This paper examines the key operational considerations for launching and running a small manufacturing business with 25 employees. It outlines a step-by-step operations strategy covering product design, process selection, and market vetting. The paper then addresses supply chain management across its four dimensions — structuring, sourcing, purchasing, and managing — before analyzing total quality management (TQM) as a source of competitive advantage. Finally, it evaluates just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing, discussing both its cost-reduction benefits and its vulnerabilities. Together, these frameworks provide a foundation for efficient, quality-focused production in a small manufacturing context.
Owning a business can be difficult and challenging, but it can also be highly rewarding. This paper addresses a manufacturing business that employs a minimum of 20 people. When a person has employees, how he or she operates the business changes drastically compared to a business where the owner is the sole worker. With that in mind, it is vital to be aware of the issues the business will face and how those issues should be handled in order to allow the business to grow and prosper.
The first task is to create a sound strategy by which the business will operate. That will be addressed below, along with how the strategy impacts process selection and product design. Additionally, supply chain management and total quality management will both be discussed, along with just-in-time manufacturing and how it impacts the quality assurance of the business and its continued success.
For purposes of this paper, the business will have 25 employees and will manufacture a small product. This product is useful on its own and can be used in commercial or residential applications. There is no service that comes with the product (such as setup or technical support), because none of those are necessary. The product is not a consumable item, because the quality controls associated with food or drink are far beyond the scope of this discussion. Because the product is a want rather than a need, demand can fluctuate, and the product is not one that will cause widespread concern if it were to disappear from store shelves. People may begin to forget about it, but their lives will not be deeply affected by its absence.
The operations strategy for this business involves several areas, because a strategy for operations must include everything the business will go through in order to produce a final product (Kalpakjian & Schmid, 2005). That means the business will need to undertake the following steps:
Determine the exact requirements for the product the business will be creating and selling. Determine the number of employees required to ensure the business operates correctly and efficiently. Determine the equipment that will be needed to manufacture the products. Determine the companies that will purchase the product once it is created, since there is no point in hiring people and investing heavily in a product no one has agreed to buy.
Meet with potential retail buyers to determine whether they will purchase the product as-is or whether modifications are needed for the majority of retailers to take interest. If necessary, make appropriate changes to the product until it aligns with what most retailers will purchase, and repeat this process before investors are vetted. Vet investors and locate those who are willing and able to move forward with the business. Acquire the funds needed to purchase equipment, hire employees, and obtain the components and parts required to assemble and package the final product.
Contract with the companies that will buy the product once it has been manufactured, and obtain specific first-order numbers so the company will know how many items to produce. Train hired employees on the equipment until they are safe, reliable, and producing the product correctly. Ensure quality control of the products being created and maintain the machines to keep them operating at maximum efficiency. Ensure ongoing sales and customer satisfaction with the products going to market, which can allow for future growth as the business acquires more customers.
Naturally, many additional steps must be addressed between those large milestones, but these will be developed through intensive planning as the business moves from one milestone to the next. It is highly significant for any business to move forward as quickly and efficiently as possible if it wants to achieve success and growth, but moving too quickly can also overextend a business and cause it to collapse because it grew too large too rapidly (Kalpakjian & Schmid, 2005). To avoid this, careful consideration will be taken before any significant change or expansion, to ensure there is a genuine market need and that conditions will sustain it.
Because the operations strategy requires that market contacts be carefully and thoroughly made and vetted before acquiring employees and equipment, there is less likelihood of the company encountering immediate financial trouble almost before it gets off the ground. The design of the product and the selection of processes for the business are both affected by the operational strategy (Kalpakjian & Schmid, 2005). Clearly, the product will be designed as something the companies to which it will be sold actually want to purchase. If those companies have concerns about the prototype, changes can be made to bring the product more carefully in line with what the market demands. The processes for the business will be affected in the same way, because changes that may need to be made to the product could affect not only how soon it goes to market and how soon employees are hired, but also how many employees are needed and what equipment is required for manufacturing.
That is not to say the business will simply rearrange its product and processes to suit the whim of any particular market or potential retailer, but only that this information will be taken into serious consideration. If most retailers express concern about purchasing the product, and they all share the same or a similar concern, that issue must be addressed before the manufacturing business can find success. A new and improved product can then be shown to the retailers, with a higher likelihood that they will be interested in purchasing it. This may delay the start of actual manufacturing and could also adjust the process to the extent that different machines are needed or a different layout within the plant is required. All of this should be thoroughly addressed before any equipment is purchased or any employees are hired to manufacture the product.
"Four dimensions of supply chain management"
"TQM as a competitive quality-control strategy"
"JIT benefits and vulnerabilities for small manufacturers"
Overall, a business can be operated very efficiently by using JIT manufacturing and TQM. Both of these strategies have been developed and remain popular because they work. For any manufacturing business, they are nearly essential for keeping quality high and costs low. There is still the potential for difficulties, but that is the case with any company regardless of what it manufactures or how it measures and evaluates quality. For this business, TQM is the approach of choice for keeping quality as high as possible and catching quality problems as early in the process as possible. JIT manufacturing is also an excellent option for this company, particularly because it is just getting started and cannot afford to keep large quantities of inventory on hand for later use.
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