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Business Report-RoboticsPlanet
Dr Nader Azizi
Module Code: CB932
Seminar Group: Group 5
Surname: Ahad
First Name: Fatima
Programme of Study: MSc. Management (International Business)
Login: af478
Student Number: 16902202
Word Count:
Declaration: I confirm the work submitted is entirely my own and have fully referenced my sources as appropriate. I am aware of the penalties for plagiarism.
Date: 20/January/2017
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Table of contents
- Executive summary
- Introduction
- Overview of Robotics Planet
- Management of operation
- Production department
- Planning and control department
- Supply chain
- Inventory management
- Marketing management
- Finance department
- Current Planning and Control system
- Challenges faced by the company
- Operations strategy
- Batch size
Executive Summary
The Business Report maps the United Kingdom toy making company, and the current obstacles the company is undergoing due to its current operations management. It aims to give a comprehensive overview of the company, the managing operations it undertakes, the order winner that the company’s operation can support. The company also aims to launch a new product in the market, therefore the strategy has been evaluated in terms of large and small quantity production. A new process has been introduced and evaluated against the cost options and a new Master Production Schedule has been developed for the company according to it.
After the careful research and analysis, relevant suggestions to overcome the challenges faced by the company has been formulated in the report.
The Company Overview (458)
Robotics Planet is a United Kingdom toy making company launched in 1981 with the introduction of Robot Gadgets and produce 22 other variety of toys that are durable and low priced. They also added new toy line called robot toys in 1998 and recently added Robot Pets in 2012. The Robot Pets was launched with technological innovation such as artificial intelligence and other advanced feature.
The company has different department dealing with certain activities (Annexure 1) such as the marketing department, planning and control department that deals with operations, production and customer service, IT department, administration, finance etc.
The marketing department is responsible for sales and forecast with the latest figure of about 107,000 units of 3 main type of Robot toys that varies up-to 25% from the average weekly volume. RoboticsPlanet Inc. has a 3.7% of market share in the UK and rest of the market is acquired by international companies and other local companies (see Appendix 2). Moreover, the robot toys are sold across the country through retailers, dealers and stores.
The average plant capacity for 3 main type of toys is 6300 in a week and the manufacturing of the toys are carried on the same assembly line in the group layout by creating batches. The parts are either made on the shop floor or sourced from the vendors. The material is arranged for production one week before the production starts to support the schedule. The planning is done based on forecast demand and the customer order.
The company uses IBM MRP (Material requirement Planning) to plan the requirement of material and coordinate with the production system by calculating the estimated arrival of material and the how the longer lead time will affect the manufacturing schedule within the operation (Material requirements planning, 2015). The Master Production Schedule(MPS) is prepared every week for 2 months into the future and after four weeks it is frozen to arrange the material from suppliers or produce in-house. Since the production is done on the same assembly line each robot has a different changeover time to move in parts, assembly fixtures and other trial runs for the quality check. In addition, each Robot model is calculated in batches to perform the sequence of operation with similar characteristics.