Running Head: Operations and Supply Chain Management 1

Operations and Supply Chain Management

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Operations and Supply Chain Management 2

Executive Summary

In any organization, there is always some of the problems that may interrupt the operation

of its production process. These problems may be either from external source or internal source

and may pose some challenges to organization. In this article, we will discuss how operational

problems may pose some challenges to the functionality of organization.

The problem which we will discuss in this article is innovation problem. Our focus

company will be New Light Inventor Ltd company which has been facing some operational

challenges. In any organization management, innovation has been a key issue that is always

discussed which in turn leads to more development of a company. This is mainly done by coming

up with new strategies and innovative ways on how to solve and ease some of the problems that

has being facing a company. The problem to be solved in the article in our case is how to come up

with innovative strategies while at the same time maintaining the overall operation and control of

organization (Hazen, Skipper, Boone & Hill, 2018). In most of the times, company’s operations in

production, distribution and marketing changes day in day out due to change in technology and

therefore there is a need to come up new innovative strategies which suites the current taste of

customers.

Through the logistics (operations) and supply chain management concepts and tools,

different companies have come up with solution of the problems they have been facing. Innovation

by itself is a very sensitive issue which requires a lot of attention in case of any change in

production process which may occur in an organization. The New Light Inventor Ltd company

has incorporated the use of cloud-based system in their production in order to ensure operational

efficiencies of the systems produced. The systems that are produced by the company must be vetted

for them to be of great use to customers. The advantage of cloud-based system is the ability to
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bring a very high returns when operating at a high capability. Some of the organization Information

and Technology departments are not well monitored and therefore it will be difficult to monitor

the supply chain operation of the company. The cloud-based system is very important to any

company like New Light Inventors Ltd as it monitors how operations of innovation works in a

business (Genovese, Acquaye, Figueroa & Koh, 2017). Therefore, by use of supply chain

management systems in the cloud, a company can easily monitor and access their team focused on

software and hardware side.

Additionally, another tool used in supply chain management is training which has been

used by the company to train its employees on the new advanced skills which are of benefit to

company production processes. Innovation being a sensitive aspect in production, there is a need

for it to be monitored much in an organization before implementing it. This is mainly because,

there are a lot of impacts which may come about by the use of new innovation and therefore, a

company need to ensure that there is verified innovation. For instance, New Light Inventors Ltd

company need to have training of its employees in order to ensure there is right innovation

strategies.

The expected results from above solutions will be to ensure that the operations and supply

chain operations are done in an orderly manner. For the company to reach more customers, it has

to ensure that its production and supply processes are in the best way.

Background Information

Innovation problem is the one that arises from my own work. A company can come up

with great ideas if only the right innovations procedures are followed. If in a case, a company come

up with idea which is of no use, then there is no need of putting it in production process as it will
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lead to failure at long last. Therefore, innovation being a pillar for organization development need

to be effective that is of use to the company.

New Light Inventors Ltd company is one of the company that has been operating for the

last five years. It is located in New York city state where it deals with production and supply of

information technology products such computer, laptop, phones and other accessories.

Problem Statement

As everyone knows, innovation has been key to development in any company. Issues about

innovation problem has being affecting different companies around the world that produces

different products. This is mainly because the innovated ideas lack verification to test whether they

are of the right quality. Great minds come up with great ideas and innovate great projects but

because of failure of funding the project to be productive, their implementation procedure fails. It

is therefore the mandate of every company to know of different strategies which only focus on

solving the problems that may arise.

New Light Inventors Ltd company has been developing systems to customers/clients and

at the time of delivery the client notices that the system is not quality and therefore it requires some

improvement. The problem involves improvement of the system developed by coming up with

new development strategies to solve the issue. Therefore, the main focus of the discussions will be

to determine on the best innovative strategies that need to be implemented by the company in order

to suite its supply chain operation hence increasing production.

Operation and Supply Chain Management Concept

Operation and supply chain management concepts are the ones which helps the company

management to monitor some issues which are affecting its operations and come up with strategies
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on how best they can be solved. In supply chain management, there is competitive advantage that

aims at maximizing the profit through various activities in which a product undergoes (Hazen,

Skipper, Boone & Hill, 2018). These activities involved in supply chain management include the

following development of the product from the raw material form to the final product, sourcing

and also the information needed to coordinate these activities.

In order to come up with the solution about innovation problem, there are supply chain

operations which need to be incorporated to already new systems for it to function well. In

choosing the best supply chain operation to use, one has to focus on the trending technology which

mainly focus on new innovation because there are some which are too old to be used currently in

production process. This is mainly because due to advancement of technology, different products

have changed its mode of production due to changing demand by the customers. The innovations

that should be put in place should be compatible to the already invented systems. The operations

should involve training of employees to improve their skills on production process hence coming

up with the solution of the problem. Through this, the experts who are already equipped with the

best skills and knowledge are capable of creating good systems which are of best quality and which

cannot be questioned. The concept that is used should also ensure that there is smooth operation

of the supply chain that serves the company in a better manner (Kache & Seuring, 2017).

Consultation should also be a key issue in their operation where the experts are involved in

consulting others if a problem arise in their work.

Application of Operations and Supply Chain Management Concept.

Innovation problem is the one which has got solution and therefore the organization should

not fail in production process because of this issue. In a case whereby the company workers who

are innovators are engaged in coding a system, there is possibility of making some mistakes.
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Through training of workers/experts in a company, the best can be achieved as there is no problem

that can arise in a company and lack solution. In operation and supply chain management sector

of a company, there is a need for the management to understand and know every department of

the company (Kache & Seuring, 2017). This is mainly because there are lot of processes which

need to be always checked on. These processes involve the operation which links production and

distribution.

On the side of production, since the employees are well trained quality products will be

produced which be a benefit to company. On the other side of distribution and marketing, the

produced products will easily reach customers if they are of good quality. Also, the company need

to incorporate digital operation in their production so as to attract more customers. This will be

achieved by purchasing new equipment which will be used in production processes (Hugos,

2018). The training which will be needed for the employees will cost the company an approximate

amount of about $ 500. The training will also involve purchasing of training equipment which will

total to up to about $200, hiring of trainers to about $150 who will teach the workers,

benchmarking other companies to gain more knowledge and share some experience where

travelling expenses are involved $ 100 and the facilitation of the process $100.

Analysis of Expected Results

In any effective supply chain management operation, there must be a proper process which

have to be followed. In one way or the other, a company may be the best in production but when

it comes to supply chain operations, the output is poor. With good training of experts in production,

innovation in the company will be effective which will ensure development through production of

the best and quality products.

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When training of the experts is done in the company, the best output will be produced

because the experts will know the best innovative strategies required and also they will be

enlightened on the best supply chain operations. Through all these, a lot of improvement will be

achieved and the time consumed in production and supply will be reduced. Through use of digital

operation that is automated supply, less time will be used in production. This is because there is

no manual work involved in their production as much of the work is done by machine. The cost of

production will be reduced also as less workers will be needed in the company.

Conclusion

Operation and supply chain management is one strategy used by most of the companies

under operation across the world in order to achieve their set goals and objectives. A lot of attention

should be paid on these strategies as they help operation of a company. Problems arises in an

organization which on one way or the other affects the supply chain operation. The issue of

innovation problems if arises, there is need for it to be rectified as early as possible to prevent any

challenge which may occurs in future. On the modern advancement of technology, new

innovations are required to come up with new systems to work under the new environment. The

innovation agenda should therefore be on the front line by management to ensure that their

companies operate at the best levels. Innovations however should comply with the need of the

business since not all innovations are helpful in all business organizations.
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References

Hugos, M. H. (2018). Essentials of supply chain management. John Wiley & Sons.

Genovese, A., Acquaye, A. A., Figueroa, A., & Koh, S. L. (2017). Sustainable supply chain

management and the transition towards a circular economy: Evidence and some

applications. Omega, 66, 344-357.

Hazen, B. T., Skipper, J. B., Boone, C. A., & Hill, R. R. (2018). Back in business:

Operations research in support of big data analytics for operations and supply chain

management. Annals of Operations Research, 270(1-2), 201-211.

Dubey, R., Gunasekaran, A., Papadopoulos, T., Childe, S. J., Shibin, K. T., & Wamba, S.

F. (2017). Sustainable supply chain management: framework and further research

directions. Journal of Cleaner Production, 142, 1119-1130.

Kache, F., & Seuring, S. (2017). Challenges and opportunities of digital information at the

intersection of Big Data Analytics and supply chain management. International Journal of

Operations & Production Management, 37(1), 10-36.