A Day in Life of Frederic Gode

Case Report On A day in the life of Frederic Godé, Operations Manager, BonPain

By: ANKIT MALHOTRA SMBA 11005 Sec - A

Introduction

The case talks about daily activities followed by Mr Frederic Gode, the operations manager of a France based bakers, BonPain, Orleans which supplies frozen ‘par  ba ke d’ it em s to supe rm ark et s in the Eu rope. Further the case describes about the high volume products manufactured by the company, variety & wide range of packing required by every product. Moreover it discusses about the experiments done in the kitchen to develop & introduce new  pr oduc ts in the ma rk et as pe r th e req ui re me nt of the ir cu st om ers .

Q1 .Analyze the many things that Frederic does during his typical day. You should group these in terms of the five categories below, and provide a full list of subcategories f or each: Strategic

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Productivity & Quality Control Business enhancement plans Expansion in capacity and process automation Demand forecasting Developing new products for competitive market Dealing with suppliers issues that are upsetting company’s performance

Design

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Expansion of business to meet increasing demands Automation & robotization of packing Design new equipment’s for new type of products to be launched Increase in storage capacity to ensure timely deliveries Design new process & quality controls for customer satisfaction Maintenance & repairs for existing equipment

Planning & Control

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Check on productivity and quality control Planning for production controls of new projects Regular meeting with concerned personnel to view the progress, resolve issues and planning required for future ventures Equipment failure and to prevent such occurrences in future Planning for routine and new delivery orders Increase cost efficiency by reducing wastage of raw materials Implementation of new planning tools like Material Requirement Planning Preparation and review of production statistics to be presented in Board’s meeting and highlight any issues

Improvement

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Quality reports to highlight improvements needed Incorporation of new equipment & enhanced capacity for better performance with improved deliveries.

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Visit with technical teams to ensure smooth process and ways to improve

Others (Staff Problems)

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 Need for training and future roles of employees to avoid any human resource issues. Association with staff & supervisors to improve production to meet the ri sing demands. Satisfy the anxiety in staff’s mind regarding their role in the company due to changing environment.

Q2 .Assess the approximate proportions of Frederic’s time that is spent on long-term and on short-term issues. Do you think this is typical of Operations Managers in other industries (for example, banking, leisure, automotive component manufacture) as well? The day for Frederic Gode starts like every operations managers day. Gode’s day activities majorly focuses on short term issues like:

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Production & Quality Statistics Touring & supervising the factory to ensure smooth operations. Designing improved products to meet the market demand. Improving delivery issues Resolving daily issues Listening & resolving client’s grievances. Designing short term plans.

Over & above the short term issues, he also pa ys attention to long term goals of the organization, which include: - Long term planning for new projects -  Needs for expansion in the production line to meet rising demand - Preparing & analysing production statistics to forecast f uture demands. - Bring in advanced technology in the company to reduce wastage.

In my opinion, being an operation manager of an industry related to daily consuming  products this situation is common & very well recognized. As an operation manager of such industries you have less time to meet the requirements of your clients & are pretty competitive in nature in order to grasp the market share. Q3. What is Frederic’s involvement in the technology acquisition decisions? What are his main concerns when evaluating the capability of new equipment?

Frederic played a very affluent role in technology acquisitions as Frederic identified that the staff was working over time since a long time and this will not work for long henceforth he recognised the need of new machines which would simplify down the work. To make automation really happen he met with the reps of F-r obot who gave him an option to choose from high speed and low speed machines. He also knew that if he doesn’t find a

way to ease the work for workforce who has been working overtime it would create dissatisfaction & inefficiency and increase in the amount of wastage as well Key Concerns when evaluating the capability of new equipment’s are: -

Buying equipment’s are expensive & an irreversible decision Equipment need to be customised as per particular types of products Customised machines would bind the future flexibility of the proposed robot packers. Operational issues like capacity, flexibility, reliability, maintenance, spare parts inventory and quality were major concerns. Another concern was regarding training the operators and maintenance staff

Q4 . What main human resources issues are an important part of Frederic’s activities?

Today Human Resource plays a vital role in ever y organization. Similarly in this case human resource vibrant role is im portant. But during the case I have visualized a few issues in HR, they are as follows: Excessive wastage of raw material due to lack of supervision. -  Ne ed fo r tr ai ni ng the ex is ti ng em pl oyees fo rec as ti ng the futur e ro le s to avoi d conflicts. - Changing the mind perspective of employees to motivate them work in align with the organisational goals. - Lack of communication between e mployees of various departments, Ex: The  production manager was not keeping a check on the requirements from time to time as they used to often run out of apricots - Inability to resolve issues quickly - Workers working excessive overtime - Inability to meet customer deadlines - Organization Hierarchical structure Q5 . In what ways Frederic’s operations contribute to the competitive advantage of the company?

Fredric’s operation are vital for the organization & contribute to a great advantage to t he comp any, some of the maj or contributions include; -

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Reviewing daily operations Resolving daily issues Automation for enhanced production Implementation of new Materials Requirement Planning (MRP) system within the ERP  project which would help in inventory control and placing of call-off orders. Review of new market trends, introduction of new products & attracting new clients Developing cost effective ways of production Utilization of staff to increase performance Planning for expansion projects to meet the rising demands Quality improvements Feedback and resolution of client’s complaints