01. Operational Strategy of ABC food products PLC

The operation strategy of ABC food products PLC covers manufacturing, sales & marketing, warehousing, supply chain management strategies. The company is more focused on providing differentiated products at lower cost being provider of the best suited cost of any product. Company focus of differentiation lies achieving different products than competitors or than Gills food products PVT LTD by adding flavors to the existing product range. ABC food products PLC differentiation has allowed the organization to distribute new and innovative products to the target market faster than other competitors. To provide the goods according to the changing needs of customers and maintain lower production cost while adhering to the quality standards are other advantages of operation strategy of this company. ABC emphasis on exercising latest technology in their production facilities in Pannala, Ja-ela. They use state-of �art manufacturing technology to ensure that they provide quality goods improving lives of customers. ABC food products PLC conduct regulator audits to check safety and health conformance of products daily. Sales and marketing team of the company involve in selling goods to end customers by launching necessary marketing plans. The below three factors will describe this company�s operational strategy comprehensively;

1.1 Strategic Factors

Companies use different strategies when they are deciding the design of their products. Especially in manufacturing organization in order to achieve target market, different companies use different strategies. To achieve high efficiency in a production manufacturing organization has to use the right strategy. (Jae, Shim & Siegel, 2005) There are various product design forms such as customization which produce according to customer needs, the standardization which has unique standard production procedures and every product is homogeneous, a differentiation which adds some changes to the existing products based on the changing requirements. ABC food products PLC flows standardization and differentiation approaches whereas company provides some differentiated products to attract customers. Location strategy of organization highlights the best suitable location to conduct manufacturing operations. ABC food products PLC considers expansion decisions, advantages of cost, proximity to inputs, other facilities available and proximity to customers before selecting proper location. The company is maintaining their manufacturing facilities in Ja-Ela and Pannala and ABC super market chain distributes the retail products across the regions. Layout strategy can be defined as an arrangement of machinery and other objects to improve the efficiency of the organization processes. This company layout allows space for customers to walk in their retail stores and continues flowing production layout in main manufacturing plants. The human resource function of the ABC food products PLC involves recruiting employees as per the requirement and introducing them to the new work environment. This function responsible for recruiting people to fill vacancies without having any deficiencies. Supply-chain function includes all supply chain activities from inbound logistics up to outbound logistics which will be discussed briefly in next chapters.

1.2 Tactical Factors

The company has a unique plan of the layout in their retail stores. Supermarkets contain three levels according to the size of outlet such as large, medium and extra-large. Easiness of access is the main concern when deciding the layout, normally front shelves contain all the things needed in morning, including morning cereals and middle ones contain evening and afternoon needed things. The customers who have morning needs needed something to find quickly as they are in rush to their offices and schools so keeping the shelves in front will make them easy to find what they want. The middle shelf includes stuff with daytime needs which customers spend the time to search and to buy general needed things. This shelf includes high variant products which cater for different needs. Likewise, the layout of retail stores provides convenient in the customer buying process. (David & Simon, 2005) ABC food products PLC uses the grid as their layout for supermarkets. Further, these supermarket consists of long eight shelves which can store goods both sides. The company involved in different projects to improve the production efficiency and managing those projects using different techniques like critical path analysis, present value calculations and etc. The company selects machinery based on the production requirements and replaces them when they were obsolete and repair when necessary. Further, the company makes sure that they use the latest technology in their production

1.3 Operational Factors

Scheduling all important tasks and controlling operations are important for any organization. ABC supermarket stores relative goods in one rack and this promotes the free flow of shopping relationship in ABC super markets. In shelves, products are stored according to importance and price. When controlling operations company uses controls in place and daily audits. In managing production processes ABC food products PLC involved in planning material requirement through MRP related softwares. Achieving success of department of operations in ABC food products PLC depends on a plan which describes about production. Especially in an assembly line, this concept is very important for this organization. This approach is system based one which controls and manages all raw materials need for production. Inventory in a company controlled through investigating supply and storage of inputs and finished goods. Internal controls of ABC food products PLC as a procedure for accounting and promoting the efficiency assuring execution of policies for the organization while preservation of assets and to evade frauds. Scheduling is an important task in any manufacturing or service organization as it impacts directly to the productivity and reduces cost and time taken for processes. Production schedule includes details such as what to produce, how to produce, what are the resources and machinery needed. (David & Simon, 2005) Company�s mater production schedule of the company is a comprehensive plan which describes manufacturing, recruitment, resource requirements and inventories. This is connected with a manufacturing plan to decide what to produce based on the demand. This plan helps to attain optimal use of existing resources based on estimated quantities and identifying bottlenecks. ABC food products PLC uses the forward related scheduling technique in allocating resources such as property, plant and equipment, human resources, manufacturing procedures and buying materials. This process includes planning resources until selling goods to customers. The company uses these plans to control and manage production related schedules and processes to ensure they have a continuous flow of supply as per the customer requirements.