Explain the concept and application of tools like JIT, Kanban, Kaizen, and Jidoka and their role in production management
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Operations Management
Case Studies
case study (20 Marks)
Tirumala is one of the largest and
busiest pilgrimage centers in the world, having a history of 2000 years. Over
the years, the pilgrimage center has witnessed a continuous increase in the
number of visitors, with the average number going up from 20000 a day
in 1990s to 65000 a day in 2012. The
Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), which administered the Tirumala temple
along with a few supporting services to pilgrims, experienced great difficulty
in managing the darshan queue. With the objective of reducing the waiting line,
TTD approached academic consultants. "The way to manage the queues is by
either reducing the inflows or increasing the rate of outflows or both.
Estimate the average number of pilgrims waiting for darshan and the average
waiting time of pilgrims in queues. Inflows can be controlled by prior booking
to a large extent," explained A Kesavarao, retired IIM Bangalore professor.
A few experts suggested that another way would be to increase the number of
channels of entry and exit into the main temple complex and setting up parallel
queue (23instead of a single) lines that would enable more pilgrims to have a
darshan. For instance, 72,000pilgrims could have darshan in a day (20
hours72,000 seconds) with a darshan time of one second in a single line but the
numbers could go up to 140,000 if two lines were organized. These consultants
began devising different strategies of reducing the waiting line from the
1990s. Though things have improved a lot, there is still much that need to be
done. This case study elucidates the different types of strategies to manage
the waiting line and reduce the waiting time that TTD had been trying out from
the 1990s. It alsoexplains certain constraints that TTD was facing and a few
new proposals.
Answer
the following question.
Q1.
Discuss and understand waiting line/queuing theory with the help of Tirumala
Q2.
Elucidate how TTD managed the waiting line and discuss the constraints related
to the management of darshan queue
Q3.
Discuss how the new strategies/proposals could be effective for TTD
Q4.
Discuss what TTD could do in future to overcome its challenges in managing the
waiting line
case study (20 Marks)
Toyota's history goes back to 1897,
when Sakichi Toyoda (Sakichi) diversified into the textile machinery business
from the traditional family business of carpentry. He invented a power loom in
1902 and founded the parent organization of Toyota, the Toyoda Group, in the
same year. In 1926, Sakichi invented an automatic loom that stopped operating
when a thread broke. This prevented the manufacture of imperfect cloth.
(Calling attention to problems and rectifying them at the earliest later became
an
important part of the TPS). The same
year, Sakichi formed the Toyoda Automatic Loom Works (TALW) to manufacture
automatic looms. Although the TPS was not the handiwork of Ohno alone, as it
included concepts developed by Sakichi, Kiichiro and Eiji, it was Ohno who
streamlined the concepts and developed them into a formal system. He was also
responsible for training a number of Toyota's engineers in how to use and
implement the system... Analysts said that the TPS conferred a great amount of
flexibility and productivity enhancing capabilities on Toyota. By the early
2000s, Toyota had the capability to manufacture a car, from raw material to
final assembly, in five days. This gave the company a considerable advantage
over competitors, many of whom took nearly 30 days for the same process.
Analysts said that the flexibility provided by the TPS allowed Toyota to make
the best use of its resources for greater productivity. Toyota's production
system has been one of the most studied systems in the field of production and operations
management. The core elements of the system, like JIT, Kaizen and Kanban were
emulated by several other organizations around the world, sometimes
successfully and sometimes not. Taiichi Ohno was the architect of the TPS and
was generally acknowledged as the father of 'lean manufacturing', which was the
western adaptation of the TPS.
Answer
the following question.
Q1.
Discuss the elements of the production system of a large and highly successful
car manufacturer.
Q2.
Explain the concept and application of tools like JIT, Kanban, Kaizen, and
Jidoka and their role in production management.
Q3.
Discuss the importance of the human element in the design and operation of
production systems.
Q4.
Differentiate between the Japanese industrial culture and that of western
economies.
case study (20 Marks)
On January 9, 2009, Bosch Limited
(Bosch), the Indian subsidiary of the Germany based Bosch Group, announced that
it would temporarily shut down its plants in India to cope with a fall in the
demand for automotive parts. The drop in demand was triggered by factors such
as the worldwide economic slowdown, a credit crisis, and also the company's
fear of accumulating excess inventory As a result of the economic slowdown and
its impact on the auto industry, Germany based auto and ancillary company Bosch
Group began taking various initiatives to prevent inventory buildup. These
included a temporary closedown of some plants and cuttingback working hours in
some plants in India. Other major auto and auto ancillary companies were also
forced to adopt similar initiatives in order to align production with the
falling demand.
Answer the following question.
case study (20 Marks)
This case discusses the innovation
principles and processes adopted by Dyson Appliances Limited (DAL), a market
leader in the vacuum cleaner market. Experts felt that product design was a
core competency at DAL and the innovative designs of its product had enabled it
to command a premium price in a market that was previously known for price
discounting. According to analysts, DAL's constant focus on innovation had led
to its cornering a market share of 32 percent and 46 percent in the US and UK
vacuum cleaner markets in 2008. Analysts attributed the success of the company
to the innovation principles and processes institutionalized by DAL's founder
James Dyson (Dyson). They felt that Dyson was the source of innovation at DAL.
He is himself widely known as the inventor of the first bag less vacuum cleaner
(DC01, DAL's first product) that took the vacuum cleaner market by storm in the
early 1990s. Since then, he and his team had churned out innovative models of
vacuum cleaners that had helped DAL gain a market leadership position. In
addition to vacuum cleaners, its other products such as The Contra rotator (a
washing machine) and Dyson Air blade (a hand dryer), were hailed by experts as
being equally innovative. Analysts felt that DAL's deep set culture of
innovation gave it an edge over its competitors. DAL approach to innovation
drew inspiration from Thomas Alva Edison's (Edison) step by step approach where
he made a single change to the prototype at a time in order to perfect his
invention. Inspired by the thoughts of Edison, the engineering and design staff
at DAL made a single change to the prototype that led to the launch of an
innovative product. The integrated approach to design and development of new
products adopted by engineers and design staff at the company had fostered a
culture of innovation at DAL.
Answer
the following question.
Q1.
Examine the innovation principles and processes followed by DAL.
Q2.
Debate how innovation helped DAL emerge as the leader in the vacuum cleaner
industry.
Q3.
Explain how innovation can lead to a competitive advantage and how DAL had
developed a core competency in product design.
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