MB0012

Master of BUSINESS ADMINISTRATIOn

Second Semester (MB0012)

MB0012 Supply Chain Management

SHILPI GUPTA Roll No: 521062880 MBA

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project report entitled “Supply Chain Management”

Submitted to Sikkim Manipal University Center code 1822, is an original work

carried out by SHILPI GUPTA

SHILPI GUPTA Roll No: 521062880 MBA

Name: SHILPI GUPTA

Registration Number: 8A92509

Learning Cente: INSOFT Institute of IT & Management

Learning Center Code: 01822

Course: MBA

Subject: Supply Chain Management

Semester: 3rd

Module Number: MB0012

Date of Submission at Learning Center: 20 Dec 2011

Marks Awarded:

Directorate of Distance Learning

Sikkim Manipal University

II Floor, Syndicate Building

Manipal – 576 104

Signature of Coordinator Signature of Center Signature of Evaluator

Course MBA – 3rd Semester

Subject Supply Chain Management

Assignment MB0012 – Set 1

Q1. Explain in brief the origins of Just In Time. Explain the different types of wastes that can be eliminated using JIT?

Ans. Just in Time (JIT) is a management philosophy aimed at eliminating waste and continuously improving quality. Credit for developing JIT as a management strategy goes to Toyota. Toyota JIT manufacturing started in the aftermath of World War II.

Although the history of JIT traces back to Henry Ford who applied Just in Time principles to manage inventory in the Ford Automobile Company during the early part of the 20th Century, the origins of the JIT as a management strategy traces to Taiichi Onho of the Toyota Manufacturing Company. He developed Just in Time strategy as a means of competitive advantage during the post World War II period in Japan.

The post-World War II Japanese automobile industry faced a crisis of existence, and companies such as Toyota looked to benchmark their thriving American counterparts. The productivity of an American car worker was nine times that of a Japanese car worker at that time, and Taiichi Onho sought ways to reach such levels.

Two pressing challenges however prevented Toyota from adopting the American way:

American car manufacturers made “lots” or a “batch” of a model or a component before switching over to a new model or component. This system was not suited to the Japanese conditions where a small market required manufacturing in small quantities.

The car pricing policy of US manufacturers was to charge a mark-up on the cost price. The low demand in Japan led to price resistance. The need of the hour was thus to reduce manufacturing costs to increase profits.

To overcome these two challenges, Taiichi Onho identified waste as the primary evil. The categories of waste identified included

overproduction

inventory or waste associated with keeping dead stock time spent by workers waiting for materials to appear in the assembly line time spend on transportation or movement workers spending more time than necessary processing an item waste associated with defective items

Taiichi Onho then sought to eliminate waste through the just-in-time philosophy, where items moved through the production system only as and when needed.

Q2. What is Value Engineering or Value Analysis? Elucidate five companies which have incorporated VE with brief explanation.

Ans. Value Engineering(VE), also known as Value Analysis, is a systematic and function-based approach to improving the value of products, projects, or processes.VE involves a team of people following a structured process. The process helps team members communicate across boundaries, understand different perspectives, innovate, and analyze.

When to use it

Use Value Analysis to analyze and understand the detail of specific situations.

Use it to find a focus on key areas for innovation.

Use it in reverse (called Value Engineering) to identify specific solutions to detail problems.

It is particularly suited to physical and mechanical problems, but can also be used in other areas.

How it works

Value Analysis (and its design partner, Value Engineering) is used to increase the value of products or services to all concerned by considering the function of individual items and the benefit of this function and balancing this against the costs incurred in delivering it. The task then becomes to increase the value or decrease the cost..

Q3. Explain different types of Quantitative models. Differentiate between work study and motion study.

Ans. Quantitative models are needed for a variety of management tasks, including

(a) identi¯cation of critical variables to use for health monitoring,

(b) antici- pating service level violations by using predictive models, and

(c) on-going op- timization of con¯gurations.

Unfortunately, constructing quantitative models requires specialized skills that are in short supply. Even worse, rapid changes in provider con¯gurations and the evolution of business demands mean that quantitative models must be updated on an on-going basis. This paper de-scribes an architecture and algorithms for on-line discovery of quantitativemodels without prior knowledge of the managed elements. The architecture makes use of an element schema that describes managed elements using the common information model (CIM). Algorithms are presented for selecting a subset of the element metrics to use as explanatory variables in a quantitative model and for constructing the quantitative model itself. We further describe a prototype system based on this architecture that incorporates these algo-rithms. We apply the prototype to on-line estimation of response times for

DB2 Universal Database under a TPC-W workload. Of the approximately 500 metrics available from the DB2 performance monitor, our system chooses 3 to construct a model that explains 72% of the variability of response time.

In production and operations management, models refer to any simple representation of reality in different forms such as mathematical equations, graphical representation, pictorial representation, and physical models. Thus a model could be the well known economic order quantity (EOQ) formula, a PERT network chart, a motion picture of an operation, or pieces of strings stretched on a drawing of a plant layout to study the movement of material. The models help us to analyze and understand the reality. These also help us to work determine optimal conditions to for decision making. For example, the EOQ formula helps us to determine the optimum replenishment quantities that minimize the cost of storing plus replenishing.The number of different models we use in production and operations management run into hundreds, or even more than a thousand. These are really too many to enumerate in a place like these. I am listing below a random list of broad categories of models used in production and operations model.

Operations research models. This is actually a very broad classification and covers many of the other categories in the list given here.

o Inventory models

o Forecasting models

o Network models

o Linear programming models

o Queuing models

o Production planning and control models

o Engineering drawings

o Photographs and motion pictures used in time and motion studies.

o Material movement charts

o Process flow diagrams

o Systems charts

o Statistical process control charts.

o Variance analysis

o Regression analysis

o Organization chart

o Fishbone chart

Work study and motion study

Work study includes a wide field of measurement tools and techniques. Motion study or method study is concerned with analyzing individual human motions (like get object, put object) with a view to improving motion economy.

Q4. What is Rapid Prototyping? Explain the difference between Automated flow line and Automated assembly line with examples.

Ans. Rapid prototyping is the automatic construction of physical objects using additive manufacturing technology. The first techniques for rapid prototyping became available in the late 1980s and were used to produce models and prototype parts. Today, they are used for a much wider range of applications and are even used to manufacture production-quality parts in relatively small numbers. Some sculptors use the technology to produce complex shapes for fine arts exhibitions.

Automated flow lines : When several automated machines are linked by a transfer system which moves the parts by using handling machines which are also automated, we have an automated flow line. After completing an operation on a machine, the semi finished parts are moved to the next machine in the sequence determined by the process requirements a flow line is established. The parts at various stages from raw material to ready for fitment or assembly are processed continuously to attain the required shapes or acquire special properties to enable them to perform desired functions. The materials need to be moved, held, rotated, lifted, positioned etc. for completing different operations.

Sometimes, a few of the operations can be done on a single machine with a number of attachments. They are moved further to other machines for performing further operations. Human intervention may be needed to verify that the operations are taking place according to standards. When these can be achieved with the help of automation and the processes are conducted with self regulation, we will have automated flow lines established. One important consideration is to balance times that different machines take to complete the operations assigned to them. It is necessary to design the machines in such a way that the operation times are the same throughout the sequence in the flow of the martial. In fixed automation or hard automation, where one component is manufactured using several operations and machines it is possible to achieve this condition – or very nearly. We assume that product life cycles are sufficiently stable to invest heavily on the automated flow lines to achieve reduced cost per unit. The global trends are favouring flexibility in the manufacturing systems. The costs involved in changing the set up of automated flow lines are high. So, automated flow lines are considered only when the product is required to be made in high volumes over a relatively long period. Designers now incorporate flexibility in the machines which will take care of small changes in dimensions by making adjustments or minor changes in the existing machine or layout. The change in movements needed can be achieved by programming the machines. Provision for extra pallets or tool holders or conveyors are made in the original design to accommodate anticipated changes. The logic to be followed is to find out whether the reduction in cost per piece justifies the costs of designing, manufacturing and setting up automated flow lines. Group Technology, Cellular Manufacturing along with conventional Product and Process Layouts are still resorted to as they allow flexibility for the production system. With methodologies of JIT and Lean Manufacturing finding importance and relevance in the competitive field of manufacturing, many companies have found that well designed flow lines suit their purpose well. Flow lines compel engineers to put in place equipments that balance their production rates. It is not possible to think of inventories (Work

In Process) in a flow line. Bottlenecks cannot be permitted. By necessity, every bottleneck gets focused upon and solutions found to ease them. Production managers see every bottleneck as an opportunity to hasten the flow and

reduce inventories. However, it is important to note that setting up automated flow lines will not be suitable for many industries

Automated Assembly Lines : All equipments needed to make a finished product are laid out in such a way as to follow the sequence in which the parts or subassemblies are put together and fitted. Usually, a frame, body, base will be the starting point of an assembly. The frame itself consists of a construction made up of several components and would have been ‘assembled’ or ‘fabricated’ in a separate bay or plant and brought to the assembly line. All parts or subassemblies are fitted to enable the product to be in readiness to perform the function it was designed to. This process is called assembly.

Methodologies of achieving the final result may vary, but the basic principle is to fit all parts together and ensure linkages so that their functions are integrated and give out the desired output. Product Layouts are designed so that the assembly tasks are performed in the sequence they are designed. You will note that the same task gets repeated at each station continuously. The finished item comes out at the end of the line

The material goes from station 1 to 5 sequentially. Operation 2 takes longer time, say twice as long. To see that the flow is kept at the same pace we provide two locations 2a and 2b so that operations 3, 4 an 5 need not wait. At 5, we may provide more personnel to complete operations. The time taken at any of the locations should be the same. Otherwise the flow is interrupted. In automated assembly lines the moving pallets move the materials from station to station and moving arms pick up parts, place them at specified places and fasten them by pressing, riveting, screwing or even welding. Sensors will keep track of these activities and move the assemblies to the next stage. An operator will oversee that the assemblies are happening and there are no stoppages. The main consideration for using automated assembly lines is that the volumes justify the huge expenses involved in setting

Up the system.

Q5.Explain Break Even Analysis and Centre of Gravity methods. Explain Product layout and process layout with examples.

Ans. Break Even Analysis refers to the calculation to determine how much product a company must sell in order to break even on that product. It is an effective analysis to measure the impact of different marketing decisions. It can focus on the product, or incremental changes to the product to determine the potential outcomes of marketing tactics. The formula for a break even analysis is:

Break even point ($) = (Total Fixed Costs + Total Variable Costs).

Total Variable Costs = Variable cost per unit x units sold

Unit contribution (contribution margin) = Price per unit – Variable cost per unit.

When looking at making a change to the marketing program, one can calculate the incremental break even volume, to determine the merits of the change. This determines the required volume needed such

that there is no effect to the company due to the change.

If making changes to fixed costs (changing advertising expenditure etc.):

Incremental break even volume = change in expenditure / unit contribution.

Thus if a company increased its advertising expenditure by $1 million, and its unit contribution for the specific product is $20, then the company would need to sell an additional 50,000 units to break even on the decision.

If making changes to the unit contribution (change in price, or variable costs):

Incremental break even volume = (Old Unit Volume x (Old Unit Contribution – New Unit Contribution)) / New Unit Contribution

Thus if a company increased its price from $15 to $20, and had variable costs of $10, it is increasing its unit contribution from $5 to $10, assume also an old unit volume of 1 million. It could therefore reduce its volume by 500,000 to break even on the decision.

When making changes to a specific product, cannibalization of other products may occur. To calculate the effect of cannibalization, the Break Even Cannibalization rate for a change in a product is:

New Product Unit Contribution / Old Product Unit Contribution.

New Product is the planned addition to a product line (or change to a product within a product line), Old Product is the product that loses sales to the new product (or the product line that loses sales). The cannibalization rate refers to the percentage of new product that would have gone to the old product, this must be lower than the break even cannibalization rate in order for the change to be profitable.

In manufacturing, facility layout consists of configuring the plant site with lines, buildings, major facilities, work areas, aisles, and other pertinent features such as department boundaries. While facility layout for services may be similar to that for manufacturing, it also may be somewhat different—as is the case with offices, retailers, and warehouses. Because of its relative permanence, facility layout probably is one of the most crucial elements affecting efficiency. An efficient layout can reduce unnecessary material handling, help to keep costs low, and maintain product flow through the facility.

Firms in the upper left-hand corner of the product-process matrix have a process structure known as a jumbled flow or a disconnected or intermittent line flow. Upper-left firms generally have a process layout. Firms in the lower right-hand corner of the product-process matrix can have a line or continuous flow. Firms in the lower-right part of the matrix generally have a product layout. Other types of layouts include fixed-position, combination, cellular, and certain types of service layouts.

PROCESS LAYOUT

Process layouts are found primarily in job shops, or firms that produce customized, low-volume products that may require different processing requirements and sequences of operations. Process layouts are facility configurations in which operations of a similar nature or function are grouped together. As such, they occasionally are referred to as functional layouts. Their purpose is to process goods or provide services that involve a variety of processing requirements. A manufacturing example would be a machine shop. A machine shop generally has separate departments where general-purpose machines are grouped together by function (e.g., milling, grinding, drilling, hydraulic presses, and lathes). Therefore, facilities that are configured according to individual functions or processes have a process layout. This type of layout gives the firm the flexibility needed to handle a variety of routes and process requirements. Services that utilize process layouts include hospitals, banks, auto repair, libraries, and universities.

Improving process layouts involves the minimization of transportation cost, distance, or time. To accomplish this some firms use what is known as a Muther grid, where subjective information is summarized on a grid displaying various combinations of department, work group, or machine pairs. Each combination (pair), represented by an intersection on the grid, is assigned a letter indicating the importance of the closeness of the two (A = absolutely necessary; E = very important; I = important; O = ordinary importance; U = unimportant; X = undesirable). Importance generally is based on the shared use of facilities, equipment, workers or records, work flow, communication requirements, or safety requirements. The departments and other elements are then assigned to clusters in order of importance.

Advantages of process layouts include:

Flexibility. The firm has the ability to handle a variety of processing requirements.

Cost. Sometimes, the general-purpose equipment utilized may be less costly to purchase and less costly and easier to maintain than specialized equipment.

Motivation. Employees in this type of layout will probably be able to perform a variety of tasks on multiple machines, as opposed to the boredom of performing a repetitive task on an assembly line. A process layout also allows the employer to use some type of individual incentive system.

System protection. Since there are multiple machines available, process layouts are not particularly vulnerable to equipment failures.

Disadvantages of process layouts include:

Utilization. Equipment utilization rates in process layout are frequently very low, because machine usage is dependent upon a variety of output requirements.

Cost. If batch processing is used, in-process inventory costs could be high. Lower volume means higher per-unit costs. More specialized attention is necessary for both products and customers. Setups are more frequent, hence higher setup costs. Material handling is slower and more inefficient. The span of supervision is small due to job complexities (routing, setups, etc.), so supervisory costs are higher. Additionally, in this type of layout accounting, inventory control, and purchasing usually are highly involved.

Confusion. Constantly changing schedules and routings make juggling process requirements more difficult.

PRODUCT LAYOUT

Product layouts are found in flow shops (repetitive assembly and process or continuous flow industries). Flow shops produce high-volume, highly standardized products that require highly standardized, repetitive processes. In a product layout, resources are arranged sequentially, based on the routing of the products. In theory, this sequential layout allows the entire process to be laid out in a straight line, which at times may be totally dedicated to the production of only one product or product version. The flow of the line can then be subdivided so that labor and equipment are utilized smoothly throughout the operation.

Two types of lines are used in product layouts: paced and unpaced. Paced lines can use some sort of conveyor that moves output along at a continuous rate so that workers can perform operations on the product as it goes by. For longer operating times, the worker may have to walk alongside the work as it moves until he or she is finished and can walk back to the workstation to begin working on another part (this essentially is how automobile manufacturing works).

On an unpacked line, workers build up queues between workstations to allow a variable work pace. However, this type of line does not work well with large, bulky products because too much storage space may be required. Also, it is difficult to balance an extreme variety of output rates without significant idle time. A technique known as assembly-line balancing can be used to group the individual tasks performed into workstations so that there will be a reasonable balance of work among the workstations.

Product layout efficiency is often enhanced through the use of line balancing. Line balancing is the assignment of tasks to workstations in such a way that workstations have approximately equal time requirements. This minimizes the amount of time that some workstations are idle, due to waiting on parts from an upstream process or to avoid building up an inventory queue in front of a downstream process.

Advantages of product layouts include:

Output. Product layouts can generate a large volume of products in a short time. Cost. Unit cost is low as a result of the high volume. Labor specialization results in reduced training time and

cost. A wider span of supervision also reduces labor costs. Accounting, purchasing, and inventory control are routine. Because routing is fixed, less attention is required.

Utilization. There is a high degree of labor and equipment utilization.

Disadvantages of product layouts include:

Motivation. The system’s inherent division of labor can result in dull, repetitive jobs that can prove to be quite stressful. Also, assembly-line layouts make it very hard to administer individual incentive plans.

Flexibility. Product layouts are inflexible and cannot easily respond to required system changes—especially changes in product or process design.

System protection. The system is at risk from equipment breakdown, absenteeism, and downtime due to preventive maintenance.

Course MBA – 2nd Semester

Subject Production and Operations Management

Assignment MB0044 – Set 2

Q1. Explain Logical process and Physical process modeling. What are the ingredients of Business Process?

Ans

Business Process Modeling

A process is a coordinated set of activities designed to produce a specific outcome. There are processes for saving a file, constructing a building, and cooking a meal. In fact, there is a process for almost everything we do. A business process is a type of process designed to achieve a particular business objective.

Business processes consist of many components, including:

The data needed to accomplish the desired business objective Individual work tasks that manipulate, review, or act upon the data in some way Decisions that affect the data in the process or the manner in which the process is conducted The movement of data between tasks in the process Individuals and groups which perform tasks

Processes can be manual or automated, fully documented or simply knowledge in the minds of one or more people. They can be simple or complex. They can be formal, requiring exact adherence to all details; or flexible, provided the desired outcome is achieved.

Logical Process Modeling

Logical Process Modeling is the representation of a business process, detailing all the activities in the process from gathering the initial data to reaching the desired outcome. These are the kinds of activities described in a logical process model:

Gathering the data to be acted upon Controlling access to the data during the process execution Determining which work task in the process should be accomplished next Delivering the appropriate subset of the data to the corresponding work task Assuring that all necessary data exists and all required actions have been performed at each task Providing a mechanism to indicate acceptance of the results of the process, such as, electronic “signatures”.

All business processes are made up of these actions. The most complex of processes can be broken down into these concepts. The complexity comes in the manner in which the process activities are connected together. Some activities may occur in sequential order, while some may be performed in parallel. There may be circular paths in the process (a re-work loop, for example). It is likely there will be some combination of these.

The movement of data and the decisions made determining the paths the data follow during the process comprise the process model. The contains only business activities, uses business terminology (not software acronyms, technical jargon, etc.…), completely describes the activities of the business area being modeled, and is independent of any individual or position working in the organization. Like its sibling, Logical Data Modeling, Logical Process Modeling does not include redundant activities, technology dependent activities, physical limitations or requirements or current systems limitations or requirements. The process model is a representation of the business view of the set of activities under analysis.

Heretofore, many applications and systems were built without a logical process model or a rigorous examination of the processes needed to accomplish the business goals. This resulted in applications that did not meet the needs of the users and / or were difficult to maintain and enhance.

Problems with an unmodeled system include the following:

Not knowing who is in possession of the data at any point in time Lack of control over access to the data at any point in the process Inability to determine quickly where in the process the data resides and how long it has been there Difficulties in making adjustments to a specific execution of a business process Inconsistent process execution.

Ingredients of Business Process

1) Time: You must understand that time is money. In business, our objective is to make money. Period. But the question is how productively you convert your time into money. Are you making full use of your time or you just let the time pass by you?

How much you make depends on how good you are at converting time to money. If you are already productive, then you may want to ask what are the things you can do to

improve further the ratio of dollar/second? If you are making $0.01/second, what you can do to make it $0.02/second? Or even more. Remember time is the most valuable asset and once it’s gone, it’s gone. Also time is also the fairest distribution of resources every human being receives.

2) People: To be successful in business, you must have people connections. I mean the right people. People consist of customers, suppliers, partners, staff, and associates.

One thing that you must not leave out is your mentor or coach. Having genuine mentors or coaches is very important and it can make a very big difference in your business.

To make sure that you have more profits, you must serve people well. Organize your database of people connections. By simply knowing who does what, who supplies what, who needs what, where to get what make you miles ahead of other people. To organize your connections, you can either use a paper folder or computer spreadsheet.

3) Knowledge and Skills: When I talk about knowledge and skills, I am not referring to academic knowledge that you find in schools or colleges. What’s more important to you

is knowledge and skills that can bring you results you want.

How many MBA holders that you know of have become business owners and have made tones of money? That shows getting the right knowledge and skills is important. Don’t blindly go after knowledge that could drown you. Go for knowledge and skills that are universally tested and proven.

Examples of right knowledge and skills are where to get what from who, money making trends, marketing strategies, art of dealing with people, negotiation skills, selling skills, skills of managing and growing money, investment skills, universal laws of success, and more. Don’t waste time on unnecessary knowledge as I went through that before. There’s only so much that you need to know and learn. Be sharp and focus when you acquire knowledge and skills. Don’t follow what normal people do.

4) Personal Health: In fact, this is the most important ingredient of all. How can you run a business without a healthy body? In order to maintain an optimum health, you have to provide your body with proper nutrients and sufficient exercise. And also don’t forget about emotional well being. Don’t let anger and other negative emotions control you.

This is where positive and empowering attitudes come into play. Maintaining your body is just like maintaining your car. If you send your car to workshop for regular service and pump petrol regularly, why don’t you do the same for your body? It’s something for you to think about. Don’t be stingy over spending money for your own health because physical and mental health can cause you a lot of money in the long run if your body is not taken care of properly.

5) Money: Let’s face it. It does take money to make money even you need a little. But you might not need a lot of money to start a business because there are many ways to

start one with low capital.

I meet a lot of people who want to be rich but are not willing to invest the money. You must invest in something in order to for you to get something. The law of sowing and

reaping is at work. Don’t expect something without investing anything. Money is one of the investments you need to make.

Even though you don’t need to have a capital for your business, but at least you must be able to cover your expenses while building your business. You also need money to buy products to stock up and other stuff. So, you must at least come up with whatever amount that you have to start a business.

These are the five basic ingredients of business success. Do your best to acquire or grow or invest in these ingredients. But the good thing is you don’t need to have a perfect combination of ingredients to get started. You can still perfect the ingredients along the way. Somehow, get it started with what you’ve got.

Q2. Explain Project Management knowledge areas. With an example explain work Breakdown Structure.

Ans.

The Project management knowledge areas are described in the following.

Project integration management describes the processes and activities needed to identify, define, combine, unify and coordinate the various project management elements within the project management process groups. The project management processes are develop project charter, develop preliminary project scope statement, develop project management plan, direct and manage project execution, monitor and control project work, integrated change control and close project.

Project scope management describes the processes needed to ensure that the project includes all the work required – and only the work required – to complete the project successfully. The project management processes are plan scope, define scope, create work breakdown structure, verify scope and control scope.

Project time management describes the processes required to ensure on-time project completion. The project management processes are define project activities, sequence activities, estimate activity resources, estimate activity duration and develop and control project schedule.

Project cost management describes the processes involved in planning, estimating, budgeting and controlling costs to ensure that the project is completed within the approved budget. The project management processes are cost estimating, cost budgeting and cost control.

Project quality management describes the processes involved in assuring that the project will satisfy the objectives for which it was undertaken. The project management processes are quality planning, perform quality assurance and perform quality control.

Project human resource management describes the processes that organise and manage the project team. The project management processes are human resource planning, acquire project team, develop project team and manage project team.

Project communications management describes the processes concerning the timely and appropriate generation, collection, dissemination, storage and ultimate disposition of project information. The project management processes are communications planning, information distribution, performance reporting and manage stakeholders.

Project risk management describes the processes concerned with conducting risk management on a project. The project management processes are risk management planning, risk identification, qualitative risk analysis, quantitative risk analysis, risk response planning and risk monitoring and control.

Project procurement management describes the processes that purchase or acquire products, services or results as well as contract management processes. The project management processes are plan purchases and acquisitions, plan contracting, request seller responses, select sellers, contract administration and contract closure.

Work Breakdown Structure

A work breakdown structure (WBS) in project management and systems engineering, is a tool used to define and group a project‘s discrete work elements in a way that helps organize and define the total work scope of the project.[1]

A work breakdown structure element may be a product, data, a service, or any combination. A WBS also provides the necessary framework for detailed cost estimating and control along with providing guidance for schedule development and control. Additionally the WBS is a dynamic tool and can be revised and updated as needed by the project manager.

Example of a product oriented work breakdown structure of an aircraft system

Q3.Take an example of any product or project and explain Project Management Life Cycle.

In industry, product lifecycle management (PLM) is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its conception, through design and manufacture, to service and disposal.[1] PLM integrates people, data, processes and business systems and provides a product information backbone for companies and their extended enterprise.[2]

‘Product lifecycle management’ (PLM) should be distinguished from ‘Product life cycle management (marketing)‘ (PLCM). PLM describes the engineering aspect of a product, from managing descriptions and properties of a product through its development and useful life; whereas, PLCM refers to the commercial management of life of a product in the business market with respect to costs and sales measures.

Product lifecycle management is one of the four cornerstones of a corporation’s information technology structure.[3] All companies need to manage communications and information with their customers (CRM-Customer Relationship Management), their suppliers (SCM-Supply Chain Management), their resources within the enterprise (ERP-Enterprise Resource Planning) and their planning (SDLC-Systems Development Life Cycle). In addition, manufacturing engineering companies must also develop, describe, manage and communicate information about their products.

One form of PLM is called people-centric PLM. While traditional PLM tools have been deployed only on release or during the release phase, people-centric PLM targets the design phase.

Example

Recent (as of 2009) ICT development (EU funded PROMISE project 2004-2008) has allowed PLM to extend beyond traditional PLM and integrate sensor data and real time ‘lifecycle event data’ into PLM, as well as allowing this information to be made available to different players in the total lifecycle of an individual product (closing the information loop). This has resulted in the extension of PLM into Closed Loop Lifecycle Management

Benefits

Documented benefits of product lifecycle management include:[4][5]

Reduced time to market Improved product quality Reduced prototyping costs More accurate and timely Request For Quote generation Ability to quickly identify potential sales opportunities and revenue contributions Savings through the re-use of original data

A framework for product optimization Reduced waste Savings through the complete integration of engineering workflows Documentation that can assist in proving Compliance for RoHS or Title 21 CFR Part 11 Ability to provide Contract Manufacturers with access to a centralized product record

Q4. Explain PIMS. What is the difference between key Success Factor (KSF) and Knowledge (K) Factor? Explain with example.

Ans. Project Management Information System (PMIS) are system tools and techniques used in project management to deliver information. Project managers use the techniques and tools to collect, combine and distribute information through electronic and manual means. Project Management Information System (PMIS) is used by upper and lower management to communicate with each other.

Project Management Information System (PMIS) help plan, execute and close project management goals. During the planning process, project managers use PMIS for budget framework such as estimating costs. The Project Management Information System is also used to create a specific schedule and define the scope baseline. At the execution of the project management goals, the project management team collects information into one database. The PMIS is used to compare the baseline with the actual accomplishment of each activity, manage materials, collect financial data, and keep a record for reporting purposes. During the close of the project, the Project Management Information System is used to review the goals to check if the tasks were accomplished. Then, it is used to create a final report of the project close.

To conclude, the project management information system (PMIS) is used to plan schedules, budget and execute work to be accomplished in project management

Key Success Factors

Definition: The factors that are a necessary condition for success in a given market.

When writing a business plan, it’s crucial to identify what will make your business a success. Think of key success factors as the small towns you must pass through to reach your destination. If you don’t consult a map to found out where those towns are, you may miss a turnoff and your destination. Key success factors, also known as critical success factors, keep you and your employees on track to make your business a success.

Increasing the sales of a product or service is a common key success factor, but it should be linked to a measurable goal, such as “sales of product X will increase by 30 percent in the fourth quarter.” Measuring the outcome of the goals related to your key success factors is essential to keeping your business on target.

Almost all businesses can benefit from having the key success factor “attract new customers.” Decide how many new customers your business needs to succeed, and set a related goal, such as “increase walk-in traffic by 25 percent by offering samples at the door.” Other examples of common key success factors are, “retain quality employees,” “increase profit margin” and “increase customer satisfaction.”

Some businesses are subject to more regulation than others. Manufacturing facilities must comply with OSHA regulations, and they may want to develop a key success factor that addresses the company’s compliance. For example, “Provide all employees with hazardous material training.”

Key success factors should always be relevant to the business you are in. An example of an industry specific key success factor is “increase load factor relative to the industry average.” This key success factor is specific to the airline industry, as referenced in “Airline Industry Key Success Factors” in the Graziadio Business Report. Fleet management is essential to airlines, limousine companies and taxi services, but it’s not relevant to the development of computer games.

The key success factor “Build a manufacturing facility to produce 80 percent of inventory” is an example of what RapidBi.com calls temporal factors. According to the web site, temporal factors “relate to short-term situations, often crises. These CSF’s may be important, but are usually short-lived.” In this example, once the manufacturing facility is constructed and operational, the key success factor is no longer needed and can be replaced by a currently relevant one.

Measurable Key Success Factors General Key Success Factors Regulatory Key Success Factors Industry Specific Key Success Factors Temporal Key Success Factors Knowledge factor

India may be a brain bank to the world. but it doesn’t help if other countries cash in on this more frequently than india itself. The state of Indian higher education is the weak link in this chain it’s the reason why Indians spend $3 billion annually seeking education abroad.

Those who study abroad tend to stay on abroad, while according to a NASSCOM-Mckinsey estimate only 10-25 per cent of those earning a college degree in India are employable.

Now the National Knowledge Commission (NKC) has written to the prime minister stating that raising the number of indian universities from 350 to 1,500 is critical if India’s growth is to be sustained.

As NKC Chairman Sam Pitroda notes, only 7 per cent of India’s population aged 18-24 enters higher education, which is half the Asian average. China has created 1,250 new universities within just the last three years.

India’s percentage of youth enrolled in college has to be brought up to at least asian levels while at the same time enhancing academic standards.

The only way such a sweeping revamp can be carried out is if today’s centrally managed education mono-polies are dismantled, and education is depoliticised and debureaucratised.

Q5. Explain the seven principles of supply chain management. Take an example of any product in the market and explain the scenario of Bullwhip effect.

Ans. There is many steps which involved in SCM implementation are- Business Process, sales and marketing. Logistics, costing, demand planning, trade- off analysis, environmental requirement, process stability, integrated supply, supplier management, product design, suppiers, customers, material specifications, etc.

Some important aspect of SCM-

The level of competition existing in the market and the impact of competitive forces on the product development.

Designing and working on a strategic logic for better growth through value invention. Working out new value curve in the product development along with necessary break point.

Using it to analyses markets and the economies in product design. Tine, customer, quality of product and the concept of survival of fittest.

Steps of SCM principals:

Group customer by need: Effective SCM groups, customer by tietinct service meeds those particular segment. Customize the logistics networks: In designing their logistics network, companies need to focus on the service

requirement and profit potential of the customer segments identified. Listen to signals of market demand and plan accordingly- sales and operations planners must monitor the

entire supply chain to detect early warning signals of changing customer demand and needs. Differentiate the product closer to the customer-companies today no longer can afford to stock pile inventory

to compensate for possible forecasting errors, instead, they need to postpone product differentiation in the manufacturing. Process closer to actual customer demand.

Strategically manage the source of supply-by working closely with their key suppliers to reduce the overall casts of owning materials and services; SCM maximizes profit margins both for themselves, and their supplies.

Develop a supply chain wide technology strategy- as one of the cornerstones of successful SCM information technology must be able to support multiple levels of decision making.

Adopt channel spanning performance measures- Excellent supply performance measurement systems do more than just monitor internal functions. They apply performance criteria that embrace bathe service and financial metrics, including as such as each accounts true profitability.