Japan Tobacco International Inc. (JTI), being a member of Japan Tobacco Inc. and world's third largest international tobacco company, operates 95 offices, 25 factories, 6 R&D centers and 5 tobacco processing facilities in more than 120 countries. All sites are linked by complex and highly efficient networks supported and directed in a 24/7 mode. More than 10’000 out of total 27’000 company’s employees are engaged in Manufacturing and Global Supply Chain (GSC).
JTI’s operations include sourcing materials, managing product making and packing, directing international distribution, as well as systems and processes support. Such a wide geographical and functional spread provides great challenges to its operations as well as unlimited range of opportunities. “Current competitive arena, which includes lean production, mass customization and agile manufacturing, places huge demands upon operations capabilities” (Brown, Squire, & Lewis, 2010, p.4192).
In general, activities which transform input organization’s own and attracted resources into goods and services outcome supplied by the organization to the external environment are understood as operations. Besides transformation itself, they include also systematic direction, control, and evaluation of the entire range of processes (Slack, Chambers, & Johnston 2007). In JTI decisions regarding the design of the system, e.g. number of products, breadth of product structure, and number of operations in the routing are made globally. However, sometimes local legislation requirements regarding ingredients and packaging differ, time zones, peculiar conditions in carriers’ contracts, as well as road network maintenance has to be considered (Gabriel, 2013).
The XXI century’s distinguishing featu...
... middle of paper ...
...STRATEGIES. Region Formation & Development Studies, (7), 133-141. Retrieved on December 30, 2013 from EBSCOHost http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=89016011&site=ehost-live
Saad, G. H., Greenberg, R. H., & Greenberg, P. (2012). Using Business Process and Operations Management Concepts to Improve Transparency and to Protect Stakeholder Interest. Journal Of Accounting & Finance (2158-3625), 12(1), 11-19. Retrieved on December 30, 2013 from EBSCOHost http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=76118042&site=ehost-live
Idris, F. (2012). ACHIEVING FLEXIBILITY IN SERVICE OPERATIONS USING THE RIGID FLEXIBILITY FRAMEWORK: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY. International Journal Of Business & Society, 13(3), 279-292. Retrieved on December 30, 2013 from EBSCOHost http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=85407023&site=ehost-live
The assigned reading for forum 8 discussed operations management. The text provided significant discussion around TPS, Six Sigma, the House of Quality Matrix. Further study included the stages of product development, project management process, and supply chain management. According to Satterlee (2013), operations management considers the acquisition, development, and utilization of resources. Determining the location of manufacturing plants, supply chains, production management, production scheduling, inventory management, and equipment maintenance policies are all decisions that are made by operations management.
Ebert Ronald J and Griffin Ricky W. (2011). Operations Management and Quality (8th edition) Business Essentials.(pp.128-132), Boston [Mass];London: Pearson.
Russell, R. S., & Taylor, B. W. (2011). Operations Management: Creating Value Along The Supply Chain. (7th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Intense global competition, rapid technological changes, advances in manufacturing and information technology and discerning customers are forcing manufacturers to optimize manufacturing process, operations, and all the possible nodes of supply chains that enable them to deliver high-quality products in a short period of time (Karim et al. 2013). The origins of lean thinking can be found on the shop-floors of Japanese manufacturers and, in particular, innovations at Toyota Motor Corporation (Shingo, 1981, 1989; Monden, 1994; Ohno, 1988). These innovations, resulting from a scarcity of resources and intense domestic competition in the Japanese market for automobiles, included the just-in-time (JIT) production system, the Kanban method of pull production, respect for employees and high levels of employee problem-solving/automated mistake proofing. This lean operations management design approach focused on the elimination of waste and excess from the tactical product flows at Toyota (the Toyota "seven wastes") and represented an alternative model to that of capital-intense mass production with its large batch
Flexibility is important of firms an operation that enables it to react to their customers quickly and efficiently. Some companies use they two types of flexibility: the customization or the volume flexibility. Customization is usually the ability to satisfy the unique needs of each customer by changing products or services design, with different features, or making them look unique. Primark’s uses both operations. To satisfy their customers need. While volume flexibility is the ability to quicken the rate of their productions to handle large variations in demand.it is usually important for operations. Both companies use both operations.
Silva, Julie A. and Robin M. Leichenko. Economic Geography. Vol. 80, No. 3 (Jul., 2004), pp. 261-
One of the regions that globalization has significantly impacted is administration of the physical production network. Corporations have gained significant ground in streamlining the physical production network through procedure enhancements by utilizing
The basic premise for JIT is fairly simple: a company only produces an item when there is a need, or just-in-time for a company or individual to purchase it (Manoocherhi, 1988). The theory of JIT also accepts that there may be a need for an item at another work station and this would also create the need for production. Rather than utilizing the common practice of mass production and attempting to sell and distribute the products after they are created, JIT waits until there is a defined need that must be met. By doing this, JIT systems allow companies to decrease the level of production, decrease the necessary manpower hours utilized in mass production modes of supply, and eliminates the waste inherent in over-production. These techniques are especially effective for small companies, who are far less able to absorb the impact of unsold products. JIT has been shown to significantly impact reductions in overhead costs that reduce re-investments, and encourage stabilizing business practices(Manoocherhi, 1988).
Operations management is essential for the survival and success of any organization. According to Heizer & Render (2011), operations management (OM) is the set of activities that creates value in the form of goods and services by transforming inputs into outputs. Operations managers today contend with competition, globalization, inflation, consumer demand, and consistent change in technology. Managers must focus on the efficiency and effectiveness of processes such as cost, dependability, distribution, flexibility, and speed. The intent of this paper is to discuss the processes and operations management of the Kroger Company.
Beyond inhalable tobacco and safety matches, cigarettes needed another mechanized invention before they could flourish in domestic and international markets. The mechanization of the cigarette came about when James Bonsack, son of a textile manufacturer, transformed one of his father’s carding machines to mass-produce cigarettes. In 1880 Bonsack submitted a patent to the U.S. Patent Office for his new Bonsack machine, which could produce 100,000 cigarettes in 10 hours. In the 1880’s, most journey level cigarette rollers could only produce about 1000 cigarettes per day. The mass production of the modern cigarette was set to launch(1). In 2008, the Hauni PROTOS-M8 cigarette machine was producing 19,480 cigarettes per minute(14)! By 1900, Big Tobacco in the United States mass-produced cigarettes at a staggeringly low cost(1).
Atkinson and Meager’s model of ‘flexible firm’ identifies four types of flexibility that companies seek:
Globalization and economic slowdown has made businesses subject to a great deal of uncertainty. In this time of rapid change, economies worldwide change rapidly, new markets open up and old ones change, and demand for products is often uncertain. As such, businesses must be flexible and adaptable in the types of methods that they use...
Ferdows, K., Lewis, M., & Machuca, J. A.D., 2003. Zara. Supply Chain Forum: International Journal, 4(2), 62-66.
De, Blij Harm J., and Peter O. Muller. Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts. New York: J. Wiley, 1997. 340. Print.
The most important value of BPM is transparency over the business. Transparency means obtaining a deep understanding of how the organization works which enables us to manage the complexity of organization effectively [11]. Business process models enables the process practitioners to achieve this by documenting: control flow (i.e., what we need to do and when), artefacts (i.e., what we need to work on either physical or electronic), and resources (i.e., who does the work either humans