Flow Chart for Keyless Entry Fob

Flow Chart for Keyless Entry Fob

A process refers to any part of an organization that transforms inputs into outputs of greater value thank the original input. Understanding how processes work is essential in ensuring the competitiveness of an organization because a process that does not meet the needs of the organization will punish the firm every minute it operates. The purpose of this paper is to apply the concept or designing a flowchart for the process of creating an automotive keyless entry fob, selecting the suppliers of the four main components from various countries, provide comments on factors that affect the process design, and identify at least one metric to measure the process.

The Importance of Flowcharting

Ease of operation and production is very important in any organization. The success of a process depends on the efficiency and design of the process flowchart, showing the basic elements of the process such as tasks, flows, and storage areas. ABC Company recognizes that the keyless entry fob is a requirement of automobile manufacturers and finds value in meeting consumers' demands. To ensure that each of the 835,000 cars produced yearly has its keyless entry fob appropriately programmed and constructed before leaving the plant, ABC Company is committed to efficient logistics of all supplies. Each part of the key fob is ordered from different parts of the world and appropriate processes will be used to maintain the inventory necessary at all times. The flowchart below represents the processes that will be used for ABC Company.

Once the finished products arrive at the distribution hub in California, they are loaded on trucks and delivered accordingly:

The main purpose of a flowchart is to allow organizations to map a process and more important, is process-minded. When key processes are illustrated, it makes it easier to understand the process and where different adjustments can be made to increase efficiency and cut costs.

Factors Affecting Global Suppliers Selection

Adjustment in the processes may be needed depending on how various factors within the selected countries may affect the manufacturing and delivery process of the key fobs. Global supplier selection seems to be one of the most important variables in determining the completion of the supply chain, its purpose being attaining high quality products at lower costs (Chan, 2012). Although the main reason for outsourcing operations overseas is lower manufacturing costs, certain risk factors are regarded as critical in the decision-making process. Political instability, import, and export tariffs and fees, transit time from parts manufacturers to the final assembly firm and then to the distribution hub, along with the skill level of workers that impacts the quality of the products, can lead to higher costs than originally anticipated.

According to Yijie and Sarkis (2012), factors considered in the supplier selection process can be categorized into strategic performance metrics, such as cost, quality, flexibility, time, and innovativeness, and organizational factors such as culture and technology that can impact the formation of the partnership.

Metrics Used to Calculate Performance

In addition to the above-mentioned factors, before making any decisions, ABC Company must also understand how metrics are calculated because process performance metrics provide the operations manager with a guideline on how productively a process