5-Process design (positioning) Flashcards
what does positioning a process mean?
considering overall shape and nature of resources that make up a process to fulfill market requirements. Volume and variety of the process are key for good positioning.
What is the “product-process” matrix?
it shows how a process classifies depending on its volume-variety ratio and process characteristics (complexity and flow).
we have it for products: project process, jobbing process, batch process, mass process, continuous process
for services: professional services, service shops, mass services.
Moving outside the diagonal incurs extra costs (above we have extra flexibility, below we have extra rigitidy).
GRAPHIC!
What are layouts for processes?
they are the way people and techn. are arranged withing a process depending on its vol-variety ratio.
4 types: arranging transformed and transforming resources
-Fixed position layout: open heart surgery
-Functional layout: hospital
-Cell layout: maternity unit
-product layout: car production line
What do we have to conider when setting process technology?
-degree of automatization
-degree of scale
-degree of coupling: flow between operations
choice will depend on volume-variety ratio.
new technologies are bending the diagonal of the product-process matrix!
what is job designing about?
how people carry out their tasks. Its goal is to achieve max process performance. common aspect to all jobs are security, ethical issues, work-life balance
How do we decide on job designing?
it will depend on the volume-variety ratio of the process (how tasks are allocated, degree of job definition, methods to maintain job commitment)
-for high volumes and low variety we may have labor division
what are the advantages and disadvantages of labor division?
advantages:
-faster learning
-specialized tasks
-easier automatization
-higher utilisation
how can you encourage job commitment?
specially for high volume and low variety.
-job enlargement
-job enrichment
-job rotation
-empowerment
-worklife balance
-teamwork
Case study: Dishang and Sand Films
2 different clothing companies that manage very different types of Vol and Variety (each firm is in opposite sides of the product-process matrix.
Worked example: Water meters
A company had plumber services. Then they decided to install “remote reading water meter”. The costs of the readers were too high. They decide to limit distances so that a same visit can cover many houses in 1 day. Example related to moving outside the diagonal and incurring extra costs when having excess of flexibility.
