The objective of this report is to provide recommendation to a firm in the context of introducing new product range in target market with an aim to earn desired profit and growth. In this regard it would be more beneficial for firm to analyze their operational activities and practices.
- Critically evaluate the effectiveness of operations management in Hotpoint Electric Heating Company.
- Provide an application of continuous improvement concept in operational context of Hotpoint Electric Heating Company.
- Discuss the application of Project life cycle for Hotpoint Electric Heating Company.
- Analyze and review the application of PLC for the project of Hotpoint Electric Heating Company.
INTRODUCTION
Operation management is an area which is focused on design, controlling and production as well as redesigning of the business operations within an organization for manufacturing process of the goods and services. It is majorly used to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of planning with activities which made a significant impact on the business process of the organization. In this report Hotpoint Electric Heating Company that is also refers as Hotpoint is an electric appliances company which was originated in the United States in the year, 1911. It offers a large range of fridges, freezers, electric cookers, washing machine and so on but not the television. So now it is launching a 58 inches television and stadium screen in the market. The report covers six sigma, continues improvement plan, product life cycle, etc (Antonio, Martins and Ramos, 2012).
TASK 1
P1 Conduct a review and critique of the implementation of operations management principles
Operation management can be refer as production management cause it includes all the phases which requires to develop a product or services. It includes plan and design, installation of system components, installation integration and configuration, validation, testing ad security system and roll out the final product. There are some necessary states which needed to improve things and procedure to attain the higher efficiency. There are ten principles of operational management which needed to followed by the every organization even by Hotpoint also which is introducing a television in the market but it needed to concentrated on the core operational management principles, such as -
- Reality – operational management should concentrated on the problem instead of the techniques because there is no specific universal solution for a problem. Every problem is different and that needed to solved by the distinct tools. The Hotpoint should focus on the reality of the problem not on the techniques cause they might be changed with the problem.
- Organization – There are several processes for manufacturing and they all are interconnected. All elements are predetermine and consistent to attain a similar outputs in order to generate profits. The Hotpoint need to follow a systematic sequence to produce TV and stadium screen.
- Fundamentals – The Hotpoint should adhere with its rules to maintain the records and disciplines (Beringer, Jonas and Kock, 2013).
- Accountability – If the Hotpoint meet to desired goal then the managers are expected to set the rules and metrics, and define responsibilities of their subordinates to check that they are putting the efforts to attain the target.
- Variance – The Hotpoint should encourage variance of processes because if they managed well then it can be source of innovation (Blomquist and et. al., 2010).
- Causality – Causality defines problem as symptoms because if there is a problem then it can attack again and the same situation will appear again.
- Managed passion – If the employees of the Hotpoint have a passion to work then only the company will grow and the mangers need to motivate them in such a enthusiastic way that can increase their zeal to work.
- Humility – Hotpoint's managers can take the help to avoid the costly trials and loads of errors that can increase the cost and time of development process. They should acknowledge their limitations with a phrase which said 'get help and move on'.
- Success – Success is to keep customers happy , if they are happy then all the above principles revised again. The Hotpoint should always focused on the end users then success will follow them spontaneously.
- Change – The Hotpoint should not stick at one point cause there are so many new changes in theories and solutions. So they should embrace the modification and manage to stay in the long run.
Six sigma methodology
Six sigma principles forces to change to occur systematically and it started as a problem solving approach to reduce the variation in a production and manufacturing environment. It is a systematic approach to eliminate the errors and that is fruitful to improve the quality of the products and by using the statistical methods. The Hotpoint can use Six Sigma methodology in order to reduce the defects in development phase of television. It can accomplishes its goals by using two Six Sigma methods: DMAIC and DMADV (Brauers and Zavadskas, 2010).
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Six sigma DMAIC
The Six Sigma DMAIC is used to improve the existing process and its acronym stands for :
- Define the problem and desired outcome.
- Measure the ability of the process.
- Analyse the data and identify the root cause of variations (defects).
- Improve or modify the processes so that fewer variations (defects) are produced.
- Control the process. Prevent and correct variations before error occur in the result.
Six Sigma DMADV
Six Sigma DMADV is used to design a new process, its acronym stands as:
- Define design standards that are align with the product or process goals.
- Measure and identify the characteristics of the product or process that are critical to the quality.
- Analyse the data and recognize the possible sources of errors.
- Design alteration that will terminate the sources of defects.
- Verify that the design is applicable to meet the requirements (Fernández and Rodríguez, 2010).
Six sigma principles
The six sigma is based on five principles that are mentioned below :
- focusing on customer needs.
- Using extensive measurement and statistical analysis to understand how work gets done and to identify the root cause of the problem.
- Being proactive in abolish variations and continuous improvement in process.
- Involving people in six sigma cross functional teams.