MBA503 Operations Management and Decision Making Models-Woolworths Lim

Maximize the shareholder's equity value. Be a consumer catering organization. Develop relationships and loyalty to customers. Simplify business processes and Lower operational costs. Expand their operations globally Economic empowerment of the staff and Promote productivity motivated attitudes and cultures. 

oPolitical and legal factors Government policies regulating food industry. Opening and closing hours of stores. Quality and prices determined by consumers. Technological Factors Developing tracking inventory system due to technological advancement. Demographic Factors The population size has affected the operations of the company. Economic Factors Slow growth in Australian economy. Inflation and economic factors affects wages. Company’s petroleum segment affected by fuel price fluctuations. Social, cultural segment Development  changes in customers, attitudes, and beliefs. People have begun to understand the importance of positive eating behaviours.

Distribution is done on contract and subcontract basis. Goods are brought from suppliers instead of open market to meet the quality standards. Uniform team that run and organize operations in Australia and New Zealand. Stores are refreshed to dispose of perishable goods. Cost reduction in the process of supplying and distribution with the help of inventory tracking system and radio frequency gadgets. 

To ensure accountability and quality, instruction about the operations process are given. Internal training given to prepare employees to face fluctuations due to future trend and change in industry demands. Communication to ensure the smooth running of operations. Food products being controlled and monitored so as not to fall below the set standard. 

Waste reduction by using tracking system so as to improve their profit margins. Operations decision taken by Supervisor and manager. Food product information recorded by subordinates and submitted to managers and supervisors for checking inventory requirement. Inventory is uploaded everyday by accountants to support decision making by the senior managers. 

Combination of quality goods and customer fulfilling services for customer satisfaction.  Shelves and tables at Woolworths are systematically arranged to simplify the accessibility.  Product banners that explain prices and specifications. customer service personnel to assist and advice customers. Challenges faced by product design due to dependency on customer participation. 

Process designed by Leonardo Consultancy. Develop the capacity to manage business processes in all the branches. Establish a platform for analysis of all procedures in operations. Support the organization projects with the aim of improving the results. 

Reputation and brand name assures product quality. Gained competitive edge using inventory control system. Changes in supply chain due to high value orders coming through websites. To reduce the operations cost a distribution centre at Mulgrave is present. 

Focused on integrating planning system in organization improves customer satisfaction while keeping a check on quality. Identify value creating features in the product Establish value chain of distributing the products. Ensure smooth running of activities and processes where Woolworths ensure that all set processes are maintained to ensure that there is no time or resource wastage. Adhere to the company policy of Make -to-order so as to save time and resources 

Consults TCS for quality control and assurance using the sigma six principles. Steps in sigma six models: Definition of the process based on customer needs. Process measured on accuracy. The data is analysed so as the relevant information can be recorded Solutions and improvement on Woolworth’s products are developed. The product in question is regularly monitored to ensure the quality level is maintained. 

Conclusions

Woolworths is a customer, shareholders and community driven organization. Primary objective is to provide quality products and minimize all the associated costs. Organization service design is poor, as a result customer care relation in store is low. The interaction between staff and customers is also low due to less number of staff at stores. 

Issues in employee’s communication system. Employees are not able to communicate their issues to the organization which affects their motivation. Woolworths operations managers are excelling in the areas of decision-making procedures, process designs, supply chain strategies, planning and quality management but need to focus on both suppliers and consumers 

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