Operation Process at Vba

Operation process at VBA

INTRODUCTION

ÐŽ§The Design, setting up, operation, and continuous evaluation of internal and external systems that deliver a product or a service to the customer is called Operations Management.ЎЁ(Alan Carroll, 2003)

According to Slack et al, All Operations processes takes in a set of input resources which are then used to transform something, or are transformed themselves, into outputs of goods and services which satisfy customer needs. This is described by transformation process model.

All operations manager are designers. Design in Operations management refers to the conceptual process by which customers needs are satisfied through the use of a product or system, which derives from the physical translation of the concept. (Slack et al, third edition)

Good Design is very important for an organisation. A good functional design enhances profitability and can provide a competitive edge. It starts with the customer and ends with a customer. A good design is feasible, acceptable and flexible. (Russell / Taylor, operations management, second edition)

This report discusses the central issues to design activity in an unusual operation of a flower auction in Aalsmeer, Holland called, VBA. It is the largest flower auction operation in the world. It contains different aspects of the design activity in operations management.

Answer to Question 1

There are basically 5 operations objectives that apply to all types of operation .

The design of VBA process is very complex. It is designed to handle around 19 million flowers and plant everyday. The operation objectives that are most important to build in to the design of VBAÐŽ¦s processes are;

SPEED- According to slack, ÐŽ§Speed is concerned with how long customers have to wait to receive their products.ЎЁ In the VBA operation speed is the most critical objective because flowers are extremely perishable. And it cannot afford inventories since the product declines to zero within 10 to 12 days of harvesting. Flowers reach the operation in the evening and overnight and subsequently distributed in to lots and refrigerated. Flowers reach the auctioning process following morning itself. The bidding process is done within few seconds through the clock system and then the flowers are packed and dispatched. The whole process is designed in such a way that flowers move through each stage of the process without any delay and does not stay at VBA for more then 18 hours.

QUALITY- ЎҐQuality means doing things rightÐŽ¦. Quality has been the primary objective in the designing of the VBA process. It is basically an error free process. In other words itÐŽ¦s a ЎҐworld class operationÐŽ¦. The operation is very complex and large but is held together by information processing technology. VBA follows Self-monitoring plan, which increases the reliability of the information regarding the quality of flowers. One of its principle is that supplier themselves are responsible for providing reliable information. VBA staff supports the suppliers through guidance and targeted inspection. Quality inspectors inspect on the basis of the reliability index of the suppliers. This index is formed on the basis of past accuracy of the information provided by the suppliers. So it detects any error that can occur regarding the quality of flowers within the operation itself.

DEPENDABILITY- ЎҐmeans doing things in time for customers to receive their goods when they were promised.ÐŽ¦

For VBA operation dependability is very critical again because of the perishable nature of flowers. VBA staff ensures the quality and that leads to Dependability. VBA uses high level of computerisation and automation of material that allows it to operate at high dependability levels. VBA process ensures those flowers reach shops all around Europe on the same day and to other parts of the world on the next day.

All these objectives are critical in the design of VBA process at present however in future the other operational objectives could be as crucial as these objectives like:

Flexibility- means providing resources that can be changed quickly. Flexibility could be crucial for VBA in future because the volume of flowers that they handle everyday and the demand for it may vary in future. This would help VBA in maintaining Dependability in future because unexpected events would not disrupt its normal functioning.

Cost- Low cost is a universally attractive objective. VBA is already operating at low costs and it would lead to a competitive advantage for VBA if it could still reduce the costs further. Lower the cost of running this operation, the lower would be price to the customers.

According to Slack et al, We can represent the relative importance of performance objectives in the design of VBA process through Polar Representation. This is called polar because the scales that represent the importance of performance objectives have the same origin. A line describes the relative importance of each objective. The closer the line is to the common origin, the less important is the performance objective to the operation.

ÐŽ§Process technologies are the machines, equipment and devices which help the operation transform materials and information and customers in order to add value and fulfil the operationÐŽ¦s strategic objectives.ЎЁ

(Slack et al, operations management, third edition, pp 227)

VBA is a very large and complex operation and is held together by its information processing technology. Though VBA process is centred on information processing, but it processes a combination of Materials, Information and Customer. VBA cannot achieve any of its objectives without these process technologies because of its complexities.

VBA process involves certain degree of integration of all three process technologies.

Integration Technology

Source; slack et al.

VBA operates at high degree of automation of Materials (flowers) flow and high level of technology (computerisation). The advantage of high degree of automation and technology is that it leads to low costs and it helps VBA in achieving its critical objectives that is high speed, quality and dependability.

The significant process technologies