- The influences on the transformation process (5 Vs) are:
? - Volume
- Variety
- Variation in demand
- Visibility (customer contact)
Volume
- Volume refers to :: how much of a product is made
- Volume flexibility refers to :: how quickly a business can adjust to changes in demand
→ essential to effectively managing lead times - lead times refers to :: the time it takes for an order to be filled from the moment it is made
Variety
- The influence of variety on transformation processes shows: the greater the variety made, the more the operations process needs to allow for variation
- Can be achieved on a small scale by making small variations.
Variation in demand
- Some variations are predictable (Christmas, Winter & Summer, etc.)
- Increase in Demand
- requires increased inputs from suppliers, employees, use of technology
- brings challenges:
- suppliers cannot supply quickly enough
- labour is not flexible enough
- the adopted machinery cannot adjust to increased capacity quickly.
- Decrease in Demand
- will require flexibility
- staff may need reduced hours (or made redundant)
Visibility (customer contact and feedback)
?
-
refers to how much the transformation process directly involves the customer.
- Service industries often have high visibility
- manufacturing industries often have low visibility
-
Visibility through customer service can lead to strong sales.
- and more customisation
-
implications of a highly visible operations process →
- the quality of labour will be significant
- Employees will need training