2. Strategy: How do you plan to gain a competitive advantage in the market place, or in other words, “what are your core compe tencies?” Try to address the question, whether your company will compete on, cost, quality, time (speed), or flexibility? Or a combination of two or more of these dimensions, giving reasonable explanations.
3. Results of e nvironme ntal scanning (government regulations, trends, opportunities, threats, etc.) and the factors influencing your choice of product, process etc.
4. Adetaileddescriiptionofyourproduct(includecompletedetailsofthecomponentparts,and the process of manufacture). You may also want to discuss,
How did you pick your product?
a) Idea development b) Product screening (alternate products considered etc.) c) Preliminary design and testing (pilot, samples, any market tests etc.) d) Final design (components, processes,
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material, machinery and other resources necessary to manufacture your product- including any outsourcing)
5. How will you ensure consistent quality in your products and processes? How do your company’s standards compare with the industry standards? Any bench marking etc.
6. Fore casting: Decide what to fore cast. Evaluate and analyze appropriate data (industry, regional, and national including demand data from a similar company). Select the forecasting method (quantitative, not qualitative) and justify your selection. Generate forecasts (please include as attachments). How will you check accuracy of your forecasts? Will you forecast for seasonality and if so, how? Explain.
7. Ope rations planning: Determine the necessary “production capacity” of your facility based on your demand forecasts. What productivity measurements will you use?
8. Location Consideration: Describe the steps/analysis that you followed to determine the best location for your facility. Discuss, a) Regional-national considerations, proximity to sources of supply, customers, or sources of labor. b) Community considerations (any use of break-even analysis or other technique), and c) Site considerations. Outline your supply chain strate gy and discuss how it influenced your facility location decision (from raw material to customer).
9. Manufacturing: Describe how you will manufacture your product (machines, labor, robotic s, etc.). What type of manufacturing process layout will you use and why? Keep in mind that you will most likely utilize just in time (JIT) to the extent possible. Also, recall the process of manufacture you chose, namely, continuous process, flow shop, cellular, job shop, project, or a hybrid (combination of two or more of the former)
10. Develop a diagram (attachment) of the facility layout and justify your layout choice. Show how the product flows through the facility from raw materials to finished product.
Note: Diagrams should reflect space requirements for each function (machine, operator, and WIP, etc.). Discuss briefly, what happens at each station, and show output at each station (pieces per hour or similar measure).
11. How will you utilize “just-in-time ” concepts in your facility? Discuss your Inve ntory managementpolicies andERPimplementation, ifany.
