Task 2 for Practical Objective

Task 2 for Practical Objective A. Discuss options and considerations for transporting the product described in the scenario to the retail facilities by doing the following: 1. (A1) Identify two different product packaging options and explain why you chose them. The first option would be to form styrofoam around it tightly so it would secure if shaken and placed into a box ready for shipping. I chose this option because it provides protection of the delicate woods and parts and prevents any damage to the instrument due to 360 degree coverage with the styrofoam. The second option is not as effective but would still work. That option is to use bubble wrap around the mandolin 4 times to provide ample protection and put into a box that is appropriately sized so that when the box is shaken, the mandolin does not move. I would use this option as a back-up if I could not get the styrofoam 2. (A2) Identify two different potential risks to consider when storing your product and describe how you will mitigate each risk. One risk that comes to mind is the risk of them getting damaged due to stacking on top of one another. Another risk I can think of relating to metal shelving being used as storage for the mandolins is someone or something hitting the shelves and the shelving collapsing damaging all of the instruments being stored on this shelf. To mitigate the risk of both of these potential risks, I would use a cubby system and one mandolin would be stored per cubby. To keep the orders straight there would be a card system on each cubby hole stating the order number and who the contact is in reference to the order. 3. (A3) Describe two transportation modes to move your product from the manufacturer to the retail facilities. Then explain an advantage and a disadvantage of each chosen transportation mode. I would use truck and air transportation modes. An advantage for using trucks is that it is the cheaper option out of the two. A disadvantage of using trucks for transportation is much slower than air is. An Advantage for using Air transportation is that it is a much faster mode of transportation. However, it is also the most expensive mode of transportation. I would use the air transportation for locations in Europe and trucking for locations within the US. In most cases there will still be a need to use the trucking method after the plane lands in its destination in which case would be considered using a combination of the two. 4. (A4) Describe two different characteristics of the transportation management system (TMS) that will aid in transporting the product. One characteristic of the TMS program is the ability to track packages in real time, giving us the ability to anticipate situations that might disrupt the delivery. A second characteristic of the TMS program is the ability to cut costs by reverse logistics and getting the returned product to extract the remaining value from them. B. Discuss how you would address a barrier or bottleneck in transporting your product to the retail facilities by doing the following: 1. (B1) Describe how a barrier or bottleneck from the scenario can affect transporting the product. The fragility of the mandolins due to the change in material to a lower quality wood can affect the transportation of the product because we would have to take more precautions in packaging and moving the product to ensure no damage is done to the instruments in transit. This would be considered a bottleneck because it has to do with the process and not the people. 2. (B2) Choose either the Lewin or ADKAR change management model and discuss how you would apply each step of the chosen model to address the barrier or bottleneck from part B1. I would use the Lewin change management model in this case. The first step would be to unfreeze the current system in place. In this case it would be the manufacturing system. It was created to use higher quality wood to produce the instruments but now we are using lower quality that is more prone to break, which shows a need for change to reduce the amount of defected materials and increase the manufacturing capabilities. To initiate this phase of change I would come up with new manufacturing procedures or how the instruments are manufactured and get management to back the change that is so important by showing them the numbers of defected mandolins and manufacturing capabilities vs what they can be under this new procedure. The second phase of Lewin’s change model is the change itself. I would call a meeting with the whole factory to talk about this change, emphasize the importance of the change and make sure to answer any questions or concerns that the workers might have to encourage an open conversation and continued transparency within the factory during this phase. The third and final phase of Lewin’s change model is the refreezing of the change. This phase will take a while to get used to because this is where the people most affected by the change actually become comfortable with this new aspect of their work and it becomes their new normal. For this to happen I would just continue to provide encouragement and guidance until my employees reach this point at where they will no longer need this from my management team and I. 3. (B3) Discuss how you will address an ethical consideration for the barrier or bottleneck from part B To start off I would lower the pricing of the mandolins since I am producing them with a lower quality wood that is most likely costing considerably less. Also, I would inform my retailers that are purchasing the instruments so that they are completely aware of what they are purchasing and there will be no secrets that might obscure my intentions or reputation. When I inform the retailers, I would also tell them I have the higher quality wood on order and that the venders are all out at the moment and that is why we are receiving the lower quality wood instead.