1.

Discuss briefly the historical developments of that contributed for the development of
operations management.

The idea of operations management began in the eighteenth century as manufacturing management. An
economist, Adam Smith, realized that specialization of labor could be very beneficial to any organizations
economy. He therefore came up with the idea of breaking up jobs into sub units where only workers
specialized in a certain field would take up the task not only to ensure efficient delivery of the task but also
to further increase their skills (Kumar, and Suresh, 2009, p. 284). Early in the twentieth century, F. Taylor
enforced this law which then resulted to the development of scientific management. Since then until in the
early nineties, many developments were made based on the traditional of the operation. In 1776, Adam
Smith developed the theory of specialization of labor in the manufacturing industry (Kumar, and Suresh,
2009, p. 284). This was followed by development of cost accounting in 1799 by Eli Whitney among other
scientists. Later in 1832, Charles Babbage developed division of labor and assigning of tasks depending on
employees’ skills as well as the necessity of time management (Kumar, and Suresh, 2009, p. 284).

From the scientific management of time, Frederick Taylor developed planning and work performance in
the year 1900. Soon after, in 1900, Frank Gilbert came up with the motion of studying jobs (Wilson, 995, p.
87). This was followed by the development of techniques for scheduling of work for employees as well as
the development of manufacturing jobs which required the use of machinery. These two developments were
done by Henry Gantt in 1901. In 1915, F.W. Harris developed the use of inventory for economic controls.
The human relations department was developed by Elton Mayo in 1927 (Kumar, and Suresh, 2009, p. 284).
Following this development was the use of statistical information to check and control the quality of various
products by use of quality control charts.

This development was by W.A. Shewart in 1931. This contribution was further developed into sampling
techniques to control quality of products and for inspection purposes in 1935 by H.F. Dodge and H.F.
Roming. In 1946, a group of scientists among which was P.M. Blacker contributed in the application of
operations research in the Second World War (Meredith, 2006, p. 189).

A very significant contribution happened in 1946 when John Mauchlly and J.P. Eckert developed digital
computers. Following the use of computers, G.B. Dantzig and William developed software for

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programming business operations in 1947. Linear mathematical programming was later developed in 1950
by two scientists, A. Charnes and W.W. Cooper. Since the initial digital computer was multipurpose, large
scale computers were developed in 1951 by Sperry Univak to help in computation of data. Later in 1966, L.
Cummings and L. Porter introduced organizational behavior whose aim was to continuously study people at
workplace (Kumar, and Suresh, 2009, p. 284). In 1970, W. Skinner and J. Orlicky developed the
incorporations of all operations in an organization into a unified strategy with common policies. In the same
year, G Wright introduced the use of computers in the manufacturing industry alongside control and
planning of required materials. In 1980, application of quality productivity was introduced by W.E. Deming
from Japan (Kumar, and Suresh, 2009, p. 284). The term production management therefore was the term for
since 1930s up to 2950s. Managers worldwide developed techniques for efficient manufacturing operations.
From then, other scientists started studying sociology especially on human behavior in workplace while
mathematical as well as computer scientists developed more advanced techniques for data analysis. With
these new advancements, the name operations management came into be which put a lot of emphasis on
expansion of the manufacturing sector. Emphasis was also put on production in the management practices
rather than the usual analyzing duties (Johnston, 1998, p. 1).

2. List and explain briefly how your company achieve competitive advantage over the other.

The four primary methods of gaining a competitive advantage are cost leadership, differentiation, defensive
strategies and strategic alliances.

Same Product, Lower Price

Cost leadership is the first competitive advantage businesses often attempt to gain. Cost leadership as
an advantage occurs when a business is able to offer the same quality product as its competitors, but at
a lower price. To use this strategy, a company must find ways to produce goods at a lower cost
through the perfection of production methods or by the utilization of resources in a more efficient
manner than competitors. Other factors, such as proprietary technology, can also factor into this type
of advantage. Cost leadership may be classified as an offensive strategy, whereby businesses attempt
to drive competitors out of the market by consistently using price strategies designed to win over
consumers.

Different Products With Different Attributes

Differentiation is a second strategy that businesses often use to set themselves apart from competitors.
In a differentiation strategy, low cost is only one of many possible factors that may set aside a business
from others. Business that differentiate themselves typically look for one or more marketable attributes

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 that they have that can set them apart from their competitors. They then find the segment of the market
that finds those attributes important and market to them.

The process can also work in the other direction with businesses conducting research to determine
which things consumers find most important and then developing a niche market for those products or
characteristics.

Hold Your Positions Through Defensive Strategies

Another way for a business to gain a competitive advantage is to utilize a defensive strategy. The
advantage gained by this type of strategy is that it allows the business to further distance itself from its
competition by, in some sense, maintaining a competitive advantage it has gained. Therefore, this strategy
is closely related to differentiation and cost leadership because it is a method used by businesses to keep
those advantages in place once they have been attained. Whereas the other two strategies are more
offensive in nature, this strategy becomes an actual advantage as it becomes increasingly difficult for so-
called competitors to offer any real opposition to the business.

Pool Resources Through Strategic Alliances Competitive advantages can also be gained by
businesses that seek strategic alliances with other businesses in related industries or within the same
industry. Businesses have to be careful not to cross the line between alliances and collusion, though.
Collusion occurs when businesses within the same industry work together to artificially control prices.
Strategic alliances, on the other hand, are more along the lines of joint ventures that businesses use to pool
resources and gain themselves exposure at the expense of other competitors not in the alliance.

3. Discus quality management importance in the current competitive business environment.

Increase productivity & quality outputs

A growing business is a busy business. This is a fantastic result of all your hard work and efforts in
improving the business and expanding the client base, but it’s not without its growing pains. Once
your business has processes implemented, your new staff can easily jump on board and get up to speed
in a shorter period of time. Combine this with criteria outlining what is and what isn’t a quality
product and your business will see a continual flow of high-quality products and services, allowing
you and your management team to focus on business building efforts. Your employees will also be
grateful – there is nothing worse than being told to do a job you have no idea how to do. With clear
standards and processes in place, a business can expect to see an increase in productivity efforts and
quality outputs. It’s critical to mention here that management must also support the employees
throughout their work – just because there are processes and standards in place doesn’t mean all
stresses melt away. A growing business needs to support its existing employees to reduce turnover of
staff and promote a healthy workplace.

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Meet & exceed customer expectations

One of the key benefits of implementing a quality management system is your business has a clear
customer service system and process so your team can ensure your customers are thrilled with the
work being produced. A growing business needs happy customers to spread the word of your amazing
product and service – and you can’t risk having unhappy customers. 

And what’s worse is you can’t contact those 16 others to explain the context of the unhappy customer.

With a quality management system, your business has the systems and procedures in place to win new
customers, keep existing customers happy, and effectively communicate and manage potentially
unhappy customers. It can seem like a daunting process to set up, but a growing business needs to
invest time and resources into developing these procedures to ensure a smooth process as they scale
up.

4. Explain quality dimensions

Here are some of the key dimensions of a quality product or service.

Dimension 1: Performance

Performance is often a source of contention between customers and suppliers, particularly when
deliverables are not adequately defined within specifications. The performance of a product often
influences profitability or reputation of the end-user. As such, many contracts or specifications include
damages related to inadequate performance.

Dimension 2: Features

While this dimension may seem obvious, performance specifications rarely define the features
required in a product. Thus, it’s important that suppliers designing product or services from
performance specifications are familiar with its intended uses, and maintain close relationships with
the end-users.

Dimension 3: Reliability

Reliability may be closely related to performance. For instance, a product specification may define
parameters for up-time, or acceptable failure rates. Reliability is a major contributor to brand or
company image, and is considered a fundamental dimension of quality by most end-users.

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Dimension 4: Conformance

If it’s developed based on a performance specification, does it perform as specified? If it’s developed
based on a design specification, does it possess all of the features defined?

Dimension 5: Durability

Durability is closely related to warranty. Requirements for product durability are often included within
procurement contracts and specifications. For instance, fighter aircraft procured to operate from
aircraft carriers include design criteria intended to improve their durability in the demanding naval
environment.

Dimension 6: Serviceability

As end users become more focused on Total Cost of Ownership than simple procurement costs,
serviceability (as well as reliability) is becoming an increasingly important dimension of quality and
criteria for product selection.

Dimension 7: Aesthetics

The way a product looks is important to end-users. The aesthetic properties of a product contribute to a
company’s or brand’s identity. Faults or defects in a product that diminish its aesthetic properties, even
those that do not reduce or alter other dimensions of quality, are often cause for rejection.

Dimension 8: Perception

Perception is reality. The product or service may possess adequate or even superior dimensions of
quality, but still fall victim to negative customer or public perceptions. As an example, a high quality
product may get the reputation for being low quality based on poor service by installation or field
technicians. If the product is not installed or maintained properly, and fails as a result, the failure is
often associated with the product’s quality rather than the quality of the service it receives.

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5. Discus quality control and its tools.

The 7 Management Tools for Quality Control

Flowchart

We all are well-known with “Flowchart” since our school or college times. A flowchart is a design
which describes a workflow method, algorithm, or a step by step manner related by arrows in different
sectors. These flowcharts are used for the description of organizational arrangements, Login System,
document work process flow, billing deal flow, etc. Flowchart enables classifying of the exact flow of
cases in a system. It is the measure of the process that will present information or understanding of
what the method looks like and cast some light on the quality issues. The flowchart helps in knowing
where specifically the quality problem is in the process.

Check Sheet

The Check sheet is appropriated to collect data and knowledge in an open format. It increases
efficiency in the data collection process with a reliable method and structure. It significantly
diminishes efforts for data gathering as well. This data collection is based on facts and numbers rather
than any theoretical numbers and items. This data collection method produces some output, and this
output is in a separate data format that is forever easy for review. The Check sheet is used throughout
the evaluation process, before production validation or in any other project management exercise. It is
practiced to guarantee that the essential pre-requisite has been developed and all the needed actions
have been taken out before committing to the business user about the document or deliverable.

Cause-Effect Diagram

Cause-Effect is classified as a Fish Bone Diagram as the shape is somewhat related to the top view of
a fish skeleton. During problem-solving, everyone in the crew has a diverse idea about the root cause
of the issue or query. The Fishbone diagram captures all objects, ideas, and uses brainstorming
methods to recognize the most potent root cause. Cause-Effect sketch records conditions of specific
queries or issues related to the processor mode. You will get many different reasons for a particular
problem. To begin with the fish-bone, you require to state your query as a question, that further in
terms of “why”. This will assist in brainstorming as each issue should have an answer. The entire team
should match on the problem statement and then place this question at the “head” of the fish-bone.

Pareto Chart

A Pareto Chart is a Bar table and a Line table that graphically sums the group of data. The data may be
linked to cost, time, errors, etc. Here, bars in a chart describe the values in declining order, i.e. the
highest bar at the left-hand side and the lowest bar is on the right-hand side and Lines represent the
aggregate total. The left-hand vertical line or axis describes the number of occurrences; this occurrence
may be linked to cost, errors, or any other part of the measure. The right vertical axis denotes the
aggregate percentage of the total number of circumstances. 

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Control Charts

Control charts that are additionally appreciated as Statistical Process Control are used to decide if the
business methods are in a position of authority. The Control Chart is a chart that explains how the
process develops over the period. If the study of the control chart shows that the methods are stable
and there is a little change and is under control, then there are no modifications required for the
process control parameter. If the methods are not under control, then the control chart benefits to
discover the sources of variation. It indicates that healing action is required for the process control
parameter.

Histogram

A histogram is a graphical illustration in a bar chart that presents pattern befalls within different states.
It is a combination of numerical data, and it gives necessary knowledge about the health and
distribution or range of a set of sample data. The statistical information can be of any kind such as
signs received during the exam, the number of new workers registered within a particular period, the
number of objections received per class, etc. The Histogram shows the power of a specific query and
presents data in a visible form. In order to create a Histogram, it is essential to separate the area of
values into particular intervals such as a period of 5, 10, 15, etc. Such a range is called “bin”, and these
bins are connected. The size of each period is equal, and these intervals are not overlapping with each
other.

Scatter Diagram

Scatter Diagram is a graphical illustration that shows the relative between two variables. It is a quality
management mechanism, in which data is described as a point, and each point outlined in the graph
shows the value on the level and upright axis.
Out of those couple variables, one variable is sovereign, and the second variable is conditioned on the
first variable. It is also recognized as a “Scatter Plot” or “Scatter Graph”.
Scatter Diagram serves to recognize the cause and consequence in operation and the variable usually
describes all possible reason and effect. Scatter Diagram is further used to identify the correlation in
these two variables.
If the variables are related, then the points will fall on a line or small hook. Correlation may be
accurate, which means, the points are considered as growing, it may be negative, i.e. the points are
falling, or there may be no correlation between those points or variables.