Logistics and Operations Management Execution - Control and Design

Question: Analyse the problems of controlling component activities and of controlling quality. Critically discuss methods of project evaluation and of scheduling resources. Answer: Introduction to Apple MacBook Pro The execution, control and design of operations which helps in converting resources into desired products and services are called operation management. It deals with the implementation of the organizations business strategy. In the year 2006, January 10, the first original fifteen inch MacBook Pro was launched by Steve Jobs. The product was launched at Macworld Conference and Expo. Later on, the seventeen-inch model was launched on 24th April 2006. The product which was designed first uses Intel Core CPUs instead of using PowerPC G4 chips. PowerPC G4 is only used on Apple computers as well as on Eyetech. It is a fourth generation microprocessor. On the other hand, Intel Core microprocessors were mainly created for the business purpose. These processors get updated frequently. The first one was Intel Pentium with its successive Pentium 2, Pentium 3 and Pentium 4. The second one was Intel Core with its successive Intel Core 2 Solo, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Extreme. The last o nes are Core i3, i5, and i7. This Apple product is the high-end model of the MacBook family. In the year 2008, October 14, the second generation of computer was launched and was called as the unibody. This model has more shaped design and it has the outer case which was made up of the single slab of aluminum. Later the model was called aluminum unibody MacBook. Some updates were introduced in the MacBook Pro with processors such as Intel Core i7 and i5. A technology named Thunderbolt of Intel Company was also introduced in the product. In June 2012, Apple released the third generation MacBook Pro with a display of fifteen inches. One of the most attractive features of the third generation MacBook Pro is Retina display. This display has higher resolution. The optical drive was removed from the system. The hard disk drives were also replaced with solid-state drives. Apple uses OS X as their main operating system. This operating system is built on UNIX platform. It was engineered in such way so as to take the full advantage of the capability of the hardware. The operating system comes with amazing and exciting applications for everyday use. The applications are Photos, iMovie, GarageBand, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Safari, Mail, Messages, FaceTime, Calendar, Notes, Reminders, Maps, Contacts, iBooks, App Store and iTunes. The graphics and processor with its all-flash architecture display and memory provide excellent capabilities of video editing. Software like Final Cut Pro based on professional video editing and Logic Pro based on professional music composing are only supportable in MacBook. This innovative technology brought a revolution in the professional world. The importance of process designs on Apple MacBook The designing of a product like Apple MacBook Pro can be done by utilizing a regular series of processes that engineers employ while creating functional products (Sanchez-Rodrigues, Potter and Naim, 2010). The concept of engineering is based on business knowledge and the product to generate ideas and convert them into usable objects. It is known as product design. Before developing a product, it is vital for a designer to know very carefully about the demand for the product in the market. The product must be designed according to the customer needs. Regular customer gives feedback about an old version of products regarding including new features and applications or making the product user-friendly (Borisov and Velyova, 2016). After that, screening of product plays a significant role such as attractiveness of the product operation. It also shows the risk of the operation. The designing of product requires series of stages before launching it to the international market. Each of these phases has owned individual significances. The stages are as follows: Specifying the package components It is the first phase of preliminary product design. It is very crucial as it determines what components will be introduced into the product (Chambers, 2013). For example, in MacBook Pro basic product specifications such as hard disk drives, microprocessors, RAM, ROM, DVD writer need to be introduced before launching it into the market. Reduction in complexity of design This is the second stage which reduces the complexity of the product. The reduction in complexity makes a product more-user friendly. It makes a product easier to use. There are three common approaches for complexity reduction such as commonality, standardization, and modularization (Miser, 2011). The former approach helps in simplifying the complexity based on the design by utilizing common elements of products. The next one deals with the diversity in product. The last one is about designing the sub-components in a product. For example, adding software specifications such as the introduction of applications and features. Final process to create a package In this stage, final packaging is done. It is a very crucial stage as it assembles all the parts and put into a single unit to create the final product. The next one is designing improvement and evaluation of a product. Typical techniques are used at this stage to evaluate and improve the preliminary design (Banks, 2013). The techniques are the Taguchi method, deployment of quality function and value engineering. The former one is testing the robustness of the design. The next one ensures that whether the product design meets the demands of the customer. The last one reduces cost and prevents any unnecessary cost before the production of the product. Finally, it is important to provide the final details of the product. The aims and objectives of designing Apple MacBook Before launching any product, all companies including Apple must set its goals, objectives and strategies for the marketing of a product. The marketing can be well understood by the marketing mix (J. Wilson, 2015). The marketing mix has 4 Ps such as price, promotion, product, and place. The 4 Ps of marketing help the marketing manager to develop successfully a strategy based on promotion and services of products to customers. Firstly, a price is the cost of products. The promotion is the strategy behind advertising of product to target customers. The product or merchandise is something which can be sold in the market, satisfying the customer needs and demands. In the case of places, the buyers look for places where they can find products. Based on product, Apple offers finest products at best prices. Their objectives are to continue for creating innovative products (P. Dempsey, 2015). The Apple team will need a good team to create their innovative products in the international market. Due to their innovation, they make a leading position in the market. They need a strong research and a strong development team. On the other hand, they need to dictate and innovate the movement of future technology. Apple must continue to improve their technology since technology is changing and customer seeks for more innovation. After all, brand loyalty is important. They must study the market to understand what customer want while improving their current product. The company needs to expand their stores around the world. As the result, this expansion of stores can increase their customers from the corners of the world. Other places like selling their products online will be an advantage for the company. Based on their price, they sell branded products at best price. The objective regarding their price is to sustain and enter finest pricing while attempting to get profit from market share. However, it will be profitable for them to use low cost during the manufacturing of products. On promotion side, the company can make a great advantage by following excellent marketing strategies behind their advertisement of products with the help of mass media like TVs, radios, and newspapers (P. Dempsey, 2015). The stages of designing a product The designing of a product must be done by following proper steps. It needs proper control and planning with inventory and capacity management. It also needs proper resources and risk management because risks are normal factors which get involved during a manufacturing process. For example, during the manufacture of Apple MacBook some accident may happen which can be harmful to the company and its employees. There are few stages which are to be followed during its manufacturing method (The Teardown: MacBook Air 13-inch 128GB, 2013). Generating an idea Before the development of a product, making an idea is necessary. The best way to start is with SWOT analysis of the product which describes about the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of a product. Others are doing market research, looking at competition market and taking suggestions from employees and partners. Screening the idea Screening criteria need market potential and affordability. Development of concept and testing It is the stage of developing a concept about the product and testing it. For example, every system is built on a basic algorithm. Therefore, MacBook Pro also needs an algorithm (Liikkanen and Reavey, 2015). Analysis of business Once, the concept has been developed; business analysis is done. It includes marketing strategy, a positioning of the product, highlighting the target market as well as marketing mix of the product. This analysis is done based on a demand of the product, identification, and competition of such a point where the total revenues equal total expense and a full assessment of the cost. Product development As soon as the new product is approved for its proper research, the product is passed through technical and development stage. Testing the market It introduces the product prototype based on the proposed plan of the market. Here, testing is processed based on consumer uses. This procedure is necessary to validate the complete concept, and it is utilized for further refinement process. Commercialization When the product is finally developed and tested, final decisions are made so as to launch the product into the market. Launching the product It is the last step which describes a detailed plan about the launching of the product. All these stages require operation management which is concerned with the conversion of materials and labor into services and products to maximize the profit of the organization. The designing of the product also needs supply chain management which contains storage and movement of raw materials, finished goods, and inventory process. Impact on performance of designing a product Apple MacBook Pro is a well known branded product, and it requires intelligent skills of the employee rather than hard physical work during the designing of this product. Their objectives behind their manufacturing of product impact on the performance of the employees. Performance management aids on building high-performance culture for teams as well as the individual. Therefore, the employees take own responsibility for the improvement of the processes in business on the continuous basis. At the same time, they increase their skills by upgrading their skills within a management framework. The objectives of the organization enable the employees to achieve their better standards of the work performance (Apple Advertisement, 2012). It also aids the employees to identify the skills and knowledge which are required for performing the job efficiently and smoothly. As a result, it drives their focus towards performing a task in an appropriate and proper manner. On the other hand, it promot es personal development and advancement in the career of employees by aiding them in acquiring the desired skills and knowledge. As it is told earlier that Apple is a famous company, and, therefore, the objectives are made in such way so that it can boost the performance of the employees by encouraging the empowerment of the employees, their implementation, and motivation towards an efficient reward mechanism. This means that the employees will perform with an expectation of getting rewards from a famous company like Apple. This approach to performance management has become an indispensable instrument in the hands of the corporate. It is a future process as it involves both the employees and the supervisors with a target of setting a particular goal for the development of the company at the beginning of each year. Conclusion The above report is based on the marketing of Apple MacBook. The report includes the modification of the particular product and its strategies and objectives behind their marketing. The first portion describes about the details and specification of the product. The next portion deals with the importance of process design on Apple MacBook. The third one is about the aims and objectives of product design. The fourth portion describes about the stages of designing the product and the last one analyzed the impact of product performance. References Apple Advertisement. (2012). Computer, 45(6), pp.92-92. Banks, A. (2013). Independent guide to the apple macbook. 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