Paper Example on Understanding Operations, Logistics, and Supply Chain Management

Introduction

The effectiveness of an organization in executing its functions is accredited to proper management of its operations, logistics and supply chains. Operations management revolves around the designing as well as controlling the process of production or manufacturing during the creation of goods and services (Slack, Brandon-Jones, & Johnston, 2013). On the other hand, logistics management is considered to be a crucial element of supply chain management that is employed to meet as well as satisfy customer's demands (Bowersox, Closs, Bowersox, & Cooper, 2013). That is through planning, control as well as the implementation of effective transportation and storage infrastructure in an organization to ease access to an organization's products by potential customers.

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Supply chain management involves the control of the flow of various goods and services, the storage of raw materials and work-in-process inventories and management of finished products from the source origin to the point of consumption (Cordon, Hald, & Seifert, 2013). The knowledge of supply chain management is essential as it entails optimizing an organization's operations to maximize its speed and efficiency. In this case, speed is essential in promoting an organization's efficiency since most customers for an organization's product value fast delivery of their desired products and services. Nevertheless, organization leaders should also understand that an elevated speed, however, in an organization can lead to a rise in operational costs in an effort to maximize efficiency.

Company Information Background

Honda UK Manufacturing Ltd. (HUM) is plausibly the largest car manufacturer in the United Kingdom (UK). The corporation is a subsidiary of the Honda Motor Company (Japan) the multinational conglomerate corporation that solely manufactures Honda cars and Honda engine parts. HUM foresees the operations of a car manufacturing site based in Swindon, England where Honda cars and parts are manufactured. Some of the activities performed at the site include casting vehicle parts, car welding, painting, pressing as well as engine assembly among others. Also, the company has approximately 3,400 personnel and sets in an estimated 370 acres of land (Scott & Woodman, 2009).

HUM was founded in 1985 and since its inception, the corporation's headquarters are situated at Swindon, Wiltshire, UK (Law, 2017). The top officials at the company include Jason Smith - director as well as David Hodgetts - company's Managing Director. Today, there are two major cars that are produced by HUM in its UK corporation. The cars are the Honda Civic, which the company has produced since 1994 and the Honda CR-V which was has been manufactured by the company since 2000 (Haynes, 2010). The excellence of the HUM in the UK market has been supported by the corporation's efficient quality management strategies as well as the management of the organization's business relationships in its supply chains.

Quality Management Analysis

Supply chain management in an organization directly impacts on product's quality as well as on the overall profitability of the establishment (Asefeso, 2012). As such, quality control in the supply chain is considered to be critical in helping an entity maintain a competitive edge in the market and also in minimizing operating costs. Ultimately, without quality control in an organization, waste becomes prevalent past a tolerable amount. Quality management is an important facet of supply chain management that is enforced by the HUM Corporation while executing its functions. While some corporations may focus on the efforts of enhancing the supply chain itself, HUM focuses on promoting the efficiency of quality management.

The quality department at the HUM Corporation ensures that there is a seamless inspection of all the incoming raw materials, the in-process work as well as the final product. That is prior to the HUM products' sales in the local and international automobile market. Quality management at the HUM corporation ensures that all the operation's processes at the organization move faster in comparison to those of its competitors. Ultimately, the effectiveness of quality management at the HUM Corporation has been facilitated by the company's use of total quality management (TQM) concepts in all its supply chain operations.

TQM

TQM is the description of the management approach to the long-term good performance of an organization through clients' satisfaction (Evans & Lindsay, 2014). Moreover, through TQM, HUM has strived to promote the efficiency of efforts undertaken by all stakeholders of the organization, in enhancing the organization's procedures, products, and services as well as the culture where they work. As a result, the TQM concepts has enabled HUM to strengthen the company's competitive position in the market, attain higher productivity and promote its market image. The TQM concepts have also enabled HUM to adapt to changing market conditions, attain an increased profitability, eliminate defects recorded, minimize costs and have better cost management.

The adoption of the TQM concepts at the HUM Corporation has also enhanced its customer focus and customer satisfaction and promoted the attainment of customers' loyalty and retention. Also, through the enforcement of the TQM concepts at HUM, the personnel working in the organization have been able to attain job security, promoted the company's employee morale, increased the shareholder as well as stakeholder's value. Lastly, the enforcement of TQM concepts at the company has promoted the staff's innovative processes leading to the manufacture of high-quality automobiles. There are three primary TQM concepts that are employed by the HUM Corporation today, in all its operations.

Customer focus is the first TQM concept enforced by the HUM Corporation. The concept refers to the orientation of a company towards serving all its customers' needs (Kaynak & Rogers, 2013). Placing all the customers' needs first has significantly promoted the overall success of the HUM Corporation by ensuring that all aspects of the organization are geared towards fulfilling customers' satisfaction. Unlike its competitors such as Toyota, Nissan, and Lotus in the UK automobile market, HUM has ensured that placing the focus of its customers first has been a prerequisite in the manufacturing of all its products.

As such, since its inception, the corporation has been in a position to satisfy the quality demands of car buyers in the market, which can be marked by the entity's exemplary market performance. Moreover, there are six activities that HUM Corporation does to promote its customer focus goals. The activities include measuring the levels of customers' satisfaction, striving to exceed the clients' expectations and managing clients' relationships. Moreover, HUM ensures that it meets all its clients' requirements, identifies and comprehends the current and future needs of clients and lastly aligns its corporate objectives to its clients' needs and expectations.

Leadership is the second TQM concept that is utilized by the HUM Corporation while executing its operations focused on manufacturing high-quality Honda cars. Leadership in TQM is focused on how leaders in an organizational structure as well as direct an organization's functions to achieve the desired corporate objectives (Oakland, 2014). The activities performed by the company under the leadership concept include setting goals, establishing trust with the clients, equipping staff with knowledge and skills and creating and communicating the model that advocates for the organizational values. Also, through efficient leadership, the HUM Corporation sets challenging organizational goals, has created a vision and direction for the corporation and has also strived to recognize all the contributions made by their employees. Such measures by the HUM Corporation in supporting the promotion of quality products has set the company apart from its rivals like Lotus, which prioritizes on exceeding the customers' expectations as it primary TQM priority. The latter corporation is superlatively focused on having the best and expensive brand of automobile in the market. That is through the sourcing of highly qualified and seasoned personnel instead of grooming or empowering them using effective leadership skills. Relationship management is the third TQM concept that is enforced by the HUM Corporation in the UK automobile manufacturing industry in developed of high quality and high-performance cars (Trost, 2014). In TQM, relationship management is the strategy that an organization employs in maintaining a continuous level of interaction with its clientele.

Some of the actions taken by HUM to manage relationships in its operations include recognizing all suppliers' successes, collaborating will all the company's stakeholders in the products' improvement and development initiatives. HUM also shares its expertise, knowledge, resources as well as plans with all its corporate partners to enhance the quality of its manufactured products. Also, the company strives to create relationships that are both short term and long term. Ultimately, unlike other brands like Lotus, HUM identifies and also selects defined suppliers so as to manage operational costs, optimize the use of its resources and create value in creating high-quality products. That is for the clients of Honda cars in the local and international markets.

Management of Business Relationships in Supply Chains

Managing a business relationship is imperative for the attainment of a successful business (Ford, Gadde, Hakansson, & Snehota, 2014). Additionally, this because the better the relationships between all the organizations' stakeholders the easier it is for an organization to conduct business as well as to generate revenue. As such, the development of strong and positive relationships can be deemed as the key to success in a supply chain (Ford, Gadde, Hakansson, & Snehota, 2014). Moreover, in a perfect supply chain relationship, both clients and suppliers become connected in ways that permit them to exchange information with ease, attain essential cooperate data and to have the visibility status of an organization.

There are several strategies for managing business relationships that are employed by HUM Corporation in its supply chain. The first strategy is the use of vertical collaboration where an organization teams up with all essential stakeholders at different levels and stages in their supply chain to share resources, responsibilities as well as performance information (Buijs, 2014). In HUM's case, vertical collaboration is undertaken with an objective of serving relatively similar end clients for Honda automobiles. Through vertical collaboration, all the stakeholders at HUM Corporation feel involved and integrated into the company cooperate objectives, which eventually promotes the fostering of positive and beneficial relationships for the corporation.

The strategic approach is the second technique of relationship development processes that are employed by the HUM Corporation in promoting its market performance. In this technique, a corporation ensures that it develops a good working or operational relationship, with all its stakeholders even before an agreement is performed (Kumar &a...