Planning for Service Operations Versus Manufacturing
Not what you're looking for?
The case study was:
Service operations often face more difficulty in planning than their manufacturing counterparts. However, service does have certain advantages that manufacturing often does not. Explain service planning difficulty, and the advantages and disadvantages. Give your recommendations to management.
The solution provides recommendations such as staggered scheduling of service employees and the use of alternative workers; such as temporary employees. The examples are explained in detail; by utilizing a plumbing business. There is a contrast of planning that occurs in manufacturing; where most organizations produce what is believed to match consumer demand. The major disadvantage with this planning approach is most products have a "shelf life" where they fall out of demand and/or become obsolete.
Purchase this Solution
Solution Summary
When an organization provides a service, rather than a manufactured good, there can be difficulty in planning for supply to fulfill demand. Planning concepts may include the use of "on call" personnel or temporary workers; who come in for a define timeline to complete a specific goal. This solution is over 300 words and compares the service industry to those that manufacture a product.
Solution Preview
The difficulty in planning operations for a service organization is the often unknown of demand. For example, a plumbing company likely does not know exactly how many service call requests come in each day. To pay for a certain number of plumbers to be at the ready and not enough jobs to keep them all busy results in employee costs from which there is no utilization. However, if there are not enough plumbers to take the service calls and customers have to be turned away or scheduled ...
Purchase this Solution
Free BrainMass Quizzes
Accounting: Statement of Cash flows
This quiz tests your knowledge of the components of the statements of cash flows and the methods used to determine cash flows.
IPOs
This Quiz is compiled of questions that pertain to IPOs (Initial Public Offerings)
Transformational Leadership
This quiz covers the topic of transformational leadership. Specifically, this quiz covers the theories proposed by James MacGregor Burns and Bernard Bass. Students familiar with transformational leadership should easily be able to answer the questions detailed below.
Cost Concepts: Analyzing Costs in Managerial Accounting
This quiz gives students the opportunity to assess their knowledge of cost concepts used in managerial accounting such as opportunity costs, marginal costs, relevant costs and the benefits and relationships that derive from them.
Understanding Management
This quiz will help you understand the dimensions of employee diversity as well as how to manage a culturally diverse workforce.