Despite their successful track record in recent years, the company did experience some quality management problems during the early years of the 21st century that had some mixed results. On the one hand, the company lost a domestic computer contract to its rival Dell to a Chinese government agency because the agency viewed quality as having slipped at Lenovo (Saxon 2007)
For example, the operations management strategy that is currently in place at Lenovo has been developed through a series of joint ventures, acquisitions and strategic partnerships that have been designed to increase its access to technology in a political sphere that has hampered growth for others in ways that actually helped the company grow its business in its domestic market as well as overseas. Likewise, the socio-cultural aspect are apparent when the company entered the personal computer (PC) market as early as 1988 by being the only firm offering Acer computer Chinese word processor add-on cards and quickly began marketing its own brand through a joint venture with a Hong Kong company that had the financial resources and international experience to help Lenovo during this start-up period (Yusuf & Nabeshima, 2006)
Table 1 Representative international suppliers of components for Boeing 777s Company Country 777 Parts Alenia Italy Wing flaps Aerospace Technologies Australia Rudder CASA Spain Ailerons Fuji Japan Landing gear doors; wing section GEC Avionics United Kingdom Flight computers Hawker de Haviland Australia Elevators Kawasaki Japan Fuselage section, cargo doors Korean Air Korea Flap supports Menasco Aerospace Canada Landing gears Messer-Bugatti France Landing gears Mitsubishi Japan Fuselage sections, passenger doors Short Brothers Ireland Land gear doors Singapore Aerospace Singapore Landing gear doors Smiths Industries United Kingdom Electronic systems Source: Heizer & Render, p. 26 As can be readily discerned from the countries listed in Table 1 above, bringing all of these components together from these geographically diverse locations for a single aircraft model is a significant logistical challenge, but the supply chain managers at Boeing have succeeded in developing a streamlined, just-in-time approach to their manufacturing processes that accomplishes just that (Carney 2001)
Not only did the company manage to keep the 737 alive through these more modest sales, many of the companies that purchased 737s initially began purchasing larger aircraft as their companies grew, and the 737 has become the largest-selling commercial aircraft in aviation history as a result (Heizer & Render 2011). Likewise, the company used the same approach for its Harriet jet defense contracts by developing innovative solutions to the problems identified with the aircraft by the military, thereby extending the life -- and profitability -- of their contract (Fallows 2002)
Although the company has outsourced a significant percentage of its component manufacturing needs abroad, many parts are still made by the company at its facilities in the United States. The company currently manufactures between 300 and 500 aircraft each year, ranging from 185-passenger 737s to enormous 400-plus passenger 747s (Gaither & Frazier, 2009), as well as 757s, 767s, and 777s (Heizer & Render, 2011)
Although the company has outsourced a significant percentage of its component manufacturing needs abroad, many parts are still made by the company at its facilities in the United States. The company currently manufactures between 300 and 500 aircraft each year, ranging from 185-passenger 737s to enormous 400-plus passenger 747s (Gaither & Frazier, 2009), as well as 757s, 767s, and 777s (Heizer & Render, 2011)
In this capacity, the company's current international operations management strategy involves exports to more than 90 countries, with products and services spanning the entire range of the aerospace industry needs, including commercial and military aircraft, satellites, weapons, electronic and defense systems, launch systems, advanced information and communication systems, and performance-based logistics and training (Boeing profile 2011). In addition, Boeing's international operations management strategy is focused on eliminating waste throughout the organization and developing a lean manufacturing approach with its vendors and suppliers (Michaeu 2005; Day & McNeill 1998)
20). This fundamental transformation did not occur overnight (Bugas 1999), though, but has rather been the result of the company learning from its successes as well as its failures over the years and implementing a series of sustained incremental changes that have consistently added value to the company's operations (Tidd, Bessant & Pavitt 2001; Luz 1999)
How? The right amount of the right part numbers will provide you with what you need when you need it, without enormous stress on your operating capital." (Lavely, 1996) For instance, if a shop frequently makes brake repairs, have a large stock of brake pads for the cars serviced, as opposed to other, more esoteric parts in cars that are seldom serviced by the shop
Virtuoso teams are different from the common teams as they are formed solely from experts and elites in their field of expertise. The characteristics of these teams include a frenetic rhythm of work, a discernible energy, constant fights and disagreements, high levels of collaboration and creativity, an understanding of the customer in terms of highly sophisticated and demanding and finally, a uniqueness of ambitions, spirits and results (Fischer and Boynton, 2005)
2: Core Competencies 2.1 a Corporation: Collections of SBU's or of Competencies The strategic business unit is built on a series of core competencies, which deliver core products, which in turn sustain the company in gaining a competitive and leading position within its industry (Forbes, 2005)
Innovative project management is based on the idea that the focus is on the organization as a whole and on the increased value to stakeholders. Foremost, it also emphasizes on transformation and change (Kotelnikov, 2008)
5 Competition Based on Analytics Analytics is probably the ultimate argument in support of an innovative operations management. It teaches leaders and employees to "out-think and out-execute the competition" (Marion, 2007)
During the 1980s, top executives were judged on their ability to restructure, declutter, and delayer their corporations. In the 1990s, they'll be judged on their ability to identify, cultivate, and exploit the core competencies that make growth possible indeed, they'll have to rethink the concept of the corporation itself" (Prahalad and Hamel, 1990)
"Innovation in industry is a process that involves an enormous amount of uncertainty, human creativity and chance. It takes place in small and large ways, and in some times and places more than in others" (Utterback, 1996)
(Chapter 12: Competition and Survival) At present IBM persistently dominates the world in emerging applications development, inventions and innovative technologies, noticed by the innumerable parents it gets annually. (Speech by Professor SHIH Choon Fong, NUS President-- -- ) IBM entails the technological innovations to safeguard individuals, government agencies and enterprises to formulate from the traditional IT environment into e-business
The available IP management software, switches and so on can be re-suited for use in SAN, if needed, or the identical IP infrastructure can function dually for LAN and SAN which gives a genuine advantage to the customer by lowering the storage traffic burden on the user network. (Trends in Storage- An Interview with Alex Yost, IBM Corporation) The reason why IBM treaded on latest technologies was to stay ahead in the race of its rivals by identifying domains which are completely uncharted and has the potential to develop into lucrative business of more than a billion dollar in a span of five to seven years
Operations management deals with planning, organizing and controlling the processes that include all operations within the organization to produce and distribute products and services (McNamara, 2007)
It requires initiative, imagination, perseverance, methodical spirit, and others. There are several creativity methods for the company to choose from: attributes list, enforced relations technique, morphological analysis, operational creativity, brainstorming, synectics, or brain-writing (Erlendsson)
Operations management deals with planning, organizing and controlling the processes that include all operations within the organization to produce and distribute products and services (McNamara, 2007)