Purpose 

In this project, you will gain an understanding of the importance of the control function in a manufacturing business. You will compare actual performance with desired production standards, measure progress toward company goals, and address deviations in performance through corrective action.

Outcome Met by Completing This Assignment

• develop measures and assess outcomes against plans and standards to improve organizational effectiveness

How to Set Up the Paper

Create a Word or Rich Text Format (RTF) document that is double-spaced using 12-point font.  The final product will be 4-5 pages in length excluding the title page and reference page.

Create a title page with a title, course number and section, your name and the instructor’s name.

Scenario

The following chart displays the results of the first year’s production of the, Lacks Tracks Cycles, an electric-powered chopper-style motorcycle being produced by Lacks Tracks Cycles to compete with Harley-Davidson’s Electra Glide. The metrics table below was created from data supplied by Lacks Tracks Cycles five (5) plants. The purpose of the table is to provide data for management to decide what controls and actions are needed to increase production efficiency.   

You recently joined the Lacks Tracks Cycles’ headquarters staff as a quality assurance associate. Your manager has requested you to do an analysis of the first year’s motorcycle production results.  This information will be used by management to evaluate and improve overall production efficiency.

Lacks Tracks Cycles is known for producing high quality products at reasonable prices. They plan to compete against Harley’s top-end model by developing superior production efficiency that will allow them  to price significantly below Harley Davidson’s Electra Glide model.   

The chart below lists the desired production standards and the actual production metrics for each stage of the electric-motorcycle’s manufacturing process that needs to be completed to determine the overall production efficiency at each of Lacks Tracks Cycles’ five (5) production facilities.

A comparison of the production standard to the actual production outcomes using all the relevant metrics allows management to determine which of its facilities is the most efficient producer of the electric motorcycle. This knowledge will help Lacks Tracks Cycles’ management team to determine what controls need to be put into place at their various production plants to match the production efficiency of their most efficient plant. More efficiency means higher production at lower per unit (cycle) costs. 

 

 

Use the following headings and instructions to complete the project:

Introduction

• Write an Introduction paragraph.The Introduction paragraph is the first paragraph of the paper and will be used to describe to the reader the intent of the paper explaining the main points covered in the paper.  This intent should be understood prior to reading the remainder of the paper so the reader knows exactly what is being covered in the paper.  The introduction is often written after the paper is completed.

The body of the paper will cover the following:

 Controls

• Explain what control means in a business setting.
• Explain why Lacks Tracks must be concerned with the actual production metrics at its plants.

Standard Specifications

• Compare the metrics table standards to the actual performance outcomes at each of the five (5) plants and explain your findings for each plant.
• Identify the four (4) most important and common deviations from the standards among the plants and explain why this data is important to Lacks Tracks management.
• Using course materials identify and explain two (2) types of controls that could be used by Lacks Tracks management to attempt to correct the deviations from standards at its plants.

Total Quality Management 

• Explain why the implementation of a Total Quality Management (TQM) program could improve  operational efficiency at Lacks Tracks.

Conclusion

Create a concluding paragraph.  The conclusion paragraph highlights the major findings covered in the paper.

References:

Review the Paper

Read the paper to ensure all required elements are present.

The following are specific requirements that you will follow.  Use the checklist to mark off that you have followed each specific requirement.

Checklist	Specific Project Requirements
	Proofread your paper
	Read and use the grading rubric while completing the paper to ensure all requirements are met that will lead to the highest possible grade.
	Third person writing is required.  Third person means that there are no words such as “I, me, my, we, or us” (first person writing), nor is there use of “you or your” (second person writing).  If uncertain how to write in the third person, view this link:  http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/first-second-and-third-person.
	Contractions are not used in business writing, so do not use them.
	Paraphrase and do not use direct quotations.  Paraphrase means you do not use more than four consecutive words from a source document.  Removing quotation marks and citing is inappropriate.  Instead put a passage from a source document into your own words and attribute the passage to the source document.  There should be no passages with quotation marks.  Using more than four consecutive words from a source document would require direct quotation marks.  Changing words from a passage does not exclude the passage from having quotation marks.   If more than four consecutive words are used from source documents, this material will not be included in the grade.
	You are expected to use the research course materials to develop the basis for your analysis and to support your reasoning.   There should be a robust use of the course material.  Material used from a source document must be cited and referenced.  A reference can only be included in your Reference list if it has been used for an in-text citation.
	Use in-text citations and provide a reference list that contains the reference associated with each in-text citation.
	You may not use books in completing this problem set unless part of the course material.  Also, you cannot use as references a dictionary, Wikipedia, Investopedia or similar sources.
	Provide the page or paragraph number in every in-text citation presented.  Since the eBook does not have page numbers, include the chapter title and topic heading.  If using a video, provide the minutes and second of the cited material.

Submit the paper in the Assignment Folder (The assignment submitted to the Assignment Folder will be considered the student’s final product and therefore ready for grading by the instructor.  It is incumbent upon the student to verify the assignment is the correct submission.  .

NOTE:  All submitted work is to be your original work. You may not use any work from another student, the Internet or an online clearinghouse.  You are expected to understand the Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism Policy, and know that it is your responsibility to learn about instructor and general academic expectations with regard to proper citation of sources as specified in the APA Publication Manual, 7th Ed. (Students are held accountable for in-text citations and an associated reference list only). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perfecting the production management, standard, operation management is crucial to the success of a manufacturing business. The ultimate goal of the control function in a production line is to optimize and manage the product line according to the available resource capacity. Traditionally production chain managers align the current resources with the product efficiency to produce high-quality products that fulfill the organizational goals and objectives. The manufacturing process is a vicious cycle that requires continuous operation and optimization to produce goods and services free of defects and meet the consumers’ needs. All the functions should be well interconnected and in symphony to operate within the manufacturing plant.  A metric standard table should steer the manufacturing plant towards its goals with insights into the actual performance. This paper aims to explore the innumerable measures and assessment outcomes and standards of the control function that increases or decreases the work output per production to improve organizational effectiveness.

In business, control is associated with the processes and protocol, and standards regulate, guide, and operate a system, machine, or apparatus. Administrative control is one of the four core management practices: planning, organizing, and leading. In a traditional business setting, the control function is pertinent to accomplish the organization’s goals and work collaboratively to achieve its goals (Samuel, 2020, p. 3). Mandated on a leader can he/she can lead, direct, and control employees’ behavior. Furthermore, his/her subordinates. Control demands action from all parties and requires discipline and commitment to ensure the organization’s survival (Open Library, 2009, p. 1).

The Lacks Tracks Cycles’ is undergoing major turbulence due to the rapid shifts in manufacturing costs.  These rapid changes have been characterized by numerous business changes and the desire to produce more goods than the production lines can handle. This is evident in the number of units per annum compared to the defective and scrap rates. Simultaneously, the manufacturing plants in different locations have similar underlying problems ailing the system and the production chain. Firstly the Lacks Track Cycles is facing massive competition from Harley-Davidson’s Electra Glide. The company has a high-level functioning production line that is self-sufficient and caters to the people’s needs and the organization’s goals. Production is an ongoing process that involves a series of steps and procedures to ensure a production chain’s longevity. Also, production is a product of constant optimization and operation. Manufacturers have to optimize the production chain’s external and internal factors to boost production efficiency and gain a competitive edge. The actual production is a critical determinant of the success or failure of a manufacturing plant.

In manufacturing management, the metric table standard of a plant is proportional to its potential and capacity to exceed the stipulated metrics. According to the data, there is a close-knit relationship between the manufacturing plants over the last five years.  Firstly the Texas plant topples over the metric table standard with the highest cost of manufacturing. However, the manufacturing cycle time is very low and could lead to faulty and non-functional motor vehicles over a short period. The second place is the Maryland plant, with a slightly high production cost than the metric table standards. The plant allocates a significant amount of time to the product lifecycle to produce high-quality products. It also boasts high yields within the first chain of production. The average production downtime has a positive and significant relationship with the metric table standard. The third position is the Alaska plant, which has a very high defection rate despite its high manufacturing cycle time. Inversely the plant has the lowest scrap metal/ recall rate in the market. Next in line is the Delaware plant. This plant utilizes an enormous amount of money in manufacturing the plant produces the least number of units per year. Furthermore, it has the lowest absorption rate in the market. Lastly, with the least budget for manufacturing, the New Jersey plant offers its employees the safest policies and procedures.

There is a substantial difference between Texas’s total manufacturing cost and the metric table standard. On a closer examination of the plants’ total yields, Alaska is slugging behind in the optimum yield per annum. Also, within the one year, Alaska’s defective rate has drastically skyrocketed beyond the metric table standard, causing a worrying trend amongst the firm’s quality control managers.  The Delaware firm’s limited training hours exacerbate the growing concern of ensuring that employees are up to speed with the training. New Jersey plant has high safety incident policies and procedures compared to the speculated safety incident per employee protocols. Furthermore, Delaware’s number of units per annum is below the metric table standard. Lastly, Delaware’s utilization rate deviates negatively from the standard utilization rate.

Quality control

Essentially quality is the high-level value of a product or service, and it is also a critical determinant of the success or failure of a company (Samuel, 2020, p. 14). Ideally, the product should meet the expected goal upon manufacturing. They should align with the set metric table standard. Some of the quality characteristics of the Lack Tracks Cycles’ the quality manager should be on the lookout for to bridge the deviation include utilization rate, defective rate, scrap rate, training, number of units, problems arising from damage, training, yield, manufacturing cycle time, cost of manufacture and yield. To ensure that Lacks Tracks Cycles’ fulfills these quality attributes, the company should assign the role to the quality assurance manager

Organizational control

Organizational control takes up the internal systems, processes, and operations to direct and guide them toward attaining the organizational goals and objectives (Open Library, 2009, p. 1). When properly incorporated, administrative control can execute the strategy better. In the case of Lack Tracks, cycle controls can be safety procedures used by manufacturing and quality managers. However, administrative control involves four distinct steps, namely: establishing standards. Measure performance, compare performance to standards, and corrective action as needed. In the Lack Tracks cycle, corrective action can include changes made to the utilization rate.

Total quality management is the continuous process of detecting and eliminating errors to allow smooth running and operation of the streamlining, manufacturing, and supply chain management to meet the customer’s needs and ensure employees are equipped with the rights skills (Adam, 2020, p. 1). Implementing a TQM program in the Lack Tracks Cycle will maximize productivity, increase manufacturing cost savings, boost the yield of high-value products, and optimize production at every stage of the products’ lifecycle.

In summary, this paper focuses on production management techniques expected to meet the customers’ needs and fulfill the organizational goals and objectives. Through an in-depth analysis of the metric table standard for the Lack Track Cycle, we establish the best type of control to be implemented based on the control’s nature and characteristics. In this context, this paper shapes the manufacturing management’s control function from the beginning to the end.

References

Adam, B. (2020, July). Total Quality Management (TQM). Retrieved from Investopedia: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/total-quality-management-tqm.asp

Open Library. (2009, January). Organizational Control. Retrieved from Open Library: https://open.lib.umn.edu/principlesmanagement/chapter/15-3-organizational-control/

Samuel, O. (2020). Controlling Manufacturing Systems. Retrieved from SJSU: https://www.sjsu.edu/people/samuel.obi/Controlling%20Manufacturing%20Systems.pdf