AT&T
Global Operations Management
AIU
Unit 5 Assignment

Abstract
Addressing the significance of quality management and quantity with the global context of an organization that transports goods and/or services globally is what this paper will discuss. Also would this help update operations and attain efficiencies between operating departments and are there any main concerns?

AT&T There are many organizations that transport goods and/or services globally, one specific organization is AT&T. The background of AT&T and the components of its supply chain are an important part of the company. The components of the supply chain can have potential problems but there are ways to solve these problems. Quality management within a global context is important. Some companies have employed an enterprise resource planning system to help reorganize their operations and attain efficiencies between operating departments but certain concerns have to be addresses before it can be implemented. An organization that delivers goods and services globally is AT&T. AT&T has an organization that is in charge of exchanging and constricting goods and services nationally and internationally which are the AT&T Supply Chain and Fleet Operations. This organization is also in charge of ensuring quality and value for the customers (Suppliers, 2012). Formally known as American Telephone and Telegraph Corporation, or AT&T Corp. is as old as the telephone itself and in 1875 the inventor Alexander Graham Bell along with Gardiner Hubbard, and Thomas Sanders, who financed Bell, began an arrangement. Bell prospered in inventing a talking telegraph, the telephone with patents in 1976 and 1877. The three men formed the Bell Telephone Company in 1877 to feature the invention and within four years most major cities and towns had telephone exchanges. American Telephone and Telegraph Company, incorporated 3 March 1885, commissioned to build and operate the first long distance telephone network. They began in New York, built out to Chicago in 1892, and then San Francisco in 1915. When the patent expired in 1894 thousands of independently owned companies began to open but with one problem, subscribers from different companies could not communicate with each other and this problem was solved by 1913. Over many years, the company transformed it service to include international calls. In 1984, the company lost the famous Bell logo and began using the monogram AT&T. After acquiring NCR in 1991 and McCaw Cellular in 1994 AT&T became the chief force in the rapidly increasing wireless telecommunications industry (AT&T, 2012). There are six key elements to a supply chain; they are production, supply, inventory, location, transportation, and information. The first stage in development is production, it focuses on what the market demands and what the customer wants through strategic decisions. This stage takes into consideration what products to product and how many, and which components should be produced at which plants. The strategic decisions focus on quality, size of goods, and customer demand and contentment must be met. Other decisions are made at this stage as well, including operational decisions. Those decisions focus on setting up assignments, maintenance of equipment and meeting the client and market demands. These decisions must include the consideration of quality control and workload balancing. The second stage is supply which focuses on an organizations ability to govern what their facility is capable of producing with high quality, both without wasting money and competently. Companies have to know that some work may need to be outsourced because it is an excellent alternative for certain components and that suppliers have to be selected carefully when choosing raw materials. To choose a supplier, companies must consider reducing cost through developing velocity, quality, and flexibility. Strategic decisions are made to regulate the essential abilities of the facility and outsourcing firms will form from these decisions. The third step focuses on inventory which includes strategic decisions focus on how much product should be internal. There has to be a balance of the inventory to keep enough inventory to meet market demands but not so much that it cost money to store. This step is a serious matter in effective supply chain. Market demands fluctuate and inventory demands have to revolve around that and policies need to be set to determine the levels to keep the supplies at order and reorder points. In order to keep customer satisfactions levels high this step is crucial in the organizations day to day operations (Supply Chain, 2012).
The fourth step focuses on location which focuses on market demands and customer satisfaction. More strategic decisions to focus on the location of production, distribution and stocking facilities, and inserting them in major locations to the market served. The customer markets can be determined to carefully determine where plants should be located to be close to the raw material source. All decisions concerning location, in inter-state and worldwide distribution, should also concern tax and tariff issues. The fifth step focuses on transportation and relates to the inventory decisions with strategic decisions about meeting customer demands. One form of shipping, ie air, may cost more than another form of shipping, ie boat or rail, but will get the product our faster and using the least costly mode of transportation allows for more products to go out at once. It is important to use the correct mode of transportation because of the cost. An organization must have modes of transportation set up to guarantee the delivery of goods is smooth. The sixth step focuses on information for speed of exchange. Information has to be organized in order to foster innovation. Computer systems and paper work have to be in order to be competitive in today’s business world. Restructuring the information movement through networks and the internet combines information and simplifies speed of products. Certain software systems and global communications are key mechanisms to an operational supply chain (Supply Chain, 2012).
Each step in the organizations supply chain can have potential problems but there are ways to solve the problems. The production step’s potential problem can be in knowing what the customers want from the company. In order to combat this problem, AT&T can conduct surveys at the end of each customer service call for customers to tell AT&T how they can improve their product and what they want to see in their next product. The supply step’s potential problem can be determining when to outsource. The way to combat this problem is to do an internal review of the facility to determine what can be done within the facility and when one part cannot be done, the company can outsource it. The inventory step’s potential problem can be the amount of product to have on hand at different times. The way to combat this is to study the patterns of past sales to determine when sales increase and increase productivity during those times. The location step’s potential problem can be perfect location between the raw material needed for the product and the transportation needed to move the product. The way to combat this is to do a survey of the area where the raw materials are and find the closest mode of transportation to find a good location for the facility. The transportation step’s potential problem can be the customer wants, for example, the customer wants the product within 3 days rather than 2 weeks, but the only way to get the product there in time is to air transport but the company usually uses rail transport. The way to combat this is to have a backup mode of transportation for quick deliveries when they are required. The information step’s potential problem can be the company may receive incorrect information. The way to combat this problem would to double check the information when it seems to be out of the normal, such as a company usually orders 100 of the product but orders 1000 instead, double check that. In order to preserve a preferred level of excellence, a company will supervise all activities and tasks in the process of quality management. This process includes producing and applying quality preparation and declaration, and quality regulator and quality enhancement. This process is also known as total quality management (Quality Management, 2012). Supervising activities and task to preserve a level of excellence within a global context is very important. In order to continue the level of excellence for AT&T they must make sure their quality of products are not going down but rather increasing. One way to determine that the quality of product increases is to survey their customers which keep customer satisfaction up because they have input to their products. A business software called enterprise resource planning, or ERP, allows an organization to use a system of combined applications to manage the business. It combines all aspects of the operation from development to manufacturing, and sales to marketing (ERP, 2012). Therefore, implementing one of these systems may help update operations and attain efficiencies between operating departments. The major concerns that have to be addressed before this system can be implemented are any outdated computers that may need newer operating systems to use this ERP system on them. There are many organizations that transport goods and/or services globally, one specific organization is AT&T. The components of the supply chain can have potential problems but there are ways to solve these problems. Quality management within a global context is important. Some companies have employed an enterprise resource planning system to help reorganize their operations and attain efficiencies between operating departments but certain concerns have to be addresses before it can be implemented.

References
A Brief History: Origins. Retrieved 23 September 2012 from AT&T: http://www.corp.att.com/his.tory/history1.html.
ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning. Retrieved 23 September 2012 from Webopedia: http://www.webopedia.com/TE.RM/E/ERP.html.
Quality Management. Retrieved 23 September 2012 from Investopedia: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/q/qual.ity-manage.ment.asp#axzz27JgWPeTj.
Suppliers: We Want to Work With You. Retrieved 23 September 2012 from AT&T: http://www.att.com/gen/gen.eral?pid=7512.
Supply Chain Management. Retrieved 23 September 2012 from RCG University: http://rockford.consulting.com/supply-chain-management.htm.