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English (U.S.)
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MGT 301 WEEK 5 CASE: Lean Production

Essay Instructions:

Please Follow the instructions on the additional attached document

MGT_301_WEEK_5_CASE_INSTRUCTIONS

Controlling represents a very important function of management. Necessary at all levels and all aspects of the organization, controls should be applied to organizational design, planning, employee performance, etc., among many other functions.  Different types of controls are applied at various levels of the organization including corporate office, divisions within the company, and at the facility and department level as well.  

Lack of control can lead to costly delays, financial losses, and have other undesired consequences.

GM is a well known car manufacturer that has been on quite a roller coaster ride the last several years due to the economy.  However, in order to compete in today’s market, all automobile manufacturers must maintain excellence in quality and utilize management control techniques and technologies.    

After reviewing your background readings, read the following case study related to the implementation of lean manufacturing techniques at General Motors' (GM) Lansing Grand River Assembly (LGRA) plant. 

After reading through the case study, write a 3 – 5 page essay answering the following quesions:

1. To what extend does lean manufacturing help GM to control production to meet customer needs, and how does this help to make GM competitive?

2. Do you think the implementation of Lean provides a good example of the ‘control’ aspect of management? 

Reading:

Keri, V. B., & Marietta, L. B. (2010). First in, first out: A case study of lean manufacturing's "success" in North America's automobile industry. Human Organization, 69(3), 263-274. Retrieved from:  Trident University International’s library via Proquest database. 

Helpful Hints!

  • Please first study the Background Materials.
  • Identify key concepts (main aspects of controlling, make a list of them, and study them.
  • Read Business Week articles  in-depth and conduct additional research, if necessary.
  • Identify facts in the case that match concepts of controlling (organizational structure (or lack of them), decision-making, financial controls (cost-cutting) operating standards, culture).
  • Apply these concepts to facts in the case in order to develop your arguments.
  • Please also visit the company website and conduct further research.

Toyota has grown dramatically and (as per article) it does not seem to have developed structures. It has also followed cost-cutting strategies, which are financial controls.

 

Format

In order to develop good business communication skills, it is recommended you write papers using the following structure, using headlines and titles.

Introduction (road map,  explain main issue and list and main points)

Main Body: Develop each point in the Introduction, applying theory to facts, in subsections (one subsection per main point).

In this case, subsections of causes of recalls and a subsection of general discussion and analysis.

Conclusions: Summarize main paper points

List of references.

Citing your Sources:

Essay Sample Content Preview:

Lean Production
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Introduction
The General Motors Corporation is one of the biggest car manufacturers in the USA; however, the recent economic crisis has not spared the giant enterprise. To stay relevant and profitable the car-manufacturing giant has had to adopt some of the techniques that would help with the wasteful production lines and techniques. One of the basic models that most of the companies have had to adopt in the crisis is called Lean Manufacturing (Keri & Marietta, 2010). This strategy is known to highly boost the efficiency of the organisations, reduce the amount of waste on all the manufacturing processes, reduce the costs and ultimately champion for better control.
This concept was born of the automotive industry, back in the 80s. It was initiated by a person called Taiichi Ohno who had, devised the model for the car-manufacturing giant in Japan, Toyota. This model enabled Toyota to make more cars with less time and resources, while ensuring that they are of higher quality that those of the rivals (Leanman, 2013). Both Toyota and gm came together in the year 1994, to form the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc (NUMMI), which would see the implementation of the lean strategies in the assembly lines and bet the conventional.
By using this strategy, GM has been in a position to cut down on the hours they take to assemble one car from 31 to 19 hours. This has also led to the reduction of the manufacturing defects that were at all time high of 135 for every 100 cars they manufactured to a low of just 45. This is a great improvement as the customers are now assured that are getting the very best of quality form the production lines. Due to the flexibility of the system, the manufacturer has the ability to change the specification of the any car to suit the changing demands of the customer in the market, while using the same assembly line common to all the models. As such the customer are at the centre of at...
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