Supply Chain Operation

Productivity

The question

A high volume warehouse has over 100 order pickers. The company requires supervisors to track staff productivity to ensure that employees "make rate" or pack a minimum number of boxes per hour.  The system in use automatically tracks each staff member's productivity by recording the time each box is finished packing when the staff member scans the barcode on the box.  The system automatically generates warnings that are routed to the employee when productivity falls below a set threshold as well as termination suggestions.  The bottom 5% of employees are automatically placed on a training plan.  Supervisors are responsible for ensuring that the warnings and terminations are accurate and appropriate action is taken such as reprimands, additional training, or termination activities.  The company has highlighted its high productivity and efficiency as a key differentiator in company success. The company has communicated its strict standards more widely. "Associates must be detailed and efficient in processing each order."  To ensure that efficiency continues, the company has developed "a proprietary productivity metric." The company says those goals are set objectively, and that they're based on metrics like customer demand and location.

Do you believe this automated productivity tracking system is overall positive or negative?  Clearly state and explain your opinion. Back up your opinion with evidence.

The answer

I believe this system is positive because it keeps track of productivity and ensures employees are meeting the company's standards.

I believe that this automated productivity tracking system is positive overall. It is good that the company has set productivity standards and is using this system to ensure that employees are meeting those standards. This system gives employees feedback about their performance and alerts supervisors when productivity falls below a certain threshold (Carpi et al., 2020). It is helpful because it lets employees know when they need to improve and enables supervisors to take action to help those employees. The bottom 5% of employees are automatically placed on a training plan, which is an excellent way to help them improve their productivity. This system is positive overall because it helps keep employees efficient and meet the company's standards.

There are several reasons why I believe that this automated productivity tracking system is positive overall. At first, it is good that the company has set standards for productivity. Having these standards in place helps ensure that employees meet the minimum requirements for their job (Fisic, 2022). Second, the system is helpful because it gives employees feedback about their performance and alerts supervisors when productivity falls below a certain threshold. This lets employees know when they need to improve and will enable supervisors to take action to help those employees.

Finally, I think the bottom 5% of employees being automatically placed on a training plan is an excellent way to help them improve their productivity. This shows that the company is willing to invest in its employees and help them improve their skills. Overall, this system is positive because it helps keep employees efficient and meet the company's standards.

Forecasting

Forecasting Failure?

The great toilet paper shortage of 2020 has been felt by many in the US. Many have blamed the shortage on hoarding behavior, but the problem is more complex than that. Read the following article: 

https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2020/4/3/21206942/toilet-paper-coronavirus-shortage-supply-chain

and discuss how Proctor & Gamble or other TP manufacturers could best prepare for the next pandemic supply chain disruption. Please remember that TP is bulky and building warehouses to store mountains of TP may not be the answer. How does forecasting play a role in their future plans? 

The answer

To prepare for the next pandemic supply chain disruption, there are various steps that Proctor & Gamble or any other TP manufacturers must implement. These steps consist of staying ahead of demand, facilitating real-time collaboration and communication, updating and testing contingency plans, developing different levels of contingencies, and planning for disruption. Typically, threats or risks to supply chains cannot be avoided. The manufacturers need to expect the unexpected, including certain things like a virus. Some of the various ways the manufacturers can plan for disruption include developing a strong backup plan or plans in order to overcome unpredictable challenges or threats. Another way of preparing for supply chain disruption is developing various levels of contingencies since various circumstances call for diverse responses (Hobbs, 2020). Manufacturers should consider a backup plan as a set of contingencies with additional capacity established. They should form a crisis management team liable for assessing priorities and trade-offs and turning on contingencies based on the present conditions. Updates and test contingency plans are crucial when preparing for supply chain disruption because contingency plans should not be just an exercise involving only paperwork. The plans should be tested, evaluated, and updated regularly every year. The manufacturers should also perform a trial run of their contingency plans in order to ensure they are still viable.

Forecasting can significantly influence manufacturers' future plans in different ways. Some of the benefits that forecasting would present include gaining valuable insights,  learning from previous mistakes, and a reduction of costs that might be incurred (Petropoulos et al., 2022). Forecasting is vital because it can get manufacturers to look at past real-time data to predict future supply chain disruption. This can help them anticipate the disruption and offer more insight into the health of the companies, besides giving them an opportunity to correct or make changes.

Six sigma quality

The question

Quality vs Speed to Market

Read the web article found at the following link:

Coronavirus Tests Are Being Fast-Tracked by the FDA, but It's Unclear How Accurate They Are.

Original Post: Choose a position whether quality or speed to market is more important in the current environment of COVID-19 testing.  Be sure to state your position and provide evidence from either the article or other sources to justify your contentions.  

Reply Post: Choose another student's post and either agree or disagree with their position.  Whether you agree or disagree is irrelevant.  You need to offer new evidence or information (information not used by the original author) to support your position.  Agreeing with the original author, but not providing any additional evidence will result in a low score. 

The answer

Based on the current environment of Covid-19 testing, quality to market is more important than speed to market. The Covid-19 pandemic paralyzed most economic activities worldwide, leading to poor market performance due to low returns recorded. The strategy of controlling the disease had been established through regular tests for every individual to identify the exact number of infections and means of controlling the population infected. The current environment of Covid-19 has impacted the market entrance in trading, leading to consideration of quality or speed to the markets (Chen et al., 2022). My position stands at quality to markets since the infection affects the livelihoods of individuals across the market through labor and transactions. The control of the virus establishes a safe space for trade and reduces the spread of the virus through congestion hence extracting the value of health in the market trade. The tests should be evaluated accordingly to ensure the exact results are achieved, making it easier to control the virus and save vulnerable individuals from contracting it.

The market entrance should be based on quality rather than involving many people with uncertain Covid-19 conditions. The speed to market may lead to incorrect results from tests made, which would infect more individuals with the virus hence the spread of the virus, which would be out of control by the food and drug administration. The inaccurate results should be retested to affirm the infection of the virus so that the health and safety of citizens are controlled through regulations formulated through symptoms of the infection (Hu, 2020). The quality of treatment administered to society in terms of vaccines and medication for infected individuals determines the spread of the virus to other locations. The speed to market would expose many individuals to the virus and risk their lives by being infected; hence, the population is affected adversely, affecting the health experts in accurately establishing test results.

Lean

The question

Read the article found at the following link:

What are the 8 Wastes in Service hindering Lean Transformation

Identify one of the 8 wastes listed in the article and provide an example from a service industry company that illustrates the waste.  Explain the potential negative impacts on the company.    

The answer

The eight wastes in service hindering Lean transformation are defects, excess processing, overproduction, waiting, inventory, transportation, motion, and non-utilized talent. These are the eight wastes universally recognized in lean transformation. Many service industries must prod their systems and implement changes to improve efficiency and effectiveness. Stone (2012) identifies five phases that can be reviewed by an entity seeking to realize lean transformation. They include the discovery, dissemination, implementation, enterprise, and performance phase. In many industries, the element of non-utilized talent is synonymous with the performance phase. A recent example of a company that faced this aspect was Twitter.

When the company takeover occasioned a change of management by Elon Musk, many changes occurred in that organization that reflected lean transformation. The new owner relieved many employees of their duties because the previous administration needed the right talent for its operations (Kali, 2022). As a result, many people had ambiguous roles that were not essential to the organization. Due to the lack of competence, the company operations were skewed and were enhanced to promote specific ideologies at the expense of others that were not favorable to the collective doctrines of the company.

Such a service industry requires competent workers with the right talent to ensure company objectivity and improve customer experience. The apparent consequence and potential negative impact ensuing from non-utilized talent in the company is the stagnation and deterioration of services to customers. Incompetent workers stifle the company's growth and customer experience, thus affecting the organization's revenues. The company incurs many administrative and sustenance costs by paying employees who are not beneficial to the company. It is, therefore, crucial that the company continues with its human resource reorganization to ensure that the company minimizes waste by hiring competent people and letting the incompetent go