Report on an operational problem from the real world with a focus in Essay

Report on an operational problem from the real world with a focus in FINANCE - Essay Example The company has been forced to recall the cars because part of the engine cylinder overheats and cracks due to stress. This causes oil leakages onto the exposed, hot engine parts and causes fires. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has reported at least thirteen engines Ford engine fires in the United States and one in Canada caused by cracked cylinder heads. Approximately 11,500 cars that were recalled in July 2012 were splitting and leaking gasoline due to fault fuel lines (Jensen, 2013). In 2013, Ford had recalled almost all Escape models for carpet padding, which interfered with the use of the brake pedal. Other reasons for increased recalls by Ford include fixing engine plugs leak and fixing child locks. The Supply Chain Management tools that can be applied to the problem include sigma-sigma, lean manufacturing, and assembly line balancing. The company expects to reduce the number of car recalls by 87% after applying the three management tools. Keywords: Ford Motor C ompany, cars, Six-Sigma, defective Background Information The Ford Company recalls problem was retrieved from a business articles. The author of the article was Christopher Jensen. The article is entitled Ford Discloses Two New Recalls for the 2013 Escape and was published on November 27, 2013 by the New York Times news agency. Ford Motor Company is an American International automaker with headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan (Flory, 2013). The company manufactures and sells commercial vehicles under the Ford brand name and luxurious cars under the Lincoln brand. Ford invented strategies for large-scale manufacturing of cars and management of an industrial workforce using elaborately engineered manufacturing sequences characterized by assembly lines. The company’s net income as at the end of December 12, 2012 was US$ 5,665,000 (Flory, 2013). According to Flory (2013), Ford Motor Company is the second-largest automaker in the United States, and the fifth worldwide based on the 2 012 vehicle sales. Currently, Ford has more than 90 plants and 213,000 employees. Problem Description The primary problem of Ford Motor Company is how to improve assembly processes in order to reduce the number of car recalls. Car recalls occur because the company manufactures and assembles cars with several defects such as oil leakages, defective braking systems, and unfixed special locks, leading to repeats and repairs. Repeat manufacturing and repairs causes companies to incur additional manufacturing costs, which reduce the company’s profits and increase the losses (Hull, 2011). Additionally, increasing car recalls is scaring away both current and prospective customers, leading to widespread market reduction. The company needs to adopt proper manufacturing, operation and management tools/concepts in order to achieve zero defects and reduce the amount of reworks. Operations and Supply Chain Management Concepts/tools to be used1.5 Six-sigma Six-Sigma is a set of tools and t echniques for operations and process improvement; it seeks to improve the quality of the processes by using a set of quality management methods such as statistical methods to create special infrastructure of people within the organization (Desai, 2010). Manufacturing companies that need to improve manufacturing processes and achieve zero defects apply Six-Sigma quality tools. Hull (2011) argues that using six-Sigma methodologies such as

The relationship between the nations of the global north and the Essay

The relationship between the nations of the global north and the global south, both before World War II and especially afterwards - Essay Example Even the Global North was effected with the political scenario that prevailed in the scene of pre First World War events and the post Second World War events. Japan for example was totally destroyed by the events that took place in the Second World War. Prior to the Second World War, Japanese government undertook offensive intentions that were dangerous towards the world as well as their own prosperity. The occurrence of the event of Hiroshima and Nagasaki crippled the entire structure of existence and led to destruction in totality. In the post world war second scenario, Japan had to start from scratch in order to provide the people with a means of living and also support their basic needs. In the post world war Two Scenario, the North had an edge over the South. Since the South was economically and politically weak, the North aimed at cashing in on this weakness and in turn provided them conditional assistance. This assistance came about in the form of political dictions. The events of the Cold War in the post Second World War events led to the more suited atmosphere for the North part of the world to bring about their own dictated terms upon the South. The South, badly in need of resources, funds and other basic needs to maintain their economic growth and prevent themselves from falling below the poverty line, had to embrace the tough and vested conditions and interests of the North. The events that took place in the earlier part had a greater impact for the major part of the 20th century. Its traces can be felt even in the modern times in the different parts of the world. The South American continent that comprises of the states of the likes of Bolivia, Cuba, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Peru are still in the throes of economic hurdles and obstacles. In the post First World One scenario, there were two distinct blocs within the Europe, United states of America and its other allies aimed at creating trust and partnership within. While the Central powers