring Frames
Here the untwisted rope is attenuated in three stages. The attenuation is done to
reduce weight per unit length. The weight is reduced in all three stages gradually. The output
from the first attenuation of is known as the ‘slubbing’, the output from the second
attenuation is known as ‘inter-mediate’ and the output from the last stage of attenuation is
known as ‘roving’.
K0961097 BOM 505 Page 8 of 19
3.1.5 Winding/Spinning
Winding or Spinning is the last process in the production of yarn. The spinning
methodology followed in the firm was ring spinning. The attenuated rope of fibre is given a
thread’s strength by twisting it. The twisted yarn is the finished product of a spinning mill.
This finished product is further twisted with another finished product of same kind to produce
a thicker yarn. The thickness of the yarn changes with respect to the customer’s requirement.
This process of increasing the thickness of the product is known as ‘doubling’. Thus the
manufacturing process in a spinning mill is explained in detail.
4. The 4 V’s Analysis
The 4V’s analysis is done with respect to the production process and textile industry in
which the company operates. The V’s are Volume, Variety, Variation in Demand and
Visibility (Slack N 2010, p.19).
Figure 3: 4V's Analysis of Mass Production (Operation) and Demand in the market.
High Volume: The company produces high volume of goods (yarn), which is mainly due to
the mass production process and customer requirements. This denotes the repeatability of the
same process and a systemised procedure. Systemisation is nothing but setting rules by
specifying how each part of the process/job should be done. This contributes to low unit
costs.
Medium Variety: Medium variety of product is found because the company deals only with
the textile industry. The product from the company is yarn, the thickness (evenness), weight K0961097 BOM 505 Page 9 of 19
and length of the yarn alone varies where the product is the same yarn. The production is
systemised as per the variety of the products. Hence it is known that the system is flexible to
limited extent for the thickness.
Minimum Variation in Demand: The product from company is mainly used for stitching
purpose in garments. The industry mainly depends on the textile market demand, where the
demand varies with respect to the summer and winter season. However the overall demand is
almost same throughout the year The variation in demand is medium as it is a predictable
market and product is also manufactured in large volumes. The manufacturing is scheduled
and routine work is done with the help demand forecast. This shows that the resources are
highly utilized and the unit’s cost is low.
Minimum Visibility: The visibility of production process is medium, as the company mainly
deals with the manufacturing process. Minimum contact with the customers after the order is
placed, most of the customers are industries which produce garments. They knew about the
product they get from the company, however the methods and technique of producing the
product with low production costs are not revealed. Because they could manufacture their
own yarn by setting up a manufacturing unit in a long run.
5. Operations Performance Objectives
The performance objectives of the firm is analysed with the help of Slack at al model.
This model gives the internal and external effects of the firm with respect to factors such as
speed, cost, dependability, quality and flexibility. All the factors above mentioned are related
to the mass production process carried out in the company. The company has made a lot of
internal changes in recent years, to be in-line with the competitors and textile market for yarn.
This internal changes has an positive impact on the company’s overall performance. The
quality (thickness, weight and length) of yarn has met the customer’s expectation. There are
different thickness, lengths and weight levels for the types of yarn which are manufactured,
this will be discussed in the Quality section later. The internal effects are low wastes, reduced
costs, effective and efficient manufacturing techniques and also reduced rework on the
product. This good quality also makes the customers to depend on the company for the goods
manufactured. Thus it has a good external effect. The process of converting a fibre into yarn
is one of the difficult to deal with. Yarn is produced by processing a raw fibre through
K0961097 BOM 505 Page 10 of 19
various stages, all the stages are carried out in-phase (same speed), which ensures reduced
inventories from one stage to another. Output of one process acts as input to another process
in manufacturing yarn. Speed also reduces risk, as the company operates with the forecast of
demand in the market. The company mostly tries to get raw materials (fibre) at a very low
price, when available in the market and then coverts it into yarn in bulk. High total
productivity and low cost raw material ensures that the company incurs profit (high margin).
Figure 4: Five Performances Objectives Frame work of Slack et al for Mass Production Process.
Above given figure 4 is a diagrammatic representation of Slack et al’s frame work (Slack
N 2010, p.52) for the mass production process of the company. The firm manufactures
limited variety of yarn, this is followed in-order to have the flexibility to change between the
product varieties as and when required. Having limited variety ensures manufacturing large
volume of goods and delivering them in time to the customers. The customers depend on the
company, as the company delivers good quality product without defaulting the delivery time
through reliable process. Thus is has obtained a long term contracts with many customers.
This on the whole ensures that the company has loyal customers and makes profit.
K0961097 BOM 505 Page 11 of 19
6. Design Process
Design is done to conceive the looks, arrangements and working of anything before it is
created. In simple words design happens before any creation. Designing activity involves the
understanding of the objectives. When the objectives are clear enough, the designing process
is done (Slack N 2010, p.86).
Figure 5: Product and Process Design
From the Figure 5 it is clear that process designing and product designing are
interrelated to each other. The product design has impact on the process design and the vice-
versa in any sector. This helps in determining, whether a good quality product is obtained
from the process. The process design is done to make sure that the performance of the
process leads to good quality in products. Product with bad quality is obtained when
designing of a particular product is done without the consideration of process involved in it.
Designing is done order to achieve quality in the product and cost controlling, reduced waste,
dependability, flexibility, and speed in the process. Spinning mills are designed in such a way
that the resources utilised to its maximum order to obtain good quality of products. The types
of process are project process, jobbing process, batch process and mass process. Both product
and process design overlap with each other to a great extent, as the product (outcome) mainly
depends on the arrangement of the machines in the production bay. Moreover the unfinished
product is fed into various machines for further processing to obtain the product (yarn). From
the above given it is clear that both these designs are bonded together in a production. When
the process design is altered, will have an negative impact in the quality of the product and
would damage the performance of the firm.
K0961097 BOM 505 Page 12 of 19
Mass Production Process: The goods are produced in high volume with low variety when
compared to the intermittent production process. However the volume is relatively low and
variety is relatively high, when compared to continuous production process. The
machinery/equipments used may vary with respect to the production standards and
requirements. The sequential use of all the machines leads to the output. This process is
inflexible with highly predictable flow of the product.
Figure 6: Mass Production In between Intermittent and Continuous Process.
The Figure 6 shows the variations in variety and volume with respect to mass production
process. Low variety and high volume of products of produced in such type of process.
7. Need for Technology
Technology is inevitable in the manufacturing process of the company. The application of
technology to the manufacturing department is in practice for centuries. With the industrial
revolution, the technology has improved a lot and transformed the processes in an
organisation. In today’s competitive world, technology plays a vital role in each and every
individual or organisation enhancement (Slack N 2010, p.208). The spinning mill uses
conveyor belts to transport the sliver-cans which contains the unfinished goods, from one
machine to another for further processing. This conveyor belt is constantly monitored by a
worker for proper functioning. When there is a malfunction in the conveyor belt the entire
K0961097 BOM 505 Page 13 of 19
production rate goes down, which in turn affects the efficiency of the production process.
Automated machines can be used transport the sliver-cans which is a combination of
computing control and machine technology. They are flexible and more productive in nature.
Similarly in yarn storage, the products are labelled manually by the workers. In the case of
wrong labelling, the goods are stored in different storage unit and leads to delivery issues. An
automated labelling device which uses bar codes for identification and tracking can be used
in-order to enhance the handling process. This tracking facility helps in locating a particular
good inside the store. All the communications among the workers in the production bay is
through intercoms. This can be converted to wireless network which operates in a minimum
range, improves the communication standards and efficiency of the workers. Technology
gives benefits such as consistency in the manufacturing process, cleaner environment to work
and opportunity to engage customers in manufacturing for their feedback.
8. Quality
As said by Slack, N. quality is ‘consistent conformance to customer’s expectations’
(Slack N 2010, p.498). The word ‘conformance’ insists that there is a need to meet product
specification which satisfies the customers. It is visible from the current situation, that the
high-quality goods of a company increases the competitive edge of the company. It also
reduces the rework and waste as mentioned earlier. This implies that it uses specific standard
which satisfies the customer expectation level. The thickness of the yarn is in micrometers,
which is 0.001 millimeters. A thread or strand of yarn is known as ends and the number of
ends that make an yarn is called the ply. There are different plies in yarn. The yarn produced
by the company are 2 ply, 4 ply, 8 ply and 12ply. The length of the yarn varies with respect to
the customer requirement (type of ply among the above mentioned). Normally the length of 2
ply yarn varies from 550 meter to 750 meter per 100grams, where as the length of 4 ply is
between 270 m to 400 m per 100gms, 8 ply yarn’s length varies from 250m to 300m per
100gms and the length of 12 ply yarn is between 110m to 140m per 100gms. The weight and
the length of the yarn is measured with respect to the ply of it. Whilst the evenness of the
yarn of the yarn is also checked for quality purpose. This in particular it favours the survival
of the company in the market and in seeking a better organizational structure (Russell, p.80).
This is a never ending process in a manufacturing company like spinning mill. The product is
K0961097 BOM 505 Page 14 of 19
often selected periodically from every scheduled jobs and cross checked for quality. this is
done with the help of thickness, length measuring device and weighing device.
Quality Management
This is a set of processes which focuses on the quality. The processes involved are
inspection, quality control, quality assurance and Total Quality Management. The inspection
of the product is done by randomly selection/grading/sorting process. The results of the
inspection in then compared with the product specification documents and control charts. The
next step is the quality assurance where the factors such as costs of quality, process control
and query methodology are considered. Costs of quality depends on the appraisal and
prevention method. The prevention method considers the audit done for quality, training, data
acquisition – report and analysis, the cost spend on the quality.
Figure 7: Point of Zero Defect – Source Report from the Company
Initially when the company started its production process, the products manufactured
didn’t meet the customer needs and the company was forced to rectify the defects. The
rectifying costs were found to be higher than the production costs. Hence the company
decided to train its employees on using the machines efficiently and effectively. Employee
wages, electricity (power) charges consumed by the machines, raw material costs were
included in the training and production costs. The point of intersection of rectifying and
training-production costs in Figure 7 was used to determine the quality cost with respect to
K0961097 BOM 505 Page 15 of 19
production. The zero defect costs was not same throughout, because of the hike in the
electricity charges made by the Government and the varied training costs and raw material
costs. Hence the quality cost with zero defect is found to be slightly higher than the point of
intersection in the Figure 7. This method in Figure 7 was used by the firm to find its total cost
of quality. The last process is the total quality management (Russell, p.86), this is done by the
company to obtain ISO 9001:2000 certification. This TQM is a continuous and repeated
process by which the company can hold its certification. Normally the certification process
involves the inspection by the authorities from ISO. This is done periodically 3 years or years
which varies with respect to the industry.
9. Benchmarking
The process of comparing one’s own performance against other company’s performance
is known as bench marking. This also includes investigating other company’s practices in
achieving the targets, which could contribute to the performance improvement of the
company. The types of bench marking are Internal, External, Competitive and Non-
competitive (Slack N 2010, p.395).
Internal Benchmarking
This is nothing but the comparison between operations at different level with in the
same organisation. In the spinning mill, the production rate of different machines in the bay is
compared in order to maintain the same level production rate. The storage capacities of
different stores of same size are compared, for maintaining the same number of product lots
in two different stores.
External Benchmarking
The operations at same level or different levels are compared, this is done in-order to
obtain equal performance level. The spinning mill compares its production rate per employee
with another company’s production rate per employee provided with same number of
employees. When found less, it investigated the practices followed and adopted them to
increase the production rate per employee.
K0961097 BOM 505 Page 16 of 19
Competitive Benchmarking
It is a comparison between the competitors in the same market. The mill compared its
quality management with the competitor in the same market. This competitor produced goods
for the same customer for whom we manufactured goods
Non-Competitive Benchmarking
This type of benchmarking is done between companies in different market and which
don’t compete with each other. This type of benchmarking is not seen in the spinning mill in
which I worked.
10. Logistics
It is nothing but changing the possession of the product. This mainly deals with the
material handling in the spinning mill. Raw materials, unfinished goods and finished are
transported in and around the company for various processes. The raw materials are brought
in bales with the help of the trucks. These bales are unloaded from the truck and stored for
processing purpose. They are unloaded with the help of bale trolleys and forklift trucks which
are operated manually. When scheduled for manufacturing, the bales are removed and
manually fed into the blowroom for processing. The output from the blowroom is transported
to the carding process with the help of the automated machines. The outputs from various
carding machines are transported with the help of conveyor belts and at times manually (by
workers). The unfinished product is then routed to drawing process and winding process
through the automated machines. The produced yarn is winded over a bobbin or cone which
is measured in terms of kilograms and packed for dispatch process. The packed product is
moved to the storage/ware house until it is delivered to the customer.
11. Recommendations
The company mainly operates with mass production process in three different shifts every
day, it can implement new automated machines to transport the unfinished goods to the next
machine for further processing. This increases the efficiency and saves time in inventory
handling. The company manufactures limited variety of yarn and may lead to have less
contracts for making yarn in the future. This can be avoided by fitting latest technology
machines which helps in shifting between the varieties of yarn and also increases the K0961097 BOM 505 Page 17 of 19
production performance. Shifting between varieties in the product also helps them to operate
for just in time demands. As said earlier the labelling for the finished goods is done manually,
which uses more labour force and some mistakes in this leads to wrong delivery. This can be
rectified by having electronic labelling system with bar codes, which also helps us in tracking
the inventory location in the dispatch store or ware house. They forecast the future demand of
product for short term of 1 year, this should be changed to minimum of 3 years in-order to
compete in the future market. Quality management is at its best in the company, however the
devices used have old technology in them. Instead they can use latest technology in quality
measurement, which gives more accurate results. The company must reduce the labour force
used in manufacturing process, by having a fully automated system which enhances the
production performance. For this the company’s higher official must visit a foreign firm
which operates in the same field and involve in knowledge transfer process. The company
can fix new machines by getting funds from the government, subsidy is given in-order to
improve the company internally. Which in turn brings benefits for the it, when maximum
utilised. The installation of such machines will reduce the production costs further and will
increase the profit margin. As said earlier in need for technology, the company can
implement the use of wireless system for communication between the workers, which
improves the performance and communication skills. It can follow non-competitive
benchmarking which enhances the company to develop in all the processes like employee
management and a lot more. The above given are some of the recommendations which
enhances the survival scope of the company in future.
K0961097 BOM 505 Page 18 of 19
References
1. Slack, N., Chambers, S., Johnston, R. (2010) Operations Management. 6th ed. England, Pitman Publishing.
2. Russell, Roberta S. and Taylor III, Bernard W. (2006) Operations Management – Quality and Competitiveness In A Global Environment. 5th ed. John Wiley & Sons.
K0961097 BOM 505 Page 19 of 19