Computer Rentals Essay Example for Free

data exploitor Rentals Essay1.a Using the dimensions we discussed in class, how would you describe Mitchell Gold Co.s strategic position?Mitchell Gold competes by offering high step products at a lower price than most makers of similar choice furniture. They offer limited variety in comparison to other makers, which allows them to be more responsive and dispense with orders in a cartridge cliply manner (97% on time shipment).1.b Consider the following description of other furniture makers ( unvanquishable IPF) businessThe standard product line has about 500 contrastive items, with many of the pieces starting as stock, unfinished wooden frames imported from Europe. But the finished furniture peck be as different as the imaginations of the designers, with 60 different standard finishes for the wood and an almost outright selection of upholstery hand overd by designers. Because each piece is hand finished by rag and brush and do to order, the process can take 12 weeks or longer, with one custom-made entertainment cabinet nearing bound after almost six months. (The Record, Bergen County, NJ, 12/09/2001)How would you anticipate that Mitchell Golds production processes differ from those of Invincible IPF? Be sure to discuss the nature of the production equipment and the placement of inventory.MG offers less variety and has greater volume than Invincible. Consequently, MG promising uses more specialized equipment while Invincible has primarily general-purpose equipment.Since designers provide upholstery provided for custom orders, Invincible should have little raw material and no finished goods. MG likely has higher raw material and finished goods inventory. Given the long flow times, Invincible likely has frequently higher WIP levels.Question 22.a In The Goal, Jonah asks Alex 3 questions Did your throughput increase? Did your inventories decline? Did your process toll decline? Define each of the three italicized terms for a process and explain w hy a positive answer to each of the three questions may be classified as an improvement.Throughput corresponds to the rate at which flow units flow through the process. Throughput in general should correspond to sales not production. If the product has a positive margin, an increase in throughput increases positive cash flows. Inventories correspond to the number of flow units within process boundaries. Decreasing inventories decreases the amount of working capital required. It also decreases any reduction in inventory take to be due to obsolescence. Process personify refers to the be incurred in transforming inputs to outputs. A reduction in process cost increases margin and thus profitability.2.b Many enlightened firms have made flow time reduction a key objective. Discuss under which conditions a reduction in flow time improves performance of a process in terms of the modules we have discussed1. strategic competitive impactReducing flow time allows a firm to target customer s egments that may want a faster response. It also allows a firm to be more responsive to volume and taste changes of the customer.2. impact on financial flows interchange is tied up as working capital for a shorter amount of time.3. impact on decisive pathThe critical path gets shorter.4. impact on bottlenecksBottleneck capacity may go up precisely if the flow time at the bottleneck is reduced.5. impact on lean operations chiefly allows a firm to operate with lower levels of inventory. Also shortens the time lag between introduction and spotting of defects.2.c List three ways to increase the capacity of a process. Consider the likely relative cost of implementing these changes and present them in order from cheapest to most expensive to implement. Explain the rationale for your ordering.Option 1 return work at the bottleneck resource (e.g. by moving QC before bottleneck)Option 2 inspire work from a bottleneck to a non-bottleneck resource.Option 3Add to the bottleneck resource prin cipleMoving QC before the bottleneck is a very simple change that eliminates work even if quality does not improve. Moving work from a bottleneck to a non-bottleneck resource requires training and changed capability at the non-bottleneck resource. Adding to the bottleneck clearly requires additional investment.Question 3The three hair stylists, Francois, Bernard and Mimi (FBM) run a tight Service Hair Styling Saloon for busy professionals in the Gold Coast area of downtown Chicago. They continue open between 645 AM 900PM in order to fit to a large variety of peoples work schedules. In their fast service location, they perform only shampooing and hair styling activities. On average, it takes 10 min to shampoo, 15 min to style the hair and 5 proceedings to bill the customer. The store layout is shown below. It consists of a shampooing area, which can accommodate 3 customers at a time and a styling area with 4 desks, which have fully integrated hair-modeling equipment.