Analyze the following case carefully and answer the questions that follow:
The ABC dairy company, established in the year 2020, has a very good business strategy. It has had a good network of farmers from the rural part of its location. Usually, it collects milk from the farmers from 6:00 A.M. in the morning to 5:00 P.M. in the evening. This company has been fulfilling the growing demand of the milk products including pasteurized milk, yogurt, cheese, butter, and flavored beverages. The beauty of this company is that it has requested to design the machinery and equipments to the national innovation hub which is promoted by Nepal Government. The hub has produced the machineries and equipments with the help of Nepali engineers at competitive price. Networking with local farmers and government institution is one of the core competencies of the company that has made it strong presence in the market.
The company has world class standard facility and trained human resources to convert the collected milk to transform into milk products as per the needs of the customers including nearby households, hospitals, hotels, restaurants, and hostels. The company has maintained the special process to collect the milk and convert them into products within 10 hours to maintain the freshness. It also has applied automation to switch on the product lines among milk, yogurt and cheese. The company has also received mentoring from Asian productivity organization to minimize the waste during production process.
The company is well known for maintaining the quality across its organization. It has adopted the quality assurance at the collection center. It has conducted many training programs focusing for farmers to make the milk free from adulteration and contamination. The company has set up the world class laboratory facility within the company which will test the presence of fat content, microbial safety, and adulterants. There has been the mechanism of use of social media to capture the feedback of the customers and analyze them to improve the process of the company. Likewise, the continuous training to employees regarding the hygiene practices, sanitation, and food safety protocols is one of the praiseworthy task of the company.
The company has been able to prove itself as one of the key players in the market due to its ability to integrate its operations with company's business goals. It has maintained all five dimensions of performance objectives including quality, dependability, cost, flexibility and speed. For more clarity on these dimensions company has been able to meet the compliance indicated by Nepal bureau of standard; able to use automation to bring down the production cost; able to supply to all customers ranging from individual household to institutions like hotels and hospitals; moreover, rapid processing to maintain the freshness in the distribution.
As the company has to deal with highly perishable products, it has had good practices regarding inventory management. It has maintained minimal raw milk storage as part of the Just in time approach. It has also the market research team which analyzes the demand pattern of its products and clearly helps the production team in aggregative production plan. The company has also a good facility of cold storage within the company to maintain safety stock for the products like cheese and butter.
Questions:
a. How do you see the transformation process in the ABC dairy company? Provide critical comments.
b. Highlight the quality management practices adopted by the company.
c. Do you think the focus of the company regarding the five performance objectives is relevant? Discuss.
d. If you were operations manager of the company, what would you suggest for even the better operations beyond the existing practices?
