Geico Advertising Appeals Essay

Out of the many appeals that companies use to advertise their product or service, the need to achieve is one of the most commonly seen. In our highly competitive society, everybody is trying to get ahead. Everybody is looking for that little advantage that will push them forward. The appeal of achievement correlates with success and winning, ideas that represent the outcomes of hard work on which people like to pride themselves. In many of their ads, Geico likes to tap into our competitive nature by offering us incentives, such as saving time and money, which speak specifically to our consumer culture. Such a tactic proves to be effective because for the most part, consumers in our ambitious society like to be frugal and fiscally responsible. Nobody wants to spend an extra dime if they do not have to. Simultaneously, customers do not want to spend all day looking for the perfect insurance. Read more: The woman I admire the most essay They know that time is a finite resource and it must be spent wisely. In order to persuade customer’s into buying their insurance, Geico effectively utilizes the achievement appeal because it resonates with their goals of saving time and money. In most of Geico’s commercials, they are able to address their audiences need to achieve with a simple slogan: â€Å"15 minutes could save you 15 percent or more on your car insurance.† This message that sells their customer’s on their service, however, is not seen until the end of the commercial. For most of the commercial the time is spent entertaining the audience in a humorous way. Take for example the viral â€Å"Hump Day† commercial. Throughout the ad, a camel who can talk walks through an office building asking and bugging the workers about â€Å"What day is it?† Since he is a camel with a ‘humped’ or arched back, the advertisers suggest that that the camel is referring to ‘Hump Day’ or in other words, Wednesday. This is followed up by two men who are playing the guitar with each other. In an attempt to illustrate the point of the commercial, one of them asks the other â€Å"how happy are people who switch their car insurance to Geico?† which is then followed up by â€Å"happier than a camel on ‘Hump Day.† Although the appeal of humor is meant to grab the attention of the target audience, their main reason for choosing to use Geico’s service is the feeling of achievement that they derive. In Jib Fowles’ essay â€Å"Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals† he cites ‘the need to achieve’ as one of the 15 strategies which enable advertisers to reach their audience. For most consumers, the market place is seen as a competitive territory where whomever comes out having spent the least amount of money is the victor. Thus, Geico effectively advertises its service by highlighting the opportunity to â€Å"save 15 percent or more on your car insurance† by switching to Geico. Not only do they illustrate the money that can be saved, but also the time. Along with the ’15 percent’ that can be saved, Geico also mentions that this can be done in ’15 minutes;’ a relatively short amount of time . As a consequence, Geico puts their consumers in a win-win situation because â€Å"the person who manages to buy something at fifty percent off is seizing an opportunity and coming out ahead of others† while they enable them to do it in an efficient manner (Fowles). Geico’s use of the ‘need to achieve’ appeal is characterized as the most reasonable way to solicit their service as it takes nothing away from their customer, while it gives them everything in return; they don’t have anything to lose. However, humor, which Fowles labels as a stylistic feature, is most prominent in order to incite the interest of car owners. This commercial, in particular, is known for its comedic success. The ridiculous camel has become a viral sensation as it is now considered amusing to yell out â€Å"Hump Day† on a Wednesday. In fact, the commercial has over 16 million views on Youtube. Ultimately, Geico does a great job of exposing its overall message about achievement sense the build up to their trademark slogan is so appealing in itself. If 16 million people know about a camel yelling â€Å"hump day,† then 16 million people know about the time and money that can be saved by using Geico’s insurance. Jibs’ appeal of achievement is one that correlates completely with our society. We constantly strive to compete and win while we admire those who reach the pentacle of their field or profession; even if it is about something as minimal as saving money . Geico, in particular, gives people the incentive to achieve by offering people them the opportunity to save their time and money, and they respond accordingly. However, it is not the promise of ‘getting ahead’ alone that attracts their target audience; humor, is a fundamental component that is used to grab and keep the customer’s attention. Apparently, Geico does this better than anyone. What better way is there of holding a car owner’s attention then by having an obnoxious, talking camel yell â€Å"Hump Day!†? That was a rhetorical question; there is not a better way. Geico is just the best.

Desperate Times Essay

After a series of measures to remedy the mortgage crisis that has beset the US economy, Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve and his colleagues are once again looking at cutting the central bank’s key interest rate as they hope that lowering the interest rates will give the economy a boost by encouraging investors and consumers to borrow and spend (Associated Press, n. pag.). The Fed is looking at slashing the interest rate by a full percent however, many economist believe that this is not the appropriate remedy for economic conundrum (Gavin, n. pag).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to many analysts, the issue of the economy regarding the mortgage is the lack of confidence by both the lender and the borrower. Even as the Fed resorts to drastic interest cuts, the first time the central bank has cut a full percentage point in one shot since 1982, this provides little help if lenders are not loaning money out of fear they will not be repaid and the borrowers are reluctant to make loans since they are worried about losing jobs (Gavin, n. pag).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In a recent report by the Labor Department, private employers all over the country have cut jobs in each of the past three months. With consumer spending being responsible for over two-thirds of US economic activity, it is unlikely that the interest cut will have a significant effect in the economy (Gavin, n. pag).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Federal Reserve’s move to lower the interest rate aims to stimulate a loan frenzy. By lowering the interest rate, mortgages will be made available to borrowers at more affordable rates. The Fed hopes that the American consumers will once again be enticed to take mortgages and ultimately be able to revive the economy. However, this move is quite a long shot.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   First, the Fed is banking on the idea that a demand for mortgages will increase if the interest rates are cut. Although this is what a change in demand means in elementary economics, it seems, however that the Fed failed to factor in the trend of the US housing market. According to reports the house prices are continuously plunging while the cases of mortgage defaults and foreclosures are increasing. These causes the investors and more importantly the lenders to lose confidence in the economy (Gavin, n. pag).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Second, this is not the first time the Fed lowered the interest rate. Since last September, the Federal Reserve has cut the interest rate for a total of six times, with the reductions becoming more aggressive since January (Associated Press, n. pag.) and this raises a valid concern. Although the Fed has its own army of experts, this interest-slashing spree might reach the point of diminishing returns if the consumers do not respond favorably to these drastic measures.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Last, the Federal Reserve is not really addressing the issue of confidence by cutting the interest rates. One of the biggest reasons why the consumers are reluctant in acquiring mortgages is the fact that private corporations nationwide are practicing massive lay-offs. Lenders on the other hand are gripped by distrust as the business is beset with bad debts (Gavin, n. pag). In both cases, this breeds an atmosphere of fear and doubt which affects the borrowers likelihood of acquiring mortgages and the lenders willingness to approve loans out of fear they will not be repaid.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Personally, the Fed would have been better off if it had taken measures that would have addressed the issue of employment and bad debt. Works Cited Associated Press. â€Å"Fed cuts key rates three-quarters of a point.† March 18, 2008. The msnbc website. 27 March 2008. Gavin, Robert. â€Å"Economic quicksand.† March 18, 2008. The Boston Globe website. 27 March 2008.  

How the Reccession Has Effected the Fast Food Sector

The business I have chosen is KFC as KFC is a worldwide business and very popular inside of the fast food industry behind fast food giants McDonald’s and burger king and operates in over 110 countries throughout the world as it is a worldwide business it will be affected in different ways in different places. Here are some factors which could have affected them in the recession: People have less disposable income As of the recession many people have less disposable income to spend on fast food as will be sticking to the essentials and their individual necessities in order for them to live.Many people were made redundant in the recession which will have of impacted KFC’s business as not a lot of people will be buying their products. Also if people have less money than they will pick the cheaper brand which will impact less on their spending or they will just cut out fast food all together this will impact KFC as it will be drawing less customers as the week goes on which will force the organisation to buy cheaper and lower quality products to sell the public which will make them lose customers as well as the quality wouldn’t be what it used to be. Unemployment increasesAs the unemployment rate throughout the world increases then less people will not have a sufficient amount of money to spend on high brand fast food restaurants and will have to cut out the spending for fast food altogether as it can be very expensive and overpriced. Unemployment will affect KFC as well as they will be getting rid of people in a way to decrease their main costs in the business in order for them to continue being one of the top high priced fast food restaurants in the fast food market becoming one of the top 5 fast food restaurants in the world behind the fast food giant which is McDonald’s and Burger King.Reduce in profit As KFC is a well-known American fast food restaurant which sells worldwide they sell millions or products globally. The loss of profi t will make them have to reduce all of the costs inside of the business for example: lower the amount of employees in the business to cut the cost of the wages to lower the risk of a loss in the business and also lower the quality of the produce used in the products as the price of the raw materials have gone up.As the price of the raw materials go up then the business will be release a lower quality product which will make them lose their customers if they continue to sell a product which does not meet the customer’s needs which will make them go down in the market and will make customers go to KFC’s main competitors for example McDonald’s.

Sunwind Ab Case

2) Draw the schematic flow diagram for Sunwind and all Volvo plants. (Draw at abstract level not detailed level). Provides detail of distances and demand (quantity based on 1987 forecast) flow. Ans) Demand of Sunwind is 1250/week = 1250*45 = 56250 units The following table gives us the demand of each plant yearly for the year 1985 Plant|   | Torslando | Kalmar| Ghent| Total| Year| 1985| 17050| 4525| 12090| 33665| | %| 50. 65%| 13. 44%| 35. 1%| 100%| Year| 1987| 32919. 947| 8736. 819| 23343. 23| 65000| Depending on the percentage of share of each plant of the total in 1985, the same percentage is used to calculate the demand of each plant in 1987, as we know the total production of Volvo from all the plants put together in 1987. 3) What are the challenges facing Sunwind? Do they need a change in strategy by Sunwind? Why? Ans The challenges faced by SUNWIND are as follows : The main problem is to meet the increase in the demand from Volvo which is around 650 per week in 1985 to 1200 per week in 1986 * There is also a problem of meeting the quality of the finished products supplied by them, some of the machines like gluing machine had proved particularly troublesome and has increased rejects. * Some other bothering issues would be the off-spec plywood blanks received from Finnish supplier. * The rejection of the batches by Volvo as they haven’t met the quality constraints imposed by them. The demand for the finished goods is around 1400 units/week while the ideal capacity of plant excluding wastages is only 1250 units/week; this mismatch is of a greatest concern for the Sunwind in the present scenario. * The trend of the major manufacturers like Toyota who are working on â€Å"Less† suppliers’ model to increase the efficiency is of a big threat as Volvo might even persuade it. * The system of JIT which is being implemented recently by the Volvo group, the Belgian manufacturer is turning out to be major competitor to Sunwood on this perspecti ve. The batch size if we see for different operations varies from 2500 to 500, such a huge amount of batch size might lead to having no control over the quality issues i. e. in case of any damage done its hard to find out and the who batch has to be set off which is of a huge loss for the plant. * This large batch size might also increases the MLT hence leads to a lot of inventory which has a lot of adverse effects. For the other part of the question whether they need to change the strategy of the Sunwind or not, yes they have to change indeed to so as to protect themselves from Volvo by meeting their demand needs.At the same time the technological aspects of Sunwind are at a ground level, they need to compete with the competitors and have to go for new machinery. Right now they are not following the JIT method while Volvo has gone for it, In that case to meet the Volvo demands it might have to put a huge pile of raw materials instead if it makes itself a JIT system it could save it self from one of the competitors. Their batch size as mentioned before is also very large, hence they need to change this strategy too. There is a quality issue also being faced hence they a need a new strategy which can address all these issues in a very efficient way. ) What are the benefits to implement JIT for Sunwind? How Volvo will get benefited if Sunwind goes for JIT production and delivery? Ans) The benefits to implement JIT for Sunwind are 1. The main advantage would be saving on inventory i. e. there is no need to spend a lot of money in storing the inventory for huge number of days until it is used instead JIT takes care of inventory only when needed hence there is no idle inventory. 2. The JIT system will take care of the batch size this will help increasing the frequency and also easy transportation and on time as the batch size is small 3.In case of any defects the wastage would be in a small scale 4. The quality issue can be addressed, if we have the batch size to be small there is an every chance to make strict quality checks and reject the rest. 5. This helps in cutting the waste by cutting the excess capacity or inventory and removing the non value-added activities. 6. This will develop a close relationship with their suppliers, in a way they will get suppliers as a partner in the venture. 7. This will also encourage the suppliers to get themselves placed in and around the Sunwood plant so as to deliver the raw materials on time. 8.This system gets an in-plant representative who will be onsite in Sunwind on behalf of the suppliers whose main purpose is to plan and schedule the replenishment of the materials from the supplier hence even the forecasting is also taken care by him. 9. He also helps in designing ideas to help reducing cost and improve manufacturing processes and managing production schedules for suppliers, materials contractors and other subcontractors. 10. It also provides the best organizational structure needed to improve the supplier coordination by integrating the logistics, production and purchasing processes together.The advantages of the Volvo if Sunwind go for JIT is same as the ones enjoyed by Sunwind on behalf of their supplies * This will develop a close relationship with Sunwind. * This system gets an in-plant representative who will be onsite in Volvo on behalf of the Sunwind whose main purpose is to plan and schedule the replenishment of the materials from the supplier hence even the forecasting is also taken care by him. * He also helps in designing ideas to help reducing cost and improve manufacturing processes and managing production schedules for suppliers, materials contractors and other subcontractors. It also provides the best organizational structure needed to improve the supplier coordination by integrating the logistics, production and purchasing processes together. 6) How many varieties of products does the Sunwind manufacture for Volvo? How does this information help to design pro duction and delivery? Ans) Sunwind was the only supplier for the floorlid for the 5-door 700 series station wagon. These were offered in several carpet/ colour combinations. The lid comprised of 4 separate items – front panel, rear panel, left panel and the right panel.The carpeting could be any of four different colour choices – beige, blue, black and burgundy. The carpeting could be either needle felt or tufted. Thus 32 part numbers were needed to specify a particular part/ colour/ carpet combination 4 parts x 4 colours x 2 carpets = 32 This data of the variety of products being manufacture will give us an advantage of designing the production through JIT. One of the process considerations in lean systems â€Å"Uniform workstation loads â€Å" comes into the picture. This in turn would decrease the big lots there by decreasing the average inventory level.We can follow the production model of â€Å"heijunka† which is the levelling of production load by both v olume and product mix. Using this what we can do is to form batches in a way so that each batch gives us 32 varieties of different materials instead of having the same variety in a batch. This would help workers to get acquaintance of all the products and also though there is any wastage in a batch the other batch can cover up for it, if a batch has all the products of same kind it would be a problem if there is any defect or quality issues.Thus this data of the variety of products gives us the division of batches in an efficient way which reduces the extra non value added costs. 8) Provides details of some critical characteristics of one of the Volvo operations (Customer interface point) between Volvo and Sunwind. How does may this information be helpful to get advance intimation to prepare the next JIT delivery? Ans) Sunwind’s interface with Volvo parts at the order placement. Every 4 weeks Volvo send an order form indication the requirement over a 60 week planning horizon. This was broken into seven 4 week periods and one 32 week period. The next interface was at the loading stage of the shipping process. Volvo mandated that it suppliers use Volvo’s wholly owned transport company, use standard containers and ship one part per container. Sunwind ordered transportation and empty containers as required. Post shipping, the next interface would be at the inspection upon receipt of parts by Volvo. If the randomly chosen container did not pass the stringent quality control criteria, the entire shipment would be rejected and the supplier would be called.Sunwind could then either replace the entire shipment ot come to Torslanda to check the rejected shipments and replace the defective parts. Rejected parts were either scrapped or sent back to the supplier at the supplier’s expense. The fault would be officially notified and the next shipment would be subjected to 100% inspection. The interface points are at various stages in the part procurement process. Continuous communication between supplier and vendor enables updation of records on both ends and real time flow of information.The 4 week periodical order placement can help Sunwind plan its production such that they complete production just in time for shipment and the shipment occurs just in time for assembly at Volvo. Shipping is done through Volvo’s own transport system. Knowledge of the production schedules of Volvo in advance will enable Sunwind to request transport and containers in advance so that they arrive just in time for loading. This makes for efficient operations as the production can then be planned to meet the shipment schedule.Inspection procedure is well defined and knowledge of this can help Sunwind optimize its production to avoidrejection upon shipment. Rejection of shipments can be costly and they run the risk of not being able to meet the just in time production schedule. 9) How KANBAN, facilitator of JIT inventory Design be used for Sunwind operations? Show few sample calculations. Ans) In order to avoid the stock outs or overproduction Kanban can be used as a facilitator of JIT system. According to Kanban system, there is a card which contains the requirement or the supply of units written on it.Once if the card reaches the supplier depending on the requirements the desired date the supplier manufactures or prepare the goods and then they will be put in the same box with the card in place. The same process is done when the units reach the ordered company it will crosscheck the number of units in the box with the required in the card, once it matches it will then proceed to the operations. The best use of this comes when the manufacturing process has lots of operations involved in it with different batch sizes and cycle time and lead time.For example if we take Sunwind it has 8 operations with different batch sizes hence by using this it can send the Kanban cards at will according to the lead time to the respective sup pliers and they can receive the desired goods right on time and can verify it also accordingly. The basic formulae to calculate the number of Kanban cards is Kanban quantity = Daily Demand x Lead time (in days) x Safety factor Container quantity Here the daily demand can be calculated as we know that the demand per week is 1250 and there are 5 working days per week thus the daily demand is 250 unitsThe lead time here as it is not mentioned clearly anywhere in the case we have taken the sentence† the production is planned two weeks before†. Using that we can get the lead time as 2 weeks i. e. 14 days (including working and non-working days) Safety factor: we are taking a standard 10%(assumption) hence the whole quantity is multiplied by 1. 1 Container quantity is given in the case as 20 units Hence Kanban quantity = 250*14*1. 1 = 192. 5 20 Thus using this estimate this will give us a forecast of how many Kanban cards are in place for the JIT beforehand and would make the process efficient enough. 1) Repeat Q10 for Volvo’s Kalmar and Ghent plants. Write only short discussion and detailed calculation and diagram is not expected as in Q10. Ans) The distance plays a major role when it comes to Kalmar and Ghent plants as for us to make a JIT delivery of 4 times a day, the transportation including all logistics plays the deciding factor. Similarly if we look into this case the distances are shown below Save to Kalmar —– 179. 82 Miles or 289. 39 KM (Source : http://www. mapcrow. info) Save to Ghent —– 1284 KM (source : Google Maps)For both the plants if we see there is no feasibility to do the JIT supply 4 times a day as the distance is so large that the transportation becomes a problem and even though if pains are taken and the things are meeting the deadline, the efficiency decreases as this will in no way an add on for the current existing process in terms of the ROI ( Return on Investment ). Q 5 ) Draw the process flo w diagram of Sunwind operations. Perform capacity analysis Sunwind’s operations. Is the capacity at plant sufficient to meet the requirement (Demand and any other) of all VOLVO plants?How would you interpret the capacity calculations? (Consider a batch size and process time information in Exhibit 8). What is the Manufacturing Lead time? Do you think it is right or a long MLT in line with JIT requirement? If it is short or long, what is cause of such short/Long MLT? Ans. Operation 2- Painting Cycle time: 1. 15 min Operation 3&4-batterns, riveting inserting studs Cycle time: 6. 85 min mins Operation 1-Shaping plywood panel Cycle time-2. 8 min Raw material (plywood) Operation 7- Attaching metal and carpet fixturesCycle Time: 2. 2 min Operation 6-Gluing Carpet Cycle Time: 4. 25 min Operation 5-Mounting hinges Cycle Time: 0. 95 min Operation 8-Assembly of left and right units Operation 3 is the bottleneck with maximum cycle time of 6. 85 mins. So it becomes the cycle time for the entire process. The working time for a personnel/week = 40. 7 hours. So, effective working hours/day= 8. 14 hours. Therefore, total no. of units produced/ day=8. 14*60/6. 85= 71 units. ( considering 100 % capacity utilisation) So at 100 % utilization,output/week= 71*5= 355 units/ weekMonthly production= 1420 units. Starting from January 1985 Volvo’s maximum demand per month till July was 1115 units. So Sunwind was able to meet the demand . In August 1985 when demand of Volvo’s three plants surmounted to 4000 units / month Sunwind was unable to supply the required quantity. In 1986 when the forecasted demand of Volve stands 1387 units/ week present capacity of Sunwind ( 355 units/ week) is not sufficient to meet the demand . Direct labor content ( parts fabrication + operations 1-9 ) =18. 8+25. 2+5. 15= 49. 15 mins/ shirt (excluding set up time)If we consider batch sizes of 500 (operation 6 has the minimum batch size of 500) the changed cycle time for each operation are as follows: Operation 4 with zero set up time still remains the bottle neck time and hence the cycle time. So the batch size does not influence the process cycle time. To meet the average forecasted demand of 1400 units/week in 1986 the cycle time of the entire process should be 1. 4 min assuming the plant operates at 80 % efficiency level. Since different operations have different WIPs( according to batches as shown below):Manufacturing lead time is given by MLT= WIP * Cycle time At current plant capacity, considering lids are produced in batches of 500 MLT= (2500+1500+1000+1500+500+500)* 6. 85 = 51375 mins =856. 25 hrs= 21 weeks (considering working hours of 40. 7 /week as bottleneck operation is run in 1 shift only) The lead time is very high and the primary cause for this is large lot size used for production. A high MLT cannot go hand in hand with JIT production. The JIT philosophy is timely delivery of customer order . To meet the delivery deadline for a JIT e need to start t he production as soon as the order is booked. For this we need to maintain a minimum Manufacturing Lead Time as products are produced in batches. Q 7) Should Lars Olav were to design a JIT programme at Sunwind, what should be its elements? Give details about the current status and future requirement of few essential ingredients of JIT/Lean elements requiring improvement/change in Sunwind. Please suggest/show your improved/changed version of the Sunwind operations process to meet the requirement (Demand and any other) to all Volvo plants.Hint: You may like to meet the new demand (1987 forecast) by balancing the capacity of Sunwind operations. Ans. The elements of a JIT programme would be as follows: 1) Make to order strategy and not make to stock. This will reduce over production which not only creates excessive lead times and inventory but also makes it difficult to detect defects. 2) Reduction of inventory level so as to identify quality issues more promptly and effectively thereby correcting at source instead of creating rejections at end. ) Setting a plant layout such that the distance between adjacent workstation is minimum. This will reduce material handling cost and time. Excessive movement of products can at times cause damage and deterioration of product quality. 4) Manufacturing lead time to be minimum so as to reduce waiting time for starting production when an order is booked. 5) Close ties with supplier making sure they are located in close geographic proximity in order to promote strong partnerships and better synchronise product flows.Current status and requirements for adopting JIT in Sunwind: 1) High raw material and WIP inventory level. High batch sizes don’t allow problems to surface immediately. This hinders quality check at source. Few of the quality control procedures were followed in practice. Processes were not monitored formally. Defects were inspected by customers after delivery instead of identification in-house. Defective mate rials were rejected by eliminating the problem but no summary statements were available in Sunwind concerning the rejects.Sun Wind needs to reduce its inventory level and present MLT so as to identify defects at source thereby reducing cost as rejection rate comes down. 2) Presently in Sun wind due to extended delivery lead time of some items (eg. Carpeting) the purchasing department uses a 3-6 months planning horizon. On the contrary the production planning department focuses on first four weeks of delivery schedule which unnecessarily increases the inventory level. As a result raw material inventory unnecessarily goes up.Sun Wind should ask it supplier to reduce this lead time as it is planning to go for JIT. The benefits of a successful JIT can only be realized if your inventory levels are low. Considering suppliers as partners in venture can build long term profitable relationship wherein there is a win-win situation for everyone. 3) Sun Wind is presently operating in moderate b atches which is giving a very high Manufacturing lead time which is not acceptable for a JIT . To meet the increased demand for Volvo Sunwind needs to improve its cycle time as well as reduce its MLT by reducing batch size.Only operation 6 has a significant set up time which has to be reduced for going to JIT by enacting machine controls or preparing for changeovers while a job currently in production is still being processed. 4) In Sunwind the workstation load at different operations is not uniform. The cycle time at different processes vary considerably. As a result there is inventory pile up at workstations with high cycle time. Capacity planning and line balancing are to be used to meet the changed requirement of Volvo plant in 1987. In 1987, Volvo needs 65000 units of 700 series 5-door station wagons.To meet this demand Sunwind needs to produce =65000/52= 1250 units/week. At current capacity Sunwind can only produce 350 units/week. To meet the demand Sunwind needs to produce=12 50/5=250 units/day. We propose change in number of workers and number of shifts to meet the required demand(considering Save plant of Sunwind alone will be producing for all Volvo plants) as shown below. Present Situation Proposed Capacity Planning and line balancing to meet new requirement In this changed line balancing the bottleneck operation is Operation 6 with a cycle time of 2. 83 mins.Since operation 6 has got maximum set up time and Sunwind is producing 32 combinations of part/color/carpet, we assume Japanese concept of heijunka for a JIT, a batch of 32 each wherein all the varieties will be there per batch. Assuming a reduced set up time of 15 mins /batch for JIT achieved by machine control , we get a cycle time of 2. 83+0. 47= 3. 3 mins. Since this operation is run for two shifts the daily production will be = 2*8*60/3. 3= 290 units/day. Operation 7 which has a lower cycle time becomes the bottle neck as the process is run for 1 shift only. No of units produced /day = 8*60 /1. 3=262 units. Hence we can say the actual bottleneck is operation 7 with a cycle time of 1. 83 mins which run for single shift. Hence this becomes the cycle time for the entire batch process. To meet this requirement 3 additional workers at Sun wind’s Save factory are needed as per changed capacity planning. In this scenario of JIT an operational efficiency of above 95 % will be needed to meet the demand requirement of 250 units/day or 1250 units/week (assuming 5 days week) If each batch of JIT is 32 units, in that case per day no of batches produced will be =250/32=7. Hence a JIT will shorten the Manufacturing lead time thereby reducing the inventory level and lumpy requirements on different workstations. This will help identify defects immediately and strengthen quality control measures and help achieve higher efficiency. MLT for JIT= WIP* Cycle time = 32*6*1. 83=351. 4 mins=5. 86 hours. Q 10 Assuming that Sunwind is now ready for JIT delivery (hope so, based on your Q1 to 9 analysis and suggested improvement), how to synchronize the delivery of product 4 times a day to Volvo’s Torslanda Plant? For this you may require the one day demand of Torsdland plant) Ans. The actual demand of 5 door model 700 for Volvo’s Torslanda Plant is 1985 is 17050. The total demand for Volvo isn 1985 is 33665. So Torslanda plant produced around 51 % of total Volvo’s production. Considering the same percentage production of total Volvo’s requirement, by using the overall forecasted demand of Volvo plant in 1986, Torslanda plant will require to produce =51% of 62400= 31824 units annually.Hence per week demand is calculated to be=31824/52= 612 units. Since Sunwind runs 5 days a week, daily production requirement will be=612/5= 122 units. Considering new Capacity planning and line balancing for Sunwind as in Q7, our cycle time is 1. 83 mins ( bottleneck process 7 running for single shift). As the bottleneck operation is for single shift, in orde r to synchronise the delivery of products 4 times a day to Volvo’s Torslanda plant we need to have an MLT which will be atleast= 8*60/4= 120 mins.Considering the previously arrived cycle time of 1. 83 mins in Q7 There will be WIP of equal size at 6 different work stations (Operation 1 to 7) where processing will be done in batches. Hence maximum batch size that can be allowed so as to make a just in time delivery of new order booked 4 times a day =120/(6*1. 83)=11 Lot sizes of 11 units if produced in JIT system can enable us to deliver products 4 times a day, if the product criteria and combination is known beforehand.

Aldi Inc Strategic Swot Analysis Review Essay Example for Free

Aldi Inc Strategic Swot Analysis Review Essay Summary Aldi, Inc. (Aldi) is a grocery retailing company. The company’s stores supply various food and general merchandise such as fresh meat and produce; refrigerated and frozen foods; snacks and sweets; bakery, dairy, pantry items and beverages. In addition, it also offers skincare and beauty products, house hold must have products, and beer and wines. Aldi operates over 1,200 stores in the US and sells over 1,400 of the most frequently purchased grocery and household items in manageable, non-bulk packaging. It operates as a subsidiary of ALDI Einkauf GmbH & Co. oHG. The company is headquartered in Batavia, Illinois, the US Our Aldi, Inc. provides a comprehensive insight into the company’s history, corporate strategy, business structure and operations. The report contains a detailed SWOT analysis, information on the company’s key employees, key competitors and major products and services. This up-to-the-minute company report will help you to formulate strategies to drive your business by enabling you to understand your partners, customers and competitors better. Scope – Business description – A detailed description of the company’s operations and business divisions. – Corporate strategy – Our summarization of the company’s business strategy. – SWOT analysis – A detailed analysis of the company’s strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. – Company history – Progression of key events associated with the company. – Major products and services – A list of major products, services and brands of the company. – Key competitors – A list of key competitors to the company. – Key employees – A list of the key executives of the company. – Executive biographies – A brief summary of the executives’ employment history. – Key operational heads – A list of personnel heading key departments/functions. – Important locations and subsidiaries – A list of key locations and subsidiaries of the company, including contact details. Note: Some sections may be missing if data is unavailable for the company. – Gain key insights into the company for academic or business research purposes. Key elements such as SWOT analysis and corporate strategy are incorporated in the profile to assist your academic or business research needs. – Identify potential customers and suppliers with this report’s analysis of the company’s business structure, operations, major products and services and business strategy. – Understand and respond to your competitors’ business structure and strategies with Our detailed SWOT analysis. In this, the company’s core strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are analyzed, providing you with an up to date objective view of the company. – Examine potential investment and acquisition targets with this report’s detailed insight into the company’s strategic, business and operational performance. Aldi Inc Strategic Swot Analysis Review. (2016, Sep 18).

Belief in People and Team Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Belief in People and Team - Essay Example As a leader, one realizes that one has to focus on that common interest to make sure that the organization functioned effectively. As Dr. Bennis has pointed out in his writings, it is essential that the leader create a sense of mission (ASAE Foundation, 2004). That is exactly what one did to keep the organization to a good start. The group started out by defining the mission and vision statements. One had to make sure that everyone in the organization believed in the objectives that were set. One knew that as the leader of the group, one has to rally them towards the attainment of the goals. The next step was to engage and motivate the members (ASAE Foundation, 2004). The problem that one faced is how to motivate each one of them. One realized that to be able to motivate them it is essential that one gets acquainted with each individual and uncover what drives them into action. One has to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of each member to be able to assign them to jobs which wi ll put their talents and skills to their best use. This is a point which Dr. Bennis emphasized in his book, that is, a leader should determine the highest potential of each member (1994). One did this by letting each member fill out a questionnaire where they were asked their qualifications, interests, talents and hobbies. After going through the form, one got an idea which person may be appointed to do a certain duty. As a leader, one got to know his members better and identified the things that motivate them. Another unforgettable experience that one had about leading the organization was when one had to introduce changes in the previous system established by the past president. The past president required that each member report directly to him about the donations that were gathered for the projects of the group. One believed that the organization would function better if they were divided into groups which were

[Communication spread-Internet] How has the spread of communications Essay

[Communication spread-Internet] How has the spread of communications technology afected cultures around the world Asess the extent to which the Internet is a medium for Western culture alone - Essay Example The most immediate and obvious result of the spread of the internet and communications technologies in recent years has been the political destabilizing effects they can have for despotic regimes across the world. As with so much in history, this all boils down to a question of power. Much of late industrial society was witness to the atomization of individuals with respect to their position in society. Consumerism broke down social bonds and links. The internet has somewhat reversed that trend. It has allowed people, not just for political reasons but also for cultural or religious ones, to unite and â€Å"re-connect† with one another. â€Å"Information Age gurus claim the Internet will alleviate global poverty, empower individuals, revolutionize commerce, and spread the light of democracy to far corners of the globe†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Shapiro 1999). One well-known example was the case of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. When the government sought to crackdown on protesters, the internet allowed many to network with one another. Freedom loving peoples from cultures around the world have found in the internet a means of connecting. Just before the Olympics, Chinese human-rights activist Hu Jia was able to testify via the internet to the European Parliamentà ¢â‚¬â„¢s Subcommittee on Human Rights and â€Å"[deplore] the ‘human-rights disaster’ in China† (Billitteri 2008). Aside from bringing people together, the internet has exposed people to values and cultures other than their own in a way which was hitherto only possible with international travel. People can communicate across oceans and continents. A great part of this â€Å"exposure† has been the spread of democratic ideals and Western cultural values about freedom. For much of human history, the de facto system of government was almost always tyranny of one form or another. In recent centuries, beginning in the West, there developed the idea that the public should have a