Operations Management

Running Head: OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT ASSIGNMENT

Operations Management Assignment

University of Phoenix

MBA 502

Operations Management Assignment

In every business there comes a time when a company must make a decision that will ultimately change the way its operations are managed. Kudler Fine Foods is currently in contract negotiations with local growers of organic produce. Operational changes will need to made in order for the company to evolve into a more natural food source for its customers. The business processes at Kudler Fine Foods will be affected along with the supply chain. The company will need to revise its quality control tools and its performance standards to ensure the effectiveness of its operations.

Kudler's competitiveness depends on their business process. For example, if Kudler's competitor can obtain organic foods for their customers at adequate cost and Kudler has not, a general view of the process should be considered. According to Chase, Jacob and Aquilano, a process is any part of an organization that takes inputs and transforms them into outputs that are of greater value to the organization than the original inputs (2006). Kudler must consider such factors as vendor, availability, and delivery of the merchandise. Implementation planning has become an essential focus of many organizations in today's economy due to competitive markets.

In today's economy, Kudler Fine Foods as well as Samsung must remain competitive and in doing so, they have to reevaluate the global competition and implement the necessary strategies and changes for global survival. Samsung's business strategy has expanded its technology into alternatives to hazardous substances that are lead free in chips, CD-ROM Drives, and TVs (Samsung, Green Management Report, 2006). They have also implemented a "Love Green" program where customers can return toner cartridges to prevent toner being dumped into garbage and seep into the soil and damage the ecosystem (Samsung, Green Management Report, 2006).

"Planning their work to working their plan" is exactly what both organizations have accomplished and is now Kudlers' challenge (Chase, Jacobs, Aquilano, 2006). Kudler Fine Foods must apply the necessary and best projects that fit the organization focus and strategic alignment that has forced the organizational change. Once corporate and business strategies have been agreed upon, and long-term objectives set, the strategic management process moves into a critical new phase, translating strategic thought into organizational action (Chase, Jacobs, Aquilano, 2006). Samsung is a leading corporation in the technology industry with proven success in implementation planning and how organizational projects are aligned with the strategic objectives. Samsung has masterminded every aspect of implementation planning, articulated a clear vision, defined a strategy that states their mission, and analyzed the product life cycle (birth, growth, maturity, and decline) of products. If Kudler Fine Foods can follow the same path as Samsung, they will surely be in a league of their own in the grocery industry.

Kudler's Supply Chain

Currently at Kudler Fine Foods, there is no purchasing department at any of the three store locations. Department managers have the responsibility to fill out purchase orders for the supplies or merchandise that are needed for each store. Department managers must obtain the best pricing and quality. They must also obtain the best delivery method. Once the merchandise is received into the store, department managers verify orders on an order received form. The form is then sent to Kudler's accounting department for the invoices to be paid. By adding organic foods to its order forms, Kudler is doing nothing more than adding another step in the purchasing process. Organic foods cannot be ordered from the same suppliers, so an additional order must be placed. There will be one order for normal goods and another for organic foods. This process seems somewhat outdated and does not show an efficient supply chain strategy.

In today's business world, the supply chain is the organized way a business functions. The idea is to apply a total systems approach to managing the entire flow of information, materials, and services from raw materials suppliers through factories and warehouses to the customer (Chase, Jacobs, Aquilano, 2006). Supply chain risks have done so with limited parameters. Such is the case with Kudler Fine Foods. Supply chain management has often been seen as the existing of business continuity. Companies identify the supplier who plays a significant role in their critical business processes and builds additional resilience around the availability of their service. This is accomplished by reducing sole supplier dependencies, identifying alternative source of supply and insisting that they demonstrate certain standards of business (Ellington, 2006).

At Kudler Fine Foods, the revamping of the entire supply chain would not be beneficial to the company. Making slight adjustments to the supply chain hierarchy would improve quality and reliability to the company. It would dramatically improve the effectiveness of procurement functions, and ultimately achieve higher levels of performance through supply chain mastery.

Quality Control Tools and Performance

The main objective for Kudler Fine Foods should be the continuous emphasis on the improvement of the production sequence. Total quality management (TQM) is based on the belief that all of an organization's activities need to be focused on improving its product (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, 2002). TQM is a theory that has evolved over the years as a result of meeting the needs of an organization to address the individual cultures, attitudes and organizational layouts that will best meet the needs of customers' expectations of services and products. TQM allows both management and employees to become an integral part of the processes and improvements of products and services (Hashmi, 2006).

Total quality management affects management, employees, customers, suppliers and the production process. When the total TQM involves the company as a whole, products can be manufactured and delivered quicker