Mini Motor Homes Manufactured Essay Example for Free

Mini Motor Homes Manufactured Essay This case is about Mini Motor Homes Manufactured by Jim Ballenger in Kalamazoo, Michigan. According to the case, Jim Ballenger has a problem to make a decision to change his current inventory system to JIT system. From the current inventory system, Jim has spent a lot of cost on his inventory system. This is because mostly of the component used in manufactured are bought from other vendor and his company actually only manufactured very few of it component. Because of this, the transportation and inventory cost contribute to a relatively large portion of its component part of expenses. Jim Ballenger was very aware on the cost that may arise once the JIT system adopted. The cost that he may be aware to arise is the cost of management standpoint, the shipment of the component and the rate of the component purchased. Besides that, he also has inquiry about the component purchased will be arrived on time or not or the duration taken of delivering the component. This is because, if the component are not suitable to use, his team has to replace it and it will entail expensive rush order for the replacement component or the downtime for the entire plant. Jim Ballenger also concern about his relationship with his suppliers. He thought that his supplier may difficult become one part of his team. Since the supplier will expect to have special effort on their quality control or delivery flexibility on behalf of one of its almost miniscule discount. Jim Ballenger has been rent a public warehouse near his plant to keep his inventory that cost $500,000 to $1,000,000, which he paid more than 1. 5% per month from the borrowed funds to buy it. Since he starts to producing the different model, and using so many different appliances, the cost of the safety stock increased day by day. The JIT presume table has drawn with two considerations. Since the major component, chassis can be purchased at one time basis from the local supplier and out of stock situation is hardly happen, thus this component has excluded from using JIT system. The two considerations will be (1) Ballenger’s inventory carrying costs of are assumed to be 20% per year on the average investment in inventory on hand comprising acquisition and transportation costs, (2) those components that can obtain from closer sources, one week of the safety stock is sustain, if the component is further form the stock, two weeks to one month of safety stock should be available.

Why Do Companies Spend Money On Computerized Systems? :: essays research papers

Starting in the late Twentieth Century, many companies started using computerized systems. Most of these companies started using these systems to save time and reduce costs. Even though these computerized systems are rather expensive, in the long run they saved companies money. The companies saved money by making or purchasing a computerized system by reducing paper usage and employee overtime. Since employees did not have to spend there time doing paper work, they could do their jobs faster and more efficiently. This gave the employees more time to do other projects around the office. One computerized system that saved employee’s time is automatic payroll. Instead of wasting time filling out paper time sheets, the employee could simply â€Å"clock† in at the beginning and end of each shift. Some companies like this idea because it can possibly reduce the number of employees needed in the payroll section of their company. Many aspects of the computerized system might take away some duties from the human employee. This can save the company a lot of money, but is very bad for employee morale.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Management also benefits from the computerized system. Management is able make decisions much faster because the information they needed to make these decisions with is right there and could easily be accessed. There is no searching for documents or other files. The company can easily give access to certain parts of the computerized system to one group in the company and not the other. This way, information is kept private or public, depending of the company needs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is not always the case that the company’s employees and employers notice most of the benefits that a computerized system has.

Task 5 – Bic

Business in context (Chapter 6) ~ Discussion questions. How are goals formed and what are the major difficulties encountered in goal formulation and implementation? Goals are formed to give direction to the activities of its members. The formation of goals can be a highly political process; this can cause conflict, but the goals of most businesses are generally accepted as being these of the senior management team. Goals are developed much through the work of Cyert and March (1963). They see organizations in terms of individuals and groups who combine to pursue mutual interests; this is the most effective way of achieving their goals.Goals are more specific statements of intent than a mission statement, but are still broad and generalised. What are the major causes of goal conflict and how might they be resolved? The main causes of goal conflict are that they can be highly political. Conflict is mainly through four main factors which are: 1. Goals formulated by senior management as a means of achieving their own goals; this is a result of bargaining and negotiating process between interest groups. 2. Organization members would appear to accept the goals from top management with little question; this may seem to be an implied element of the employment contract. . The dominant coalition is normally put in place to achieve their goals; such controls have been alluded to earlier and include selection procedures, to ensure all rules are followed. In addition technology can replace job allocation, and financial controls in the form of budgets and reward systems, managers ensure a minimum level of compliance with their chosen goals. 4. Management have different goals to many of the groups; they have to acknowledge this. Assess the relative importance of the various strategic, organizational and environmental factors, which influence organizational structure.An organizational structure is a grouping of activities and people to achieve the goals of the organization. The re are a number of factors that influence a structure. First the relationship between both structure and strategy is examined, then in the work of A. Chandler which then identified other factors such as: (1)Technology (2)Size (3)Changes in the environment (4)Culture and (5)Interest groups. Why did firms adopt multi? divisional structures? What advantages do they have over functional structures? A multi – divisional company compromises a number of business units, which may pursue markedly different types of business activity.The business units operate as a profit centres and are culturally co-ordinated by a corporate headquarters, which may also control certain central services, some of which are as research and development and finance. This kind of structure was developed in the USA in response to a business growth and complexity. Stopford and Wills (1972) noted that a strong influence of strategy on structure and that the shift from functional to multi – divisional st ructures with expansion internationally. Assess the advantages and the disadvantages to both management and employees of flexile forms of organization.Flexibility within a firm / organization can occur in a number of ways; these include the employment of part time workers, those on short term contracts and the use of outsourced contract work. Advantages – management. 1. Employees are able to do a range of jobs, so they do not have to hire as many people. 2. Important recognition of the difficulties that many employees have in balancing their family obligations and their work duties, and they note that such programs can make a company more attractive to prospective employees Disadvantages – management. 1.If used by employees who are unwilling or unable to put in a full day of work amid the non-work temptations (television, pleasure reading, housecleaning, etc. ) of a home setting. Other companies, meanwhile, find that employees â€Å"flex† in and out of the busin ess at such different hours that overhead costs increase, customer service suffers (i. e. , no one comes in until 9:30 a. m. , a state of affairs that forces customers and vendors to cool their heels until then), and manufacturing output suffers. This latter factor makes flex time a difficult fit for many manufacturing facilities. 2.Flex programs often leave managers in exceedingly difficult situations. â€Å"Far too often, flex is embraced †¦ for its ‘family-friendly' aspects long before the corporate support needed to manage it takes root,† flex policies are outlined in the employee manual but implementation is left up to individual managers. Then, when managers try to implement these programs, they discover that to be fair, flex requires them to treat different employees differently. † Advantages – Employees. 1. Flexible work programs are work arrangements wherein employees are given greater scheduling freedom in how they fulfil the obligations of t heir positions.The most commonplace of these programs is flexitime, which gives workers far greater leeway in terms of the time when they begin and end work, provided they put in the total number of hours required by the employer. Other common flexible working arrangements involve telecommuting, job-sharing, and compressed work weeks. 2. Many employees have in balancing their family obligations and their work duties, and they note that such programs can make a company more attractive to prospective employees. Disadvantages – Employees. 1.Most employees of a flexible organization are only hired part time, to do a variety of jobs, and are not offered permanent contracts. How significant is the separation of ownership and control to the way the businesses operate? Is the agency problem an issue today? The separation of ownership and control is associated with publicly held business corporations in which the shareholders possess little or no direct control over management decisio ns. This separation is generally attributed to collective action problems associated with dispersed share ownership.The separation of ownership and control permits hierarchical decision making which, for some types of decisions, is superior to the market. The separation of ownership and control creates costs due to adverse selection and moral hazard. These costs are potentially mitigated by a number of mechanisms including business failure, the market for corporate control, and the enforcement of fiduciary duties, corporate governance oversight, managerial financial incentives and institutional shareholder activism. Examine the advantages and the prime beneficiaries of privatization.To what extent does privatization solve the problems of managing public sector organizations? Privatization refers to the government policy of selling off public assets to private ownership control, usually by share issue. The policy was prevalent in the UK in the 1980’s, driven largely by an ideo logical belief in the workings of the free market. The advantages of privatization are as follows: 1. It creates increased competition, which leads to increased efficiency, higher productivity, quality improvement and ultimately, growth and profit. . Shareholders have a financial interest in the effective management of the enterprise. Manager’s performance is therefore closely monitored and controlled. 3. Since customers have a choice, there will be a focus on customers care and service levels will improve. 4. Costs will be reduced as a result of competition. In particular there will be a reduction in labour costs as organizations seek greater efficiencies. 5. There will be improved awareness of and adaption changes to in local, national and global environments. 6.There will be greater incentives for staff through more flexible pay arrangements and profit – sharing schemes. Managers will be encouraged through incentives to be more innovative and proactive. 7. For the n ewly privatized organizations there would be greatly increased opportunity for raising revenue which could be reinvested in the operation. It was assumed this would stimulate innovation to the benefit of all. 8. For the state there will be a reduced public sector deficit and borrowing requirement. Privatized businesses will attract more inward investment. . Society will change as more people are given the opportunity to own shares. To what extent and in what ways are small firms economically relevant today? The value of a small business may be viewed in terms of benefits to the owners, economic growth, the number of jobs they provide, and their service to the consumer. Many governments see the small firm as an essential part of a healthy economy. The most obvious role for a small business firm in this respect is to act as a seedbed for future big businesses and in doing so secure the future of the economy.A small business is also seen as a potential to fill gaps in the market by off ering specialist products that would be uneconomic for a large firm to offer. More significantly, the small firm is seen as a force for change by being inherently more flexible and innovative than the larger businesses. In particular the small firm is seen as a useful vehicle in a recession; small firms are seen as price takers and therefore offer no threat to inflation rates, and they are able to plug the gaps left after larger firms have rationalized their operations.Overall a small business represents the individual economic efforts of our global citizens. They are the foundation of the global economic growth: virtually all of the new jobs, 53% of employment, 51% of private sector output, and a disproportionate share of innovations come from small firms. Small businesses are avenues of opportunity for women and minorities, first employers and trainers of the young, important employers of elderly workers, and those formerly on public assistance. What influences the type of culture found in an organization?Organizational culture  is the collective behaviour of humans who are part of an organization and the meanings that the people attach to their actions. Culture includes the organization values, visions, norms, working language, systems, symbols, beliefs and habits. It is also the pattern of such collective behaviours and assumptions that are taught to new organizational members as a way of perceiving, and even thinking and feeling. Organizational culture affects the way people and groups interact with each other, with clients, and with stakeholders.What is the relationship between the type of corporate culture envisaged by Deal & Kennedy and by Peters & Waterman and company performance in terms of profitability and job satisfaction? Can the internal culture of an organization act as a buffer against environmental influences? Corporate culture focuses on the use of culture as control device to enhance performance through the development of greater commitme nt and the integration of all employees at all levels in the organization.It is the perspective on culture at the level of the firm that attracts the greatest critical attention. Some writers notably Peters and Waterman (1982) believe that such strong cultures are a central feature of the so called excellent company. Case 6. 2 – questions. (Dow Corning) 1. What were the key factors involved in Dow Corning changing from a functional to a divisional and then a matrix structure? How were these influences relate to the six influences (on structure) identified earlier in this section? 2. What problems did Dow Corning encounter with the matrix organization?How might such problems have been minimized? 3. What structure would be most appropriate for the company to aid its recovery post Chapter 11 bankruptcy? Case 6. 3 – questions. (Network Rail) 1. What rationale can you give for the privatization of British Rail? 2. What, in your view, were the key factors that created the pr oblems in Rail track? 3. In what ways will Network Rail differ from Rail track? What similar problems will it face? 4. What does the case tell us about the privatization of industries such as the railways?

The Debt Of Student Loan Debt - 1168 Words

Here in the United States, there are many forms of consumer debt, which help contribute to the large sums of debt countless Americans find themselves faced with. Directly effecting many college students is student loan debt. Student loan debt is now the second largest form of consumer debt behind housing† declares the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (Grisales). This is due to the fact that student loan debt grew 7.1% in 2014 to $1.2 trillion (Grisales). If this statistic alone is not worrisome this next one is sure to be. The amount of debt in the housing market that helped to spark the last recession was only $1.3 trillion (Grisales). Due to the increased amount of debt required by students to attend college many students are feeling the wrath. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, â€Å"In 2014, 11.7 percent of females and 17.7 percent of males between the ages 25 and 34 were living with their parents† (Grisales). The fear of obtaining massive amounts of debt is drivin g the current generation of student’s to put off many future hopes and dreams. While causing them to move back home to save money. The current student loan crisis is crippling the economy and ruining the lives of American students. Economic impact from rising student loan debt is being felt throughout the United States. According to research performed by the Pew Research Center and Rutgers, between 25-40% of 20- and 30-year-olds are delaying large purchases such as homes and cars (Daniels). The delay of suchShow MoreRelatedStudent Loan Debt1074 Words   |  5 Pagesof Financial Literacy Available in Regard to Student Loan Debt This personal finance paper will concentrate on the insufficient amount of guidance that is available concerning student loans. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how prospective and current college students are ill prepared in their education and understanding of student loans. Three major issues that will be outlined in this paper include the large majority of college students are no longer able to pay for college out of pocketRead MoreStudent Loan Debt778 Words   |  4 PagesPersuasive Speech Rough Draft Outline Title: Student loan Debt Crisis Speaker: Markevia Lee Specific Purpose: To persuade the audience of their choice of taking out student loans. Thesis Statement: College is not something to put off until after you have graduated, students need to find ways to pay for college before they graduate. I. Introduction: Attention-getter: The increasing trend of college students graduating with significant more student loan debt than job prospects is both alarming andRead MoreStudent Loan Debt2542 Words   |  11 Pagesï » ¿Student Loan Case 1) Summarize the student loan industry. Answer with respect to both public and private loans and be clear as to which you are referring to. a) What led to the inception of the student loan market? 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Many people wonder if higher education is worth the debt the country and the students are in and it is, however, there are alternatives.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Read MoreStudent Loan Debt And Education1082 Words   |  5 Pagesoday, society stresses the importance of postsecondary education to students due to the countless ways that an associates, bachelors, masters, or doctorate can enhance an individual future. For an individual to reach financial security in the United States’ economy it is basically mandatory that they have received a college degree. Postsecondary education will provide skills and knowledge that will prepare individuals to be successful within their career as they compete for leading positions. OverallRead MoreBenefits Of A Student Loan Debt991 Words   |  4 PagesWhen a student finally graduates from college there is this excitement that comes to you. You finally graduated and now can apply the things you have learned in the job or career you plan on. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple, many graduating student finds themselves in hug student loan debt. The nu mbers are staggering: more than $1.2 trillion in outstanding student loan debt, 40 million borrowers, an average balance of $29,000. Men and women laboring under student debt are postponing marriageRead MoreThe Student Loan Debt Total1736 Words   |  7 PagesThe student loan debt total was about nine hundred and two million dollars to one trillion dollars in the United States in 2012; the federal student loan debt made up about eight hundred and sixty-four billion dollars of the total debt (Driscoll and Clapp). Many people in the United States that cannot afford college tuition and additional fees take student loans and/or federal grants. Student loans are different from federal grants in that the loans have to be paid back with interest, while federalRead MoreThe National Student Loan Debt1571 Words   |  7 Pagesadded to the national student loan debt. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, college debt now ranks second in the greatest debt owed besides a hom e mortgage. Unfortunately, the affordability of obtaining a post-secondary education no longer exists. Americans are now faced with over $ 1 trillion dollars in student debt. With such a huge escalation in college debt, we are facing a generation where over 50% of graduates will owe debt (McDaniel). While having debt after graduation is