Operations Management -Assignment .

MBA , Roll # 1049, Manish Kaushik Dalal, BE, MCIPS( UK ), CMILT

Operations Management

Questions:
1. Why is operations management important in CDS?
2. Draw a 4Vs profile for the company's products/services.
3. What would you recommend to the company if you were asked to advise on
improving its operations?

Question 1: Why is operations management important in CDS?

In general, Concept Design Services (CDS)is complete and includes everything from
helping to select the correct product for your needs. From the case, it would seem to
me that CDS emphasizes on the importance of product development (design value)
as a result of a distribution service which is tailored to customer's needs.Therefore, it
would appear that they highlights the significance of the product improvement and
the customer satisfaction.

With regarding the operations management is the activity of managing the resources
which are devoted to the production and delivery of products and service. Thus, it
would be clear that operations management is significant in CDS because all the
activities of operations management can improve the processes, products and
services in term of customer satisfaction that is the aims of CDS.

14 January 2010 23:45

Donya Kopolrat said...

As the article present, unpredictable demands from the customers are inevitable
which a company has faced. In my view, the company should survey and collect data
regarding the requirements of customers before planning, designing and
manufacturing. This solution may help the company accurately predict the demand
of customers. This means that consequences of accurate demands of customer
directly affect customer satisfaction because correct calculation of customer
 Operations Management -Assignment .
MBA , Roll # 1049, Manish Kaushik Dalal, BE, MCIPS( UK ), CMILT

requirements can reduce out-of-stock. Hence, customers will be happy to receive the
right products that they exactly want to buy. This solution may have benefits for the
company since the company can maintain their customers.

15 January 2010 00:00

Harry Ogeto said...

In contributing to question 2 where Rad states the Volume was low, i fail to agree
because there volumes went high as a result of low unit costs that they were able to
maintain as a result of subcontracting focus products to smaller moulding companies
enabling them to focus on core activities making there tasks more systematized;
hence increasing productivity since specialization came into play.

15 January 2010 12:08

Rad said...

Regarding as question 1, in my opinion, operations management plays an important

role in CDS is because CDS replace new moulding equipments and decrease the
requiring time for changing product lines and increase the productivity than before.
Moreover, the distribution service also provides a planning system from forecast
input to finished goods shipping to help CDS to meet customer demand. These
operation adjustments help CDS to enhance its competitiveness and provide a
variation for better services.

15 January 2010 13:33

Afshin Mansouri said...

 Operations Management -Assignment .
MBA , Roll # 1049, Manish Kaushik Dalal, BE, MCIPS( UK ), CMILT

Picking up on Phailin and Rad's comments on the importance of OM for CDS, I would
like to emphasize that there are three basic operations in the company: design,
manufacturing and distribution. You may consider this classification to highlight how
each of these operations can contribute to company's business objectives to enhance
customer service, reduce cost, improve efficiency, etc.

I feel that Rad's comment on 4V classification is correct, if restricted to the

Partnership products. However, Harry is also right in his disagreement on the volume
dimension when he refers to the Focus products. Please note that besides these two
categories, there is a third group of products (Concept products) which might have a
different pattern. Any idea on 4V profile of this later category?

Donya, you point to an important issue on the importance of accurate customer

demand to improve operations. However, in order to increase accuracy of demand
forecast, the company need to invest on its marketing, CRM, etc. To what level this
investment can be justified? There should be a trade-off on extra investment to
improve accuracy of data.

There are other areas of improvement that can be recommended to CDS. Any ideas
on this?

Thanks for collective contribution of all group! Keep posting your comments!

15 January 2010 14:42

Harry Ogeto said...

In regard to question 3 and how the company could improve its operations, i do
think they could this better if they stuck to what they know best which is plastic
moulding and specialized in it, this makes standardization speed up production
processes for them as well as reduces unit costs.
In terms of operations, i do believe if they were to separate partnership operations
from other activities, though the main decisions do still come from one central
operational body, it would work to their advantage. This is because by offering first
 Operations Management -Assignment .
MBA , Roll # 1049, Manish Kaushik Dalal, BE, MCIPS( UK ), CMILT

priority to designers, it caused delays and friction within the firm as well as to
waiting customers.
Close coordination by all aspects from product testing to scheduling and forecasting,
will enable unit costs to be lowered since waste reduction will be minimal as well as
offer relevant feedback to designers. This will enable them to know what feedback
marketers are getting in regards to there products, whats being em brassed and
whats not.
The company seems to be gaining more from a narrow client el that have heavy
based accounts, thats why separating operations shall enable more concentration to
be placed on them to ensure their retainment is guaranteed as well as show them
that they are being prioritized, for some can easily change their ming where
operations are visible and not to their satisfaction.
Where as for normal day to day orders and activities another part can be set up to
cater with these orders enabling flexibility and speeding of requests that may range
from color changes that seem to be taking longer, therefore dealing with a wider
variety of clients who may not have weighty orders enabling both types of client
need to be dealt with.

15 January 2010 15:12