Operations Management Case Study

Chandan Creations’: Process Selection Dilemma

OR

Abstract:
Chandan Creations, owned by Chandan Shah (Shah), produces 80–90 lakh rakhis (a sacred thread tied by a sister on her brother’s wrist on the occasion of rakhi festival) in a year. The raw material is sourced from across India. However, the production takes place not under one roof, but in 200 different homes on a small scale. The raw material is given to the workers on a daily basis, which is converted into the finished product by the workers at their homes. The whole process is done by hand, with no machinery used at any of the stages of its making. But, Shah plans to have a manufacturing facility and introduce the machinery, to cut the base of rakhi that takes almost 25% of the workers time in cutting it, which he hopes would increase his production capacity. However, he doubts whether this process would make any significant improvement in his production process and profits, as a nominal increase in these would not be of much benefit to the company.

Pedagogical Objectives:

• Types of manufacturing processes and process flow structures
• Break-even analysis
• Manufacturing process analysis.

Keywords : Operations Management, Process Selection, Break-Even Analysis, Process Engineering, Assembly Process, Job Shop, Batch Shop, Assembly Line, Product- Process matrix, Virtual Factors, Manufacturing Process Flow Design, Continuous Flow, Types of Processes, Make-to- Stock, MAke-to-Order, Single-Stage Process, Multi Storage Process

Contents:

• Introduction
• Making of Rakhi: The Process
• Proposed Expansion
• Suggested Questions for Discussion