International Operations Management Essay

Nowadays every company wants to gain a competitive edge in the market and for that it leaves no store unturned . When any new development takes place although it has a good side to it but there are equally a lot of challenges attached to it as well. If a company is thinking of moving from batch processing to line processing there would be considerable concerns which the following departments might raise and might have to juggle with. The finance department might face the issues of capital investment rising from moderate to high level because if an automobile production line is there then it would not use ordinary machinery instead would require specialized machinery for its production. In a batch processing system the capital investment is usually seen to be moderate and when decision of venturing into line processing is taken then capital investments expects to be high. Variable cost might tend to lessen from moderate level of previous working seen in batch processing. Human resource department would also have to face issues like curtailing the number of labor content and workforce . Usually in assembly line processing the workforce is replaced by machinery and supporting mechanisms embedded in the systems like for example adding a conveyer belt to connect the activities which take place in the firm. (Lewis & Slack, 2003). Labor content in batch processing is moderate whereas in line processing its low. (McHugh & MuHugh , 1990) . This can be a concern of the human resource department because it would take decisions like lay off, transfer etc. The accounting department has to be on the toes because the level of transactions would increase as the volume would increase i. e. from moderate level of quantity produced to high level production. The entries have to be made on a continuous basis as volume or the quantity has risen. The information system which would be used for line processing will have to more swift and embedded with specialized softwares or systems which support line processing nature of work. The connected flow of working will have to be monitored efficiently. The system of monitoring will have to be modified so as to facilitate the current functioning. The marketing department might think of the fact that in the batch processing products involved were several and in line processing the products involved are less hence less responsibility, but the quality of marketing expertise would be expected to increase drastically. ( Heizer & Render , 1991 ) . A batch process usually executes different production runs for different runs but it’s not in the case of line processing. The flexibility is usually seen to be low in line processing and therefore as in batch processing where flexibility is seen to be moderate might create concerns for the marketing department. The marketing department now will have to devise such ideas which are out of the box and facilitate such larger processing function . The marketing department has to design such products which entice the masses as they would now not have multiple products which can save their flagging reputation. (Weiss & Gershon, 1989) To culminate I would state that whenever any other process flow is adopted then there are certain specifications which are to be considered and the various departments which previously followed a specific line of action need to have the insight of how to adapt to the other one in which they are opting to venture.