Premium Essay

Ikea Operations Management

In:

Submitted By jochendv
Words 2842
Pages 12
Operations Management:IKEA

IKEA’s BUSINESS IDEA (www.ikea.com): “We shall offer a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them."

Introduction

At the outset, it may be useful to characterise IKEA in terms of the characteristics of demand (also known as the four Vs, see Slack et al. p 20). First, IKEA is clearly a high volume operation – as indeed most international retailers are – which lends to systematising operations but which implies capital intensive processes and therefore cost considerations will be crucial. Second, IKEA offers a large number of products (up to 14000 depending on the country/store) so there is high variety in the production process which not only leads to the need for complex and flexible processes but also entails high unit costs. Third, variation in demand will however be low, or at the least predicable (holiday periods for example) so advanced planning is possible which eliminates the need to set resources aside as a “capacity cushion” for unexpected demand. Lastly, IKEA – again as most retailers – have high process visibility, or in other words display a high degree of direct customer experience, which underlines the importance of dedicating sufficient attention to the shopping experience in all its facets.

In what follows, and in line with the questions for this TMS, the implications of the five performance objectives to IKEA will be examined as well as the company’s key operational decisions that have impacted on these objectives. Thereafter

1. Question 1

There are five aspects of operations performance that to varying degrees impact on customer satisfaction and business competitiveness (Slack et al., 2012). In what follows, we will briefly assess their relevance with respect to IKEA while underlining the linkage with its

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Ikea Operation Management

...pp.86) All operation managers are designers of the products and operation management is an activity that manage resource which is devoted for production and delivery of products and services. Additionally (Slack et al, 2008) lecture notes of I G Perera. ‘It is about the way in which organisations produce goods and services.’ The below assignment will show how IKEA’ operations management has made IKEA to one of the most successful furniture retailer in the world. The assignment is divided into three parts. The first part will analyze the elements of IKEA and operation management. The second part will identify the main V’s used by IKEA and design process. The third part will identify how IKEA has met customer needs and will explain how the business objectives of IKEA is met. At the end, recommendations for IKEA will be provided and a conclusion is drawn. Every organization has a part for the operations functions as all organization produce products or services. Research has noted that most important element in IKEA furniture’s is that they are self-assembled. A view of the IKEA furniture is outlined in Why You Love That IKEA Table, Even If It’s Crooked, by Shankar Vedantan ( February 06, 2013) Most humans would want to say that I made it, it is my products, that is what IKEA has done. Further the furniture’s are made out of timber, in planet friendly manner, which would result in going to earth after the end of the life cycle in operations management. Operations strategy ...

Words: 1501 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Operation Management on Ikea

...1.0 Introduction An objective of writing this report is to identity and analyzes operation system applied in IKEA, the well-known low cost yet high quality home of furnishing. Function, process and strategy of IKEA operation system will be accessed to identity the core competency that lead to the successfulness of IKEA in the world. Besides, other purpose in complete this report is to analyze the strength and weakness of operation system in IKEA. Operation management is procedure where processes of production or deliver goods and services is being monitoring and managing. Operations management is the activity of managing the resources which produce and deliver products and services (Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2010). Operations management is important because without a proper operations management, an organization will unable to transform their knowledge, information, skill and resources to produce products or service in order to add value and satisfaction to their consumers to generate profits. 1.1 Background of IKEA IKEA, an internationally well-known Swedish home of furnishing, started its operation in 1943, by founder - Ingvar Kamprad. It is the largest Swedish home furnishing retailer and designer in the world. IKEA is very famous with it low price concept where they produce and offer well-designed and functional home furnishing products at price as low as possible with variety of choices. They target to sell their brand to as many as possible of consumer who afford...

Words: 1851 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Amman

...Business Behavior Chapter 2 Effective Operations Management * Read IKEA Case (page 13 – 14): The key point of this case is why IKEA is able to survive and succeed? - It certainly keeps a very tight control of its costs. - It understands its market and how it can serve the needs of its customers. - The products it designs and sells must be regarded by its customers as representing outstanding value for money. - The way it organizes the delivery of its services within its stores. All are engaged in operations management. * Important Definitions: - The Operations Function, it is the arrangement of resources which is devoted to the production of its goods and services, and could be called in other organizations as operation system. - Operations Managers, are the staff who are responsible for managing some or all the resources which compromise the operation function and they are given different titles according to the function of the organization such as 'fleet manager' for distribution company or 'administrative manager' in hospitals an so on. - Operation management, it is used for the activities, decisions and responsibilities of operation manager. OPERATIONS IN THE ORGANIZATION * Operation function is an important function but it is not the only one in any organization. Organizations are divided into three major functions beside operation: - The marketing function. - The accounting and finance function. - The product/service development...

Words: 251 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition by Stephen P. Robbins

...Key operations questions Chapter 1 Operations management ➤ What is operations management? ➤ Why is operations management important in all types of organization? ➤ What is the input–transformation– output process? ➤ What is the process hierarchy? ➤ How do operations processes have different characteristics? ➤ What are the activities of operations management? Chapter 2 Operations performance ➤ Why is operations performance important in any organization? ➤ How does the operations function incorporate all stakeholders’ objectives? ➤ What does top management expect from the operations function? ➤ What are the performance objectives of operations and what are the internal and external benefits which derive from excelling in each of them? ➤ How do operations performance objectives trade off against each other? Chapter 3 Operations strategy ➤ What is strategy and what is operations strategy? ➤ What is the difference between a ‘top-down’ and a ‘bottom-up’ view of operations strategy? ➤ What is the difference between a ‘market requirements’ and an ‘operations resources’ view of operations strategy? ➤ How can an operations strategy be put together? Part One INTRODUCTION This part of the book introduces the idea of the operations function in different types of organization. It identifies the common set of objectives to which operations managers aspire in order to serve their customers, and it explains how operations can have an important strategic role. Chapter 1 Operations...

Words: 14658 - Pages: 59

Premium Essay

Operation Management

...Welcome to OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT Operations Management is important, exciting, challenging, and everywhere your look! Important, because it’s concerned with creating all of the products and services upon which we depend. Exciting, because it’s at the centre of so many of the changes affecting the world of business. Challenging, because the solutions that we find need to work globally and responsibly within society and the environment. And everywhere, because every service and product that you use – the cereal you eat at breakfast, the chair you sit on, and the radio station you listen to while you eat – is the result of an operation or process. Our aim in writing Operations Management is to give you a comprehensive understanding of the issues and techniques of operations management, and to help you get a great final result in your course. Here’s how you might make the most of the text: ● Get ahead with the latest developments – from the up-to-the-minute Operations in practice features in every chapter to the focus on corporate social responsibility in the final chapter – these put you at the cutting edge. ● Use the Worked examples and Problems and applications to improve your use of key quantitative and qualitative techniques, and work your way to better grades in your assignments and exams. ● Follow up on the recommended readings at the end of each chapter. They’re specially selected to enhance your learning and give you an edge in your course...

Words: 12297 - Pages: 50

Premium Essay

Managing Activities

...Introduction Companies these days have been facing issue of globalization, sometimes with positive impact and sometimes as a challenge. That is why they have to come up with ideas to overcome these challenges. Management activities are being a facet of this increasingly complex society and the organization are bred from this organization. Management of a company is responsible for the accomplishment of organizational goals, plans and control. Management activities are controlling work, result reviewing, objectives settling, motivational environment stimulating and providing inclusive. British Airways is one of the greatest airlines company in the entire Europe that is made up of other merger smaller air transport companies since 1935. They are the best flyers taking their consumers to their designated places with an image of one of world’s leading premium airlines. The main business headquarter is placed at London and most of its are flight are held from Heathrow, Gatwick and London City airport. They are also worldcalls cargo service providers striding parallel with its passengers services. British Airways being one of the greatest growing airlines services with its partners in franchise, they have flights to more than 300 locations worldwide every day. As per the data of 2009/10 more than 32 million consumers were served by this company. They are one of the biggest enhancers of the UK economy giving prominent artilleries of investment and trade, covering up the business...

Words: 3551 - Pages: 15

Free Essay

Assignments on Organizational Management

...OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT : ASSIGNMENTS “Chandralok” is a canteen facility catering to all the students studying at the various institutions of the MIT Group. Students of the OM course are required to spend some time observing the operations of Chandralok , first hand , to enable them do the following 3 assignments, during the second term. Assignment No. 1 : Study the “Facility Layout“ of the canteen , from an operations management angle and answer the following. 1) Your comments on the existing layout. 2) Can the operations be improved with a change in the layout? How? 3) What are the constraints you find in implementing your suggestions for a layout change? Are they real? Are they surmountable? Assignment No. 2 : Study the segments catered to by Chandralok Canteen. Study the arrival pattern and the arrival rates of customers. Make a document of at least a days record, and answer the following. 1) How long does it take, on an average, to serve a customer? What factors does it depend on? 2) What will the average waiting time at the different slots / eating times? 3) What is the expected length of the queue? Any suggestions for reducing this? Assignment No.3: You are trying to introduce a special item, say Samosa, in the canteen’s menu. You know that it can be stored for sale only for about 8 hours from the time of making. Thus whatever not sold by evening is wasted. Observe the actual happenings over a few days (this activity can...

Words: 331 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Dell

...of effective operations management in achieving organizational objectives of Dell as a leading company in computer industry. (Criteria 1.1) Operation management is the adoption, design and control of the process in production of goods or services. All that to ensure the efficiency of business operation and at the same time meet the effective customer requirement. For this reason Dell and in spite of what all manufacture used to trust, adopted a new innovative business model in operation management. His sharp vision for the future market should be achieved by: -cutting out the intermediaries between the manufacture and the customer -a build-to-order manufacturing -the customers can themselves configure the product to meet their needs -the customers pay before they get the products Indeed the direct sales model enables closer customers integration so DELL built a strong and stable relationship to them which can able the company to collect a various information and databases about customers’ needs so DELL be first not only to release new products but also to maintain a high level in after sales services and anticipate in solving problems. The DELL direct sale process was adopted using telephone sale but with the emergence of the Internet, Dell Computer could extend the reach and scope of the direct sales model at a relatively low marginal cost. 1.1 Critically evaluate the success of existing in meeting DELL’s overall strategic management objectives? ...

Words: 594 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Pharmacy

...Production and Operations Plan Overview : The main objective of operations plan is to produce high quality products and services at efficient processes (least cost) for a company to be profitable. Activities in operations management (OM) include organizing work, selecting processes, arranging layouts, locating facilities, designing jobs, measuring performance, controlling quality, scheduling work, managing inventory, and planning production. This means that operations management deals with people, technology, and deadlines. The business would start from considering three factors – its suppliers, research and development team, finance team and ultimately, the customers. Following consumer or competitors’ leads is not enough; research and development is the primary source of new product ideas. The idea generation phase involves consideration of technologies, competitors, marketing, and design firms. From considering the factors that may affect the business as mentioned above, the proponents have drawn a product concept. Finance conducted a market study which contains how much are their possible customers are willing to pay for their products. The proponents identified what the product should do to satisfy customers (performance specification) which will be based on three (3) major criteria – trends (this criterion pertains to style, season, age, gender), pricing (this criterion pertains to quality standards, raw materials utilized, location, and professional fees), and quality...

Words: 655 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Executive Summary

...Executive Summary ISCOM/471 December 9, 2013 Jose Aguaylo Executive Summary Introduction Capacity Management. This is a strategically important aspect of operations management for any organization, particularly those engaged in the fabrication and distribution of a product such as Starbucks. Capacity management refers to the design and control of an organization’s processes such that it can meet demand in a timely manner. Capacity management includes proper sizing and allocation of resources including workers, raw materials, inventory, equipment, space, and technology. Inefficient capacity management can have substantial impact on a business, either because it will not be able to meet demand, or because there would be too much idle inventory, raw materials and other resources. Effective capacity management requires good demand forecasting for proper planning on the aggregate (Chase, Jacobs, & Aquilano, 2006). In the case of the new Starbucks yogurt and ice cream products, the company needs good forecasting on daily, weekly and seasonal demand for these products. Each store needs to be supplied with the required equipment and receive sufficient raw materials to meet daily demand. Just-In-Time. Just-in-time (JIT) is a production model to meet demand without incurring in unnecessary surplus or inventory build-up. The purpose of JIT is to reduce the expense associated with excess inventories and overproduction. JIT requires a predictable forecast of product...

Words: 631 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Management

...Material management department is typically responsible for directing the supply chain. Material management is an umbrella department that has many other functions (e.g., central store, laundry and linen operations, and sterile processing). The core purpose of material management is to direct and control the movements of goods in an efficient manner through a hospital system (Langabeer, 2008). This material management proposal document will elaborate on the role materials management plays within a hospital and the role of operations managers in this process. This document will further identify possible constraints a hospital may experience in its supply chain, the potential effects and justification on implementing a new collaborative planning process, and provide suggestions on how to manage a hospital supplied during a disaster. Role of Materials and Operations Management The role of materials and operations management plays within a hospital system is vital to the success of any health care organization. According to Langabeer (2008) material management controls significant resources and have total expenditures, or spending at 50% of a hospital budget. Materials management not only directs and controls the supply chain of a health care organization it is responsible for managing the flow of goods throughout the hospital and carry out supply and resource logistics. Materials management has numerous meanings and some hospitals view material management as an umbrella department...

Words: 2549 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Oeration

...parents for their undivided support and interest who inspired us and encouraged us to go our own way, without whom I would be unable to complete my project. At last but not the least I want to thank my friends who appreciated me for my work and motivated me and finally to God who made all the things possible. Then comes our friends who have helped us giving ideas and lots of information, thoughts & made this project easy and accurate. Despite of their busy schedules they never ignored to help us. We will try to the best for this assignment. 01. Introduction: Every company has to perform some operation process, it is essential for big or small company. Without a operation system a company cannot go ahead. Operation management is the management of system or process that create goods or provide services. For any type of goods or services need the operation process. Operation management may be defined as managing the resources required to produce the product or services provided by a organization. Company Profile. Rubiaya Knitwear Ltd. Basically they produce T-shirt .It is 100% export oriented garments. They export most of their product in European countries and America. They start their activities in 2006in the month of October. their capital is tk.1cr. Now we are giving some basic information about this factory: Name : Rubiaya Knitwear Ltd. Address: 14, staff quarter road, Demra , Dhaka. Worker amount: 1400 people. Description Of machinery: a)...

Words: 349 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Corona Beer

...Student Intake Operations Management Operations Management – Critical Evaluation of Relevant Issues Report 4000- 4500 words 50% Feedback Date Issued by (Assessor) Internal Verifier Plagiarism S M A Hashmi When submitting work for assessment, students should be aware of the LSBF guidance and regulations in concerning plagiarism. All submissions should be your own, original work. You must submit an electronic copy of your work. Your submission will be electronically checked. The Harvard Referencing System must be used. The Wikipedia website must not be referenced in your work. Harvard Referencing Scenario To use operations as a competitive weapon, organisations must use its resources effectively, in a way that satisfies its customers. Operations Management is said to be common responsibility of all managers irrespective of which function they are in. A manager needs to be aware of the overall operations of the organisation to contribute well to end to end process/processes. Your Task This assignment requires you to write a report on the operations management of a chosen organisation (preferably a medium sized firm). In the report you must: a) Identify the overall input, transformation and output operations of the firm b) Identify those major operation areas that are critical to the competitive advantage of the chosen organisation c) Critically evaluate the performance of each identified area while using the appropriate concepts (capacity planning, inventory management, supply chain...

Words: 1407 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Planning and Controlling

...8.4 Introduction Objectives Production management Product design Design of production system 8.4.1 Types of production system 8.5 Manufacturing process 8.5.1 Types of manufacturing process 8.5.2 Factors affecting the choice of manufacturing process 8.6 Production planning and control 8.6.1 Benefits to small entrepreneur 8.6.2 Steps of production planning and control 8.7 Summary 8.8 Glossary 8.9 Self-Assessment Questions 8.10 Further Readings 8.0 INTRODUCTION After taking decisions about the type of business, its location, layout etc. the entrepreneur steps into the shoe of production manager and attempts to apply managerial principles to the production function in an enterprise. Production is a process whereby raw material is converted into semi finished products and thereby adds to the value of utility of products, which can be measured as the difference between the value of inputs and value of outputs. Production function encompasses the activities of procurement, allocation and utilization of resources. The main objective of production function is to produce the goods and services demanded by the customers in the most efficient and economical way. Therefore efficient management of the production function is of utmost importance in order to achieve this objective. 114 8.1 OBJECTIVES After studying this lesson, you should be able to • • • • • • • Describe the production function and its component Define production management Analyze various factors, which are crucial...

Words: 3614 - Pages: 15

Premium Essay

Nautica Group Cafe

...after getting positive results from a random market survey on the viability of opening the restaurant. 2.2 Background to the issue The owner of Nautica, Awie, he doesn’t have a good managing experiences and just about making sure that all raw material, cooks and workers are always available at restaurant. He believe that by viewing the restaurant businesses from outside can enable him to see what he unable to see from the inside. Due to lack of management skill and experiences, his annual reports for the last three years have been showing continuous low profit margin compared to regular hih sales turnover since establishment in 2001. 2. Strategic to management practices 2.1 Key Performance Indicator (KPI) KPI are an important management tools and help to monitor the achievement and progress towards targets. A well-made set of KPIs or metrics enables a business to know if it is on the right track. Data used in this way can improve efficiency and effectiveness. As an owner of the restaurant, Awie should hire a management accountant which can work with and familiar with the strategy for the business to identify the appropriate measures for recording progress in each area. 2.2 Human reources Company from...

Words: 636 - Pages: 3