Why is operations management important in CDS?
Operations management is important in CDS if they are to continue being one of Europe’s most
profitable home ware businesses. As with any other company, CDS objective is to add value to their final
product while using its resources effectively and efficiently through its internal processes. The company
has successfully been able to apply the technology used in the aerospace sector onto home ware items,
through the mastering of injection moulding machines. Moreover, the company has expanded into a
premium home ware product market, integrating new functions within its operations, such as forming
partnerships with reputable designers and increasing the volume and complexity of its production.
Draw a 4 V’s profile for the company’s products/services
Volume: High. Although the case study does not specify the amount of production, it can be deduced
that production volume is high as it has increased 600% since the acquisition of new large multi-cavity
moulds.Another indication of high volume production is the fact that CDS decided to subcontract their
Focus line to other moulding companies, so they could focus on the production of their premium line
(Concept).
Variety: High. CDS market is a highly competitive one, in which design innovation determines the
longevity of the firm. CDS capacity of developing products that are in fashion and moreover, its
adaptability to change as fashion changes is key to the survival of the firm.
Variation: High. For the same reason as with variety, CDS is forced to continuously produce innovative
designs that would keep their customers interested and therefore keep demand high.
Visibility: Mixed high and low. There is the visible part of the operation that is when the final products
are
What would you recommend to the company if you were asked to advice on improving its operations?
There are 2 areas that CDS needs to improve: the relationship between its designers and other parts of
the company (such as the manufacturing and distribution) and a better forecasting of sales. For the first
challenge, it seem that the designers don’t get to spend enough or any time on the ‘floor’ of the
company, that is, they do not have an in depth understanding of the manufacturing processes and the
way they are affected by their decision making. Perhaps if they could spend some time doing ‘cross
training’ they would get a real idea of the manufacturing processes and could implement this knowledge
into their designing activities, in other words, both departments should have a better collaboration.
The second challenge is improving the sales forecast. Once again there seems to be a problem of
collaboration between the marketing and operations departments of the company. As above, it could be
suggested that both department managers and key personnel should cross train in order to understand
the ‘way they do things’ and the reasons behind them.
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3. What would you recommend to the company if they asked you to advise them in improving their
operations?
Answer:
I do think they could this better if they stuck to what they know best which is plastic moulding and
specialized in it, this makes standardization speed up production processes for them as well as reduces unit
costs.
In terms of operations, i do believe if they were to separate partnership operations from other activities,
though the main decisions do still come from one central operational body, it would work to their advantage.
This is because by offering first priority to designers, it caused delays and friction within the firm as well as to
waiting customers.
Close coordination by all aspects from product testing to scheduling and forecasting, will enable unit costs to
be lowered since waste reduction will be minimal as well as offer relevant feedback to designers. This will
enable them to know what feedback marketers are getting in regards to there products, whats being em
brassed and whats not.
The company seems to be gaining more from a narrow client el that have heavy based accounts, thats why
separating operations shall enable more concentration to be placed on them to ensure their retainment is
guaranteed as well as show them that they are being prioritized, for some can easily change their ming
where operations are visible and not to their satisfaction.
Where as for normal day to day orders and activities another part can be set up to cater with these orders
enabling flexibility and speeding of requests that may range from color changes that seem to be taking
longer, therefore dealing with a wider variety of clients who may not have weighty orders enabling both
types of client need to be dealt with.
Regarding as question 1, in my opinion, operations management plays an important role in CDS is because
CDS replace new moulding equipments and decrease the requiring time for changing product lines and
increase the productivity than before. Moreover, the distribution service also provides a planning system
from forecast input to finished goods shipping to help CDS to meet customer demand. These operation
adjustments help CDS to enhance its competitiveness and provide a variation for better services.
In contributing to question 2 where Rad states the Volume was low, i fail to agree because there volumes
went high as a result of low unit costs that they were able to maintain as a result of subcontracting focus
products to smaller moulding companies enabling them to focus on core activities making there tasks more
systematized; hence increasing productivity since specialization came into play.
Reply
As the article present, unpredictable demands from the customers are inevitable which a company has
faced. In my view, the company should survey and collect data regarding the requirements of customers
before planning, designing and manufacturing. This solution may help the company accurately predict the
demand of customers. This means that consequences of accurate demands of customer directly affect
customer satisfaction because correct calculation of customer requirements can reduce out-of-stock. Hence,
customers will be happy to receive the right products that they exactly want to buy. This solution may have
benefits for the company since the company can maintain their customers.
Question 1: Why is operations management important in CDS?
In general, Concept Design Services (CDS)is complete and includes everything from helping to select the
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correct product for your needs. From the case, it would seem to me that CDS emphasizes on the importance
of product development (design value) as a result of a distribution service which is tailored to customer's
needs.Therefore, it would appear that they highlights the significance of the product improvement and the
customer satisfaction.
With regarding the operations management is the activity of managing the resources which are devoted to
the production and delivery of products and service. Thus, it would be clear that operations management is
significant in CDS because all the activities of operations management can improve the processes, products
and services in term of customer satisfaction that is the aims of CDS.
Rad14 January 2010 at 17:26
As to question 2, my understanding of 4V of the company's products/services are as below:
Volume=>low
Variety=>high
Variation in demand=>high
Visibility=>high
but for volume I am not sure very much because it does not mention the sales number or products in the
case study.
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