Production system optimization Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Production system optimization - Coursework Example The new Efficiency will be: Alternatively, we use the results of analysis which indicate that the more the number of LV Doors, the more the number of workstations required for production (Burke, 2005). It therefore means that the number of work stations needed in the assembly lines has to be reduced (Rutherford, 2002). The required minimum number of the workstations can be calculated as: This requires that we reduce the cycle times for every LD Door to obtain the smallest number of workstations required. In the original situation where there are 4 assembly doors, the number of workstations required is 15.10 which are rounded off to 16. However, the reduction of cycle times gives the calculation of the number of work stations as follows: As we maintain the minimum number of workstations at 14, we have balanced the line to its optimal efficiency (Chapman & King, 2008). This efficiency must be maximized since it corresponds to the percentage utilization of the workstations available. In the current situation, the production system produces about 3 sets of MC every day, when the operation runs continuously for 12 hours in a day (Brookhart, 2006). It means that the efficiency has to be increased until the production shifts from 3 to 5. This requires that we measure the percentage by which the production will have increased. This is calculated as

In what way is the historical and political context of Thucydides and Essay

In what way is the historical and political context of Thucydides and Machiavelli relevant for an interpretation of their writings - Essay Example Contemporary foreign policies and the disregard for law were the reflections of the Thucydides and Machiavelli’s political powers and their emphasis on the US foreign policies. They wanted to carve a niche for themselves in the American history and they achieved this by exhibiting it in their writings. Their writings were closer to reality and this paved the way for their success. Realism is not a new concept and this was adopted by the authors who emphasize on the historic incidents and happenings. This was held by Thucydides and Machiavelli which helped them in proving themselves a realist author. Thucydides and Machiavelli were considered to be the most popular historians and the reason was the way in which they treated law and political aspects of the government. Each and every part of their writings focused on the disregard for law and ethics that was followed in a country. This created a wave of fear among the residents of almost all the countries and the neighboring countries also felt the impact of the problem. Though they lived several decades before the independence of most of the nations, they are still popular due to their contribution to the history of their respective nations. Their political life also influenced other countries apart from their native countries. Their influence is still felt in most of the nations were their principles and political ideologies are being followed. Thucydides and Machiavelli are considered to be the fathers of political realism as they showed the political system of a country in a different dimension. The way they balanced a country’s government and political system and exertion of power made them the most sought after leaders of the country. They turned in to realist authors only after proving their mettle in the political system. (Thucydides, 1985). Their writings purely reflected their political experience and the way in which they dealt with the political problems and

Changes to the Role of the Management Accountant

Changes to the Role of the Management Accountant Using appropriate academic literature, critically evaluate the argument that the role of the management accountant has changed in recent years from traditional accounting functions to that of a strategic planner and a business partner. Introduction When it comes to the change of management accounting or management accountant, several researchers and scholars have stated the similar view that people cannot describe the management accountants as the bean counter, the scorekeeper or the corporate cop in the contemporary age, their new role are performed as a strategic planner and a business partner within the organization. (Anastas, 1997; Bromwich, 1990; Burns et al., 1999; Byrne and Pierce, 2007; Johnson, Kaplan , 1987; Roslender and Hart, 2002) This essay is aiming to find out how the bean counter, the scorekeeper and the corporate cop become to the internal consultant, the strategic planner as a business partner. Before the main body of this essay, the writer makes a hypothesis that there is an inference procedure that causing the change of the management accountants role. It is widely appreciated that the business environment has greatly changed in the recent years. Thus that the traditional management accounting is not suitab le for the contemporary business, a new management accounting system was generated. Following that there are many new management accounting techniques are required, it directly change the task of management accountants. Finally all these process have caused the change of the role of the management accountant. In the following parts of this essay, the writer will analyze all the parts of this process respectively refer to the other scholars research findings, this is for examine and certify the hypothesis in the last paragraph. The changing business environment It is not deniable that the business environment has already dramatically changed during the last decades, which is toward a more competitive orientation. It includes many external and internal factors. In the general economic area, the globalization is integrating the world into a global market. It could lead it to an increasing competition. Companies have to pay more and more attention on the customer and market orientation. The development of technology is another factor both in the information system and the methods of production with the widespread use of enterprise resource planning systems (ERP). The change of organizational management structure could affect the business as an internal factor.(Burns et al., 1999) The development of digitisation could also change the business environment, for example e-mail has already replaced the traditional postage and fax to a great extent, which is benefit from the wide spread of the internet. It could reduce the cost and enhance the compa nies efficiency. The new technology could also be applied to the monitoring performance area. For instance, factories could profit from the use of beepers and mobile phones to monitor workers performance, while restaurants could benefit from the use of beepers in their operating system.(Zimmerman, 2009) There are also many other elements could cause the market condition changing, such as the commencement of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) could decrease companies cost among Mexico, Canada and the United States. American and Canadian companies may set their factories in Mexico for the lower labour cost. The same situations have also emerged in China, Vietnam and some other developing countries.(Zimmerman, 2009) The new business environment also bring a huge revolution in the other fields, for example the demand of more quality control, customer-focused, the intellectual capital, automation, increasing overheads, decreasing direct labour cost and more emphasis on envir onmental and external issues. The drawbacks of traditional management accounting The traditional management accounting was driven by the external financial requirements but not the internal or actual need. For instance, it fails to compare the cost with the competitors, which is a fatal factor in the business competition. Tends to be too technical Many accountants focus on their contribution only in the financial numbers, but ignore the other useful information which the users may require. (Pierce and ODea, 2003) Most companies still use single overhead allocation base Time Limitation Pierce and ODea (2003) found that most managers complained that the traditional information system cannot provide timeliness information to the users. For example, some managers reflected that even though the financial information could cover almost all they needed, but they cannot use it timely cause the information lag. It could extremely influence their decision making process. Mainly focus on the internal performance of the organization but ignoring the other activities, such as external and social issues. Paying too much attention on the manufacturing but neglecting the high cost post-conversion activities. The change of management accounting A UK research project claimed that management accounting had not changed over six decades in Britain. (Burns et al., 1999) Despite there are some substantial improvement in the technological and environmental areas.(Johnson, Kaplan , 1987) Several studies revealed that the traditional management accounting system and techniques were still valuable and some new management accounting techniques were not widely used as expectation, such as activity-based costing (ABC) and strategic management accounting. (Burns et al., 1999) However, the advancement of information technology could enhance the management accounting into a higher level, which means that managers could have a direct and real time access to the information instead of waiting for the accountants sort it out.(Burns et al., 1999) It could make managers conducting the accountants task by themselves, for instance budgeting, analyze and calculation. (Burns et al., 1999) This change has brought a more significant effect on forecasting rather than budgeting.(Hope and Fraser, 1997) This means that managers could forecast by themselves, while budgeting was accountants traditional work. The commercial orientated gave the British managers a further view on the potential factors which could making profit in a long term.(Burns et al., 1999) It could be considered in the management strategy and interpreting by the non-financial terms.(Burns and Scapens, 1997) It implied that financial information could only provide limited picture, not the whole. Thus there are two possible solutions. The first one is that some new techniques could be used by management accountants to provide a comprehensive view, such as ABC system. Alternatively, the financial information could be kept in a simple way but could be interpreted in the wider background.(Burns et al., 1999) Based on the previous analysis, the form of management accounting has been changed, but there is no huge difference on the management accounting techniques. Strategic Management Accounting The strategic management accounting has already introduced in the accounting literature more than ten years. (Berverley R, 1996)It is defined as The provision and analysis of financial information on the firms product markets and competitors cost and cost structures and the monitoring of the enterprises strategies and those of its competitors in these markets over a number of periods (Bromwich, 1990) The Charted Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) also defined it as A form of management accounting which emphasis is placed on information which relates to factors external to the firm, as well as non-financial information and internally generated information. The majority of literature in the United Kingdom stress that the strategic management accounting extends the traditional management accounting from internal factors to the external competitors information.(Berverley R, 1996)Comparing with the traditional management accounting, it has more external, forward-looking and longer -term orientated and the strategically driven.(Roslender and Hart, 2002) There are three main characteristics of the strategic management accounting were summarized, which are the collection of competitor information, exploitation of cost reduction opportunities and the matching of accounting emphasis with strategic position.(Berverley R, 1996) Some scholars describe the strategic management accounting as a specific form of approach to the provision of accounting information to management'(Roslender and Hart, 2002) The new requirements to management accountants As the previous analysis, the traditional management accounting techniques is still essential skills that management accountants should grasp. However, in the contemporary age, there are several new tasks that management accountants should perform. Before 1980s, the majority of the managers expected the management accountants roles performed as a service staff who can provide the satisfying such managers information.(Hopper, 1980) The requirements to management accountants are not only about becoming an expert in the financial matters, but also having a broad view in business and good teamwork capability with their collegues.(Burns et al., 1999) Pierce and Bernard (2003) have concluded that the management accountants should have the knowledge and skills in three domains. Firstly, they have to be the master of the essential technical knowledge which could make them have the ability to modify information. Secondly, they also need to learn the other business knowledge, such as IT, marketing. Lastly, a well developed interpersonal relationship skills is necessary by the reason that the accountants have increasing number of cooperation with other staff within the organization. Anastas (1997) has also stated that management accountan ts have to handle the new information technology software, achieving an average understanding of the business and fluently express their idea both in writing and speaking in order to interact with their colleagues. Anastas (1997) stressed that to achieve the success in the role of internal consultants; management accountants must improve their interpersonal skills and the knowledge of productivity and administration. The strategic management accounting provides management accountants an opportunity to get a position in the decision making team.(Roslender and Hart, 2002) The strategic management accounting requires management accountants having techniques, such as competitor position analysis, target costing and life cycle costing.(Roslender and Hart, 2002) The role of the management accountant in organisations Management accountants role in an organization has been considerably changed in recent years.(Anastas, 1997; Burns et al., 1999; Byrne and Pierce, 2007; Johnson, Kaplan , 1987; Pierce and ODea, 2003; Zimmerman, 2009) Several literature have stated the same views. In the past, when people were thinking of management accountant, they always associated it with some words, such as the scorekeepers, the bean counters and the corporate cops.(Byrne and Pierce, 2007; Zimmerman, 2009) This is because management accountants were not the decision-makers or decision participants; they always played the role as assistants or financial information providers to the real or actual managers in the decision making process. But in 1999, the situation has changed. Increasing managerial accountants began to help their companies to analyze the business as an interior consultant. With the development of the technology, they do not need to use the majority of their working time for preparing the financial r eports. They therefore have more and more time to explain or translate the accounting information to the people who need to use these within the organization as a member of the decision making team. Siegel (1999) remarked that the role of management accountants has evolved from serving internal customers into being a business partner. Some accountants even changed their title from corporate controllers to business analysts (Burns et al., 1999) A key role of the management accountant is that interpreting the financial information to a more readily comprehensible perception to the internal and external users.(Burns et al., 1999) As it was depicted Information technology is pushing management accountants and financial managers up the ladder as they become advisors or internal consultants to other manager in the company who have access to software manage cost and budgets.(Anastas, 1997) Pierce and ODea (2003) have interviewed many managers with an opened question that sharing their views of the future role of the management accountants. Their responses were highly consistent that management accountants role will be the business partner. Management accountants should interact with management within several aspects, including the raise of their physical location, the requirement of their team work capability and the understanding of business. There will be fewer management accountants but they will be at the higher level of management in the organization as a member of the cross-functional team share their view in the decision making process.(Anastas, 1997) The evolution of the information technology liberated management accountants from the bean counter, corporate cop to a higher level role internal consultant or strategist who make the recommendation to guide the decision making process (Anastas, 1997) CONCLUSION The analysis in the main body reflects the consistency with the hypothesis in the introduction section, but not completely same. To start with, the business environment is changing as the assumption. The business environment is changed to a more competitive, customer-oriented due to the globalization, digitisation and some other changed business conditions. In addition the writer analyzes the disadvantages of the traditional management accounting, which is not applicable for the present system and fulfil the requirements in the new business environment. Following that the analysis of the change of the management accounting shows that although there is a new business environment, but the basic management accounting techniques is still required, it is still necessary. But due to the development of the business, the requirements of the management accountants are not only demand the accountants have the traditional and basic management accounting techniques, but also some new task of the understanding of knowledge in the other business area and a good interpersonal skills for the increasing teamwork opportunities. Hence, the role of the management accountants has been changed from the financial information provider (the basic role) to the internal consultant in the organizations as a business partner. The strategic management accounting system could provide management accountants a higher level to perform their new role to satisfy the new requirements. As Burns (1999) founded that although the role of the management accountants is changed, but they still have to use the traditional management accounting system, some people called it antique.

Essay --

Qualities of A Successful Nurse In this modern day and age, registered nursing has rapidly sky-rocketed up the ideal career charts, and is becoming a very prominent career. Far too often it becomes easy to just focus on the potential salary you will make. However, it is important to remember that to be a successful nurse you need to have physical endurance, great communication skills, and be adaptive to change. First, nursing is no where close to being the average everyday desk job. A nurse is basically a doctors "Right Hand Man", because they are responsible for following all of the doctor's orders and instructions. Being physically fit is an important quality to have in a successful nurse. There is a possibility that a nurse will have a patient larger than them, and they may have to lift the patient without any help. Also, there is a chance that a patient will fall or is falling around you, and the nurse is responsible for catching them. It is vital to always be prompt in nursing, because everyday is different, and it is good to always be prepared. The typical shift for a nurse is anywhere from ten to twelve hours a day. It is always beneficial to wear proper fitting clothes and most definitely comfortable shoes, because a nurse is on their feet for long periods of time. Although a nurse receives a set schedule, it is important to realize you may have to work longer than originally plann ed. Some of the most obvious reasons for changes in the schedule is a short staff, being scheduled to stay on-call, or if you are assisting in surgery. Most importantly, having great communication skills is key in order to be a great nurse. Strong communication skills are a basic foundation for any career, but for a nurse it is one of the mo... ...finitely not the average job with a set in stone eight to twelve hour shift. Nurses have to understand that even though they may be scheduled for a ten hour shift, there is almost always a possibility that they will have to work longer. To conclude, to be a successful nurse there are a lot of special qualities needed to provide complete care to a patient. This essay discussed three common qualities that can be seen in modern day nurses. Physical endurance is a good quality for nurses to have, because their job involves a lot of standing and physical activity. Great communication skills are especially important, because it enables you to provide the best complete care of a patient, and their family. Being adaptive to change is the last quality discussed in this essay. It is a good quality to have, because it provides the flexibility needed to be a successful nurse.

About Stress and Health

Life is full of frustrations, deadlines, and demands. Unfortunately stress can be an outcome of all of those things. Stress can be defined as a change that causes emotional, physical, psychological strain. It is a reaction to a sense of danger whether it is real or imagined. The stress response is the body’s way of trying to protect you. Stress tends to affect all aspects of wellness. Things like money, work, family, relationships all play a role in having stress problems.Not only does stress affect your health but it also affects your body, thoughts, feelings and behavior. FACT: Stress hormones slow down the release of stomach acid which affects how well your stomach can empty itself. Higher levels of stress can cause high blood pressure and raise cholesterol levels as well. I did not know this but stress can also influence your immune system; which is something important because it slows everything down making it easier to catch colds and infections.Stress releases cortisol into the body. Cortisol makes people crave fats and carbohydrates causing weight gain in the abdominal area. FACT: Having an argument with a loved one when stressed is equivalent to a life-or-death situation. Who would have known that something so small could end up so serious? So many symptoms come into play when dealing with stress. For example cognitive symptoms which are mental symptoms include memory problems, inability to concentrate, constant worrying, racing and anxious thoughts.Emotional symptoms include moodiness, irritability, and feeling overwhelmed. Physical symptoms include aches and pains, chest pain or rapid heartbeat and nausea. Finally, behavioral symptoms include eating more/less, sleeping too little/much, using alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs to relax. None of the things listed above are something that people want to face in their everyday lives but sometimes it happens to the best of us. Influencing your stress tolerance is very important in overcoming any stress related problems.First you need a supportive network. Friends and family that are supportive of your decisions and who you are as a being are extremely important. Next is a sense of control. You need to be able to be confident in yourself with every decision you make and obstacle you face. You also need to have an optimistic attitude, embrace challenges, have a strong sense of humor, accept change as a part of life, and believe in a higher power and purpose. Being negative about life and the things around you will just bring you down.When dealing you’re your emotions you need to be able to bring them back to balance. Also making things easy to cope with and keeping that positive attitude are important. Although there are many negatives when it comes to stress there are also some positive things as well. When working properly it can help you stay focused and energetic. Also it can prevent you from accidents; like when slamming on the brakes to avoid an accident. Stress is wha t tends to keep people on their toes and help people rise to meet their challenges.Stress is a huge thing that can take over a person’s behavior and emotions. No one ever really thinks that being stressed can cause such big problems and it can. Although it does have its good things stress tends to be mainly a negative thing on the wellness of people. Staying positive and finding a way for us to relax is a way that can get rid of all the stress. Relaxation is key! Stress is in everyday life situation for individuals and will be around as long as we still have our everyday struggles.

AT&T’s use of Total Quality Management

The following is an attempt to analyze AT&T's use of Total Quality Management throughout its organization. Since AT&T is an elaborately enormous corporation I will focus my study to AT&T Power Systems/Lucent Technologies. This division of AT&T has been the industry standard for excellence since TQM was first introduced to the company. AT&T Power Systems has become one the world's most dynamic companies because of its use of TQM. I will provide a brief description of who AT&T Power Systems is, a description of the events that lead up to its use of TQM, AT&T's TQM philosophy, and how this philosophy was implemented. Finally I will discuss the benefits AT&T Power Systems realized through their use of Total Quality Management. AT&T Power Systems provides a verity of power products for the data processing and telecommunications industries. Power System and its 4,200 employee's design, develop, manufacture, and market electronic power systems, components, and power supplies to an increasingly international marketplace. In the past ten years AT&T as a whole has gone through a dramatic metamorphous. It was forced to change from a large telecommunications monopoly providing universal telephone service, to a competitive global corporation roviding a full range of communication services and technologies. The â€Å"new† AT&T is a potpourri of smaller, highly focussed entities. Each entity has its own customers, competitors, and operational functions. Power Systems is the pinnacle of the â€Å"new† AT&T. In less than five years Power Systems has become the prototype for successfully implementing the cultural and organizational revolution know as Total Quality Management. It has not only received internal recognition, but external achievement as well. In 1994 Power Systems was the first American company to win Japan's prestigious Deming Prize for Quality Management. In the ame year AT&T's long distance division won America's Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. AT&T's TQM philosophy made it the first corporation to win these two awards. Why did Power Systems change to TQM? Prior to 1990 Power Systems provided equipment for only its parent company AT&T. Power Systems was a lackluster division of AT&T that reported losses in numerous quarters. As the scope AT&T and business as a whole changed Power Systems was forced to survive on its own. No longer would losses be tolerated, if the work couldn't be completed in a cost-effective manner the division would be sold and the work would be given to an A. M. (Andy) Guarriello, Vice President & COO of Power Systems, was given the job of implementing TQM. Guarriello along with Power Systems management team launched the â€Å"Dallas Vision† project, an initiative involving physical, organizational, and philosophical changes that soon led to the adoption of Total Quality Management as the management system for the future. Power Systems consolidated several of its locations into several small internal business units. These units would become to foundation that Power Systems operated on. Each units is given the resources to develop, engineer, manufacture, and its products. Functions such as human resources, finance, marketing, and sales are provided by smaller organizations developed to support the internal Power Systems Dallas unit was completely redesigned. This 900,000 square foot facility was rearranged into what AT&T calls â€Å"focused factories. Each â€Å"focused factory† has the capability to accept incoming material, manufacture, and ship finished products. This layout was designed much within the guidelines of the Japanese JIT system. Power Systems took the Japanese approach to TQM and modified to fit the AT&T culture. The TQM riteria developed within Power Systems were selected to ensure the company's ongoing focus on high standards for customer orientation, process excellence, employee involvement and continuous improvement. AT&T's TQM philosophy has three main components Quality Policy Deployment, Daily Work Management, and Quality Improvement. These three components combine to ensure robust solutions and continuous improvements. Quality Policy Deployment is the process of aligning the company's attention and resources on a few high-priority, customer-focused issues. This is done to achieve to realize vast improvements in performance. Daily Work Management is a process of defining, measuring, and managing the day-to-day work of individuals and groups to obtain incremental improvements. This gives individual employees the opportunity to see improvements in measures they understand. Quality Improvement is a team-based problem-solving methodology that uses the seven-step process known as the â€Å"QI story process. † The â€Å"QI story process† is designed to detect and eliminate errors that cause defects. Together these three concepts formed an effective solution to Underlying these three concepts are four principles that are the foundation of AT&T's TQM philosophy. These four are customer satisfaction, management-by-fact, respect for people, and P-D-C-A. P-D-C-A is Plan-Do-Check-Act developed by Shewhart. These four principles helped Power Systems implement its cultural change. Without any one of these TQM will not work, so Power Systems' management instituted a training regiment that had every employee had at least two full days of training within the first year of implementation. Power Systems has instilled pride in each one of its employees, which perpetuates outside the business to their customers. Each manager, worker, team member, and internal group believe that they can make a ifference in the operation of the company. Each also believes they have the responsibility to produce a quality product efficiently that not only meets their customer's needs, but also makes profit. This attitude as propelled Power Systems, or as it is now known Lucent Technologies, to the top of its industry. What Benefits did Power Systems see from TQM? Power Systems surpassed the expectations of management to realize colossal growth. Below is a list of improvements from a 1994 AT&T press release. These improvements pertain specifically to Power Systems.