A day in the life of Frederic God, Operations Manager, BonPain

Q-1: Analyze the many things that Frederic does during his typical day. You should group these in terms of the five categories below, and provide a full list of subcategories for each:

1. Strategic
Productivity & Quality Control Discussion about growing demand & ways to meet it. Quality Control checks during visit to ensure the best product and in line with the demand orders Demand forecasting and quality performance Business enhancement plans Expansion in capacity and process automation to meet increasing demand and timely deliveries Introduction of new market competitive products Main suppliers issues that are affecting companys performance

2. Design
Automation & Robotization of Packing, equipment requirements, its economics justification and its ability of meet the future requirements. Expansion requirements to meet increasing demands Quality control measures to cater for clients complaints New process controls for customers satisfaction & introduction of new products Increase in storage capacity to ensure timely deliveries Equipment design for new type of products to be launched Maintenance & repairs for existing equipment

3. Planning and control

Check on productivity and quality control Equipment failure and to prevent such occurrences in future Planning for routine and new delivery orders Planning for production controls of new projects Regular meeting with concerned personnel to view the progress, resolve issues and planning required for future ventures

Implementation of new planning tools like Material Requirement Planning Preparation and review of production statistics to be presented in Boards meeting and highlight any issues Review the wastage of raw material for improved cost savings

4. Improvement
Quality reports to highlight improvements needed Visit with technical hands to ensure smooth process and ways to improve Incorporation of new equipment and enhanced capacity for better performance with improved deliveries

5. Human Resources / Staff Issues

Liaison with supervisors and other staff for improvement needed for enhanced production to meet the rising demand To satisfy any apprehensions in Staffs mind regarding their role in the company due to changing environment and incorporation of new tools Need for training and future roles of employees to avoid any human resource issues

Q-2: Assess the approximate proportions of Frederics time that is spent on long-term and on short-term issues. Do you think this is typical of Operations Managers in other industries (for example, banking, leisure, automotive component manufacture) as well?

Fredrics day work consists mainly focusing on short-term issues like review of production & quality statistics, supervision of production work visiting factory area to ensure smooth operations & ways to improve the delivery issues, resolving daily problems, liaison with his team to review performance, listening to clients complaints and short-term expansion projects and new product launching to grasp markets share. However, he also pays attention (to a less extent) to long term planning for new projects, needs for expansion in the production line to meet rising demand, preparing & analyzing production statistics to forecast future demands. This is common in small to medium industry especially industries related to daily consumption products. As an operation manager of such type of industries, you have to give enough time for short-term issues to meet the clients requirements and grasp the market share.
Q-3: In what ways Frederics operations contribute to the competitive advantage of the company?

Fredrics operation contribute to a great advantage of the company, some of the major contributions include;

Review of daily operations Resolving daily issues Planning for expansion projects to meet the rising demands Ways to improve cost savings Utilization of staff to improve performance Review of new market trends, introduction of new products, engaging new clients Feedback and resolution of clients complaints Quality improvements Introduction of new technologies to include automation for enhanced production