Lean Manufacturing and Service Delivery-Myassignementhelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Lean Manufacturing and Service Delivery Philosophy. Answer: Introduction Lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy has been adopted and implemented in many different and diverse business sectors. Business organizations are accompanied with various process systems which are designed with a view to achieve set objectives and goals in determined approach. This report consists of lean manufacturing and services which are adopted in an organization with a view to increase the overall production level, efficiencies of business by reducing the overall cost involved in the business process. The Lean manufacturing and service delivery is a way to take efficient decision in business organizations which reduce the overall cost of productions and increase the effectiveness of business functioning (Zhang Polychronakis, 2012). This report provides study on the Lean manufacturing and service delivery and its rational, evaluation and future in reducing the overall cost of productions in the business functioning. Wesfarmers has been taken with a view to determin e the use of Lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy in the business functioning and reducing the wastage and unnecessary cost included in value chain activities of organizations. This report is divided into various parts which are used to reflect the core aspects of Lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy in the value chain activities of Wesfarmers. After that, key focus has been made on drawing critical analysis on how Wesfarmers could use Lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy to reduce the overall cost of process design which can be beneficial for the organizations not only in reducing cost but as well as in improving clients service level. However, this Lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy is used by large multinational organizations with a view to increase their production level and efficiency of their business. This Lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy is firstly developed by Toyota Company by implementing this pro cess system in its business process to improve the existing value chain activities and efficiency of business (Bhasin, 2015). Brief description of Organization Wesfarmers Ltd is an international retail business organization of supermarket industry which has been providing products and services to clients for their better satisfactions. It is considered that being a conglomerate company in Australia Company has been delivering chemicals, fertilisers, coal mining and industrial and safety products. The CEO of company is Richard Goyder. The employees strength of Wesfarmers Ltd is 2, 20,000 who made their efforts to earn revenue of AUD $ 65.89 billion in 2016. In addition to this, Wesfarmers plc has total assets of 40.78billion which is deployed in the business functioning of organizations. For any enterprising firm, the competitive advantage may stem from any of the host function it performs. Lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy could be used by Wesfarmers Ltd to create core competency in its business functioning. In other words, each of these functions is the sources of generating this much desired and valued competitive advanta ge and edge over others in the industry. Wesfarmers has indulged in creating core competency by reducing overall cost of capital and increasing the overall production of organizations. Critical evaluation of Lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy in Wesfarmers Ltd It is evaluated that Lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy is an essential process system which is used by organizations to reduce the complexity in the business and reducing the business burden in determined approach. After evaluating the process system of Wesfarmers ltd it is observed that organization is more inclined towards speeding up the production cycle of organizations and by removing the waste form the system and simplifying the method of value chain activities. Wesfarmers production system is divided into two parts starting with buying products from the manufacturers and second is related to providing services and goods to clients in the market through its supermarket chain (Stevenson, 2009). However, there are several drawbacks and waste the value chain activities which are faced by organization in its production process such as over waste, waiting, transportation, inventory, motion and over- processing, defective units. Therefore, Lean manufacturing and serv ice delivery philosophy helps organizations to eliminate these forms of waste and over- processing, defective units (Andrs-Lpez, Gonzlez-Requena, and Sanz-Lobera, 2015). However, in order to achieve Lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy in value chain activities, Wesfarmers Ltd has to perform these following activities (Gattorna, 2015). Reduce the set up timeframe for particular action plan: Wesfarmers Ltd has to reduce the time involved in its inbound and outbound activities. Company could use charts, training development program and other set procedure. These set procedures are implemented with a view to reduce the wastage time and eliminate the set up times in particular functions of organizations (Jones, Comfort and Hillier, 2014). Elimination of small lot of production Lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy helps organizations to eliminate these forms of waste and over- processing, defective units. It will help organizations to avoid small level of production and increase the speed of machinery, larger inventories and high lead times and reducing the possible cost involved (Waters, 2013). Employee involvement and Empowerment Wesfarmers Ltd needs to arrange its workers in set teams and line manager would be appointed in each and every team department to perform specialized tasks. After that, as per the Lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy a proper mechanism will be performed with a view to eliminate the possible cost and time involved in particular working system (Albino et al. 2016). Quality at the source Wesfarmers Ltd has to mitigate all of defects and problems immediately with a view to increase the overall quality of products and services offered by it in the market. It is evaluated that company should consider the quality of products if it wants to follow effective level of lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy in its business process system (Bhamu and Singh Sangwan, 2014). Equipment maintenance Wesfarmers Plc has to hire some of the qualified employees who could handle equipment and machineries of the organizations when they get break down. It is evaluated that if company hire experienced employees who could solve the primary problems and machinery break down own their own, its production capabilities will increase (Fullerton, Kennedy and Widener, 2014) Management of inventories It is evaluated that for the efficient level of business functioning, company has to maintain minimum level of holding stocks and lead times to provide quality of goods and services to clients. Lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy will eliminate the excess level of blockage of stocks and increase the overall production level of business (Dora, et al. 2013). Suppliers involvement Wesfarmers Ltd need to indulge in the integration of strategic alliance with the suppliers with other organizations to establish effective level of supply chain. This chain will help organizations to maintain minimum level of stocks and consistent supply of raw material as whenever required (Sassanelli, et al. 2015).. Other acts and procedure There are following acts and procedure which could be used by organizations while adopting Lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy to increase to improve its business performance on domestic and international market such as elimination of waste, minimization of inventory level, create continuous improvement culture, pull production from customer demand, meet customer requirement and maximum the production flow by adopting new machineries and plants. In addition to this, company could also enter into strategic alliance with other partners if proper Lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy is adopted in its value chain activities (Hines et al., 1998). Barriers to adopt lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy in organizations It is evaluated that implementation of lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy could be a long process and; therefore, employees and management department of organizations needs to have proper level of time and liberty to adapt with new process system. However, at the time of implementing new lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy in organization, changes are needed to be incorporated in the process system and production of goods and services of organizations. These changes and shortcoming encountered during implementation of lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy could be described as barriers to adopt lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy. It could be argued that even with high setup cost lean production can still be highly beneficial for the organizations. Wesfarmers Plc could not only reduce the cost of production but also reduce the overall cost of capital involved in its business functioning by following lean manufacturing and ser vice delivery philosophy in process system. On the other hand, other barriers could be identified in Wesfarmerss organization barriers. Organizational culture is the shared habits, behavior, beliefs, mission, norms and symbols of employees working in organizations. There would be problem of culture change which consists of changes in values, belief, norms and perception of employees. If lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy is adopted in the organization then it will surely increase complexity and reduce the production process system of Wesfarmers Ltd for some period of time. These hurdles occur due to the rigidness of employees with the new changes and newly developed process system in organizations. Therefore, by the use of lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy, the company could reduce different types of wastes and achieve high quality, sustainability, profitability and competitiveness by reducing the overhead cost and unit production costs. This lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy would improve the customer loyalty. It is the most critical part to improve the business either on domestic or international level (Lian, and Van Landeghem, 2007). Competition is a universal social process that exists in all types of societys either civilized or uncivilized. Wesfarmers could use this lean manufacturing and service delivery Philosophy in its business functioning by making changes in its existing value chain activities. However, these changes would result into better satisfaction of clients in buying products and service or goods offered by the organizations (Dickson, et al. 2009). In addition to this, Wesfarmers could also develop competitive advantage in its process system by reducing overall cost and improving quality of products and services in market. Competitive is a superiority that gives an organization an edge over its rivals and ability to generate greater value for the firm and its shareholders. It occurs when an organization acquires or develops an attribute or combination of attributes that allows it to outperform its competitors. Lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy helps Wesfarmers to identify the was tage and productive process which are consuming time and capital of money and generating no amount of profit. Therefore, by adopting these lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy, company could eliminate all the possible charges and unnecessary cost. This lean manufacturing system will be helpful in determining to what extent company could reduce its overall cost of productions and time involved in production of particular level of units (Rahani and Al-Ashraf, 2012). The study suggested that a further research is necessary on the implementation of competitive advantages strategies. Since this research only considered the extent it is used by Wesfarmers Ltd and the factors influencing it. The study is over that marketing strategy, networks effects, strong research and development capabilities, cost leadership and redefining customer value to reduce the overall cost of productions of organizations. It was also over that being a low cost provider, user of technology, support of structure risk, service offered, an embedded customer base and innovation have at least more than moderate influence in the competitive advantage in development of effectiveness of business functioning. Technology is a major factor in competitive advantage with the industrial revolution. At the first, technology included industrial machinery, transportation technology, energy, and office equipment and consumer products. In the 20th century information technology and biotechnology emerged as major factors for the organization for reducing the wastage and by products from the business functions of organizations (Ruiz-de-Arbulo-Lopez, Fortuny-Santos and Cuatrecasas-Arbs, 2013). Creation of lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy in business process of Wesfarmers Ltd There are following process which could be implemented in order to create lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy in the business organizations system of organizations. Using of own highly developed technology and plans in the value chain activities of organizations. Wesfarmers Ltd could increase the production level by drawing the high level of products and services demand in the market. This could be done by implementing effective marketing strategies. Using good level of inputs and goods which provides low level of wastage and by products from the value chain activities (Yuan Polychronakis, 2012). Hiring of new employees and keep the standard level of goods and service. Implementation of proper strategic plans and procedure for mitigating the negative outcomes which occurred in past years of organizations. Benefits of implementing of lean manufacturing Benefits of implementing of lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy in process system (Bhasin and Burcher, 2006). It helps Wesfarmers to remove all kind of duplication and waste in the business functioning of organization. Centralization in strategies decisions making process and reduce the complexity in business process. It helps Wesfarmers Ltd to maintain, retain, increase production level of organizations and lower down the overall cost of production of organizations. Reduction in wastage and by products of company. Good clients and customer relation management. Increment in the customers satisfaction level (Polychronakis, 2007). Recommendation on how waste and by products of Wesfarmers has been managed by company. The value chain activities of organization are an arranged procedure to examine the development of competitive advantage in Wesfarmers Ltd. This helps organization to covert its raw material into finished goods to provide goods and services to clients. If Wesfarmers Ltd could adopt Lean manufacturing and service delivery Philosophy in its inbound logistics (Savino, Mazza and Marchetti, 2014). Inbound logistics Wesfarmers receives goods from the other suppliers and sell these goods to clients through its supermarket channels in market. Company could reduce wastage and by products by using effective level of vendor supply chain. It helps Wesfarmers Ltd to reduce the overall cost involved in capital blockage in minimum level of stock turnover in the market. These costs could also be reduced by Wesfarmers by entering into strategic alliance and management integration relationship vendors. This will reduce the stock turnover ratio of company and ultimately result to low level of cost of productions (Lindsay, et al. 2014). Operations This is the arrangement process in which raw material are manufactured and assembled in the process system of Wesfarmers Ltd. Therefore, implementation of Lean manufacturing and service delivery Philosophy will reduce the waste and by products of process system while delivering goods and services to clients (Martin e al., 2010). Outbound logistics These are the services which are delivered by organization to its clients after completion of process activities. In order to build outbound logistic expenses, Wesfarmers Ltd could use loyalty card, use of electronic payment mode, open products and service choice. In addition to this, Wesfarmers Ltd have also used online portals and enterprises resources planning to reduce the complexity and time involved in supplying goods and services to clients (Piercy, and Rich, 2009). Marketing and sales Wesfarmers has adopted new Lean manufacturing and service delivery Philosophy in its business functioning which has resulted to establishment of strong marketing communication channel. It consists of using loyalty card and direct communication methods to promote its goods and service either in domestic and international market (Zirar, Radnor and Charlwood, 2015). Service It is evaluated that Wesfarmers Ltd has increased its business efficiency by adopting standardized process system in all over the world. It has adopted enterprises resources planning to implement all of its inbound and outbound activities (Ranjan, 2016). Support process activities to minimize cost of production of organization Procurement Procurement system of Wesfarmers should be handled in systematic manner to avoid possible level of duplication and waste. It is essential to enter into business transactions which have low level of cost and high quality of products. In addition to this, company has adopted enterprises resources planning to reduce the paper work cost, communication cost and time involved in lengthy process (Singh and Vinodh, 2017). Human resource management Wesfarmers Ltd has been following four ways techniques to reduce its employee turnover and maintain an effective level of business process such as selection, recruitment, development, training and maintenance of employees (Rahman, Hoque and Uddin, 2014). Establishment of process system to determine the danger level signals Management department of Wesfarmers Ltd has set up new system in which concerned employee will raise the signal in following cases such as defects in units supplies, overproduction, overcrossing, problems in transportation and handling, errors in process system and design fellows. This type of process system in Wesfarmers will provide proactive measure to deal with the problems and drawbacks of process system of organization (Leyer and Moormann, 2014). Conclusion Lean manufacturing and service delivery philosophy is the best strategic plans which is sued by multinational companies to reduce the overall cost of production and time involved in business process system. It can be beneficial for the organizations not only in reducing cost but as well in improving clients service level. 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