Operations and logistics management of Auto Sueco Angola
Auto Sueco Angola is part of Grupo Auto Sueco. Auto Sueco Angola markets, provides and distributes after sales service for Volvo products in Angola. Auto Sueco Angola focuses on gathering data to manage its inventories. The company makes sure that it has a complete record of logistic and operation procedures (Bassett 2003). Within the context of a firm’s strategy, operations seek to enhance the competitiveness of the business. For years, the role of operations was simply to get the product or service out the door. The major voices in corporate strategy were in finance and marketing. However, the oil embargo of the mid-1970s helped change all that. Rising prices of gasoline sent customers all over the world in search of automobiles that optimized fuel consumption. The Japanese automobile manufacturers, especially Toyota and Nissan, had such vehicles available, and when customers flocked to try them, they noticed that the Japanese automobile was of superior quality. An operation strategy of Auto Sueco Angola is to make sure its cars would create auto parts that would entail lesser manufacturing cost. Operations strategies are functional strategies that support the firm’s overall strategy. It is infinitely easier to produce a limited product line at a plant than a broader line (Nie& Young1996).
Auto Sueco Angola makes sure that all its products are sturdy and durable and will not easily fall prey to the short product life cycle. Today’s reality is that the product life cycle is shorter than ever and customers are fickle. This requires a manufacturing configuration that can adapt quickly to changing demand patterns. Machinery and equipment should be considered for purchase that can not only manufacture the current product but also be retooled for future changes in the product. It is to operations’ advantage to limit the number of options a customer can buy. Options mean more time. All customers do not have the same needs and wants, and companies that have the operational capability of offering customers exactly what they want; when they want it, have a competitive edge. Those that compete from a cost perspective may find it advantageous to limit options (Vernon 2002). The focused factory, one that specializes in a narrow product mix, thereby smoothing the production process by improving quality and productivity, makes sense for long product life cycles. The new factory must be both focused and flexible. At one time, it was true that firms could compete within an industry on the basis of offering superior quality to the customer. Quality movements across the world succeeded in improving the quality of all products and services to the point that all companies must have superior quality merely to survive. As a result, the one way companies can gain an edge is to introduce new and innovative products faster than competition. The product design cycle has been diminishing as a reaction to increased competition and quality and decreasing product life cycles. New product introductions are a primary area where speed matters. Research and development, marketing, and operations must work together to determine which markets will be served and who will serve them (Tayeb 2000).
Product life cycles vary globally. But this phenomenon still exists to some extent from one country to another and will influence the global staggering of new product introductions. Auto Sueco Angola makes sure that all products undergo a good layout design that will cater its quality management processes. Most firms in capital intensive industries have implemented quality management programs by 1996. It is also true that the management commitment to quality varies. Companies must produce to the needs of the most discriminating customer. A global customer-service network is imperative to maintain success. A product that has no locally-established service is asking for trouble when a problem occurs. It is not a simple question of choosing to sell a product. A service network must also be established. As part of customer service the company makes use of all available facilities to communicate with clients. Customer service entails giving the appropriate information about a product including its characteristics, capacity and component. The quality of customer service is as important as the actual quality of the product itself, because future customers can be gained or lost through customer service. There are two aspects to the operations management of technology. The first aspect concerns process: every industry has a unique state-of the-art process technology. For the manager, this involves a mastery of all possible process technologies that are either in use, or show potential for use, in the production of a product. The second aspect concerns product technology. Firms must sell the technology that customers want. This means that managers must predict technological shifts. The managers make sure that the products would pass the quality and safety requirements. Managers must stay current in new layouts and equipment that might increase productivity, quality, and profitability. This necessitates a life-long commitment to the study of industry trade journals, scientific periodicals, general business publications, and any other sources that may offer technological information. The managers have an inadequate scientific and mechanical educational background, which they must remedy if they intend to master their field (Agmon & Hekman 2000).
References
Agmon, T & Hekman, CR 2000, Trade policy and corporate business
decisions, Oxford US, New York.
Bassett, G 2003, The evolution and future of high performance
management system, Quorum Books, Westport, CT.
Nie, W & Young, ST 1996, Managing global operations: Cultural
and technical success factors, Quorum Books, Westport, CT.
Tayeb, MH 2000, The management of international enterprises: A
socio-political view, Macmillan, New York.
Vernon, M 2002, Business: The key concepts, Routledge, New York.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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