Causes and Solutions to the Obesity Epidemic

Causes and Solutions to the Obesity Epidemic Poor eating habits and the physical health of 21st century human beings has become the centre of worldwide discussions. It is far more complex than merely understanding and using the nutritional information available. A mixture of an individual’s financial position, geographical location and will power are to blame but it seems as if unethical scientific studies, uninformed decisions by members of government and the availability of false information are major contributing factors to the status quo. However, it is evident that healthy people are less of a burden on society than those who overeat and do not partake in regular exercise. Obesity is an epidemic defined as the abnormal or excessive fat accumulation of which millions of individuals around the world have fallen victim to. The disease is preventable but more than 65% of the world’s population live in areas where overweight and obesity kills more than underweight, 10% of the world’s adult population is clinically obese and 40 million children under the age of 5 are classified as being overweight. The statistics are horrifying but the effects are evident particularly in the United States of America where its affects are seen in every state. The obesity statistics in South Africa are no better. Currently 29% of men and 56% of women are classified as being overweight or obese and of those individuals 71% have never tried to cut down and 78% think that they are perfectly healthy. The blame seems to be on Westernisation and Urbanisation as well as the fact that we are among the highest consumers of alcohol in the World. Obesity has doubled since 1980 and it is currently the 5th leading cause of death. The fix is near impossible especially with the current nonchalant attitude with regard to the addressing of the disease. The lack of urgency towards addressing the problem is evident worldwide, particularly in the United Arab Emirates where type-2 diabetes is now seen in children as young as the age of 10. It appears that in affluent countries such as the UAE-where people are spoiled by higher incomes-that overeating rather than the sedentary lifestyle is to blame for the poor health statistics. The rapidity of the problem took hold half a century back where their lifestyle changed as a result of population growth and urbanisation. The UAE staple diet now consists mainly of rice, bread and sweet fruits and the sudden explosion of delivery services and restaurants has compiled the problem. According to Dr Kazem Behbehani, â€Å"We need to invest heavily in nutrition,† and so the UAE draft strategy was implemented. The aim is to educate the public with regard to health and nutrition and also target the manufacturing sector where it will emphasise ethical marketing and labelling strategies. The epidemic can be reduced through a combined effort by the individual, society and the food industry. The individual has the responsibility to limit energy intake and partake in regular physical activity. Society must show its sustained political commitment and make pursuing a life of health, affordable and easily accessible. The biggest responsibility lies with the food industry as they are the ones that should provide healthy and nutritious choices and ensure responsible marketing. Another factor to consider with regard to the poor health of individuals around the world is the fast food industry. According to the Huffington post about 50% of all meals consumed daily are away from home and one in five breakfasts is eaten from McDonalds. The calorie intake has surged since 1980 from 3200 calories per day to a whopping 3900 and can be seen by looking at figure 14 that shows the changes of calorie intake over the past 40 years. The fact that there are over half a million fast food restaurants staking their claim around the world is a concern as it shows the demand for them outweighs the supply. McDonalds alone feeds 68 million people per day and is the largest toy distributer in the world which explains why children develop such resilient reliance and trust with McDonalds at a very young age. Calorie intake varies according to gender, age and height. There are, however, calorie intake guidelines for adults. The recommended calorie intake per day for sedentary males and females is 2,000 to 2,600 and 1,600 to 2,000 respectively. If an individual is active these amounts increase, for males it is 2,400 to 3,000 and for females it is 2,000 to 2,400 calories per day. What many people do not realise is how many calories are in the food they consume particularly in fast food. If we compare the amount of calories in a fast food meal (regular burger, fries and a milkshake) from the three major fast food chains around the world, namely KFC, Burger King and McDonalds one will notice that an individual would have almost expended their daily calorie intake in one meal. †¢McDonalds (Big Mac, Regular Fries and a Chocolate Milkshake) = 1780 †¢KFC (Burger, Regular Fries and a Crusher)= 1125 †¢Burger King (Whopper, Regular fries and a Chocolate Milkshake)= 1750 As a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act all restaurant chains with 20 or more locations in the United States are now required to post the calorie contents of their products on menus or boards. The calorie information is relatively easy to find but whether or not people use them is debatable but a study conducted by NYU Langone confirms that the posting of nutritional information at fast food chains does not influence an individual’s choice in product consumption. As a result it has no effect on the amount of calories consumed, â€Å"10 percent of the respondents in our study said that calorie labels at fast-food chains resulted in them choosing fewer calories.† A comprehensive study conducted in Boston and Philadelphia by Bryan Bollinger, Phillip Leslie, Alan Sorensen and their team found that, â€Å"Mandatory calorie posting does inà ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡uence consumer behaviour at Starbucks, causing average calories per transaction to decrease by 6%.† But the effect is insignificant when you look at figure 12.4 where calorie posting before and after produced practically identical graphs of calorie consumption. They also note that, â€Å"Calorie posting did not cause any statistically significant change in Starbucks revenue overall.† If calorie posting does not affect a company’s overall revenue one wonders why every fast food chain does not partake in global calorie posting. Whether or not the effects on weight loss are statistically significant or not calorie posting should become the norm. Society needs to be constantly exposed to calorie posting if the effects on an individual’s health are to be meaningful. Bryan Bollinger makes an interesting comment. It seems only reasonable to assume that the providing of nutrition information to consumers would assist them in purchasing healthier products. The idea is that consumers would be shocked to realise how many calories are in the beverage and/or food that they consume. However, it appears that consumers at chain stores are more concerned about convenience, price and taste, rather than the nutrition information. And those who do care about nutrition information and calories either do not go to fast food chains in the first place and/or are already well-informed because the information is easily accessible on company websites. If nutritional information were going to make a difference it would appear at chain stores, however, if they assume that the calorie consumption for all chain stores was reduced by 6% then, â€Å"It would imply a decrease in total calorie consumption on the order of 1.5%† This amounts to a mere 30 calories and if it was going to have any meaningful effect on weight loss it would have to be between 500-1000 calories per day. The paper suggests that mandatory calorie posting is only an acceptable policy if the benefits outweigh the costs. If anything they hope that calorie posting will encourage companies to offer more low-calorie items and that the consumer’s exposure to this information will make them more aware of the nutritional value of the foods they eat. They conclude that, â€Å"Our back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that average reductions resulting from calorie posting in chain restaurants will not by themselves have a major impact on obesity.† The study does have its shortfalls and the effects of calorie posting may have been understated as they acknowledge in the paper: 1.The study assumed that the calorie intake of every individual was 2000 calories per day. They comment that it may be higher and this would mean that the reduction of calories per day could be much higher. 2.The study was only taken from Starbucks and this could understate the impact of nutrition information at other chain stores. In their study they found that consumers were more sensitive to calories ingested from food and not beverages which means that the effects of nutrition posting could be higher at other chain stores. 3.The impact of nutrition posting could be much higher chain stores promoted tasty, low-priced, low-calorie products. The single most significant factor on the state of an individual’s health and eating habit is their diet. A diet is a concept whereby an individual eats food in a regulated fashion with the aim to either maintain, increase or decrease their current weight. It is often used in combination with exercise but studies by the APA journal (among others) have found that the majority of individuals regain all weight irrespective whether or not they maintain diet and exercise. There are a variety of diets that either restrict calorie intake or a particular macronutrient but meta-analysis of randomised controls found no difference in weight loss. It appears that as long as calories are reduced weight will be lost but it is also evident that the restriction of certain macronutrients such as carbohydrates results in fast weight loss over a shorter period of time. Diets appear to arise as a result of an individual’s own miraculous weight loss and William Banting is no exception. In his Letter on Corpulence that he wrote in 1863 he describes his low-calorie and low-carb diet. Banting was morbidly obese and he blamed it on his love for farinaceous foods such as, â€Å"Bread, milk, butter, sugar and potatoes [†¦] these, said my excellent advisor, contain starch and saccharine matter, tending to create fat.† Many individuals-like Banting and others-do not realise that their daily eating habits have a detrimental effect on their health. Generally poor eating habits result in a poor state of heath. †¢Drinking alcohol: Increases ones insulin resistance which results in the storage of excess carbohydrates in the form of fat and hinders its use as fuel. †¢Compulsive snacking and food binging: Eating large amounts of food (often driven by emotions) results in eating beyond the point of being full. †¢Skipping breakfast: It is by far the most important meal of the day and failing to eat at this time results in an energy drain, disruption of metabolism, reduction in the amount of carbohydrates burned and increases likelihood of snacking. †¢Eating heavy meals before bed: Your body fails to burn and digest the carbohydrates as fuel and as a result the body stores it as fat. Dieting is not as simple as it is made out to be as many individuals have realised. However, Tim Noakes believes that the current poor health of individuals around the world is the result of an unethical study conducted by Ancel Keys that has resulted in decades of individuals failing to lose weight. The ‘Seven-Countries Study’ conducted by Keys is considered a case of manipulated bias. The study was published in 1953 by Keys who was already a well-respected American biochemist. In the publication he drew a comparison to the cholesterol levels in individuals and the amount of fat that one consumed. Despite having enough statistics from 22 countries he only selected 7 of them that supported his theory. The countries that were omitted did not support his hypothesis such as Holland and Norway whose diets comprised of large amounts of fat but who had some of the lowest cases of heart disease. Conversely there were cases where fat consumption was low but heart disease was high such as in Chile. There were many flaws in Keys work: 1.The data came from 7 of the 22 countries that suited his theory. 2.He failed to use randomised controlled clinical trials and only ever reported observational studies. As a result he could not prove his theory unequivocally. 3.He never considered other variables that could explain the relationship explored in his theory such as the growth in cigarette consumption. 4.He was not a clinician and had never treated a patient that suffered from the disease. Political events such as the desperate need to bring down the food price and increase the wealth of US farmers allowed for the global exploitation of Keys false theory. Senator George McGovern wanted to restrict the intake of saturate fats and eggs by implementing the United States Dietary Goals for Americans (USDGA). The guidelines for the USDGA were compiled by Nick Mottern who had no formal training in nutrition science and now the American diet was based on 8-12 servings of grains and cereals a day so that they could successfully implement industrial scale production of corn and soy. US government agencies such as the National Institute of Health used research budget to prove that people that follow the guidelines will become immune to diabetes, heart disease and obesity. They spent over $700 million promoting the Food Pyramid but could not prove that a dietary change would produce significant health benefits. Figure 2 shows that the sudden increase of obesity since the 1980s is as a result of the USDGA. The stimulatory effect of carbohydrates on hunger results in the increase in calorie consumption and figure 5 shows that the increased consumption of calories from carbohydrates matches exactly the increasing rates of obesity from the beginning of the 1980s. What many people do not know is that out of all the macronutrients (fat, protein and carbohydrates) available the one that our body can do without are carbohydrates. Humans have the ability to obtain their energy requirements from proteins and fats-a process called gluconeogenesis-and there are no scientific studies that show that avoiding carbohydrates have short or long term effects on humans. There are, however, studies that support the Low-Carb, High-Fat diet (LCHF) promoted by Noakes and his team as a more suitable means of weight loss as opposed to other diets. A study conducted by the New England Journal of Medicine in 2003 found statistically no difference over a period of 12 months but low-carb diets are a more effective means of weight loss over a shorter period of time when compared to low-fat diets. History shows that ancient humans such as the Egyptians suffered from severe tooth decay, bone fractures, high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. These are symptoms similar to those that we now see in many individuals today. It is believed that the Egyptians diet, like ours, comprised mainly of refined carbohydrates. As Michael Eades says in his book Protein Power if such is the ultimately health diet, â€Å"Rich in all foods believed to promote health and almost devoid of saturated fat and cholesterol [†¦] then ancient Egyptians should have lived forever.† There are many shortcomings to the LCHF diet promoted by Professor Tim Noakes as explained by Christopher Gardner in a presentation presented at the Stanford University. One cannot confirm if it is the reduction of carbohydrates or the increase of fat in an individual’s diet that is behind the miraculous weight loss. The mere fact that you are restricting your carbohydrate intake to extremely low levels means that you immediately reduce calorie intake and despite having the ability to eat copious amounts of fat one cannot eat a tub of butter without bread to put it on. The result of the LCHF diet means your stomach shrinks and you have the ability to go without feeling hungry for 6-12 hours. There is also the important issue of fat loss versus muscle loss. Weight loss typically involves loss of fat, water and muscle. The aim of weight loss is to reduce the percentage of body fat. Muscle tissue, however, is denser than fat and a mere 10% reduction can have a dramatic effect on the shape of the body. The fact that muscle loss occurs is based on our Basic Metabolic Rate (BMR). This is the amount of calories the body requires when at rest and is influenced by the weight and muscle mass of an individual. More muscle means more calories without any ‘weight’ gain. In order to lose fat one must have a daily caloric intake that is greater than or equal to the BMR. Muscle and fat loss occurs when the daily caloric intake is less than or equal to the BMR. Maintaining muscle whilst losing fat is difficult but muscle loss can be restricted by regular lifting of weights and sufficient protein intake. There are many other diets such as the famous Atkins diet but a more recent diet based on the idea that no two humans are the same and that means one should eat according to their genetic make-up. The diet is as a result of Dr Peter D’Adamo’s work that certain foods are beneficial to certain blood types where others are harmful. It is evident that there is just far too much information out there surrounding proper dieting and nutrition. Individuals are bombarded with information that could possibly be false and based on no scientific studies but even those that are could not work for some individuals. It comes down to will power. If one partakes in regular exercise, follows an eating plan that contains sufficient nutrients and stays committed then I believe that anyone has the ability to live a healthy lifestyle. Finally the effect of obesity on the modern world is a financial one. It costs the United States government $190 billion a year in treatments alone and it is expected to rise to $344 billion by 2018. This means that the obesity-related treatments make up 10% of the annual medical spending. On average obese people spend 42 percent more on healthcare costs than healthy-weight people and obesity-related job absenteeism costs $4.3 billion annually. In closing poor eating habits and the physical health of human beings is only partly dependent on the availability and the understanding of nutritional information as the issue is far more complex. Individuals are bombarded with information (correct or not) and are far more concerned with price and taste rather than their well-being. Simplistically, the more educated we are in nutritional information the more informed we can be as individuals to take responsibility for our own health. It is however clear that healthy people are less of a burden on society.

Process Strategy and Analysis For Toyota Motors Corporation Essay

Introduction When organizations seek to improve or transform their resources into goods and services, they are, in a way, developing their process strategy in producing their customer and product specifications at lower costs and less managerial constraints. As companies are targeting global markets at present, each organization needs to decide on long-term competitive goals that are strategic in nature. In making these process decisions, managers need to focus on controlling competitive priorities like quality, flexibility, time, and cost to meet the global demand for their products. In having a look at Toyota Motor Corporation’s process strategy, it will be helpful to realize why their decisions for both service and manufacturing processes are successful. By determining the processes that comprise their operations, we will be able to assess if their value chains are managed efficiently and effectively. According to Krajewski et al. (2007), a process strategy specifies the pattern of decisions made in managing processes so that they will achieve their competitive priorities. Also, a â€Å"process strategy guides a variety of process decisions, and in turn is guided by operations strategy and the organization’s ability to obtain the resources necessary to support them†. Thus, a process strategy consists of decisions that help define the value chain. Usually these decisions seek the improvement of processes and they are done most likely when: A gap exists between competitive priorities and competitive capabilities. A new or substantially modified service or product is being offered. Quality must be improved. Competitive priorities have changed. Demand for a service or product is changing. Current performance is inadequate. The cost or availability of inputs has changed. Competitors are gaining by using a new process. New technologies are available. Someone has a better idea. As a leading auto manufacturer in the world, Toyota Motor Corporation sells its vehicles in more than 170 countries and regions worldwide. Toyota’s primary markets for its automobiles are Japan, North America, Europe and Asia. Employing nearly 300,000 people, its headquarters is located in Toyota City, Japan. Their products include passenger cars, recreational and sport-utility vehicles; minivans and trucks. Toyota’s subsidiary, Daihatsu Motor Company, also produces and sells mini-vehicles and compact cars. While another brand, Hino Motors produces and sells commercial vehicles. More importantly, Toyota manufactures automotive parts, components and accessories for its own use and for sale. Toyota has 52 manufacturing facilities in 27 countries and regions (Toyota Website). Process Strategies in Toyota One of the most notable processes that Toyota Motor Corporation had made famous is the Toyota Production System (TPS). At present, TPS is also known for a variety of terms like lean systems or just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing, lean production, stockless production and zero inventories. Cox and Blackstone (1998) defined lean systems as â€Å"a philosophy of production that emphasizes the minimization of the amount of all the resources (including time) used in the various activities of the enterprise †¦Ã¢â‚¬  Lean systems thinking was initiated and developed as the TPS. It was Toyota’s vice president Taiichi Ohno who pushed for the TPS beginning in 1937 when he discovered that labor at American manufacturers was nine times more productive than labor at Japanese manufacturers (Monden 1983, p. v). Since there was a pressure to improve after World War II because capital was restricted and production volumes were low, Ohno researched on some methods they can adopt in Toyota to make their production system work better. However, it was not until the 1973 oil crisis that most Japanese manufacturers became interested in TPS and it was not until the end of the 1970s that a significant number of U.S. manufacturers began to investigate TPS. The Toyota Production System became widely known in the United States in 1983 when a book of that title was published. During the 1980s, the popular term in the United States for the TPS system was â€Å"just-in-time manufacturing†. At the beginning of the 1990s, the term lean systems became popular because of a series of books and articles by U.S. consultants and researchers in which they referred to TPS as â€Å"lean systems,† because they allow more and more to be done with less and less. Fact is that Ohno only borrowed important roots of lean systems from two distinct American institutions: Henry Ford’s mass production system and the supermarket. Lean Systems That Sparked More Process Strategies In the book by Womack and Jones (1996), entitled Lean Thinking, they simplified Ohno’s lean systems approach. As it is not just a set of techniques but a management philosophy, this means managers must have a different mental model or perspective of managing the manufacturing process. The five steps or principles to develop this mental model are: Precisely specify value for each specific product. Identify the value stream for each product. Make value flow without interruptions. Let the customer pull value from the producer. Pursue perfection. During the 1980s, some U.S. companies have adopted lean systems successfully. But many more failed or even refused to take action. Many managers are skeptical that TPS could not succeed in the United States or it provided no real benefits. However, the publication of a book titled The Machine That Changed the World (Womack, Jones & Roos, 1990) ended the debate about whether lean systems created real, lasting benefits. The book presented the results of a three-year study of automobile manufacturing throughout the developed world. They found that in 1990 a Japanese plant in Japan took 16.8 hours to build an auto, while a U.S plant in the United States took 25.1 hours per car. Not only did a Japanese plant produce cars faster, its cars had fewer defects per hundred vehicles, lower space requirements, and lower inventories than their competitors. Their findings also indicate that it is the management system and not the country’s culture that is responsible for the success of lean companies, since Japanese plants in the United States performed better than U.S. plants on all criteria. Aside from the TPS, Toyota pursued total quality management or â€Å"kaizen†, a change strategy that involves a continuous incremental improvement of work procedures. Using kaizen, production-line employees are made responsible for finding ways to improve work procedures to drive down costs and drive up quality. Individually, and in quality groups or circles, employees suggest ways to improve how a particular Toyota car model is made. Over time, from their thousands of suggestions, incremental innovations made to the car assembly process result in major improvements to the final product. Employees receive cash bonuses and rewards for finding ways to improve work procedures, and the result has been a continuous increase in car quality and reduced manufacturing costs. In the 2000s, under the leadership of Toyota’s new president, Jujio Cho, the company sought to increase the speed of change to further improve its efficiency and quality to gain an edge over its major competitors such as GM, Ford, and Daimler-Chrysler. It has begun a series of new kinds of change programs, each directed at improving some aspect of its operations, which Toyota hopes will bring both incremental and radical changes to the way it operates. Some incremental change programs involve strengthening its kaizen program, such as â€Å"pokayoke,† or mistake-proofing. This initiative concentrates on the stages of the assembly process that have led to most previous quality problems; employees are required to double- and triple-check a particular stage to discover defective parts or to fix improper assembly operations that lead to subsequent customer complaints. Another program is Construction of Cost Competitiveness for the 21st Century program or â€Å"CCC21,† which involves working with the company’s suppliers to find ways to reduce the costs of Toyota’s car components by 30 percent—something that will result in billions of dollars in savings. Toyota has also introduced a new manufacturing process called â€Å"GBL,† which uses a sophisticated new assembly process to hold a car body firmly in place during production. This allows welding and assembly operations to be performed more accurately, resulting in better-quality cars. GBL has also enabled Toyota to build factories that Toyota to build factories that can assemble several different kinds of models on the same production line with no loss in efficiency or quality. This is a major competitive advantage. The company’s global network of plants can now quickly change the kinds of cars they are making depending on buyers’ demands for various models at different points in time (Dawson, 21 February 2005). Other radical change efforts have focused on revamping Toyota’s development and design process to keep up with changing customer needs and demographics. In the 1990s, for example, the age of the average Toyota car buyer steadily rose. Despite Toyota’s climbing global sales (which exceeded $203 billion in 2006), the company was criticized for failing to understand how the market was changing. Some blamed the problem on centralized decision making at the company and a culture that had long been dominated by Toyota’s cautious and frugal Japanese designers. Rather than designing innovative, flexible vehicles customers were increasingly demanding, Toyota continued to focus on cutting costs and increasing the quality of its vehicles. To quickly get an improved design process into gear, President Cho bolstered two new change techniques to radically alter the design process: PDCA and â€Å"obeya†. Obeya is based on frequent brainstorming sessions among engineers, designers, production managers, and marketers designed to speed new model cars to the market. PDCA (â€Å"plan,† â€Å"do,† check,† â€Å"action†) is a program designed to empower the company’s designers outside of Japan to intervene in the car development process and champion designs that meet the needs of local customers. The results of promoting a flexible, decentralized car design process were the speedy introduction of the rugged eight-cylinder Tundra pickup truck and the angular, ScionxB compact in the United States, as well as the Yaris, Toyota’s best-selling European car. The Yaris was designed in Europe, and its success there led to its subsequent introduction in Japan where it also sold well (Hill, 2004). Conclusion Throughout its existence, we could see that Toyota has managed their process strategies effectively as they root everything out from the TPS. Through the TPS, they continued to change and improve their processes to lessen production time, lessen the wastes and make production efficient to the benefit of both the company and its employees. Also, it is important to note that, despite all these changes, their customers remain at the core of their focus as Toyota seeks to meet all their demands. As for their management, the decisions are translated into actual process designs or redesigns. This matches the complementary philosophies for process design: (1) process reengineering and (2) process improvement (Krajewski et al., 2007). In this regard, we could say that Toyota Motors Corporation has an excellent decision patterns to further improve their manufacturing processes in the future. The Process Analysis of the Toyota Motor Corporation Introduction In the book The Toyota Way, Liker (2003) claimed that Toyota has the fastest product development process in the world. In analyzing their manufacturing process, Liker found that new cars and trucks take only 12 months or less to design in Toyota, while competitors typically require two to three years. Also, Toyota has been benchmarked to be the best in its class by all of its peers and competitors throughout the world. This is because Toyota maintains high quality, high productivity, faster manufacturing speed and flexibility in processing their products (p. 5). All these successes are due to the TPS that Liket (2003) summarized into 4 Ps (Problem-Solving, People and Partners, Process and Philosophy (see Figure 1). Figure 1. 4Ps That Comprise the Toyota Production Systems (Source: Liker, 2003). Analyzing the TPS In the process part of the TPS, we can see at its core is the goal of eliminating waste. For example, in the manual assembly operation of a truck chassis assembly line (see Figure 2). The operator takes many individual steps, but generally only a small number of the steps add value to the product, as far as the customer is concerned. In this case, only the three steps identified add value. Although some of the non value-added steps are necessary (for example, the operator has to reach to get the power tool), the point here is to minimize the time spent on non-value-added operations by positioning the tools and material as close as possible to the point of assembly. Toyota has identified seven major types of non-value-adding waste in business or manufacturing processes: Overproduction. Producing items for which there are no orders, which generates such wastes as overstaffing and storage and transportation costs because of excess inventory. Waiting (time on hand). Workers merely serving to watch an automated machine or having to stand around waiting for the next processing step, tool, supply, part, etc., or just plain having no work because of stockouts, lot processing delays, equipment downtime, and capacity bottlenecks. Unnecessary transport or conveyance. Carrying work in process (WIP) long distances, creating inefficient transport, or moving materials, parts, or finished goods into or out of storage or between processes. Overprocessing or incorrect processing. Taking unneeded steps to process the parts. Inefficiently processing due to poor tool and product design, causing unnecessary motion and producing defects. Waste is generated when providing higher-quality products than is necessary. Excess inventory. Excess raw material, WIP, or finished goods causing longer lead times, obsolescence, damaged goods, transportation and storage costs, and delay. Also, extra inventory hides problems such as production imbalances, late deliveries from suppliers, defects, equipment downtime, and long setup times. Unnecessary movement. Any wasted motion employees have to perform during the course of their work, such as looking for, reaching for, or stacking parts, tools, etc. Also, walking is waste. Defects. Production of defective parts or correction. Repair or rework, scrap, replacement production, and inspection mean wasteful handling, time, and effort. Unused employee creativity. Losing time, ideas, skills, improvements, and learning opportunities by not engaging or listening to your employees (Liker 2003, p. 28-29). Figure 2. Waste in a Truck Chassis Assembly Line (Source: Liker, 2003). Figure 3. Timeline of Waste in a Value System (Source: Liker, 2003). TPS: A Goal Driven Process Like any system, the TPS is a goal-driven set of interrelated or linked activities. Managers who recognize that they are managing a system are aware of two main points: (1) the system reacts to any solution and (2) the system controls the behavior of those individuals who operate within it. The first point means that there are often unintended consequences when a solution to a problem in a system is introduced. To avoid unintended consequences, managers must fully understand the system. The second point means that managers must avoid attributing the problems in a system to the character of the individuals within the system. The manager must instead identify how the structure of the system is shaping the choices of the individuals within the system. By understanding these two points, the manager can now redesign the system to increase the system’s performance. The incorrect use of performance measures can prevent the successful introduction of lean systems. For example, a performance measurement system that encourages high equipment and high labor utilization often discourages production at the rate demanded by the customer. Indeed, these performance measures actually encourage large-batch production, thus creating the waste of overproduction and decreasing the system’s ability to respond to the customer. Firms that implement lean systems often use a performance measure called overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). Soiichi Nakajima (1988) first formulated this performance measure to assess how effectively equipment is maintained and operated. Figure 4 shows six types of capacity losses in the right-hand column (breakdown losses, setup and adjustment losses, idling and minor stoppages, speed losses, quality defects, and start-up and yield losses). These capacity losses are organized into three categories: downtime losses, speed losses, and quality losses. Figure 4. Six Probable Causes For Equipment Losses (Source: Masaji & Goto, 1992). Knowing performance measurements are an important part of any manufacturing system, thus TPS support the elimination of possible waste. The operations manager must select the performance measurements that will encourage behaviors that lead to the desired business performance. In TPS, the desired business performance is shorter flow time, reduced costs, and faster response to the customer. Another advantage of the TPS is its support towards employee empowerment as a means for continuous improvement. Toyota empowers its employees by training them to use the scientific method to continuously improve processes. The scientific method involves four elements: theory, hypotheses, data, and verification. In the research of Spear and Bowen (1999) they indicated that the scientific method is integrated into the Toyota Production System so that every time a job is performed is an experiment. This creates a system where all the work processes are very specified and structured, but the system itself is very flexible and responsive. Toyota implements the scientific method as part of four unspoken rules that everyone in the organization must learn and practice: Highly Specified Work – Toyota’s first rule requires that managers, engineers, and line workers fully understand how a job is to be done and its relationship to other jobs. By ensuring that every job has a very clearly defined set of steps, it is obvious when the correct process is not being followed and it is also obvious when more training is needed or when the job definition needs to be changed. This allows quick identification and correction of any problems that occur. This first rule reduces variance in how work is done. By creating a highly specified sequence of steps to perform the job, Toyota is actually proposing a theory that this procedure is the best way to do the job. Given this theory, two implicit hypotheses in every standard job specification are first that each person doing the activity is capable of performing it correctly and second that performing the activity as specified actually creates the expected outcome. Direct Connections – Toyota’s second rule states that there must be direct, unambiguous communication between each customer and supplier. Direct, unambiguous communication means that each customer and each supplier know the exact form and quantity of goods and services to be provided. The theory implicit in this second rule is that the supplier has the capacity to meet the customer’s needs as they are communicated. This theory leads to two hypotheses: (1) the customers’ requests will be for goods and services in a specific mix and volume and (2) the supplier can respond to the customers’ requests. The production process generates data through the observation of the customer-supplier interactions. Simple Direct Pathways – Toyota’s third rule is that all pathways must be simple and direct. This means that goods and services must flow to a specific person or machine. The underlying theory in this rule is that having simple and direct pathways will quickly reveal any source of variances in the flow of goods and services. This rule suggests two hypotheses: (1) every supplier is necessary and (2) any supplier not connected to the pathway is not necessary. Each day of production provides data to analyze the hypotheses. Was there a supplier who was not connected to a pathway? Obviously any supplier or activity not connected to the flow pathway can be eliminated. This rule eliminates noise from the system and means that there are no pooled queues of completed work from suppliers waiting for the customers to use. Instead, completed work leaves one activity and goes to the next activity. If one supplier has a high variance in deliveries, their variance will not be hidden b y the deliveries of the other suppliers. Scientific Method – Toyota’s fourth rule requires that employees be trained to formulate and test hypotheses about how they can improve their job activities. Toyota constantly encourages its workers to conduct experiments trying to identify a better method of performing their job activities. Conclusion In analyzing the Toyota Production System, we can deem that the company seeks to benchmark their operations to become more efficient. This is the reason why that the TPS is highly regarded among all companies in the world because it focuses on setting quantitative goals for improvement. TPS seeks to make Toyota’s manufacturing processes to be made simple and they are utilizing a scientific model that goes one step further it transforms their processes to be more dynamic. The Toyota management is also constantly gathering ideas for reengineering or improving a process become apparent after documenting the process. They are carefully examining the areas of substandard performance, efficient interaction between departments and finally making customers’ preferences a prime priority. The ultimate goal of TPS is to apply the ideal of one-piece flow to all Toyota’s business operations, from product design to launch, order taking, and physical production by eliminating the unnecessary waste. Thus, the TPS is an all-encompassing philosophy that includes product design, process design, equipment and facilities design, supply chain coordination, job design, and productivity improvement. If there is one â€Å"key† to successful implementation of TPS, it’s adopting a holistic approach. This is probably the reason why Toyota remains to be one of the most admired companies in the world because they implemented a system that cut all the unnecessary costs and produced faster results without compromising the product expectations of their stakeholders. References Cox, J.F. & Blackstone, J.H. Jr. (Eds). (1998). APICS Dictionary, 9th ed. Alexandria, VA: APICS. Dawson, C. (2005, Feb 21). A China Price for Toyota.   Business Week, 3921, 50-51. Hill C.W.L. (2004). Toyota, in C. W. L. Hill & G. R. Jones, Strategic Management: An Integrated Approach, Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Krajewski, L.J., Ritzman, L.P. & Malhotra, M.K. (2007). Operations Management: Processes and Value Chains, 8th   ed. NJ: Prentice-Hall. Liker, J. (2003). Toyota Way. Blacklick, OH: McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing. Monden, Y. (1983). Toyota Production System, Norcross, GA: Industrial Engineering and Management Press. Nakajima, S. (1988). TPM: Introduction to TPM, Total Productive Maintenance Cambridge MA: Productivity Press. Spear S. & Bowen, H. K. (1999, Sept-Oct). Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System, Harvard Business Review, pp. 96–106. Tajiri, M. & Gotoh, F. (1992). TPM Implementation: A Japanese Approach, New York: McGraw-Hill. Toyota Website. (2007). Retrieved November 10, 2007, from http://www.toyota.com/about/our_business/ Womack, J.P. & Jones, D.T. (1996). Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, New York: Simon and Shuster. Womack, J.P. Jones, D.T. & Roos, D. (1990). The Machine That Changed the World, New York: Rawson Associates

Political factors affecting business Essay

Monitoring, understanding, and adapting to the political environment is absolutely essential for any business, because it significantly affects every apect of their working. Some political factors includeisPOLITICAL FACTORS AFFECTING BUSINESS Monitoring, understanding, and adapting to the political environment is absolutely essential for any business, because it significantly affects every aspect of their working. Some political factors include †¢Stability of the government †¢Government type- monarchy, democracy, theocracy, etc. Economic policy of the government †¢Trade policy †¢Diplomatic events in surrounding countries Furthermore, political context can change for the foreseeable future. POLITICAL FACTORS AFFECTING BUSINESS Monitoring, understanding, and adapting to the political environment is absolutely essential for any business, because it significantly affects every aspect of their working. Some political factors include †¢Stability of the government †¢Government type- monarchy, democracy, theocracy, etc. †¢Economic policy of the government Trade policy †¢Diplomatic events in surrounding countries Furthermore, political context can change for the foreseeable future. POLITICAL FACTORS AFFECTING BUSINESS Monitoring, understanding, and adapting to the political environment is absolutely essential for any business, because it significantly affects every aspect of their working. Some political factors include †¢Stability of the government †¢Government type- monarchy, democracy, theocracy, etc. †¢Economic policy of the government †¢Trade policy Diplomatic events in surrounding countries Furthermore, political context can change for the foreseeable future. POLITICAL FACTORS AFFECTING BUSINESS Monitoring, understanding, and adapting to the political environment is absolutely essential for any business, because it significantly affects every aspect of their working. Some political factors include †¢Stability of the government †¢Government type- monarchy, democracy, theocracy, etc. †¢Economic policy of the government †¢Trade policy †¢Diplomatic events in surrounding countries Furthermore, political context can change for the foreseeable future. POLITICAL FACTORS AFFECTING BUSINESS Monitoring, understanding, and adapting to the political environment is absolutely essential for any business, because it significantly affects every aspect of their working. Some political factors include †¢Stability of the government †¢Government type- monarchy, democracy, theocracy, etc. †¢Economic policy of the government †¢Trade policy †¢Diplomatic events in surrounding countries Furthermore, political context can change for the foreseeable future.

Effective Time Management Procedures Clear Communication...

†¢ Effective time management procedures. †¢ Clear communication processes and procedures. †¢ Appropriate project/task tracking procedure. †¢ Assessment and acknowledgment of team performance. Personal management As well as being organised, it is critical for the team’s success to follow set processes as outlined in company process’s manual Security Internet security Protecting information from accidental or intentional interference. Software Unreliable, untried software may be full of â€Å"bugs†, which can cause system failure. Recommendations Software It is recommended that software developed by 5 Point Ag called Teamspace be used, this perfect web-based package of collaborative communication tools uses a professional†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ Chat: all members can chat in their own team chatroom to discuss ideas, themes, and other work related topics, and automatically lets you know when other members have entered the room. Chat can also be automatically documented. †¢ Discussion forum: a powerful tool for solving problems and supports time-delayed exchange between team members. This is especially suitable for structured topics and over a longer time amongst bigger groups. †¢ Brainstorming and idea evaluation: Notice board and Bulletin Teamspace uses the latest Secure Socker Layer (SSL) technology to protect information, however due to the large size of the organisation, and the sensitive nature of most documents and other material of Pharmaceuticals firm, it is highly recommended that an Enterprise Server License be purchased, this allows installation of Teamspace on our own servers affording the same security, backup and responsibility of this data as with existing company information. Pharmaceuticals firms will also benefit from the Enterprise Server License with a customised login page, which can be incorporated into the firms existing website. 5 Point Ag released Teamspace software in 2001; reputable companies like BMW, BBC, Phillips and BP already use Teamspace. The environment can be personalised to team and/or individual requirements and has built in activities list making it a perfect tool for the team leader to stay updated on how theShow MoreRelatedThe Safety Management Pl A Comprehensive System Safety Plan1040 Words   |  5 Pagessystem safety process. The organization has developed, documented, and fully implemented a comprehensive system safety plan, accessible to all employees. Safety policies, procedures, and processes based on the safety management plan, are clearly defined, documented, communicated, and implemented throughout the organization. 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