Select a newspaper article relatively to manufacturing companies that have faced some recent operational challenges. You will identify the operational trade-offs and the managerial implications of these operational challenges, suggesting alternative short and long terms strategies to be implemented and providing some managerial prescriptions
KOBE STEEL SCANDAL HITS BOEING, TOYOTA, AND NISSAN-Article
Manufacturing companies are facing some operational challenges, and these challenges are hitting the production, supply chain, and sales process. Big manufacturing companies such as Nissan, Toyota, Honda, and Boeing are struggling due to Kobe steel scandal, which is in the limelight in the competitive Japan automobile industry. The third biggest steel supplier in Japan contained falsely certified metal, which created the adverse impact on the quality of the vehicles. Of course, these automobile companies used the steel for a while, which did not meet the quality standards. Also, this has been revealed that the big manufacturing giant does not have a sufficient quality control and inspection systems or measures in the company. According to the revelations, for Instance, some unauthorized technicians in the industry inspected the quality of steel used in the vehicles, which forced Nissan to recall 1.2 million vehicles. Thus, impaired quality measures or systems are significant operational challenges for these companies, and these are also big barriers to sustain the sales and market share (Wells and Terazono).
Solution
The article, published in financial times, is also indicated some solutions for these manufacturing companies. Apparently, these solutions are adequate to avoid operational issues and regain the strength in the competitive automotive market. Some solutions, which are derived from this news article, are as under
First, with the perspective of Kobe Steel, a big steel manufacturer in Japan must have to revisit its inspection system. Employees use to temper the data, and this issue can be resolved with a proper check and measurement strategy. The big solution is making different segments or categories regarding the steel quality, which is to be used in different manufacturing products in different companies. Apparently, the companies cannot use all types of steel in all products, and Kobe steel should up to it along with appropriate measures and inspection process.
Second, several automobile companies, which are focusing on the concentrated suppliers in the industry may revisit their contracts with the suppliers, depending on the production process and demand in the market. For Instance, Kobe Steel must know the required strength of steel in the manufacturing process, and accordingly, supply the material to different companies. The concentrated supplier strategy is required to have good quality.
Third, the manufacturing companies, especially automobiles, should develop their own inspection system. It is all about developing the new quality control process regarding the material derived from suppliers such as Kobe steel. Instead of focusing on low-cost material and profitability, there is a need to contain the operational excellence through investing in new or redesigned quality control process.
Fourth, being top manufactures in the automobile industry, these operational challenges can be overcome through learning from Kobe Steel. The management of the companies should revisit the culture, especially workplace to let employees learn from the mistake in Kobe Steel. In the operational process, there are always some loopholes or flaws, which may force employees to impair work. Thus, to maintain the operational excellence, the operation should be integrated with the culture of the company to enable the quality, ethics, and standards.
Fifth, companies such as Nissan, HINA, Boeing, and Airbus, may develop their plants to make steels. Outsourcing the process is right to save the cost. However, to maintain the standards and quality, this initiative seems pertinent. The significant advantage that these manufacturing companies can have is independence in inspections and quality. Apparently, in this competitive era, these companies a do not want to compromise on quality in the operational process.
In the end, this is to conclude that this news article depicts the operational challenges. The most important thing is to drive the solutions for these challenges, and accordingly, five solutions have been presented.
Work Cited
Wells, Peter and Emiko Terazono. “Kobe Steel scandal hits Boeing, Toyota and Nissan.” Financial Times. Financial Times,10 October 2017. Web. 16 December 2017. https://www.ft.com/content/a1e494c2-ad9f-11e7-beba-5521c713abf4.
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