Comparing Manufacturing and Service Based Companies

The differences in the manufacturing and service based businesses often realize significant influences in organizational performance. It is for this reason that an analysis of both manufacturing and service industries is important. With over, a hundred year of experience, Haighs Chocolates is the oldest standing chocolate company in Australia. It is a family owned company. Since the beginning of the business, it has come to develop over two hundred different flavors. It has also grown, from a small factory in its family estate to a capacity of employees in the factory and fourteen retail stores spread in Australia.

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Since the beginning of the company, there has been quite an amount of change in the market for chocolates. The uses and preferences have changed. It is also important to add that the number of companies that are currently working in the same industry surpasses the demand for chocolate (Haighschocolates.com.au, 2015). For this, reason, marketing has become one of the most important tools when it comes to the chocolate industry in Australia. It is important to look at the different marketing strategies in such a competitive environment. This paper looks at the current market situation and the related steps that Haighs Chocolates can take to ensure that it not only survive, but also thrive in its industry (Haighschocolates.com.au, 2015).

Haighs Chocolate is a diverse company with over 200 different products. This is, however, one of the most powerful qualities of the company. Marketing for Haighs Chocolates does not look at one product but rather its brand. The product that is being sold is not a distinct flavor of chocolate but rather the entire brand that is Haighs Chocolate. The company has a long history of Chocolate proteges. It, therefore, has heritage and culture rooted in every product. Each product that the company produces is relevant and marketable in their right. The company ensures that in development and production of different products, customer needs are factored.

Being a manufacturing company, the process through which the products from Haigh's chocolate is made is a physical process where the cocoa beans are processed into edible and a variety of flavored chocolates. The entire process for the company begins with the selection of the highest quality of beans. These beans are then taken through different stages where liquid chocolate is extracted from the bean. The entire extraction begins at roasting of the beans. After roasting, the beans are passed through a winnower where the husks of the beans are removed, leaving small nibs of cocoa beans. From this point, the cocoa beans are then passed through a mill where they are crushed under high temperatures. After these nibs are crushed, they are blended with cocoa butter, icing sugar, vanilla and milk powder depending on the chocolate type. The powder is then refined and further crushed to improve the smoothness of the entire product. After refinement, the powder goes through hours of mixing and aeration. These processes further improve the quality of the chocolate. The following process map indicates the stages that Haighs Chocolate has adopted in the manufacturing of chocolates.

Google Inc. is one of the most diverse companies in the Technology industry. Their signature product is the Google search engine. They also have managed to make revolutionary strides in Advertising with Google AdSense. However, the company has recently sought to enter different industries all within the bigger technology umbrella. One of the most daring products that Google Inc. is currently developing is a drone-based delivery system. This is a product is being developed under the name Project Wing (Ingraham, 2014). The retail market is the main target of the project. Delivery of products to customers will significantly improve the retail market (Ingraham, 2014).

Being a service based company, the method in which the company extends its services is limited to applications and other software. The service that the company provides is Search in developing some of the products that the company is known for, Google has adopted the Agile model for software development. It is important to note that this is also the model in use for the employee management in the company.

The Agile methodology for project management has five techniques attributed to them, these are, Facilitated Workshops, Modeling, Prioritization, Prototyping, and Time-boxing. Each of these techniques improves the workflow of project management. Facilitated workshops refer to the process of calling meetings where all the project stakeholders discuss resources and problems that the project will face. It is meant to enable them to come up with solutions to these problems and design their project strategy. Modeling is the process of drawing up visual images in which the project processes are denoted. The business and the customer are the prime focus in modeling; they, therefore, appear many times in this process.

Different companies in different industries have realized a significant shift in the motivation of consumers and product/service preferences. The customers have gone further and actively participated in the entire design and production process in virtually every industry. Consumer introduced variability is a concept that remains prevalent, with companies like Motorola and Rolls Royce taking design recommendations from their customer (Frei 2006). The efficiency of the supply chain has inspired minimal consumer motivated decision making. While companies like Haighs Chocolate are quick in making changes to their products, the service industry based companies have a difficult time to incorporate consumer introduced variability (Frei 2006).

The very nature of the service industry is to one sided. It is for this reasons that departments like Research and Development realize more funding and a higher priority in companies (Frei 2006). The project like Project wing for Google is a classic example of the results of R&D initiatives. It should be noted that incorporation of consumers in the design process improves the overall performance of the company. Understanding both service-based and manufacturing companies affords me the technical know-how on how best to run such companies should need to arise.

References

Frei, F. (2006). Breaking the Trade-Off Between Efficiency and Service. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved 30 November 2016, from https://hbr.org/2006/11/breaking-the-trade-off-between-efficiency-and-service

Haighschocolates.com.au, (2015). Our History - Haigh's Chocolates. [online] Available at: http://www.haighschocolates.com.au/about-us/our-history/ [Accessed 10 Aug. 2015].

Ingraham, N. (2014). Google's Project Wing is a secret, drone-based delivery system. The Verge. Retrieved 14 June 2016, from http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/28/6080369/googles-project-wing-is-a-secret-drone-based-delivery-system