The ultimate goal of operations management is to provide high-quality goods and services instantaneously in response to customer demand. Over the years, low cost often came at the expense of quality and flexibility. Furthermore, suppliers didn't always deliver when they said they would, so manufacturers had to carry large inventories of raw materials and components to keep producing. Such inefficiencies made U. S. companies vulnerable to foreign competitors who were using more advanced production techniques As a result of new global competition, companies have had to make a wide variety of high-quality custom-designed products at a very low cost. Something had to change on the production floor to make that possible. Several major developments have made U. S.companies more competitive: (1) computer-aided design and manufacturing
(2) flexible manufacturing,
(3) lean manufacturing, and
(4) mass customization,
(5) CAD
(6) CAM
Match the company or role with the most appropriate manufacturing technique.
Dress designer: In addition to helping in the design of products, the use of this system allows designers to work in three dimensions
Shoe designer: The manufacturer programs the computer to make a simple design change, and then that change is readily Incorporated into production
Purse designer: Software programs unite these two computer-aided support systems. While the software is expensive, it cuts as much as 80 percent of the time needed to program machines to make parts.
Motor starters: Orders come in daily and, within 24 hours, the company's machines and robots manufacture, test, and package the starters-which are untouched by human hands. This system is so efficient it can even accommodate a special order (even a single item) in the assembly without slowing down the process.
Toyota corporation: This company utilizes the strategy of using half the human effort, halving the defects in the finished product, using one-third of the normal engineering effort, using half the floor space, and carrying 90 percent less inventory
Dell computers: Dell has set up its manufacturing process so that all its computers can be quickly assembled to individual customer orders.