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Master of Business Administratot- MBA Semester 2

MB0044 Production and Operation Management

Assignment Set- 1

Q 1- State the important considerations for locating an automobile plant ?

Ans. Planning is the most important function of management , especially, when we have to deal

with lands, buildings, and machineries are costly and once fixed cannot be moved easily

planning , therefore , require a lot of thought data gathering and estimate for the future.

In this section we study in detail about the factors influencing plant location are listed below.

General Factor

Availability of lands

Availability of input

Closeness to market places

Communication to market places

Communication facilities

Infrastructure

Transport

Government support

Housing and recreation

Special factors

The special factors that influence the plant location are :

Economic stabilityoutside investments

Cultural factor

Wages

Joint venturesupport of big time players

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Rating method

In case of general factor of general factor or special factor each factor has it own importance in

determining the location of a plant therefor ranking them and giving weightage for them is oneof the way of determining the location .

The method which determining the most likely location are :

Rating plan method

Factor rating method

Point rating method

Break even analysis

Centre of gravity method

The score or point for each location for each factor consider can be a raw score on an arbitrary

scale for example 0 to 100. Here the analyst or the decision maker allots the score based on

perception. The number of factor considered varies on the type of industry and also the relevant

factor based on the location. On the other hand the score can also be weighted. This is due to the

fact that the factor considered may have their own relative importance expressed as percentage

weight. Then the weight score is calculated by multiplying the raw score by the corresponding

facto weight. The location with the highest total will be the final choice.

Q2. Explain essentials of Project Management Philosophy ?

Ans. Project management is all about the mindset.

Characteristic of Project mindset

1. Time: It is an important parameter in framing the right mindset. It is possible to improvethe pace of the project by reducing the time frame of the process. The mindset is

normally to work out a comfort mode by the stretching the time limits.

2. Responsiveness: Responsiveness refer to quickness of response of an individual. Thevibrancy and liveliness of an individual or an organisation are proportional to itscapabilities respond to evolving process and structure.

3. Information Sharing : Information is power. Information is master key for todaybusiness . Information sharing is an important characteristic of the project mindset today

. A seamless flow of information is the key to build a healthy mindset among various

stakeholders in project .

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4. Process : Project mindset lays emphasis on flexible processes. The major difference in aprocess and a system is in its capability of providing flexibility to different situational

encounter. Flexible process greater capability of adaptability .

5. Structured Planning : Structured planning based on project management lifecycleenable one to easily and conveniently work according to the plan. Its is also enable

efficient use of project resource and prioritisation of the activity based on resourse

planning .

Hence having a right mindset and flexible processes in place is very important for sound project

management .

Q3. Several different strategies have been employed to assist in aggregate planning.

Explain these in brief?

Ans: Several different strategic have been employed to assist in aggregate planning . The

strategic are divided into two group namely pure strategiesand mixed strategies. The pure

strategies involve taking up only one type of approach and the production is obtained when only

one of the decision variable Is permitted to vary while all others are held constant.

Pure Strategies:-

There are three focused or pure strategies are

Vary production to match demand by changes in employment. Produce at a constant rate and use inventories. Produce with stable workforce but vary the utilization rate.

Level production Strategy :-In this case, the production output is held constant irrespective of

the changes in demand from period to period. Usually, the average demand is taken as the

constant output. When the demand exceeds the average output, in some months there is shortage

and when the output is above the average there is surplus and build-up of inventory. However,

wherever possible excess output can be used to accumulate inventory and that inventory is

maintained. In case of shortages, some back order could be allowed under a level production, or

inventory strategy.

Chase demand Strategy:In this strategy the production output is increased or decreased

according the demand. This is possible if workers are added or removed to vary the input

capacity. It also means that if the system is dominantly automated then it will be either under or

over-utilised as the as the situation demands.Some overtime or subcontracting might also be

used, but no inventories would be accumulated.

Stable work-force Strategy:- In this strategy the work force is maintained at the same level on

regular time. Production output is varied either by overtime or by building up inventory.

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However, if the demand falls then the production output is decreased and some workers may

become idle. Thus using overtime and idle time to meet demand wold be stable work- force

strategy.

Mixed Strategies:- In mixed strategies, the aggregate planner has a wide variety of choices by

mixing to or more strategy. The number of mixed strategies in alternative production plans isalmost limitless. However, based on the realities of the situations, the number of practical

solutions is limited. These can be evaluated on a trail-and-error basis to find which plan best

satisfies the requirement taking cost employment policies etc. into account .

Mathematical Planning Models :-Mathematical models attempt to refine or improve upon the

trail-and-error approaches. However, the solution generated may not be feasible and need to be

refined. A popular technique is the application of transportation algorithm which is a special case

of the linear-programming model. It views the aggregate planning problem as the linear-

programming model. It views the aggregated planning problem as the problem of allocating

capacity to meet the forecast requirement where supply consists of the inventory on hand andunits that can be produced using regular time , over time and subcontracting etc.

Q4. Illustrate the different methods by which quality is sought to be achieved using various

tools and techniques?

Ans: Quality control techniques are specific and procedures adopted using data, foe determining

a particular aspect of quality to arrive at decisions which are conclusive. Each technique

developed and tested by senior personnel or consultants will be simple enough to be understood ,

implemented and interpreted by the personnel for their immediate use. Some of the quality

control technique are :

1. Quality at the source.2. Quality control tools .3. Acceptance sampling .

Quality at the source

The concept of quality makes the production worker responsible for inspecting his /her own

work and for taking corrective actions . since inspection is done immediately after a job is done ,

finding the cause of the error with clarity aids in faster rectification.

Quality control tools

The most popular and widely used tools are called as 7 QC tools. These includes the following

Flow chart Check sheet

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Histogram Pareto analysis Scatter diagram Control chart

Cause and effect diagram

1.Flow Chart ;- flow chart is a visual representation of a process showing the various steps. It

helps in locating the points at which a problem exists or an improvement is possible. Detailed

data can be collected, analysed, and methods for correction can be developed using flow charts.

The various steps includes

Listing out the various steps or activities in particular job. Classifying them as a procedure or a decision.

2.Check sheet:- are used to record the number defects, types of defects, locations at which theyare occurring , times at which they are occurring, and workmen by whom they are occurring .

The sheet keeps a record of the frequencies of occurrence with reference to possible defect

causing parameters. It helps to implement a corrective procedure at the point where the

frequencies are more.

3.Histogram :-are graphically representations of distribution of data. They are generally used to

record huge volumes of data about a process. They reveal whether the pattern of distribution has

single peak, or many peaks and also the extent of variation around the peak value. This helps in

identifying whether the problem is serious. The various types of visual patterns have been

established along with relevant interpretations which helps us to identify the problem.

4.Pareto Analysis:- is a tool for classifying problem areas according to the degree of

importance and attending to the most importance and attending to the most important ones.

Pareto principles verbally stated as vital few; trivial many is also called 80-20 rule because is

to observe that 80% of the problem that we encounter arise out of 20% of items.

5. Scatter diagram:-Scatter diagram is used when we have two variable and want to know the

degree of relationship between them .We can determine if there is a relationship between the

variable and also the degree of extend over a range of value of the variable.

6. Control chart:- control chart are used to verify whether a process is under statical control .

This means the process is subject to variation duo to assignable causes. Variable when they

remain with in a range will render the desired quality in the product and maintained the

specification . This called the quality of conformance.

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Q5. Explain the basic competitive priorities considered while formulating operations

strategy by a firm?

Ans- Operation strategy reflect the longterm goal of an organization in its corporate strategy.

To achieve good result a clear understanding of the operating advantage and a good crossfunctional area of marketing , production , finance and human resourse department are required.perations strategy advantages depends on its processes and competitive priorities considered

while establishing thecapabilities. The basic competitive priorities are:

1. COST: Cost is one of the primary considerations while marketing a product or a service.Being a low cost producer, accepted by the customer offers sustainability and can

outperform competitors. Lower prices and better quality of a product will ensure higher

demand and higher profitability.

2. Quality: Quality is defined by the customer. The operation manager looks into twoimportant aspects namely high performance design and consistent quality. High

performance design includes superior features, greater durability, conveniences to

services etc

3. Time: Faster delivery time, on time delivery, and speedy development cycle are the timefactors that Operations strategy looks into. Faster delivery time is the time elapsed

between the customer order and delivery. On time delivery is the frequency with which

the product is delivered on time.

4. Flexibility : Flexibility is the ability to provide a wide variety of products, and itmeasures how fast the manufacturers can its process line used for one product to produce

another product after making the required changes. The two types of flexibility are

Customizations. Volume flexibility.

Q6. Explain briefly the four classification of scheduling strategies?

Ans: Scheduling strategies differs from organization to organizing as it depends on the

quantum of production, size and type of production, companys policy,priorities, etc. most of

these strategy are concerned with the job shop production since the problem encounter is

more than one produced in the same plant.

Following are the classification

1. Detailed SchedulingAll job orders from customer are scheduled to the last details thismay not be practical in case disruptions are there in production line machine breakdown,

absenteeism, etc

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2. Cumulative schedulingThe customer order are pooled to from a cumulative work loadand then matched with the capacity. The work load is then allocated in such a way that

immediate periods get allocated to maximum capacity.

3. Cumulative-detailed combinationThis combines both the earlier strategies of firm andflexible nature of work load. Cumulative work load projection can be used to plan for

capacity as needed. As changes happen during the week, the materials and capacity

requirements are updated . The actual time allocated to the specified at the each work

centre is as per the standard hours needed. This is turned further with the requirement of

the master schedule .

4. Priority decision rules- When a set of order are to be executed, the question of prioritizingarises. These priority decision rules are scheduling guidelines used independently or in

conjunction with any one of the above three strategic .