Operations Management

I do believe the progressive integration of communications, IT, data, and physical elements will result in personnel reductions within organizations that take advantage of these opportunities.  The reason is because of it more cost effective to utilize these technologies than to compensate each employee that would be providing these services with a yearly salary and benefits package.  While it will be good for the bottom line of each business who utilizes these opportunities, it will mean the employees who perform similar services will be in less demand.  For example, using digital technologies and analytics will take some of the responsibility away from those who are calculating analytics and interpreting the data manually.  When there is the technology that can provide more detailed information in a shorter amount of time, it means there is not as much of a need for employees in the company to spend a great time and effort developing these analytics.  The website boasts the abili

The digital era has transformed the way people and industries do business. Whether the progressive integration of communications, IT, data and physical elements will lead to a reduction of personnel in a given organization is a quite controversial topic. It is undeniable that some professionals see such progressive integration of technology to most likely result in personnel reductions, which leads to higher rates of unemployment, deteriorated median wages, and income inequality (Ford, 2015). According to James (2011), such integration improves the customer experience through accountability and responsibility for the whole process and not under separate functional hierarchies. Therefore, it reduces the pool of knowledge and results in staff reductions. Adrian-Cosmin (2015) suggests that integrated systems can reduce labor costs due to the optimization of workflows and a more accurately estimative of workforce needs. Thus, excessive labor power can be eliminated. While in Digital Indu

At first glance, I suspect that there will be job losses in many of the areas that are mentioned in this report. This is the inevitable consequence of automation and increased productivity and efficiency through computers. By integrating communications, IT, data and physical elements, there will be increased agility and innovation, which produces greater efficiency and speed (Daughety, Banerjee, Negm & Alter, n.d.). This is an attitude that is taking hold in the corporate world at the executive level. In fact, 64% of executives believe that leveraging digital is essential to survival (Daughety et. al, n.d.). This is almost unavoidable, as it is commonly believed that continual business improvements are driven by rethinking and redesign (James, 2011). The jobs that will be lost will be in the unskilled and semi-skilled realms. In many cases, digital technology will be able to replace humans, while providing a level of quality and output that greatly surpasses their predecessors

My initial response to the question is, why wouldn't it be feasible? Or, at least, why wouldn't we consider it?  As related in the article, "mismatches between demand and supply leading to excess inventory were the main drivers of PC costs"  (Callioni, de Montgros, Slagmulder, Van Wassenhove, & Wright, 2014).  It is only natural, then, to want to minimize these cost. If we could permit ourselves a little thought experiment, let's imagine a perfect scenario where every member in the supply chain only carried just enough inventory to fulfill the very next order for the very next piece, that the quality was perfect, and that they could deliver that order in an instant.  There would be no wasted time and there would be no wasted materials.  In the volatile PC business or any business for that matter, this should be the goal. Robert Hall, writing about the concept of Zero Inventories, said "Zero Inventories connotes a level of perfection not ever attainab

            In many manufacturing firms, inventory is among the most expensive investments. Consequently, inventory must be very carefully managed to ensure that it is being used as efficiently as possible and in accordance with management’s policies. Managers plan the most efficient ways of storing, handling and using inventories. Inventory management is an important activity involving production engineers, systems engineers, industrial engineers, etc. Managers at various levels or sections must take into cognizance the problems and prospect of inventory in order to ensure efficiency and effectiveness of the organization.             HP’s focus on minimizing inventory costs is feasible despite operating in a market where delivery speed is an order-winning factor. First, we have to discuss the characteristics of inventory. According to Lester (1982), two distinct characteristics of inventory are identified in inventory planning and control and these make it necessary. They ar

According to Hill (2005), to secure customer orders in the marketplace, a product should have qualifying factors and order-winning factors. To gain business from customers, a product should perform at a certain level, however, performance above this level will not necessarily gain further competitive advantage. Furthermore, to gain competitive advantage, a product should have order-winning factors; these are critical reasons for customers to purchase the goods or services among the product competitors. Raising the performance of the order-winning factors may secure more business. Those factors above need to be fulfilled by HP, to remain competitive. They have qualifying factors such as common product technology, usefulness, and design, which are almost similar to their competitors. Moreover, they have their order-winning factors such as price reduction, revamped the design, shorten cycle times in production process, respond quickly to changes in demand, and move inventory to the

According to James (2011), in manufacturing, inventory is the list of components that will make up the product while in services, inventory can be used as part of the delivery system or be part (physical component) of the service itself. Both inventory and inventory control are difficult to manage for many companies in many markets. For most of these industries, delivery speed is an essential tool to create and maintain competitive advantage, consequently an essential factor in the decision-making process regarding which inventory model to adopt. In HP’s case, minimizing inventory costs is feasible for many reasons, among which is the fact that computer components have a relatively short shelf life, which can make it very costly not only to store but also to write them off when they become obsolete. By adopting the appropriate inventory model, HP may increase the working capital that will allow the company invest in other business areas, work on research and development, besides meet