How to achieve competitive advantage through operations - Essay Example

Operations Management for Competitive Advantage A business has to be run in such a way that the processes and products require theleast input while at the same time producing maximum output. For this to happen, there are different strategies that must be considered. For a manufacture engineer they include supply chain management, capacity planning and even lean production. When the perfect mix of these three is attained then the business attains a huge competitive advantage. But how are these three strategies to be applied in the case of a manufacture injection molding company that specializes in health care parts?

This paper shall seek to answer that question.In the case of the supply chain, there has to be a critical look at ones suppliers. The company deals with material of a delicate nature and one must ensure that the suppliers also adhere to the highest standards possible. The molding company must also manage its supply chain such that so as to only undertake the tasks that are logistically sound. In other words, the supply chain must function at optimum capacity.Capacity management is also critical.

The final expected return from the sale of the health parts should determine the necessary capacity. The company must ensure that the right numbers of people are at hand for a specific product. Some products are used in large numbers and so the target market shall determine the necessary capacity in that case. Excessive capacity will underutilize the workforce and lead to overproduction.Lean production is not to be ignored either. The engineer should be close to suppliers so as to minimize on transport costs.

The watchword as far as lean production is concerned is waste. Cutting wastage of raw materials, wastage of stock and time wastage before delivery must be cut. After all, these are medical products and they need to be produced efficiently.By and large, management to gain the most competitive advantage is necessary. This should especially happen with regards to supply chains, capacity and lean production as evinced above.SourcesChase, R. Jacobs, R. Aquilano, N.(2005).Operations Management for Competitive advantage: McGraw Hill, London