Kudler Fine Foods - Operations Management
Introduction
In an economy of fierce competition, in order for a company to stay in the game, it needs to implement systems and initiatives that will make them lean fighting forces to be feared by the competition. Strategies that businesses can implement to cut costs and improve efficiencies are centralization of procurement, supply chain management and quality control tools and performance standards.
Kudler Fine Foods is an upscale gourmet specialty store located in the San Diego metropolitan area and established in 1998. Within one year, Kudler Fine Foods was not only successful but profitable which enabled them to open two additional stores by 2003. Kudler's mission is to provide the consumer with an exceptional selection of fine gourmet foods, wines and other specialty items. Kudler Fine Food now plans to start contracting with local growers of organic produce. If it takes this step, operational changes will be necessary in order for them to stay competitive. Kudler has the opportunity to improve their current operations by implementing quality management strategies to cut costs and improve efficiencies. These strategies include supply chain management, business processes, quality control tools and performance standards.
Result of Change in Business Processes
Understanding how processes work is essential to ensuring the competitiveness of a company (Chase, R., Jacobs, F. & Aquilano, N. 2006). A process that does not match the needs of the company will punish it every minute that the company operates (Chase, R., Jacobs, F. & Aquilano, N. 2006). By definition, a process is any part of an organization that takes inputs and transforms them into outputs that, it is hoped, are of greater value to the organization than the original inputs (Chase, R., Jacobs, F. & Aquilano, N. 2006).
At Kudler Fine Foods, the company boasts that it offers over three hundred fifty fresh...
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