Industry Research Project
Which layout is the firm using? Study the layout of the organization, what type of layout is it? Do you think the layout is good and helps in free flow of work? Explain with examples.
Provide an example.
What are the advantages of the process?
Which process design is the firm following? Explain the process briefly in terms of volume, variety and flexibility.
Give a chart depicting the process that happens in the organization. If you have a difficulty you may describe an initial process and further explain the other processes.
Is the firm managing capacity according to their selected strategy (low cost/ differentiation/ response)?
Which capacity alternative is followed by the firm to enhance capacity management?
Provide examples of short-term and long-term capacity planning. What is the difference?
Do they have enough capacity or do they need more capacity? (What do they do if they need more capacity?)
How is the firm managing its capacity? Explain your answer.
Provide examples for the firm for each of the time horizons of the forecasts.
Provide examples of how the firm can use the different forecasting techniques (qualitative and quantitative).
Briefly explain the different forecasting approaches and which approaches the firm is using.
Provide an example of a functional (or departmental strategy for the firm)
Illustrate how this functional strategy is aligned with the organizational strategy.
Which strategy is the firm following? Is it a low cost, differentiation or response strategy? Why do you say so? Justify your answer.
What is a core competence and what is the core competence of the firm?
What are the three main strategies that a firm can follow?
In this section you provide a brief backgroundof the company. Be sure to discuss the main products and/or servicesthat the company sells. Describe the industry in which the company operates. You can mention something about the location and if the company operates locally or internationally. You can also briefly mention something about the competition and how you believe the company competes (relating this to their operations), as well as something about the company?s position in the market. For example, are they market leaders or not?
What is the ?mission? of the company? If unknown, explain what you think the mission would be.
Is the firm managing their process design and facility layout according to their selected strategy (low cost/ differentiation/ response)?
Discuss the various product designs that the firm uses for its products or services.
Where would you position the firm?s products or services in their product life cycles and why do you say so?
Is the firm managing product design according to their selected strategy (low cost/ differentiation/ response)?
Briefly explain the legal ethical and sustainability issues that a firm has to consider when designing a new product.
What is the firm doing to consider the effects of legal, ethical and sustainability considerations in the design of their products/services?
Where is the firm located? Explain your answer.
In your opinion, is this a good location? Why or why not?
Which factors did they consider (were present) when they made this decision?
Does the location support the strategy of the firm? Why or why not?
Discuss the dimensions and management of quality in this section.
What is the firm doing to improve quality? What can you recommend to them in terms of quality?
What are the costs associated with quality and provide examples for each cost category for the firm.
Identify quality tools and explain which of the quality tools is the firm using?
What is inspection and benchmarking and does the firm make use of inspection and benchmarking?
Where can a firm use inspection and where does the firm use inspection?
In this section, you have to make some conclusions and recommendationsto the company for the way forward. Based on the findings in the project, where do they see themselves in the future? Is the company following their selected strategy? What can you suggest to them? What recommendations can you make to them?
