Business Operations and Logistics
Existing process flows in the operations management and logistics
Bayer pharmaceutical that distributes pharmaceuticals all over the world will be the basis of this paper. The manufacturing of the products at Bayer is what constitutes the operations. The logistics refer to the part of the organization that ensures goods and services are delivered to the customers. Therefore, the process flow consists of the operations management, transportation, distribution planning, and supply chain management (Dornier et al 2008). This can also encompass the economic analysis of transportation system, formulating and solving models of production and distribution, managing financial risks, and data analysis. The pharmaceutical organization consist various categories of products. The pharmaceutical industry is changing rapidly and new products are being introduced into the market. The international distribution of pharmaceuticals is changing from time to time. The global economy is also changing over time with the elimination of tariffs and other trade barriers (Dornier et al 2008). As a result of this and the need to satisfy the needs of the customers, the logistics are transcending boundaries to adapting to the changing global market. Customer satisfaction and costs are an area that is focused on in the industry’s logistics (Dornier et al 2008).
Meeting customer expectations through strategic alternatives is one of the process flows in the company. The industry ensures that the goods and services produced are of good quality and delivered in the right way so as to satisfy the needs of the consumers (Stank et al 2003). This is a global industry that designs products for world marketing and it has to keep up with international standards of the products and services. This industry uses global strategy in the market and it has so far succeeded in using it. Since the industry is responsible for logistics of its products, the Bayer pharmaceuticals find it difficult to perform this in some areas. As a result of this, the company employs third party logistics by employing transport operators (Tallon, Kraemer & Gurbaxani 2001). These operators ensure that the goods are transported locally and globally. This involved transporting goods to the local people and exporting the goods to people in other countries and ensuring that these goods reach the customers (Stank et al 2003). This is a major thing in logistics because there would be no need for manufacturing goods of there is none existing means of ensuring that the goods reach the customers. The main purpose of producing goods is for the purposes of making them available to the consumers and that is why the industry ensures that there is always a stable way means of transporting the goods to them for use (Kojima 2010). The industry ensures that it makes long and reliable transport contracts. These partnerships ensure that business runs smoothly and also ensures that there is supply of the products all year round. For example, the company has been engaging in negotiations for shipping their drugs to others countries. This is also ensures that transportation is very fluent transportation and warehousing. The company also ensures that the containers transporting the products are tracked to ensure safety and delivery (Kojima 2010).
The exporting department ensures that lower costs of are maintained while at the same time increasing customer service (Stevenson & Hojati 2007). This is part of the supply chain management. Supply chain management requires strategic decision making that involves all departments of the company so as to ensure that the business runs smoothly. Strategic decision making has significant effects on the overall cost and market share. This is what makes it so important that it has to be handled carefully and systematically. It also calls for integrated approaches which results in reduced inventories and cist benefits. This ensures that the company delivers the services to the consumers and also gets profits through maximization of few resources. The company often does an evaluation of its supply chain over strategic factors that include productivity, quality, service development and chain integration (Stevenson & Hojati 2007).
The company has also utilized information management systems to improve logistics. The company has employed Electronic Data Interchange to facilitate transmission of order from different parts of the world (Ngai & Riggins 2008). EDI ensures that there is speedy delivery of services and goods, costs are reduced, and reduces inventory. This also makes it easier to store information and therefore record keeping is made easier. This ensures that high stocks are maintained and that the stores are working all year round. This facilitates customer satisfaction and also gives the company to secure a good market position (Ngai & Riggins 2008). This is very beneficial because the company ensures that the goods are on market all year round. The company is able to get the orders of all the supplies requested and this shows how well the goods are bought by consumers. This also ensures frequent shipping of goods even by air and this does not cause any losses to the company since it is in a position to get back the money that it used in production very quickly. This offers profits to the company very quickly allowing expansion (Tallon, Kraemer, & Gurbaxani 2001).
Describe the logistics and process flows of the case organization operation
The logistics and process flows in the company involve a very wide range of operations and departments. These could include the managerial, administrative, human resources, financial, operational, and technical and many others (Lai, Ngai & Cheng 2004). These departments are what determine the logistics and process flow ensures that there is flow of work and production in the industry. This is so as to ensure that the goals and objective of the industry. Some tasks are performed manually while other are performed through use of computers (Hu, Sheu & Huang 2002). All these ensure that the business is running and that it stays strong in the market. The management has to be a firm one so as to ensure that there is no interference in the functioning of the industry. The management of the company works at improving the operations of the company and also ensures that the operations are effective, efficient, and transparent. To improve the processes in the company, the management ensures that it utilizes four major stages. These are identifying the processes and their elements, identifying and coming up with recommendations, effectively manage the improvement processes, and finally measure the key elements (Lai, Ngai & Cheng 2004). The company also engages in reverse logistics that involve reuse of products and materials. This ensures proper disposal of the wastes and the use of the materials that can still be used (Hu, Sheu & Huang 2002). Reverse logistics can also include management and sale of surplus. An example of this can be goods going back to the distributer from the customer or from the distributer to the manufacturer. This is another process that ensures that quality is improved and that the needs of the consumers are met. These can be reused or resold if they meet the standards of being presented to the market again (Helo & Szekely 2005).
Illustrating the internal and external process map(s) using Microsoft Visio
A process map is a visual tool that makes it easy to analyze, communicate, discuss and document business processes. This tool ensures that it gives the business processes in detail. This tool helps in identifying the existing processes and how well these processes are being performed. The execution of tasks in the business processes begins with establishing customer relations, getting contact information, and ends with data storage. The diagram below is an example of the internal and external relations of the company (Helo & Szekely 2005).
This shows the internal environment of the company in the process of recruiting staff. According to this diagram, a position goes vacant in the company and this is noted by the supervisor who presents this information to the human resources manager, after this, the human relations officer gives authorization for advertisement and chooses the advertisement media (Rao & Holt 2005). The external relations is then given the authority to advertise the vacant position and this is the process through which applicants get the information and start sending applications, this touches on the internal environment that affects the external environment because the two depend on one another (Rao & Holt 2005). The external process can be seen to be the process of application for the job by the applicant that he then sends to the company. The company then evaluates the application and decides whether it is suitable to work with the person of not. The external processes are mostly influenced by what happens in the internal because of very many factors. However, the two must work together and influence one another.
Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the company’s operation using tools such as the Five Objectives, SWOT
The advantages of the organization are quite a number and it has been easy to identify the using SWOT analysis (Mukhopadhyay & Setoputro 2004). These include success in the market. This is possible through the process of identifying the internal and external factors that affect the market. These have helped the management of the organization to know the areas that are beneficial to venture into and be able to secure the market position. Through identifying the strengths, the organization is able to know what it is capable of and what is easy or difficult to tackle. The weaknesses help the management to know the areas that they should improve in and the relevant strategies that can be used in order to come up with productive improvements. These also help the organization to know whether it is heading towards the realization of its objectives or not (Mukhopadhyay & Setoputro 2004).
The company’s operation is also able to identify how it can fight competition from the other companies. Realization of the kind of competition that is facing the organization leads to maximization of the strengths and improvement of the areas of weakness. Since this is a global organization, it needs to understand the different markets. This is one of its successes because it has been able to carry out study in different parts of the world and that is why its market position is a string one (Poon at al 2009).
The disadvantage of the operations of the organization is that they have been unable to ensure a good number of workers in the different parts of the world so as to offer adequate services. The population of people that is served by the organization is very large to be served by the number of workers that is currently in service (Poon at al 2009). The other disadvantage is that the organization has not been able to harmonize its different markets across the globe. In order to be able to coordinate the distribution of products in different parts of the world, the organization should be in a position to unite these distributers. This ensures that it is even able to get feedback from the consumers which help in provision of better goods and services and improvement of quality. This also ensures employee and customer satisfaction because their needs can be aired easily and they are analyzed and met (Jüttner 2005).
Through the use of “the five objectives” we are able to identify that the organization operations have more advantages. These advantages include exceeding financial targets. This is shown through the profitability of the organization, the big market share, and the cash flow that is seen from the operations, the other advantage is the development of the organization. The organization has grown to appoint that makes it possible to compete globally with other organizations (Jüttner 2005). This is seen through market growth in different parts of the world and revenue growth that leads to improvements in the services delivered. The organization has also been able to increase productivity and quality. The kind of goods and services offered by the organization are improving each new day and this has led to attraction of many customers from all over the world. This increase in customers has led to an increase the profit that the organization makes leading to further increased productivity (Jüttner 2005).
Improvement for better business logistics and operations management and limitations for implementation
The pharmaceutical manager should understand that international markets are very competitive and that logistics are important when dealing with this competition and maintaining the customers (Stank, Keller & Daugherty 2001). Therefore the logistics of the organization should be designed in a way that facilitates dealing with international competition and also one that can withstand the numerous changes in the market. In the logistics of the organization, I would recommend the use of in-person customer interviews so as to know whether the customers are satisfied with the provision of goods and services or not. This is the best way to ensure that the needs of the customers are met and that the organization is able to produce goods that serve the needs of everyone in the market (Kumar & Zahn 2003). Relying mostly on input from marketing can be deceiving because even though the organization may not lose the market, some other organization may be making advancements in the market thus taking up the market slowly (Kumar & Zahn 2003).
This also ensures that the concerns of the customers are prioritized and a proactive approach is taken when dealing with issues affecting the customers (Jiang & Prater 2002). Obtaining information from customers directly also provides a basis where the organization can base its service goals on. Telephone interviews are another improvement that can be made to improve the internal logistics and operations. Face to face interviews are time consuming making it difficult to speak to employees individually but this does not mean that interviews cannot be conducted at all. The use of telephone interviews ensure that information is collected that ensures that improvements are made in the operations and logistics (Jiang & Prater 2002).
References
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