Question

Aarushi finished her Bachelors degree in Management and decided to join Paras Pharmaceuticals. She was placed under the department which oversaw the exact route of each individual item. Her supervisor Kumar explained that their department plays a very important function of looking into the movement of material, performance of machines and operations of labour. She was surprised and asked Kumar the reason and he further explained that the department makes a plan for every item which will ensure the orderly flow of materials from the raw material stage to the finished product stage and this will enable continuous production always.

He further elaborated on various systems used for quality control. Kumar showed her an existing plan and asked Aarushi to devise a plan incorporating all that he had explained.

Explain the first five elements involved in this plan.

Answer 1

Aarushi had joined the Operations Department and Kumar was explaining to her about the elements involved in the operational plan. The following are the first five elements involved in the plan:

1. Routing: It is a process concerned with determining the exact route or path a product/ service has to follow right from raw material till its transformation into a finished product.
2. Scheduling: It means fixation of time, day, date when each operation is to be commenced and completed. In general, it’s the determination of the time that should be required to perform each operation.
3. Dispatching: The process of initiating production in accordance with a pre-conceived production plan is said to be dispatching. This includes issuing necessary orders, instructions, guidelines and/or information to work pertaining to giving practical shape to the production plan.
4. Follow-Up: This element relates to evaluation and appraisal of work performed. A properly planned follow-up procedure is helpful in dispatching errors and defects in the work.
5. Inspection: It is the art of comparing materials, product or performance with established standards. This element helps the entrepreneur to set up laboratories or evolve strategies/methods to ensure predetermined quality of product/service.