Production and Operation Management Essay

The Bronson Insurance Group was originally readyed in 1900 in Auxvasse, Missouri, by James Bronson. The Bronson Group owns a shape of companies that underwrite face-to-face and commercial insurance policies. Annual sales of the Bronson Group are $100 million. In recent years, the go with has suffered operating losses. In 1990, the company was heavily invested in computer hardware and software. One of the problems the Bronson Group faced (as well as many insurance companies) was a conflict between effected manual procedures and the relatively recent (within the past 20 years) introduction of computer equipment. This conflict was illustrated by the fact that much information was captured on computer hardly paper files were still kept for practical and legal reasons.FILE CLERKSThe file department employed 20 file clerks who pulled files from stacks, refilled used files, and delivered files to various departments including commercial lines, personal lines, and claims. Once a file c lerk received the file. Clerks delivered files to underwriters on an hourly basis throughout the day. The average file clerk was paid $8,300 per year. One special(a) file clerk was used full time to search for collected files that another file clerk had not been able to find in the expect place. It was estimated that 40 percent of the requested files were these no hit files requiring a search. Often these no hit files were eventually found stacked in the requesters office. The prime customers of the file clerks were underwriters and claims attorneys.UNDERWRITINGCompany management and operations analysts were consistently told that the greatest problem in the company was the inability of file clerks to supply files in a spry fashion. The entire company from top to bottom viewed the productivity and effectiveness of the department as unacceptable. An underwriter used 20-50 files per day. Because of their distrust of the files department, underwriters tended to hoard often used fil es. A count by operations analysts found that each underwriter kept from 100-200 files in his or her office at any one(a) time. An underwriter would request a file by computer and work on other business until the file was received. Benson employed 25 underwriters.MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM fastness management was deeply concerned about this problem. The MIS department had suggested using video disks as a possible solution. A video disk scheme was found that would be sufficient for the Semester II Examination Papers IIBM Institute of Business Management companies needs at a cost of about $12 million. It was estimated that the system would take 2 years to install and make compatible with existing information systems. Another, less attractive voice was using microfilm. A microfilm system would guide underwriters to go to a single keyboard to request paper copies of files. The cost of a microfilm system was $5 million. 1. What do you recommend? Should the company implement one of the new technologies? Why or why not?2. An operations analyst suggested that company employees shared a dump on the clerks mentality. Explain.Caselet 2Harrison T. Wenk III is 43, married, and has ii children, ages 10 and 14. He has a masters degree in education and teachers junior high school music in a abject town in Ohio. Harrisons father passed away two months ago, leaving his only child an unusual business opportunity. According to his fathers will, Harrison has 12 months to become active in the family food-catering business, KareFull Katering, Inc., or it will be sold to two key employees for a reasonable and fair price. If Harrison becomes involved, the two employees have the extract to purchase a significant, but less than majority, interest in the firm. Harrisons only involvement with this business, which his grandfather established, was as an hourly employee during high school and college summers. He is confident that he could learn and perhaps enjoy the marketing side of the business, and that he could retain the long-time head of accounting/finance. But he would never genuinely enjoy day-to-day operations.In fact, he doesnt understand what operations management really involves. In 1991 Kare-Full Katering, Inc. had $3.75 million in sales in telephone exchange Ohio. Net profit after taxes was $ 105,000, the eleventh consecutive year of profitable operations and the seventeenth in the last 20 years. There are 210 employees in this labor-intense business. Institutional contracts account for over 70 percent of sales and include partial food services for three colleges, six commercial establishments) primarily manufacturing plants and banks), two long -term care facilities, and five grade schools.Some customer location employs a permanent operations manager others are served from the main kitchens of Kare-Full Katering. Harrison believes that if he becomes active in the business, one of the two key employees, the vice president of operations, will l eave the firm.Harrison has decided to complete the final two months of this school year and whence spend the summer around Kare-Full Katering as well as institutions with their own food services to assess whether he wants to become involved in the business. He is particularly interested in finding out as much as possible about operations. Harrison believes he owes it to his wife and children to fairly evaluate this opportunity.