Process Improvement Project Phase II and III
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Process Improvement Project Phase II and III
Phase II: Planning and Implementation
Supply chain management is crucial in the operation of a firm as it helps in the planning process. The success of Apple has greatly been based on its strong supply chain management systems. However, the company’s secrecy might push away partners willing to work with it. Apple has been reluctant to share its technology as well as keeping most of its supplier connections secret. Therefore, a change is proposed in the way Apple carries out its supply chain activities and the best methods of improving the transparency between the company and its stakeholders.
Methodology
Apple has always used its supply chain efficiency to exploit the competitive advantage in the technology industry. The strength in its supply chain management should, however, not deceive the company that it is immune to mistakes. The methodologies and strategies are, therefore, aimed at keeping the company away from supply chain mistakes that affect its profitability. The principles of six sigma are used to develop a framework for improving Apple’s supply chain management and protecting the company from mistakes.
The first strategy is to focus on customer interests as they determine whether or not the company stays relevant in the market. A company has to find a point of agreement between its quality standards and those of its customers. Generally, customers set their standards according to the standards in the general market. Apple has, unfortunately, not been providing its stakeholders and customers with sufficient information on their technology.
Moreover, variations in the process are assessed as they can lead to uncertainties. Variations are caused by external factors and factors within the process. In Apple’s case, external factors could be competition from other tech firms or shifts in customer demands. Factors within the process could come from poor relationships between the company and its stakeholders. The strategy will involve the stakeholders as their decisions are crucial to the operation of the company.
Affected Business Functions
The action plan to change the operation of the supply chain management will have both positive and negative impacts on business functions. The company has been using a specified approach to its suppliers, and the change might not be an easy decision to make. Therefore, the suppliers who have been used to the traditional way of doing business with the company will have difficulties adapting. On the positive side, the company will avoid mistakes that could affect its profitability. For example, the company’s reputation is no longer under the threat of destruction due to criticism directed to its way of doing business. The success of the plan will depend on a collaboration of activities between business functions.
Employees and stakeholders are the main targets of the change in supply chain management. Therefore, the best strategy to improve the collaboration between functions is to ensure that the two parties are engaged to avoid friction. The employees have to be introduced to the new plan so that they help in implementing it. Stakeholders, on the other hand, are engaged to benefit from their support in the implementation of the changes.
Timeline
After the problem has been identified, a timeline is developed to foresee the implementation of the action plan. A two-month period will be sufficient to implement the action plan and to convince the various stakeholders into buying into the idea of change. The first month will be used to address cost and time concerns and to come up with effective plans. An overseer team will be created and tasked with the assessment of the various requirements of the action plan. The second month will be used to improve the process by putting in additional resources. Since the change will affect the suppliers, the oversight team should keep an eye on the adaptation of the suppliers to the changing procedures. The two months provide sufficient time for assessing the applicability of the action plan, and the time after that will be used for implementation.
Communication Plan
Communication is one of the crucial aspects in the success of any business. The flow of information in an organization determines the success of business functions. Supply chain management affects both internal and external stakeholders, and communication has to cover both aspects. The various stakeholders will be reached through memos and emails when crucial information is being passed. Also, verbal communication will be allowed for communications within the organization. The communication strategy will be expected to engage all the stakeholders involved in the action plan. An engaging communication plan ensures that stakeholders do not feel excluded, and their support for the organization is recognized. Generally, the action plan depends on the smoothness in the flow of information to succeed.
Phase III: Evaluation
An action plan should achieve the objectives set at the beginning of the process. The success of a process can only be assessed after it is evaluated. Evaluation of an action plan can be done using several metrics. The metrics in the evaluation are predictive, diagnostic, and retrospective metrics. The metrics are founded on the support of objectives, behavior change, and decision making. Generally, the metrics play a crucial role both in the development and implementation of the action plan.
Predictive metrics are employed in the development and implementation stages to forecast the performance of the plan. The implementation of an action plan involves getting into a series of uncertainties since the success of the process is not known at the onset. Predictive metrics come in to assess the various risks as well as their severity. Moreover, diagnostic metrics are employed to evaluate the current situation in the organization.
The action plan leads to changes in the way activities are conducted within the organization. Therefore, short term changes are expected, and an evaluation is needed to assess the depth of the changes. The diagnostic metrics play a crucial role in interpreting the current situation in the organization due to the changes. Generally, the current situation in the organization explains whether the change is positive or negative and makes the decision-making process easy. Moreover, the understanding of the risk caused by the current state of affairs calls for the use of retrospective metrics.
The changes caused by the action plan lead to new risks, which require more understanding. Retrospective metrics are crucial in understanding the risks that come up in the process of implementing the plan. The metrics also help in determining the frequent problems in the implementation process and help in decision-making. Generally, the combination of the predictive, diagnostic, and retrospective metrics gives a picture of the performance of the action plan.