Productions And Operations Management

Every business organization intends to set up their firm position in the entire market by providing the best quality products and services to the customers with an aim of increasing the sales values and achieving maximum amount of profit (Anupindi et al., 2011). Hence it is of utmost importance that the organizations must take care and look after all their operations and activities so that they can be able to accomplish their goals and withstand all their challenges effectively and fruitfully. This particular essay will throw spotlight upon the production and operations of Hawkesbury Cabinets. Also the study will entail the effects of new builder’s kitchen line on the company and the broader organizational issues caused by those operational problems.

In this particular case scenario, it has been observed that Hawkesbury Cabinets Pty Ltd designs and manufactures beautiful and attractive custom-built kitchen cabinetry. By the effective intervention and involvement of the siblings Fung and Mei Chen, the company has attained enough success and reputation in the overall market. Mei is a qualified interior designer while Fung is a master cabinetmaker. Initially the company aimed at fulfilling all the needs of the growing Chinese community at Hawkesbury (Krajewski, Ritzman and Malhotra,  2013). With the passage of time, Fung has taken up the position of a production and operations manager. On the other hand, Mei had adopted the role of a general manager and looked up the financial operations and all the other functionalities. There was a considerable and convenient distribution of the managerial duties and responsibilities between the two of them. 

The company Hawkesbury Cabinets had emphasised widely on the designing of custom-based kitchens. As stated by Hill and Hill (2012).a strong customer base had been gathered by the company where the customers consult with Mei and demand for a unique well designed kitchen cabinet. With the growth of the company’s reputation and success, Brown, Bessant and Lamming (2013) opined that low volume contracts had also been signed by the company to provide the small ‘spec’ builders with a supreme quality and standardised kitchen cabinetry. These client builders had imposed stringent delivery requirements. According to the builders’ contracts, limited range of kitchen cabinets were being manufactured or produced by the company in small batches. A range of one to five kitchen cabinets with similar designs and specifications were being produced by Hawkesbury Cabinets. Very soon, the demand for the standardised kitchens had increased to 40% volume and 25% of revenue (Slack Brandon-Jones and Johnston, 2013).From the concerned case study, it has been reviewed that the company Hawkesbury Cabinets operated single manufacturing facility where they supplied both the custom and standardised kitchen cabinets.

Various types of equipments are being grouped together in the factory of the company. The production of the kitchen cabinets is done by involving several optimum quality general purpose machineries so as to ensure flexibility in the designing of the kitchen cabinets and execution of the entire production process (Goodal et al, 2011). The cutting tables and the saws are being kept in one section while the routers and the shapers are assembled in the other section. The other less required machineries and lathes are being kept away from the production area in a separate section so that those can be brought in whenever required. Moreover, cutting edges, painting and the finishing of the ordered kitchen cabinets are being done is other separate areas at the rear position of the facility which are environmentally controlled. Analysing these current production systems and processes, Schroeder, Goldstein and Rungtusanatham, (2011) has assessed and evaluated that the finished products of Hawkesbury Cabinets are of superior quality and the company also promises to the customers that the consumption of their cabinets will uplift their esteem and lifestyles to a wide extent. Khanna, (2015) stated that the cabinets produced are all well decorated, designed, smooth edged and properly shaped which reflect the quality of the materials used to manufacture these and the skills and abilities of the cabinetmakers. Hence from the analysis, it is quite clear that the operations of the company are quite sound and proficient enough to sustain its position successfully in the market.

As per the review of the operations and production systems of Hawkesbury Cabinets Pty Ltd, it has been understood that the new builders’ kitchen line had proved to be quite beneficial and fruitful for the company during the past few years. According to the opinions of Slack (2015), the sales of the kitchen line of the new builders had increased to a great considerable extent which, in turn, had resulted in the acquirement of a good and favourable amount of profit and revenue in the market. These led the company to gain more regular scheduling of this particular work. But it has also been perceived that the custom kitchen cabinetry had been given more importance and priority during preparing the scheduling trade-offs (Bozarth and Handfield, 2016).

This is because the company could not deny that extensive amount of profits were earned from the sale of the custom designed kitchen cabinets. Thus more scheduled standard kitchen cabinet components were being left idle around the plant in the several stages of completion (Karlsson, 2010). As a matter of fact, the volume of work had increased which led the workers into serious trouble. Due to the excessive work load and urgent deadlines, the spacious manufacturing area of the company had been blocked up completely and the workers also faced difficulties to keep an effective pace of work. This had resulted in the increase of the partially completed works in the factory. 

The financial aspects of the company Hawkesbury Cabinets were looked upon by Mei Chen. It was a much pleasant view for Mei to note that the company was growing. In accordance with Sharma (2010), the company’s balance sheet at the end of each month or each year showed miraculous progress as the sale values of the custom kitchen cabinets as well as the new builders’ line were increasing day by day. But Peng and Lai (2012) reviewed that along with this progress, the accountant of the company has argued that the profit margins were not the same or close to what was expected by them. As per the operations and production of the company, the profit margins should have reached the heights which were not in real. The cash outflows were increasing due to the rise of the costs related with the new builders’ line (Chase, 2012). Enough capital had been spent for the raw materials inventory, work in progress and also the finished goods which were quite troublesome for the company. This capital was being invested from the revenue obtained by them which led to the decrease in their estimated profit level. Moreover, since the volume of inventory had increased, warehouse spaces had to be given on rent (Agus and Shukri Hajinoor, 2012). The current operation processes were creating a limit to the manufacturing capacity and as such, no extra space had been kept free for the plant expansion. This had affected the financial structure of Hawkesbury Cabinets Pty Ltd widely.

The overall analysis depicted the current production and operations processes of the Hawkesbury Cabinets and how Fung and Mei had managed the organizational activities effectively. It has been perceived that the company had attained success by supplying both the custom cabinets and standardised cabinets. But as the work load increased, the workers faced issues for completing their work and as a result the spacious area of the factory got filled up with several incomplete works (Subramanian and Ramanathan, 2012). The sale of the custom based kitchen cabinets was strong as usual but the new builders’ line was constantly increasing which caused problems for the labour force to accomplish and meet the deadlines with utmost efficacy. Moreover, the sale values and profit margins were also affected as the company had to spend enough capital from their earned revenue in storing raw materials and also in the entire work process to meet the demands of the new builders’ line. Thus the relative costs were rising and on this account the anticipated profit margin fell widely. In this essay, the production and operations management of the company along with its issues have been broadly discussed. 

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