Giới thiệu về quy trình quản lý dịch vụ ô tô tại đại lý Toyota (Tài liệu tiếng anh)

Tài liệu: Giới thiệu về quy trình quản lý dịch vụ ô tô tại đại lý Toyota Trong thiên niên kỷ mới, ngành quản lý dịch vụ, vận hành đóng một vai trò quan trọng trong mọi doanh nhân, các ngành công nghiệp hiện đại hóa và các công ty tiên tiến trên toàn cầu. Một thực tế hiển nhiên là dịch vụ không chỉ hỗ trợ cho bất kỳ doanh nghiệp nào mà còn nâng cao và phát triển chất lượng của họ vì sự tiện ích của khách hàng.

TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THESIS 1

1.1 Overview 1

1.2 The object and scope of research 1

1.2.1 Object of Research 1

1.2.2 Scope of the Research 2

1.3 Research methodology 2

1.4 Outline of thesis 2

CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BASIC 3

2.1 Introduction to operations management 3

2.1.1 Introduction 3

2.1.2 The Customer’s View of The World 3

2.1.3 A Firm’s Strategic Trade-Offs 4

2.1.4 Overcoming Inefficiencies: The Three System Inhibitors 5

2.1.5 Conclusion 6

2.2 Introduction to processes 6

2.2.1 Process Definition, Scope, and Flow Units 6

2.2.2 Three Key Process Metrics: Inventory, Flow Rate, and Flow Time 9

2.2.3 Little’s Law – Linking Process Metrics Together 10

2.2.4 Conclusion 11

2.3 Process Analysis 11

2.3.1 How to draw a Process Flow Diagram 11

2.3.2 Capacity for a One-Step process 16

2.3.3 How to Compute Flow Rate, Utilization, and Cycle Time 16

2.3.4 How to Analyze a Multistep Process and Locate the Bottleneck 18

2.3.5 The Time to Produce a Certain Quantity 18

2.3.6 Conclusion 19

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2.4 Process Improvement 19

2.4.1 Introduction 19

2.4.2 Measures of Process Efficiency 20

2.4.3 How to Choose a Staffing Level to Meet Demand 22

2.4.4 Off-Loading the Bottleneck 23

2.4.5 Conclusion 23

2.5 Process analysis with multiple flow units 23

2.5.1 Introduction 23

2.5.2 Generalized Process Flow Patterns 24

2.5.3 Attrition Losses, Yields, and Scrap Rates 24

2.5.4 Flow Unit – Dependent Processing Time 25

2.5.5 Conclusion 28

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS 28

3.1 Research in operations management 28

3.1.1 The aim and the scope of research 28

3.1.2 Roles of researcher 28

3.1.3 The research process 29

3.1.4 Research as contribution to knowledge 30

3.1.5 What to research for academia and practice? 31

3.1.6 Research quality 32

3.2 The research process 33

3.2.1 Contributing the knowledge 33

3.2.2 Using literature to develop the research topic 34

3.2.3 Considerations in choosing a research approach 35

3.3 Surveys 37

3.3.1 The survey research process 37

3.3.2 What is needed prior to survey research design? 37

3.3.3 Data Analysis and Interpretation of Results 39

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3.3.4 Questions to Check the Quality of an Ongoing Survey Research 39

3.4 Case Research 41

3.4.1 Introduction 41

3.4.2 When to use case research 41

3.4.3 The Research Framework, Constructs and Questions 43

3.4.4 Choosing Cases 44

3.4.5 Developing Research Instruments and Protocols 45

3.4.6 Conducting the Field Research 47

3.4.7 Reliability and Validity in Case Research 50

3.4.8 Data documentation and coding 50

3.4.9 Analysis 51

3.4.10 Conclusion 52

3.5 Longitudinal field studies 52

3.5.1 Introduction to the longitudinal field study 52

3.5.2 Setting up the longitudinal field study 53

3.5.3 Collecting data in the longitudinal field study 53

3.5.4 Analyzing longitudinal field data 53

3.5.5 Building theory from longitudinal field studies 53

3.5.6 Evaluating theory from longitudinal field studies 54

3.6 Modelling and simulation 54

3.6.1 Introduction 54

3.6.2 Origins and development of model-based research in OM 54

3.6.3 Methodologies in quantitative modelling 55

3.6.4 Conclusion 57

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYTICS 58

4.1 Type of data we use 58

4.1.1 Categories of Descriptive Data 58

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4.1.2 Measure of central tendency the mean median mode and their interpretations

and calculations 59

4.1.3 Measure of spread in data, the range, interquartile – range, standard deviation and variance 61

4.2 Relationship between variables 62

4.2.1 The covariance and correlation measures 62

4.2.2 Probability and Random Variables; Discrete Versus Continuous Data, Probability Density Function and Area Under the Curve 64

4.2.3 The Normal Distribution (Bell Curve), Norm.Dist, Norm.Inv Functions in Excel 65

4.3 Distribution and probability 68

4.3.1 The binomial and Poisson distributions 68

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPROVING SUGGESTIONS 71

5.1 Conclusion 71

5.1.1 Summarizing the data in separate sub-processes 71

5.1.2 Analyzing and Finding the Bottlenecks of the sub-processes 74

5.1.3 Detailed analysis of bottleneck process 75

5.2 Improving suggestions for Car Dealer 77

5.2.1 Process 77

5.2.2 Quality 80

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1 Consumer Utility, its components and subcomponents 3

Figure 2.2 Express Maintenance Process 7

Figure 2.3 Quick Repair Process 8

Figure 2.4 Toyota Bien Hoa Service Process 8

Figure 2.5 Flow Unit of a Process 9

Figure 2.6 General Process Flow Diagram 13

Figure 2.7 Activities at Reception sub-process of EM service 14

Figure 2.8 Complete Process Flow Diagram 16

Figure 3.1 Different process paths in case research 43

Figure 3.2 Choice of number and type of cases 44

Figure 3.3 Reliability and validity in case research 50

Figure 3.4 Research Model 56

Figure 4.1 Positive covariance and Negative covariance 63

Figure 4.2 Covariance formula Copyright® eduCBA 63

Figure 4.3 Example of Continuous Data (Copyright®: towarddatascience) 65

Figure 4.4 Example of Normal Distribution (Copyright®: alamy) 66

Figure 4.5 Bell curve properties of the distribution (Copyright®: alamy) 67

Figure 4.6 Poisson distribution 70

Figure 5.1 Histogram of Reception 71

Figure 5.2 Histogram of EM 72

Figure 5.3 Histogram of General Jobs 73

Figure 5.4 Histogram of Delivery 73

Figure 5.5 Required time of each sub-process 74

Figure 5.6 Time required for each sub-process 75

Figure 5.7 Time required for each task at Express Maintenance station 76

Figure 5.9 Time required for each task at General Jobs station 77

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 General Workflow Example 20

Table 2.2 Definitions of Measures 21

Table 2.3 Cycle Time of Sub-processes 22

Table 2.4 Demand for agents at 10-hour shift 26

Table 2.5 Calculating the time required 26

Table 2.6 Computing Demand of each Sub-process 27

Table 2.7 Implied Utilization of each sub-process 27

Table 4.1 Example of calculating Mean 60

Table 4.2 Example of Discrete Data 65

Table 5.1 Calculated data of each task 76

Table 5.2 Time-consuming of each task at GJ sub-process 77

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PMF – Probability Mass Function

STDEV – Standard Deviation

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THESIS

to replicate those calculations Instead, they should acknowledge how to identify thebottleneck in a process and use the ideas from the Toyota Production System to improveperformance And readers should understand what contract manufacturing is and why ithas grown so rapidly Summary, we want young readers to see how operations influenceand explain their own experiences

General view of operations means educating young readers much more than how to domath problems Instead, the emphasis is on the explicit linkages between operationsanalytics and the strategies organizations use for success For instance, we want younggeneration to acknowledge how to manage inventory In other words, general view ofoperations supplies readers with a brand new, broader perspective into the organizationsand markets they interact with every day We strongly believe that operationsmanagement is as relevant for a young adult’s future career as any other topic taught in abusiness school New companies and business models are created around concepts fromoperations management Established organizations live or die based on their ability tomanage their resources to match their supply to their demand One cannot trulyacknowledge how business works nowadays without understanding operationsmanagement To be a bit colloquial, this is “neat stuff,” and because the young willimmediately see the importance of operations management, we hope and expect they will

be engaged and excited to learn

1.2 THE OBJECT AND SCOPE OF RESEARCH

1.2.1 Object of Research

- Data Analysis

- Automotive Operation Management service theory

- Research methods about collecting figures in sub-processes.

1.2.2 Scope of the Research

- Collecting and analyzing figures from three main sub-processes

- Acknowledging the first five chapters from Operation Management material

- Learning Data Analysis to apply on Automotive Service

1.3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Method is the ideal way to observe and collect data correctly We willdemonstrate with detail in Research Method section in this graduated thesis

1.4 OUTLINE OF THESIS

Chapter 1: Introduction to Thesis

Chapter 2: Theoretical Basic

Chapter 3: Research Method

Chapter 4: Data Analytics

Chapter 5: Conclusion and Improving Suggestions

CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BASIC

2.1 INTRODUCTION TO OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

2.1.1 Introduction

Generally, in this very first phase, we would like to emphasize the main elementarydifficulties of connecting supply to demand This beginning desire us to focus ondemand, what do purchasers really want? After the demand is acknowledged, we take acareful look at the aspect of a solid experiment to deliver the demand, we look at thesupply procedure Following that, we consider the operational choices, a firm mustaccomplish to grant consumers with what they want at a minimum charge At the present,regularly, customers need better, more development and improvement in products foraffordably cheap costs However, in the particle modern world, this happening maybe notoften be elementary to settle Usually, a consecutive segment in this first phase discussabout overwhelming three main prevention that maintain the service from bringingoutstanding merchandises at low expend In addition, these avoidances, the activity alsorequires creating trade-offs and equity multiple, promisingly competing objectives Wecome to an end in this introductory stage by clarifying what occupation suited tooperations administration look alike and by supplying a short and solidified general view

of service control

2.1.2 The Customer’s View of The World

Figure 2.1 Consumer Utility, its components and subcomponents

Utility – A certain amount of preference that buyers really want for any product or

service Consumers buy the product or service that maximizes their utility Mostcustomers are looking for maximum utility For instance, customers want to purchase acheap, spacious, durable and reliable vehicles, which most of them are Toyota brand

Consumption Utility – Your ideal measure of how much level you want a product or

service, and not caring the effects of charge, cost and the uncomfortable of getting acertain product or service For example, a random person buys you a full Toyotarepairing service package at the Sub-process near the place you live

Performance – A sub-factor of the using utility that seizes how much an average person,

who consumes, really wants for a given service or product For instance, most of youngconsumers really love to buy and drive a 2020 Toyota Supra supercar

Fit – A sub-element of the devouring utility that takes up how well the product or service

connects to the exclusive characteristics of a certain customer For some people, they justwant a spacious and luxurious SUVs, while some other prefer small, compact, powerfulsedans

Price – The full amount of charge of receiving the service or having the product For

instance, the total bill for purchasing the brand-new Toyota Camry, which includingtaxes and number plate, is approximately 1.2 billion VND

Inconvenience – The devaluation in utility that results from the achievement of

purchasing the merchandise or service Example like customers in District 6 want to buy

a certain service package at Toyota Bien Hoa center but it is too far away from theirdestination

Location – The accommodation where a consumer can buy or obtain a product or

service For example, Toyota Bien Hoa center is the ideal place in Bien Hoa city forrepairing or buying new Toyota vehicles

Timing – The amount of period that flows away between the purchaser ordering service

or a product and the consumer obtaining service or the merchandise It’s like Flow Timefrom vehicle’s repaired order is made to the car is well-oiled

2.1.3 A Firm’s Strategic Trade-Offs

In the new millennium, all our new or loyal purchasers would be amazed because wedeliver and bring out excellent products or assistance and facility, we would adjustcustomers to the miscellaneous requirements of each and every our buyers, we woulddistribute to customers frequently anytime and anyplace the consumer feels like, and wewould also suggest everything, every item at very minimum and reasonable price.Unluckily this seldom happens, with a little percent For instance, competing in sports

entertainment, it is nearly impossible that you will be the best at wrestling, running,shooting, tennis, basketball, volleyball, soccer, gymnastics, and so on The same casecovers manufactures, they cannot be good at entirety Producers and manufactures havethe abilities that let them to accomplish well on some but not all the sub-factors making

up the purchasers’ serviceableness function

So, manufactures and producers hardly be good at all every aspect, as the matter of fact;they must cope with trade-offs in their business and organizations For more detail, theytrade off consumption utility and the charges of delivering the merchandises or services

It is also the same with this challenge, they trade off the inconvenience anduncomfortable of purchasing their services or products with the price of supplying them;and, as the Toyota competes with Honda for instance demonstrated, they even have todeal with trade-offs among non-cost-related sub-elements of the utility function

To put it briefly, you can wonder about three main techniques in which operationsadministration can be enhanced a business or organization as it seeks to connect almostperfectly supply with demand:

 Make trade-offs among the aspects and elements of accomplishment

 Lower incompetence and inefficiencies in case the business does not have toeliminate one performance aspect versus another, thereby moving toward theproductive frontier

 Renew, redevelop and improve the operations, approaching to a shift in theeffective boundary

2.1.4 Overcoming Inefficiencies: The Three System Inhibitors

Waste corresponds to all the consumption of inputs and resources that do not add value

to the customers Because waste consumes inputs and resources, waste is costly Most ofeateries must get rid of redundant food that has been bought and maintained but has notbeen performed before it is out of date Some worse scenarios, food is cooked properlyand repaired but then not been purchased, costing the eatery resources and input

On the other hand, variability is the second system inhibitor Variability correlates withchanges in either supply or demand over time Think about buyer demand draws parallelwith the variability first We have the ability of distinguishing between the followingforms of demand variability:

 Customer arrivals: Purchasers may arrive at any period of the day when they

want However, some of this variability is easy to forecast and predict Forinstance, a random eatery has more order and demand at early afternoon than

at 16:00 But differences come in every day and it is almost impossible tohave a perfectly advanced plan

 Customer requests: It is quite challenging because we also don’t really know

what exact menu item a random consumer feels like to have Additionally,the quantity of purchasers’ demand food on a certain day unpredictable to us

Manufactures also have to deal with variability in their supply too This could illustrate

in the following forms:

 Disruptions: Occasionally, an employee works faster than normal; also, on

other occasion, he performs slower There is also a change that he is absenttoo There are a lot of reasons why workers might take a day off, such asterrible weather, illness, family’ problems and so on This situation is alsothe same as some devices might be broke down and electronic systems coulddisplay slowly, or a repair is required

 Defects: A business cannot be developed easily in a straight line, sometimes

things have to go in other direction in a negative way Chiefs cook the wrongcustomer order, food gets undercooked, blue or not season properly, and paychecks can also goes wrong Therefore, these situations may grow morevariability in the operation

We define flexibility as an operation’s ability to react to variability Inflexibility, which

is our third process inhibitor, is thus the inability of an operation to change in responsequickly and cheaply to new information

2.1.5 Conclusion

The only thing that matter in operations control is serving customers their ideal services

or products while utilizing and taking good advantage of facilities, inputs and resources

so that charges are minimum enough to created value to the company Connecting supply

to demand while making benefit is never easy and sometimes hardship occurs due to thefact that the three system inhibitors happens all the time and manufacturers have to dealwith them Self-wonder what the buyer really feels like and what maintains us fromsuiting this demand to a supply that we can somehow supply at reasonably affordable lowprice to still create value to company

2.2 INTRODUCTION TO PROCESSES

2.2.1 Process Definition, Scope, and Flow Units

Process is an arrange of actions which conclude of intakes, processing stage or

operations with those inputs, and then produce a group of results

For instance, Express Maintenance repaired-category at Toyota in Bien Hoa industrialcity receives Toyota vehicles (inputs); carries out several advanced techniques, depend onconditions and vehicle’s odometers, like changing engine oil, filling coolant, cleaning air

filter, replacing old tires with new ones; and then sends them back to drivers or owners(output), hopefully with better repair quality or customer service to enhance customersatisfaction This can appear like a very complicated process There are many peopleinvolved, such as Customers, Receptionist, Service Advisors, Technical Advisors, andTechnicians There are various pieces of complex equipment and there are also a couple

of rooms, including a waiting room, customer service room and procedure areas Despitethe complication of an Express Maintenance stage, if we get down to business and look at

the general picture, the complication can be taken down to the Figure 2.2.

Figure 2.2 Express Maintenance Process

Process Flow Diagram stimulates the processing stage by some basic graphics, for

instance squares as facilities or resources, arrows consider as flows, and triangles ascapacity or inventory accommodation

This Figure 2.2 is known as a process flow diagram because it demonstrates a graphical

representation of the repair process It has some components The inputs to the processare illustrated as arrows flowing into the process and outputs are shown as arrowsflowing out of the process Rectangular boxes within the process flow diagram can berecognized as resources For instance, there is a single resource, the quick paintingrepaired category, but later, process flow diagrams can have multiple resources with theoutput of some resources used as the inputs to other resources

Resource is a certain quantity of people and/or devices, equipment, or tools that make intakes into results We can see that at a simple stage, the Express Maintenance takes in

cars that need repair as inputs, then performs several tasks on them when they are in thestage, and then treated vehicles leave as the outputs This describes the ExpressMaintenance’s process scope

Process Scope is an arrange of operations and processes which consist of the process.

The scope of this process is defined to conclude the entire Express Maintenance stage.This is suitable if we take full responsibility of the whole stage and we want to keep track

of how the entire Express Maintenance process is operating However, the other scopesare certainly reasonable, relying on your point of view and positions For specificinstance, if you are an EM Technician who assists with changing engine oil, you mayonly focus on the portion of the process that takes act in changing engine oil In that

scenario, your process flow diagram perhaps looks slightly different like this in Figure

2.3.

Figure 2.3 Quick Repair Process

If the scope can be compacted, it can also expand We have kept the unchangeable inputsand outputs, but our scope has normally focus on just a single type of procedure Butwhat if you are the president or manager or maybe people play crucial roles in thecompany, specifically you are the vice-president of Toyota Bien Hoa Then your process

could be expressed with the “advanced phase” map demonstrated in Figure 2.4.

Figure 2.4 Toyota Bien Hoa Service Process

Moreover, the process scope, to start with acknowledging and analyzing a process, a flowunit must be defined The flow unit is the basically main unit that travels through aprocess It is usually involved in the outputs of a certain process In the situation of theExpress Maintenance process, an obvious flow unit is a “Toyota vehicle” because themain purpose of the Express Maintenance is to repair and replace old components forcars quickly

Flow Unit is the given item or unit of analysis that we see in a process analysis.

Measuring and analyzing some key performance variables for the process are ready to bebegin when only the scope of the process and its flow unit are determined

Figure 2.5 Flow Unit of a Process

Figure 2.5 demonstrates possible flow units and three other processes In each case, it is

not hard to imagine that the flow unit could be something different than what is listed.For instance, the flow unit in a brake repairing repaired category could be a vehicle,” butbrake pads are better if your interest is specifically on the output of brakes The paintingrepaired category could use mixture of paint as the flow unit, but generally it makes moresense to define the flow unit in terms of output rather than input And while at ServiceAdvisor room, the service may more directly be concerned with the output of revenue interms of “$s.”

Summarizing everything up, there are several critical rules with reference to determiningthe flow unit:

1 Pick a flow unit up that relates to what you want to concentrate on andmeasure with reference to the process

2 Only follow the flow unit that you determined Don’t measure someaspects of the process using a customer as the flow unit and then switch tovehicle Combining things in distinctive units does not make any sense after all

3 A selected flow unit that can be took advantage of describing andmeasuring all the operations and activities within the process

2.2.2 Three Key Process Metrics: Inventory, Flow Rate, and Flow Time

We can measure a process metric which can tell us about the capability of a process andits performance For a process examiner or creator, there are three main key processmetrics:

Inventory is the quantity of flow units which stay in a process For example, “Toyota

vehicles” in process, “customers” in process, or “car’s genuine parts” in process

Inventory is described as how much item is in the processing step Overall inventoryoccupies space and may charge a certain amount of money, and this is a good thing toacknowledge in mind For instance, if the normal inventory of Toyota cars in ToyotaBien Hoa service rockets rapidly, then the company might eventually require a largerparking space, which goes along with some extra charges Besides, if a car componentretailer needs to boost the quantity of genuine parts and engine oil in the store, then theowner might have to get a bigger store (which the rent is higher than the exist one) andmore cash needs to be available to purchase that inventory.

Flow Rate is the rate at which flow units go from the beginning to the end of a process.

As a rate, it is calculated in “flow units per unit of time”; for instance, “cars go to TBHservice per month”, “waiting time per customer”, or “Toyota Camry sales per year” Themain factor of a rate is that it is often demonstrated in terms of several unit per unit oftime If the “per unit of time” is not available, then it is just inventory only

Flow Rate = Minimum {Demand, Process capacity}

Flow Rate can illustrate how much item moves through the processing stage per unit oftime More units traveling through a processing step is basically desirable because thedirection of the processing phase is all about yielding result

Flow Time is the period a flow unit is dealt with in a processing stage, from the

beginning to the end Certain units for this calculation are minutes, hours, days, weeks,months, or years Flow Time could demonstrate how much time that item spends in theprocessing stage If you are a customer in the Toyota Service Advisor room, then yousurely care about your Flow Time The leader of the Service Advisor group is thereforeinterested in Flow Time because it affects the customers’ satisfaction

2.2.3 Little’s Law – Linking Process Metrics Together

Little’s Law is the law that can be explained as the connection between three main basic

key process metrics: Flow Rate, inventory, and Flow Time

In any processing stage, the three main key process metrics are firmly connected to eachother in the following way, known as Little’s Law:

Inventory = Flow Rate × Flow Time (Shorthand version: I = R × T)

Little’s Law is unusually effective, but it is also just basically simple It informs us that if

we acknowledge any two out of three of the process metrics, we can surely take a guess,

or derive, the third Moreover, if adjusting our process, we modify one of the metricswhile maintaining a second one unchanged, then we can find out how the third onechanges.

How about applying Little’s Law into the Express Maintenance process? Let’s just pick

up a simple data for example, the Flow Time is T = 2.06 hours and the Flow Rate is R =1.08 cars/hour Therefore, according to Little’s Law, the average inventory of vehiclesthroughout the day is:

I = 1.08 cars/hour × 2.06 hours = 2.22 vehicles

The advanced potential of Little’s Law is that it could operate on any process Forinstance, we observe customers (our flow unit) loading onto the escalator in the shoppingmall in Vincom district 9, which is 150 feet (45 meters) long It is a rush hour time of theday and we clearly see that the Flow Rate of shoppers onto the escalator is 2.8 people persecond, R = 2.8 shoppers per second We then hop on the escalator ourselves and recordthat the Flow Time from bottom to top is 35 seconds, T = 35 seconds While riding on theescalator, we try to count the quantity of shoppers riding with us, which is the inventorymetric for this process, but it is not easy to see everyone Besides, there seem to be toomany customers to count By using Little’s Law, we can determine the average inventory

of shoppers on the escalator:

2.3.1 How to draw a Process Flow Diagram

 Step 1: Summarizing all the stages you have in current service management

 Step 2: Classifying processes General processes which every input materialhave to travel through Special processes for materials require specialdemand For instance, Reception and Delivery sub-processes are the placeswhich all of input materials have to pass through But for EM, GJ and BP arerepaired categories that only complete distinctive repaired orders of differentinput materials

 Step 3: Stimulating by using graphs or geometry, various colors and shapesmay also be used to demonstrate different tasks Form the example above,

we use squares for GJ and circles for BP, so that they can be easilyrecognize, and arrows illustrate direction of the workflows

What is a Process Flow Diagram?

Process flow diagram is a type of graph which demonstrates your current serviceoperation in a detail way It consists of several stages which input materials need to betransform into serviced products at the output phase With Process Flow Diagram, it willassist some of the workflows for high-level managers:

- Have the general picture of service management

- Easily spot the workflows and bottlenecks

- Easily adjust and utilize processes in the future

Application of Process Flow Diagram in Automotive Industry

With the subject is automotive dealerships, process flow diagram illustrates step-by-stepcarefully of a certain accidented vehicle will have expereinced from customer arrival toimportant service repair is completed

Below here is Process Flow Diagram at a certain automotive repaired service

Figure 2.6 General Process Flow Diagram

From the Process Flow Diagram above, input materials will be distributed into 3distinctive contents which include:

1 Reception has the responsibility of receiving and classifying customers.

2 General Jobs are responsible for all the tasks in the General Jobs repairedservice (General Jobs), for every quick maintenance (Express Maintenance),

or for tasks which related to painting (Body & Paint)

3 Delivery will receive input vehicle’s profile after accomplishing all theservices, and then guide customer to pay total receipt

Observing the graph from above, high-level managers will have a clear picture of currentreal-time workflows in their operation management Which job positions takeresponsibility for which tasks? If the overview is acknowledged, spotting bottlenecks inprocesses will become way more recognizable thanks for simple measurements

Process Analysis

It gives an exact foundation for acknowledging the closed-up operations of a company or

a business, insist of the solutions to the difficulties developed in the past segment.Process analysis opens the black box of the operations and peeks inside by determiningand analyzing all the activities related in serving one unit of demand or giving one unit ofsupply When the process has been analyzed, it can be improved: you can serve moreconsumers, you can answer the correct quantity of employees to work for you, and youcan get your buyers what they really feel like in short amount of time In brief, yourprocess can be enhanced and better

Everyone who operating a business can use this framework which is known as processanalysis Process analysis, for example, can be used by the person who owns the smallcompany, by those managing the Toyota Bien Hoa service, by those working in theToyota Bien Hoa service, or by those consulting to the company In smaller car services,this is the responsibility of the owner In bigger services or service brands, many jobpositions exist that consist of the term “operations” in it, like Operations Expert, Director

of Operations, Chief Operating Officer, Vice President of Operations, and many more.But acknowledging the operations of a company is crucial to everyone Overall,everybody should have an interest in making it better in the business By drawing aprocess flow diagram is the ideal way to start any analysis of an operation A processflow diagram is a graphical way to tell the process It will encourage us structure the dataand figures we collect as we try to develop our acknowledging of the process By usingthe case of Express Maintenance at Toyota Bien Hoa, we will demonstrate this newmaterial We have the feeling that Express Maintenance provides an ideal example,because we suppose that most of modern customers nowadays have been in car dealers orvehicle garages, maybe even a large car service At the aggregate level, the car repaired

service includes a quantity of customers, a set of employees, some work Sub-process, and

a Cash Register or Service Advisors

Figure 2.7 Activities at Reception sub-process of EM service

At Toyota Bien Hoa, there are some stages for Express Maintenance The stages forExpress Maintenance service provide you with detailed instructions on how to make

quick repair on the vehicle Figure 2.7 gives instructions on how to quick repair on the

certain vehicle depends on the vehicle’s odometer and customers’ need We refer to the

steps shown in the table as activities Several of the activities in Figure 2.7 relate directly

to repairing and fixing vehicle But Figure 2.7 also consist of a set of activities that need

to occur when interacting with customers in Toyota Bien Hoa service, from greeting thecustomer to ringing up the customer to pay the repaired order total bill When meeting atService Advisor room, our customer is the unit of analysis – we refer to her or him as ourflow unit We also label the quantity of customers in the process as inventory

When a car purchaser arrives at Toyota Bien Hoa service, that person is politelywelcomed by the first employee and then guide to meet Service Advisor The ServiceAdvisor has a duty of receiving the customer’s information, vehicle’s condition,odometers and starting the repair order We can consider the employee as a resource.Resources assists the flow units travel from being an intake unit to transforming a resultunit We use several directional arrows in a process flow diagram to illustrate the flowunit’s trip from intake to result In our scenario, the flow unit has just transported fromthe waiting line (inventory) to the first resource Resources are stimulated as rectangularboxes in the process flow diagram Then, our process flow diagram includes a set of atriangle, a box, and an arrow

Following that, for instance, the first employee in Express Maintenance (employee A)has finished the work, the second employee (employee B)’s turn is to replace old tires onthe vehicles and then install the new ones Then employee B puts old tires intocustomer’s car The second employee has a duty of a different arrange of actions for theflow unit, which is why we can draw a second box for employee B with an arrow goingfrom the first box to the second box Depending on how fast employee A works relative

to employee B, we might see a line forming between the two basic sub-processes, which

is inventory Next, we put a triangle between employee A and employee B to illustratethis in the process flow diagram Following employee B, employee C‘s duty is to offerthe consumer another repair service and receive total bill from repair order We canobserve this time, we create a box to the process flow diagram, along with two morearrows and a triangle between employee B and C Now the consumer has a well-fixedvehicle and so we finish the process flow diagram The process flow diagram emphasizes

a directional flow in the process Keep this in mind, we consider the start of the flow asthe upstream of the process and the result of the process as the downstream We furthersee that a resource upstream from another resource serves half-finished repaired car to theresource downstream Other saying, we can think about sub-process 2 being theconsumer of sub-process 1

Figure 2.8 Complete Process Flow Diagram

2.3.2 Capacity for a One-Step process

There are many actions and operations related to completing one consumer order, startingwith “welcome the customer” and ending with “ring on register.”

Processing Time – The period that one flow unit is accomplished by a resource.

Capacity – The maximum quantity of flow units that can travel from start to end of that

resource per unit of time

Capacity =Number of Flow Units

Processing Time

Process Capacity – The maximum Flow Rate a process can give per unit of time This

defines the maximum provide of the process The process capacity is the smallestcapacity of all resources in the processing stage

Process Capacity = Min [Capacity [i] ]

2.3.3 How to Compute Flow Rate, Utilization, and Cycle Time

Now, assume we have a demand rate of

Demand = 50 units/hour

The demand rate is the qunatity of flow units that consumers want per unit of time So 50consumers want a 3M paint protection film (3M PPF) each hour, but we only have theability to make 40 We next determine the Flow Rate as:

Flow Rate = Minimum{Demand, Process capacity}

= Minimum{50 consumers/hour, 40 consumers/hour}

= 40 consumers/hour

In this scenario, the feature which limiting the Flow Rate is the process capacity.Therefore, the demand is more than supply and the Flow Rate is equal to process capacity

as capacity-constrained If the process capacity is more than demand, the Flow Rate will

be equal to the demand rate and so we consider the process as demand-constrained

Following that, we identify the utilization of a process as the ratio between the theprocess capacity and the Flow Rate.:

Utilization =Flow Rate

second scustomer

Demand Rate – The quantity of flow units that consumers want per unit of time.

Flow Rate = Minimum{Demand, Process capacity}

Determine the capacity of a resource with X (for multiple) employees staffing thatresource as:

Capacity = X

Processing Time =

390customersecond

= 0.033 consumer per second

= 120 consumers per hour

With more capacity and more demand, our Flow Rate would go up to:

Flow Rate = Minimum{Demand, Process capacity}

= Minimum{200, 120} = 120 customer/hour

We can also compute our utilization as:

Utilization = Flow Rate/Capacity = 120/120 = 1

Our Cycle Time thus goes down to

Cycle Time = 1/Flow Rate = 0.00083 hour/customer = 30 seconds/customer

Even those experienced in operations, confuse the terms Cycle Time and lead time Wedetermine the Cycle Time as 1/Flow Rate Therefore, Cycle Time is demonstrated inunits of time per unit

On the contrary, lead time is the period between a consumer placing individual’s orderand that order being completed Lead time is identified as Flow Time, the time a flowunit takes to travel through the process Lead time are illustrated in units of time

2.3.4 How to Analyze a Multistep Process and Locate the Bottleneck

2.3.5 The Time to Produce a Certain Quantity

Worker-paced – Process line in which each facility or resource is available and ready to

perform: if the first resource completes before the following one is ready to accept theflow unit, then the first resource puts the finished flow unit in the inventory between thetwo resources

Machine-paced – A process that every stage is matched through a conveyor belt, and

even if some of them have more capacity than others, all the segments must operate at thesame rate

Time through the empty system – The period that the first flow unit spends to travel from

the start to the end of an empty process, it is considered that inventory is not available inthat process

2.3.6 Conclusion

To sum everything up, the foundation of process analysis is introduced in this chapter.Alternatively, considering at the process as a black box, merely tracking Flow Time,inventory, and Flow Rate, the process operation is acknowledged We observed that theprocess flow diagram is a wonderful tool to visibly demonstrate the flow By usingtriangles as inventory locations, arrows for the movement of flow units, and boxes asresources, it is clearly that the process flow diagram is like a directional map of theprocess The same performance (work on one 3M paint protection film) can be organized

in very different methods Even when the actions were like each other, we could arrangethe process flow in various ways However, the process flow diagram will not illustratethe quantity units travel through the process

2.4 PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

2.4.1 Introduction

We all know that efficiency runs the profit in any operations Analyze, control,improving efficiency is an advanced skill that helps you to leads your operation tosucceed It does not matter if you work for a multibillion corporation or run your ownbusiness As an owner, we all want to earn profit alongside with reducing cost Anefficiency is an advanced tool you may consider improving your operation

Next, we look at several ways of how we improve efficiency in operation Then wediscuss how these improvements affect profit We do as following steps:

1 The first thing we need to do to improve our workflow is to identify the actualfactors we need to measure If we misidentify the measurement in the firstplace, our work will be useless in the future, wasting a lot of time and money

2 After making a list of measurement factors, we need to have an overall chartshowing the relationship between the factors Calculating the amount ofrequired capacity for current needs, having large capacity doesn't always meanthat you have large Flow Rates If:

• Capacity > Demand, this will incur unnecessary charges You will still

pay for idle employees while your income is not growing

• Capacity < Demand, this means that you will not meet the needs of

customers, reducing sales

3 Dividing the amount of work in a reasonable way for employees to make themost of employee productivity

4 We want our business to run at its best We must specialize We target foreach employee one or two fixed tasks We might reduce the Flow Time andincrease capacity

5 Finally, we go for evaluating the impact of improvement on ouroperations

2.4.2 Measures of Process Efficiency

In the context of process analysis, we define a process as efficient if it can achieve a highFlow Rate with few resources In the case of our Toyota Bien Hoa analysis, our focus isprimarily on the employees (the labor) as the key resource (as opposed to the oven or thereal estate) And so rather than talking about efficiency in general, we will focus on laborefficiency

There are 4 main

measures of labor

efficiency: Cost of direct labor, Labor content, Average labor utilization and Idle Time

Cost of Direct Labor

Wage/hour 12 16 20

Cost of Direct Labor is the amount of money we must pay for each completed unit ofproduct This includes labor costs at all Sub-process in the process, from start to finish

We can compute the cost of direct labor as:

Cost of Direct Labor = Wages per unit of time

Flow Rate

For example, at Toyota Bien Hoa, the workflow is divided into 3 main sub-processes:Reception, Production and Delivery We consider that 3 sub-processes are conducted at 3different places with different capacity To complete a service, the work must go throughall 3 service sub-processes is given in the table below

As we all know that Flow Rate is the lowest capacity (as demand is unlimited), so

Flow Rate = Number of products per hour = 1

20 × 60 = 3 (units per hour)

Cost of direct labor = 1×12 + 1×16 + 1×20

Labor Content

The average labor tells us the employee's labor efficiency, we will have to pay fullsalaries for employees no matter how much they work, whether they're effective.Ineffective employees come with useless expenses Therefore, an optimized process willalways find ways to increase this measure

In the earlier example, we can easily see that the capacity of 3 sub-processes are 1/15,1/20 and 1/18, which can be converted to hour capacity as 4, 3, 3.3 respectively Weobtain the utilization level at 75%, 100% and 90%

Average labor utilization = Average utilization across employees

Idle Time, Cycle Time and Processing Time are related by the formula:

Idle Time (i) = Cycle Time – Processing Time (i)

Time frombeginning

to end of aproduct atresource

The Idle Timemeasures how longresource is idle foreach flow unit itserves

Table 2.2 Definitions of Measures

Based on the formula, we can compute the Idle Time at sub-process as:

=1

3 (hour) × 60 (mins) = 20 mins

Cycle Time Processing Time Idle Time

Table 2.3 Cycle Time of Sub-processes

We calculate Idle Time by relation between Cycle Time and Processing Time:

Idle Time (Sub-process 1) = 20 - 15 = 5 mins Idle Time (Sub-process 2) = 20 - 20 = 0 min Idle Time (Sub-process 3) = 20 - 18 = 2 mins

We have total Idle Time equal to 5 + 0 + 2 = 7 (mins)

Average Labor Utilization = Labor Content

Labor Content + Idle Time =

15 + 20 + 18

15 + 20 + 18 + 7 = 88,3%

As we deeply understand our business, we can compute the efficiency in many ways.Now, we are about to calculating the average labor content by considering 3 main factors.They are Cycle Time, Processing Time, Idle Time

2.4.3 How to Choose a Staffing Level to Meet Demand

Takt time is the ratio between the time available and the quantity that need to be produce.Target Manpower is the ratio between the labor content and takt time If we find out aperfect balance between takt time and target manpower, we could have an appropriatestaffing plan

As we run a business, we always want to keep the cost as lowest as possible while stillhave incredible profit There are many ways to do that, one of them is reduce the fee we

pay for unnecessary number of employees We all want to find out the enough employees

in order to match with demand rate

We have a very first definition as Takt Time

Imagine serving 100 customers in an hour We must finish serving each customer at

Takt time = 1100 = 0.01 (hour/customer)

Note: Please keep in mind that Takt Time is driven by demands

Moreover, the overall formula for Takt time is

Takt Time = Required quantityAvailable time

2.4.4 Off-Loading the Bottleneck

Overall, off-landing stands for how we adjust the workload between those sub-process inorder to ensure that bottleneck is out of workflow To efficient off loading, there are 3ways we can apply at the same time to peak the performance:

1 Study deep down on the bottleneck sub-process, then zoom out to see theoverall process to redesign the workflow, reassign the right amount ofworkload for each sub-process to balance Flow Rate

2 Application of information technology in production: management levels atenterprises can research and analyze improvement of bottlenecks byautomating a number of time-consuming processes This may require a certainamount of money for the purchase of machinery and equipment, however, ifanalyzed sufficiently, this amount is reasonable

3 Outsourcing: We should analyze in detail the work at the congested process, list the unnecessary time-consuming jobs, so we can consideroutsourcing to save time and associated costs For example, at an autodealership, the car beautification stage can be outsourced, businesses will nothave to spend too much on developing services from the beginning andpurchasing equipment

sub-2.4.5 Conclusion

Improving efficiency is an important topic for almost any organization If we can getmore output with an equal or lower amount of input, we will profit financially This cantake the form of lower costs or, if we are presently constrained by capacity, can alsotranslate into higher revenues

2.5 PROCESS ANALYSIS WITH MULTIPLE FLOW UNITS

2.5.1 Introduction

Choosing an appropriate flow unit is an essential step when repairing a process flowdiagram Yet what happens if a process does not have one type of flow unit, but multipletypes? And what happens if these different types of flow units don’t always follow thesame path through the process flow diagram? Before we consider the answers to thesequestions, let’s make sure such situations in which we face multiple types of flow unitsreally exist in practice

2.5.2 Generalized Process Flow Patterns

The main difference between a process flow diagram with one type of flow unit and aprocess flow diagram with multiple types of flow unit is that we now your differentarrows to capture different type of flow unit These arrows could be depicted usingdifferent colors by adding a little label identifying the flow unit next to the arrow theseinventories simply correspond to “piles” of application that are in process While thecircle stands for flow units that are not currently handled by resource

2.5.3 Attrition Losses, Yields, and Scrap Rates

Yield of the resource is defined as

Yield of resource = Flow Rate of good Output at the resource

Flow Rate of Input

The process in which Defective units are eliminated and each good unit have visited allresources, we can write the process yield as

Process yield = Y 1 * Y 2 * … * Y m

Where m is the number of resources in the sequence and Yi is the yield of the Yiresource

If we want to know how many flow units, we have to produce in order to make sure wehave enough good units Use the formula as below

Number of flow units u need to produce a number Q good unit = Q

Process yield

How to find the bottleneck and capacity in a process with attrition loss

Step 1: Compute the demand matrix, which only has a single column

Note: Start with the last resource and then work from downstream to upstream.Step 2: Compute the capacity level for each resource

Step 3: Compute the implied utilization for each resource

Implied Utilization = Total demand at the resource

Capacity at the resource

Step 4: To find the capacity of the process in good units per unit of time

Capacity in good units per unit of time = 1 good unit per unit of time

Implied Utilization

2.5.4 Flow Unit – Dependent Processing Time

In fact, the dealership's current service needs vary widely, from maintenance anddiagnostics to heavier jobs such as general repairs and repairing car accidents (these carsrequire both general repair and copper painting repair) These jobs may go through awork sub-process together, but the time required for actual work requirements varies.Consider the example at Toyota Bien Hoa

We classify of job requirements as:

Type 1 (Maintenance): This job requires 20 minutes at Express Maintenance stall.Type 2 (Diagnostic) This job requires 15 minutes at General Jobs stall

Type 3 (General Jobs): This job requires 45 minutes at General Jobs stall

Type 4 (Accidental vehicles): This job requires 50 minutes at step General Jobs

stall and 40 minutes at Body and Paint stall

Note that, all types of job require 10 minutes at sub-process Reception and 9 minutes atsub-process Delivery

At here, we have to divide types of requires of job If only the GJ stall was told that therewould be one more vehicle to be entered the production process, they would not knowhow long it would take to complete the car and therefore there would be no best repaired

As usually, we need to determine Capacity and Demand by unit of Flow unit In this case,

we consider that each stall will be responsible for 1 worker, but GJ sub-process will beresponsible for 2 workers We have:

Capacity at each sub-process is calculated by unit of hour:

Capacity at resource (i) = number of workers at resource (i) × 60 Mins

Hour

The table below describes demand for agents at 10-hour shift:

Table 2.4 Demand for agents at 10-hour shift

From the demand parameters, we can easily calculate the time required at each process during the process called Workload Matrix

sub-Unit a

Sub-process Maintenance Diagnostic General Jobs

AccidentalVehicles

Table 2.5 Calculating the time required

From Demand Matrix, we compute Demand for each sub-process:

Table 2.6 Computing Demand of each Sub-process

Next we calculate Implied Utilization for each sub-process base on the formula:

Implied Utilization = Capacity at the resource Total demand at the resource

Note that we assume that each process will be responsible for 1 worker, but GJ process will be responsible for 2 workers So, the capacity at GJ will be 60 (mins) × 2(workers) while Capacity at other sub-process will be 60 (mins) × 1 (worker)

sub-Unit a

Sub-process Maintenance Diagnostic

GeneralJobs AccidentalVehicles IU

26

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS

3.1 RESEARCH IN OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

3.1.1 The aim and the scope of research

The scope of OM is wide, is based on the perspective of operations as transformation,and includes the following aspects First there is the strategic perspective, which focuses

on the role of and the objectives for the function of operations An important aspect here

is how operations are related to and play a role in the business model of the organization.Operations play a role in business model innovation and development The role ofoperations in the business model leads to a strategy for operations and for how theoperations help the firm to compete in the market Operations systems are designedconcurrently with the products and services that the operations system is supposed toproduce Design of the system will include external systems in procurement anddistribution Design involves planning information and material flows as well as layoutsand the choice of process technologies for transformation activities Operations designalso involves designing an organization and its processes and structures and staffing itwith human resources There is a need to choose and develop planning and control ofcapacity, inventory, and transformation activities in the internal as well as the externalproduction and service systems, and to design and build different support systems forquality assurance, system maintenance, and system improvements

3.1.2 Roles of researcher

3.1.2.1 Type of research

The researcher will have different roles depending on the type of research, the researchapproach, methodology, the used methods, the intended product and contribution, and thetarget group or groups We have already made a distinction between Mode 1 research,aiming at knowledge development, and Mode 2 research, aiming at application ofknowledge Further, research is done differently depending on the aim and researchquestions and the state of existing knowledge We differentiate between research that isexplorative, descriptive, analytical, causal, or normative The last of these may meandirect intervention, such as in action and clinical research The role of the researcher willthen have many differences

3.1.2.2 Different roles for a researcher

As researchers, we often refer to ourselves as scholars This indicates an educated personand can encompass everything from a student, to a teacher, to a scientist It means that wehave certain knowledge, but we continuously want to develop it further To do this wehave to be competent at running the research process There are several functions we

have to fulfil During those research activities, and especially in relation to the researchedobject, we have several roles, including the following.

Observer

Whether the researcher uses questionnaires, interviews, or participation, the researcher issupposed to be skilled in observing, which is key for collecting empirical data Directlyrelated to this, the researcher must be good at recording the data that can be observed and

it must be done in a systematic way

Surveyor

The researcher needs to be able to grasp large amounts of data and review it in a

systematic way Importantly, the researcher must be able to get a good understanding ofthe existing body of knowledge in the relevant areas

Analyst

It is paramount that the researcher has analytical skills This means abilities to breakdown data and classify it into categories These should then be systematized in an orderlyway, so they turn into information

Communicator

Especially in interview situations, but even more as a participative observer, theresearcher must be skilled in communicating Concepts and constructs need to beexplained to the theoretical not-so-well-versed practitioner Communicating demandslistening skills even more than talking skills in order to hear what the person wants to say

in addition to what they are saying and to make the person want to speak their mind

3.1.3 The research process

A research process goes through many steps and will typically be spun-out over time Ingeneral, it will start with the identification of an issue for research and end up with resultspublished in a report In reality, the process will have iterative steps and back-loops and itmay not even start in step 1 The research process may also vary depending on theresearch approach and chosen methods, but we can define a generic process as follows:

1 Identification of a problem or issue to research: Research often begins with ageneral statement of a problem, or even better may be an issue or a question

to answer The researcher should also consider the reason and motivation forengaging in the study

2 Literature review: Since research should fill a gap in existing knowledge oradd to that knowledge, it is mandatory to know what already exists

3 Specifying the aim, objective, or purpose of the intended research: Again,since research should fill a gap in existing knowledge or add to thatknowledge, it is a good idea from the start to be thinking already of what theresearch could possibly contribute

4 Determine specific research questions: The result of the research shouldanswer some kind of question about what more we want to know It isimportant to understand that a research result is different from a textbook Itwill not only describe existing knowledge with the purpose of teaching theunknowing student, but will also add new knowledge to those who alreadyknow the field

5 Data collection: The conceptual framework is used for developing questionsfor questionnaires and interview protocols In addition to usingquestionnaires and interviews we can be observers and participants in thestudied object

6 Analysing and interpreting the data: Analysing basically means breakingdown the data to understand it and make findings We will use theconceptual framework to structure the analysis

7 Reporting and communicating the research findings: The research report isthe key product, but it should also be thought where it may be published andotherwise presented

3.1.4 Research as contribution to knowledge

3.1.4.1 From exploration to knowing how and why

A major reason for discussing the sequence of knowledge development based on acumulative perspective is that attempts to do everything in one study containconsiderable risks To explore an area, build an analytical model, draw conclusions oncausal effects, and eventually provide a set of recommendations may not be possiblewithin a limited scope Given the pattern of knowledge development, research shouldtypically explore before being able to describe a field of knowledge, know thecomponents before understanding the relations, and know the relations before foreseeingthe effects The cumulative and sequential development of knowledge creates onepossible basis for a classification of knowledge: know what, know how, and know why.Research will initially ask questions about what is in the area With more knowledge theresearchers will try to find out how it is and eventually ask why it is so; that is, whatcauses this?

3.1.4.2 Creating and developing knowledge

By considering the concepts or constructs in relation to each other, the possibility foranalysing data and information emerges In analysing the concepts and constructs, theresearcher looks at patterns and how they are related to each other This explorationopens the possibility for understanding, but also a first level of concluding Afterbreaking down the knowledge, one may also find new ways of putting the pieces together

in a process called synthesizing A way of doing this is to create a model in terms of arepresentation of a more complex reality If a model with general validity can be created,

it may embody a theory in terms of a systematic statement of principles A basis forknow-how research has been reached It may, for example, say something about howthings work An understanding of how things work provides the possibility for studyingcause–effect relations The developed model of how things work may form the basis forhypotheses on what causes what, where the researcher will look for if–then relations.This hypothesizing opens the possibility for normative conclusions andrecommendations In practice, not actually knowing the causal relations does not alwayshinder individuals from drawing normative conclusions from just correlations, but this isanother discussion With causal knowledge, a known-why level of knowledge is reached.This will enable further research to build models that managers can use to understand theproduction system and make informed decisions

3.1.5 What to research for academia and practice?

3.1.5.1 Starting with the intended contribution

Since the researcher is supposed to create a contribution, it is a good idea to start bythinking of the intended contribution The researcher may not know exactly what thecontribution will actually be since that will depend on the outcome of the research.However, an aim is needed and can be expressed in a theoretical model, hypotheses, orother general outcome of the intended research: Approximately what does the researcherenvision as the final result or contribution? Furthermore, what is this contributionsupposed to do? Will it describe something, find clusters or characteristics, explainrelations between something, or demonstrate causal effects from something? What kind

of contribution is it? What existing knowledge is there to which this contribution willadd? To whom is the contribution directed – what are the potential target groups? Whatkinds of results, conclusions, and discussions of implications can be foreseen?

3.1.5.2 Alternative starting points

The starting point in a real situation may not be the ideal question of where one wants tocontribute Rather, there may be a research project, a project possibility, or an availablecase or other empirical material on which to do research So, we start on the left side of

the figure with fixed data These may be possible to analyse in certain ways, which willenable certain kinds of contributions Then we can study the literature to see where wecan fit in and eventually formulate an appropriate issue or research problem We stillconsider an intended contribution and start there in the following logic.

3.1.5.3 Value of the contribution: generalizability

The desired outcome of the research is to reach a possibility of claiming that both theresearcher and the reader have learnt something in general rather than only the researcher

in relation to the situation This means that the researcher will in some way, or anothergeneralize around what has been found Generalizability is a standard aim in all research,but will mean different things in different approaches and related research issues Inquantitative research generalization is achieved by statistical sampling Adequatesampling will increase the representativeness of the empirical base and broaden the areafor which the researcher can claim validity The question is of course: Generalizable inrelation to what? Is it a matter of industry, organization size, geographical location, orwhat? In qualitative research the issue is different, and the sampling or selection of caseswill have the aim of finding cases of interest for the research issue The researcher caneither do a purposive sampling, if the research question is related to a certain population,

or theoretical sampling, finding cases that are specific in relation to the theory area inwhich the research is grounded Generalization can then be done by comparisons withsimilar cases and with theory in what is called analytical generalization The demand forgeneralizability will vary with the perspective: if positivist, this will mean that there is apresumption of an objective reality; if constructivist, then that reality is sociallyconstructed by interpretation For more positivistic case studies there is some need forgeneralizability, while interpretative studies often do not have this requirement

3.1.6 Research quality

The general criterion for research quality must be trustworthiness There are fourparticular requirements used in social sciences that are of relevance to OM research:construct validity, internal validity, external validity, and reliability Construct validitymeans that the operational measures used to measure the constructs actually measure theconcepts they are intended to measure Internal validity means that the study actuallymeasures what it is meant to measure and that demonstrated relationships are explained

by the factors described and not by other factors Similarly, external validity means thatthe results are valid in similar settings outside the studied objects Reliability means thatthe study is objective in the sense that other researchers should reach the same conclusion

in the same setting In positivistic research this is important for stating that the studydemonstrates the ‘truth’ Hence, reliability has become the most important criterion inmany research communities Other criteria concerning the quality of the research are that

it should be systematic, rigorous, repeatable and easy to follow, among others Theultimate objective is to be credible or trustworthy Research is credible to the extent thatappropriate methods for the research aim and questions are used, it is rigorous in itsexecution, and that it uses appropriate methods for data gathering, analysis, and drawing

of conclusions The role of a methodology section in a research report serves to describehow well the research is done and to convince the reader that they can trust the results.Sometimes methodology chapters seem more aimed at demonstrating that the author hasread certain books on research methodology The methodology section should not be aliterature survey, but should show that the research is done well The utmost request isthat research, irrespective of approach, is done with rigour That requirement will bedeveloped throughout this book Even if the research is done with utmost rigour, researchquality also refers to value The researcher must clarify how significant the claimedcontribution is to the advancement of management knowledge and skills and if thecontribution is major or minor

3.2 THE RESEARCH PROCESS

3.2.1 Contributing the knowledge

3.2.1.1 What is theory?

If making a contribution to knowledge is somehow related to theory, we must understandclearly what a theory is A theory can be defined as a set of interrelated constructs,definitions and propositions that present a systematic view of phenomena by specifyingrelationships among variables, with the purpose of explaining and predicting thephenomena Theories explain facts and provide stories as to why phenomena work asthey do They can and should be used to make predictions

Theories are not purely academic exercises, in the sense of being unrelated to the realworld On the contrary, it is often said that nothing is quite so practical as a good theory(Van de Ven, 1989) In fact, the very definition of theory provides guidelines to answercommon questions that occur in managerial practice (Wacker, 1998) First, theory definesall variables by answering the common questions of who and what The domain specifiesthe conditions where the theory is expected to hold, thus answering the commonquestions of when and where The relationship-building stage specifies the reasoning byexplaining how and why variables are related Finally, the predictive claims answer thequestions of whether a particular event could or should occur

3.2.1.2 Contributing to operations management knowledge

It should be clear by now that making a theoretical contribution is a rather tall order Tosuggest that researchers, particularly beginners, need to make theoretical contributions

following the guidelines suggested above would be unreasonable Thus, there must beother ways of contributing to knowledge.

In the operations management discipline, Christopher A Voss suggests that, sincedeveloping a new theory is difficult, research tends to contribute to existing theory, or touse existing theory to explain phenomena (Boer et al., 2015) One of the most commonways of contributing to existing knowledge, he states, is through contingency approaches(Sousa and Voss, 2008), which address such questions as what processes and practicesapply in which contexts, what relationships hold or do not hold in which contexts, andwhere methods do or do not work or how they vary in different contexts

3.2.2 Using literature to develop the research topic

3.2.2.1 Reasons for conducting a literature review

Performing a systematic literature review is important for several reasons First, theliterature helps to define a researchable topic As already discussed, to understandwhether there is an opportunity to make a contribution, we must review existing literatureand identify what knowledge already exists Our research must rest on a firm grasp ofexisting literature

Second, existing literature can inform our research It can provide inspiration for researchtopics, or concepts and constructs that we can reuse We can learn from the methodsemployed in prior research and borrow from existing research protocols Finally, we canfind theories, models and frameworks that we can use in our own research

Last but not least, reviewing literature helps to build critical researcher skills Reviewinglarge numbers of studies hones a researcher’s ability to handle and classify large amounts

of information A good literature review also trains the researcher in critically evaluatingexisting knowledge, an important research skill

3.2.2.2 Strategies for finding literature

There are several such strategies Probably the most obvious approach is to use one ormore of the various databases of scientific literature that can be found online and inuniversity libraries However, other approaches can also be effective, especially at theoutset when the literature search is still quite broad Leading operations managementtextbooks often point to the key literature in particular topic areas Journals publishliterature reviews on various topics You may be able to locate PhD theses related to yourresearch interest; if their authors have done their job well, their reference lists will directyou to useful literature Colleagues, supervisors and other researchers can oftenrecommend key references