Preview

Albatross Anchor Unit 3

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2472 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Albatross Anchor Unit 3
MT435 Operations Management
Kaplan University ntroduction: My name is Aiden and KU Consulting has asked me to prepare a bid on the consulting job with Albatross Anchor. With the information provided to me I am able to go through and analyze the operation as it is running and suggest how to improve the operations to be more competitive with the other anchor manufactures and to increase profits for the company, Albatross has been in business since 1976 with four family members. It has grown to employee one hundred and thirty people. The location of the manufacture is located in a rural suburb it is on twelve acres in Small-town, USA.

Question One
Based on the information presented in the scenario/case study discuss Albatross Anchor’s competitiveness in relation to (please address all items in the below list and provide support for your conclusions):
1. Cost
A) Cost of Production
Due to operations inefficiencies the productions cost is much more than that of their competitor’s Cost of productions is calculated by what it takes to produce the products and what the output is. The cost of labor hours, machines hours, cost of materials and the cost of energy used to produce the units. Albatross Anchors is showing a cost disadvantage compared to the competition as far as the production cost goes due to the ability to only manufacturing one style of anchor at a time. The space is limiting the manufacture to produce mass quantity of products at a time.
b) Economies of Scale in material purchasing cost.
Economics of Scale is when it costs less per unit to produce high levels of output (Taylor, Russell 2010, pp 160). If Albatross Anchors were able to produce more anchors at a time to be able to spread the fixed cost over a larger number of units and production or operating costs do not increase with linearly with output levels. The cost of material would also be discounted if they would buy in quantity. The cost of labor would



References: Roe, S (2010) Cite Management Article Repository of Cite. Co. The importance of operations Management, Retrieved: http://www.citeman.com/10630-the-importance-of-operations-management-2.html Russell, R. & Taylor, B. (2011) Operations Management Creating Value Along the supply Chain 7th Edition, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, inc. Tompkins, Bruce (2002) Managing Principal, Tompkins Associates Speed Manufacturing’s New Competitive Challenge. Retrieved: http://www.maintenanceresources.com/referencelibrary/ezine/speedchallenge.htm Wysk, R., Wang H.and Chang T.(1998). Computer – aid Manufacturing, Second edition Design for Manufacturing – Guidelines. Retrieved: http://www.unm.edu/~bgreen/ME101/dfm.pdf

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Carefully review the assignment scenario/case study. From the limited information in the scenario/case study, along with your answers to the unit three written assignment, identify at least three direct and specific long-term and three direct and specific short term operations changes that Albatross Anchor must make to gain a clear and sustainable competitive advantage (provide detailed information to validate and support each recommended change)…

    • 1795 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Albatross is a family owned company that was opened in 1976 by just a few family members. Over the years the company has seen tremendous growth which seems to be causing a lot of issues their production and administrative areas. They haven’t taken much up with newer technologies which makes what they have disorganized and not meeting the standards of most other companies in their business. As the company has grown they have added many more new processes which have been put in to the limited production spaces they have which already seemed to be maxed out. When they first went into business their expertise was in the manufacturing of the bell/mushroom anchors. In the 80’s they made the decision to expand their product line to include the snag hook anchors. This company sells its products only at the wholesale level. Since that requires them to store more product the company really needs to rethink their overall processes and layout design of their facility. Once they can make decisions on this, it will help to give them a competitive advantage over other competitors in this market.…

    • 1868 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Albatross Anchors is a small family owned business that began in 1976. The company has grown exponentially over the years with more than one hundred and thirty employees. As the company grew, their operational issues in the production and administrative area grew as well. The organization has been faced with a lack of updated technology, out dated equipment, an inefficient layout which violates the U.S. safety and environmental standards, and a disorganized administration office. Therefore, production is not running smoothly, especially since in 1989 the company's owner decided to expand the product line to include fabricated sang hook anchors along with manufacturing the original product line (bell/mushroom anchor). The company only sells on a wholesale level. There are many areas that the owner must plan and consider to improve in order to be successful and sustain its competitive advantage in the market place.…

    • 2038 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Albatross Anchor's

    • 280 Words
    • 2 Pages

    There are many ways that mushroom/bell anchors may be manufactured. Albatross Anchor is considering two new manufacturing processes (Process A and Process B) to reduce costs. Analysis of the information below will help determine which process has the lowest breakeven point (this validates the process is more cost effective).…

    • 280 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Michigan Auto Parts

    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the given case, the ACF’s products were classified into three classes to analyze its cost competitiveness. Let us first relate the overheads with the product class.…

    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    One of the first things that Albatross Anchors should do is to change their location and find a plant that is more than double the size than their current location. Since their business has expanded they need to expand their plant and find another location with more space. They produce two types of anchors and need to have the space to produce them at the same time instead of sharing equipment. In addition, their current manufacturing chain is also not running as smoothly as it should be with bottlenecking in the receiving and shipping departments. If Albatross Anchors were to find a location that is larger they will be able to not only streamline their production process they will also be able to separate their…

    • 1452 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    unit 3

    • 310 Words
    • 2 Pages

    b) Economies of Scale in material purchasing: Economies of scale are reductions in average costs attributable to production volume increases.…

    • 310 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Carefully review the assignment scenario/case study. From the limited information in the scenario/case study, identify at least three direct and specific long-term and three direct and specific short term operations changes that Albatross Anchor must make to gain a clear and sustainable competitive advantage (provide detailed information to validate and support each recommended change).…

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mid Term

    • 503 Words
    • 3 Pages

    has a unit cost that is easy to calculate by dividing total production costs by the units produced.…

    • 503 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Albatross Anchor is a small family owned business that started operations in 1976 with a few family members. The company has grown significantly over the years which have created some issues with production as well as the administrative area. The facility is technology deprived, dirty, disorganized, and not meeting US safety and environmental standards. As the company expanded additional processes began and due to the limited space, production was not running as smoothly as the company should. When Albatross Anchor first began production their expertise was in the manufacturing of bell/mushroom anchors. Due to international competition, in 1989 the owners of Albatross Anchor made the decision to expand the product line to include fabricated…

    • 1342 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Ops-571 Assignment

    • 1146 Words
    • 5 Pages

    References: Chase, R. B., Jacobs, F. R., & Aquilano, N. J. (2006). Operations management for competitive advantage (11th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.…

    • 1146 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Mg375 Midterm Study Guide

    • 2949 Words
    • 12 Pages

    Operations and supply chain management: the design, operation, and improvement of the systems that create and deliver the firm’s primary products and services…

    • 2949 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Stevenson, W. (2009). Operations Management, 10th Edition. New York city: McGraw-Hill Higher Eductation. Retrieved December 26, 2012…

    • 6170 Words
    • 25 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    10. If the cost of production per unit goes down as the quantity produced increases, small producers can be at a great cost disadvantage.…

    • 31492 Words
    • 126 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Krajewski, L., Ritzman, L., & Malhortra, M. (2013). Operations Management: Processes and Supply Chains 10th Edition. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.…

    • 1589 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays