CASE STUDY

Case study

Case study

Task 1:

Which of the five operations objectives (quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and cost) are the most important to build into the design of VBAs process, and why?

Out of the five operations objectives, dependability constitutes the most important factor to build into VBAs process design. This is because the achievement of this objective catalyzes the achievement of the other objectives. Dependability in the context of the VBA process refers to the situation when the technological resources and human competencies work as expected ( 1997). The technology built into the process should work efficiently based on the level that the company expected these to contribute to the achievement of the particular and general goals of the organization. Human resources overseeing and directly acting in the company operations should also meet their assigned tasks efficiently to contribute to the overall operations of the company. Dependability is defined as “the collective term used to describe the availability of performance and its influencing factors: reliability, performance, maintainability performance and maintenance support performance. Dependability is used only for general descriptions in non-quantitative terms and is a time-related aspect of quality.” (2007) This implies that in the case of VBA, dependability involves the existence of performance reliability and the maintenance of the desired level of performance reliability to ensure the continuous flow of daily operations of the flower auction company. If dependability has already been integrated into the process design of VBA, it should be easier for the company to achieve its other objectives of ensuring quality of process and product output, the speed of process cycle completion, flexibility of the process due to the quality performance of technology and human resources, and the achievement of cost-efficiency because of minimal or zero mistakes and delays. Quality is achieved through dependability. VBA requires quality in two major areas of operations. One is in its storage facility to ensure that the flowers delivered to the company for auction are preserved. The storage facility ensures longevity of the flowers until these reach the end consumers. This is achieved only if the storage facility is dependable or if it works, as it should. The other is in its auction facility using the conveyor to display flowers and the timer system connected to a computer to process successful bidders. The quality of the transaction between the company and the bidders is achieved only if the auction system is reliable. Speed and flexibility in the process are achieved only after first ensuring dependability. Delays are prevented by having a reliable technological system and human resources allowing the accomplishment of the cyclical process according to schedule. A reliable system also allows for flexibility in case of the need to adjust any aspect of the process to accommodate an increase in buyers or a decrease in flowers delivered to the company for auction. A dependable process provides a base point for adjustments.

            With the achievement of quality, speed and flexibility through a dependable process, cost is kept at a minimum with zero delays ...