Operations Management Final

Operations Management Final writing Case Study (1) Gate flip-flop at souwest Airlines (Chapter Six) (2) backwardness Management at Southwest Airlines (Chapter Seven) (3) Lean Systems at Autoliv (Chapter Eight) (Derek Silkebaken) D974557 2012? 1? 2? Chapter 6 supplying Capacity Video Case Gate Turnaround at Southwest Airlines Q1. How bottom of the inning Capacity and counterfeitout be mensurable at an airline such as SWA? dish out Capacity is the maximal rate of output of a process or a system.And use of goods and stand byings is measured as the ratio of bonny output rate to utter near capacity. In Southwest, capacity can be measured in accessible seat-miles (AMS) pre month. Therefore, utilization can be measured as the ratio of average seat-mile rate to maximum seat-miles. Q2. Which factors can adversely impact turn-around prison term as SWA? Answer There many factors can adversely impact turn-around cadence as SWA. The aircraft has to be served by the ground opera tions team up for its undermentioned de recessure.The grounds operations team consists of a luggage transfer driver who has responsibility for getting connecting flight luggage the ground operations team consists of baggage transfer driver who has responsibility for getting connecting flight bags to baggage claim for passenger pick-up, a lavatory truck driver who handles convenience receptacle drainage, a lead portal to handle baggage carts and track next and outgoing bag counts, and a bin agent to manage baggage and cargo inside the plane.In the same time, the provisioning truck has to restock supplies such as drinks and snacks. The fuel truck has to load fuel to the airplane. If any unexpected topic happens during the maintenance, it might slow down the flow of operations. Meanwhile, if the passengers can deplane and emplane as schedule, it is a nonher concern. Anything from weather delays to unexpected maintenance issue at the supply can slow down the flow of operation s and adversely impact turn-around time. Q3. How does Southwest Airlines notice they atomic number 18 achieving their goals?Answer Company executives know when they have achieved their goals when internal and external metrics argon reached. For example, the De partitionment of raptus (DOT) tracks on-time departures, customer complains, and mishandles baggage for all airlines. Southwest Airline can realize all the relating information and The company sets targets for achievement on these dimensions and lets employees know on a monthly basis how the company is doing against those metrics comp ared to the rest of the industry.Regular converse with all employees is delivered via meeting, posters, and newsletters. Rewards such as prizes and profit sharing are abandoned for successful achievement. Q4. What are the important long-term issues relevant for managing capacity, revenue, and customer ecstasy for SWA? Answer Rolling King and Herb Kelleher started Southwest Airlines in 1971 with this estimate if they could take airline passengers where they involve to go, on time, at the lowest realizable price, and a good time while doing it, people would love to flee their airplane.These issues are still important for managing capacity, revenue, and customer satisfaction for SWA. Moreover, improving the utilization of its fleet by turning around an aircraft at the gate alacritous than its competitors is another major issue for SWA because even a single fleck reduction in aircraft turnaround time system wide performer additional seat-miles being added to the available capacity of Southwest Airlines. Chapter 7 Planning Capacity Video Case Constraint Management at Southwest Airlines Q1. Analyze Southwests passenger embarkation using the supposition of Constraints.Answer From the lobby report process through to embarkment at the gate and processing plane turnaround, the process of operating the airline filled with constraints that moldiness be managed in order for them to be successful and profitable. Fight schedules are tightly orchestrated and controlled, departure and arrival gates at airports are limited, and individual aircraft have seating capacities in each section of the plane, to bear on a few. Q2. Which boarding scenario among the different ones proposed would you recommend for implementation? Why?Answer In my personal opinion, assigned boarding gate line positions ground on both boarding group and gate arrival time is the most workable. The principle to assign position based on boarding group can satisfy the customers who travel in group and want to sit together. The customers might be family, friends or couples. Then the principal of gate arrival time is to meet the rule first come, first served. If the assignments of the positions are correspond to the arrival time, there are few customers would complain slightly the unfairness.Therefore, customers would like to follow the rules and accept the assigned positions. The hig h-quality and fast customer emolument will impress all his customers. Q3. How should Southwest evaluate the gate boarding and plane turnaround process? Answer Southwest should check if it can manage all potential tightness are effectively. Southwests famous rapid gate-turnaround of 25 minutes or less demonstrates how precaution to the activities that ground operations must complete to clean, fuel, and prepare a plane for flight can become bottlenecks if not properly scheduled.In the terminal at the gate, passenger boarding also can be a bottleneck if the boarding process itself is not carefully managed. In 2007, as part of the companys improvement activities, Southwest focused its attention on the passenger boarding process to determine whether there was a go bad way to board. Its existing process consisted of three groups A, B, C, with no assigned seating. Depending on passenger check-in and arrival time, passengers were given a spot in group. Those first to check-in received picking places in the A group.Last to check-in ended up in the C group, and usually had a choice of only middle seats in the back of the plane upon boarding. As passengers arrived at the gate, they queued up in their respective boarding group areas to hold off the boarding call. Q4. How will Southwest know that the bottleneck had indeed eliminated after(prenominal) the change in the boarding process? Answer It can be evaluated by the change of the gate-turnaround time. If the bottleneck in the boarding process has been eliminated, wherefore the gate-turnaround time should be shorter than 25 minutes. Meanwhile, profitability and customer satisfaction should be improved.Chapter 8 Designing Lean Systems Video Case Lean Systems at Autoliv Q1. Why is a visual management approach such an inviolate part of Autolivs lean system? It allows Autoliv to keep track of work time infallible to complete a customers order. A rail is used for the management of the heijunka pla score throwaways in each cadre. For instance, if the card is green, it means the work on a product that fulfills the customers order can be completed during normal working hours. If the card is yellow, overtime is needed to complete the order. But if the card is red, it means pass overtime is needed.Also, the visual communication allows for the determination of when a group of cells is backed-up and not performing properly. If a cell is not performing at the undeniable pace to meet customer demand, the cards will stack up on the rail and provide a very visual propel that the cell is not meeting expectations. And, this will provide an opportunity for the cell team members and management to implement immediate countermeasures to prevent required overtime if the situation is not remedied. Q2. Describe the JIT considerations presented in the chapter as they relate to Autolivs manufacturing environment?The following are types of Just in Time (JIT) activities according to the Tokyo yield System (TPS) Eliminate waste or muda by cutting overmuchness capacity or inventory and removing non-value-added activities. Kaizen the understanding that excess capacity or inventory hides underlying problems with the processors that produce a service or a product. Jidoka automatically remainping the process when something is wrong and therefore fixing the problems on the line itself as they occur. Poka-yoke mistake-proofing methods aimed at designing fail-safe systems that minimize human error.Takt time cycle time needed to snap the rate of product to the rate of sales or consumption. Heijunka the leveling of production load by both volume and product mix. Q3. Which method of workflow is embodied in Autolivs system? Why is this approach most suitable to its lean environment? The Kanban System a card is committed to each container of items produced. The container holds a given percent of the daily production requirements for an item. When the drug user of the parts empties a container, the card s removed from the container and put on a receiving post.The empty container is then taken to the storage area the card signals the need to produce another container of the part. When the container has been refilled, the card is put back on the container which is then returned to a storage area. The cycle begins again when the use of the part retrieves the container with the card attached. Q4. When Autoliv started its lean journey, a number of operational benefits and implementation issues had to be addressed. What were they, and how were they addressed? Autoliv was not able to meet customer demands by fulfilling the involve of its automakers they were pressured to change operations.They adopted the Autoliv Production System (APS) which was modeled after the Toyota Production System (TPS). In order to resolve visible problems, Autoliv performed daily audits, monthly training, and more in-depth education to help focus attention on where changes needed to be made. If there a s an abnormal condition during the work proceeding that slowed down the work of the cell or stopped altogether, a stop and fix model was put into place. This allowed Autoliv to stop the production line instantaneously and be able to correct the problem before operations got worse.Next, to help focus efforts daily, Autoliv had a blue communication wall that everyone sees as they headman to their work site. The wall contains the companys policy department, which consists of company-wide goals for customer satisfaction, stockholder/financial performance, and safety and quality. Consequentially, all aisles and walkways surrounding cells are to be web of materials debris, or other items. If anything appears in those areas, everyone can quickly see the constipation and be able to keep the areas surrounding the cells clear of debris.