This essay uses a Shewchart diagram to visualize production processes. The visualization divides the 18-month production cycle of Hi-Pro Performance Fly Rods into three geographically distant markets: The United States, Argentina, and New Zealand. By analyzing this diagram, it is possible to determine whether the company controls its production and business processes to identify possible miscalculations early and correct them. Using this visualization, it is possible to estimate the level of market stability for each of the three cases.
According to Shewhart’s chart, the New Zealand market is producing 110 percent of the allowable lower capacity limit at the 18-month mark, and the Argentine manufacturing process is making 33 percent of the lower limit, being between the upper and more bass capacity limits. In turn, in the U.S. market, at month 18, the manufacturing process is producing at 126 percent of the acceptable upper limit of performance. On the diagram, the upper and lower allowable limits form a corridor. When the chart line is outside this corridor, there are problems with control. These studies demonstrate that the U.S. market is not fully in control (above the permissible limit), although it is leading at the 18-month mark. In the case of the New Zealand market, one can also observe deviations in production control (Robbins & Coulter, 2017). But in this situation, at the 18-month fault, the market was below the allowable production limit. The Argentine market was within the controllability corridor, though below manufacturing averages.
Given such strong fluctuations in the level of process controllability at Hi-Pro Performance Fly Rods, the specialist must develop a strategy to restore stability. Firstly, it is necessary to benchmark each of the markets presented in the study. In the case of the U.S. market, the purpose of the analysis will be the reason for exceeding the allowable upper limit.
Many large companies, especially highly diversified operations, use benchmarking to assess performance, practices, and KPIs. The benchmark for comparison is the company that demonstrates the best performance in that market (in this case, the production of high-end fishing rods).
In the production process in the Argentine market, one of the key performance indicators that must be detailed for below-average performance is Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE) (Robbins & Coulter, 2017). The components of OEE are three key indicators: quality, performance, and availability. Productivity shows how efficiently workers handle production equipment and how well that equipment works. There is always a gap between theoretical and practical indicators of production efficiency. Availability shows what kind of downtime was unplanned for manufacturing equipment. The quality indicator is also relevant because high levels of rejection negatively affect the number of goods produced.
Analyzing these indicators can help the company understand why the Argentine market is within normal manageability but cannot dynamically develop and rise above average.
Finally, we should pay attention to the New Zealand market since it is the least efficient of the three represented – all its indicators are below the lower allowed limit (Robbins & Coulter, 2017). In this case, we can apply the same tactics as in the Argentine market, evaluating the Overall Equipment Effectiveness and taking measures to improve production performance based on this analysis.
Since this will not improve the situation to the maximum acceptable level, some additional approaches and practices must be investigated and implemented. First, a competent professional should pay due attention to the corporate culture and motivation of the employees of the New Zealand office of Hi-Pro Performance Fly Rods. Since a company cannot be effective without the effective performance of its employees, a policy of continuous improvement and development for every one of its employees should be promoted in a targeted manner (Robbins & Coulter, 2017). Training, refresher courses, and basic management courses will help increase employee efficiency through new knowledge. It is also important not to forget about the working conditions of employees, constantly improve them, and create a corporate social package. It is relevant in all three cases but especially necessary because the New Zealand market lags behind the U.S. and Argentine markets. Another recommendation for the company is to measure overall employee success by dividing the total revenue of Hi-Pro Performance Fly Rods by the number of employees. This KPI provides useful information for managers about labor and production efficiency. The more significant this amount, the higher the success of the organization.
The management specialist must also consider seasonal and geographical factors associated with the location of different markets in different Earth hemispheres. If you compare the needs of the U.S. and New Zealand, the climate of New Zealand is closer to the environment of Argentina and opposite to the U.S., respectively. Wintertime in the U.S. corresponds to summertime in New Zealand and vice versa. It can hugely impact performance during off-peak months, as Pro Performance Fly Rods products are particularly climate and season oriented.
At the end of this study, it should be noted that properly implemented approaches to the analysis of the company’s production and the measures taken to improve efficiency will lead to the stabilization of the situation and improve the controllability of business processes. It will allow to recover the corporation from the inside and strengthen its position in the markets, making the products more competitive. It applies to Hi-Pro Performance Fly Rods and businesses related to technology or trading in raw materials since such approaches as benchmarking, for example, are universal.
References
Robbins, T. P., & Coulter, M. (2017). Management (14th ed.). Pearson.