Case Observations: 1. The process is unorganized and not well laid out. Production is based on customer orders. Demand & Forecasting tools are not being used. 2. Manpower utilization is not optimal. Task specialization is not the buzzword here. Everybody does everything. 3. Material management as seen from the video was unorganized and cluttered. The assembly parts were haphazardly laid out. This obviously leads to poor material management and pilferage. 4. Consistency in the quality of spares delivered by suppliers was highlighted as suspect. Working on supplier management can lead to certain improvements. 5. Workers need to be encouraged to try and adopt new technology. From the discussion, it was clearly visible the workers are hesitant to change and are not very flexible. A lot of improvement can be achieved, if they are made to see the other side of the coin and encouraged to adopt change. 6. Inventory management seems to be non-existent. Though there are no such space constraints and a healthy demand for horns, inventory is not being effectively used to cater to this demand. 7. Supply of raw material is erratic and at times the suppliers run out of stock. This builds pressure on MSL management and delays their production schedule. It also creates planning and forecasting problems.
Suggestions:
1. Optimal Inventory calculations can be carried out. There being only two major customers, the demand can be reasonably predicted. We can then maintain an optimal stock of raw material or FG to cater to the forecasted demand. 2. For full utilization of available resources employees have to be encouraged and trained. 3. The organization can think of implementing the line processing system with planned layout of work benches. This will enhance productivity and ensure optimum time management. 4. There seems to be a robust demand. The company has more orders than it can cater to. It is basically losing out