Question

industrial engineering

Changing business process is inevitable in most organizations as they strive to figure out how to do things better, faster and cheaper. When an organization attempts to redesign its business processes, do you think all the four goals which are listed below can be achieved at the same time? Explain your answer by using two suitable examples • Faster production or lower waiting time • Lower operational costs • Better product features or service quality • Higher process Flexibility (10 marks)

Answer 1

When an organization attempts to redesign its processes, it's difficult to achieve all the four goals at the same time. very few organizations succeed in achieving those goals at the same time. Faster production or lower waiting time can be achieved but many times this comes at the cost of quality. Lower operational costs are not achieved during the initial stages of new processes. It is only when the process is refined that lower operational costs is achieved. Better product features or service quality comes at the cost of more production time. Since additional features are provided than usual, this will take more time. Higher process flexibility makes it easier to do different jobs but this comes at the cost of quality as variances increases. Hence, it is very difficult to achieve all the goals at the same time.

For eg: Boeing's 737 max has new product features but came at a cost of production delays and quality. Operational costs are also lower. Because of some the improper software features, the 737 max are grounded.

For Eg: Pratt and Whitney's new engines came at a cost of quality but with lower production time. The engines are now facing troubles and need to be replaced.