The Products Created by Sony Vaio

Sony VAIO Sony computer products, a sub-brand.A Its name is an acronym for Video Audio Integrated Operation, but since 2008 it has been revised to view Audio Intelligence Organiser brand to celebrate its 10th year anniversary.A Idea was developed by Timothy Hanley items that use audio and video to PCs as well as functional as a way of distinction. Computer market, Sony’s re-entry VAIO PCV desktop under the brand with the launch of the new line was in 1996.A Now you notebook, laptop, desktop, media center and notebooks VAIO logo adorning the famous can. The Sony VAIO series are built for entertainment whether listening to music on technology Dolby Sound Room or watching Blue- ray Disc on screen.

Environmentally friendly and often with great innovations like solid state drives VAIO is the best PC for people who wish to get their own personal entertainment system out of their laptop or desktop. If you are thinking of switching homeA broadbandA supplier, one company stands out by far: O2. According to the biggest independent survey of suppliers – the 2010 Broadband Customer Satisfaction Report fromuSwitch.comA – it takes the top spot for the second year running, winning 10 out of 11 categories. Its part of the Spanish telecommunication giant Telefónica, O2 offers fast home broadband to customers throughout the UK. O2A is part of the Telefónica Europe group. It was formed in 2001 following the demerger ofA BTA from its former mobile phone business, BT Wireless. After five years as an independent company, it was bought by the Spanish giant Telefónica for £17.7 billion in the biggest all-cash takeover in the history of the telecommunications industry. O2 currently has over 43 million customers in Europe, including 18.4 million in the UK. In 2007, O2 entered the home broadband market with the purchase of Be Unlimited, a small DSL start up company. It now offers three home broadband packages and a range of business services. In this fast moving world, laptops and internet are one major source of information. Using laptops we can actually kill fewer trees helping to reduce environmental damage. Laptops can be extended if incorporate it with internet as they can reach the other side of the world with no time.

With the economy the way it is. Computerised learning is the most efficient most organised and fastest way of learning possible. With technology becoming cheaper and cheaper, there is no excuse for taking advantage of the tools that it provides. In todays intensively competitive, dynamic and highly complex business environment featured by reduced customer loyalty the need to be focused and customer oriented market is more critical than any other time in the past. It is very vital for any organisation to maintain and use valuable information about their customers to enhance their business strategies and product and service giving’s. In this report below our discussion is about the reach of Laptops and internet in this rapidly changing world.

Operations Management is a transforming process turning resources (inputs) into goods and services (output). The key is efficient management. Operations Management Goods Services Customer/Employee Satisfaction Information Finance People Materials Machinery OUTPUT PROCESS INPUT Types of operations – SONY CORPORATION At Sony operations processes used are Job Method, Batch Method and Flow Methods which are described below – Job method – The complete task in handled by a group of workers. Job involved is of low technology as well as complex in nature. The definitions of objectives are clear and simple like how should the job progress, its stages, decision making process.

Batch Method – As the production volume increases Batch Method is very useful in order to organise the production facility. It helps the process more focused on skills and achieve high equipment utilisation. By using this method the organisation actually specialises in labour. The capital expenditure is kept low with a careful planning in order to keep the production equipment active. O2 BROADBAND SERVICES – Flow methods are used in order to provide services at O2. These are similar to batch method only the batch queuing, idle production is eliminated. It is actually a method of production organisation where the task is worked on continuously or where the processing of material is continuous and progressive. Because of flow methods the work and service flow is improved, the need for skilled labour is reduced moreover there is an added value to the services and the work is completed faster. COMPETITIVE PRIORITIES In 1984 Hayes and Wheelwright suggested that companies compete in the marketplace by good quality of one or more of the following competitive priorities – Quality Lead – time Cost Flexibility Quality Importance – VAIO Manufacturing functions have often been depicted as possessing different definitions of quality. Such views are clarified at VAIO by an eight dimensional framework such as Performance, features, reliability, conformance, durability, serviceability, aesthetics, and perceived quality. At Sony Manufacturing’s traditional observance of quality control reflects a focus on the conformance dimension of quality. Each of the other dimensions also represents possible bases of competition, but these other dimensions require extra interfunctional coordination among manufacturing, marketing, research and development than does achieving conformance quality.

The importance to respond on the first six quality dimension can be addressed however the last two dimensions are inherently difficult to measure and are more removed from the knowledge base of responding manufacturing executives. O2 O2’s network covers 80% of the UK with a top speed of up to 3.6Mb. however, a number of factors can affect this speed. There are a number of factors that can influence the quality of the network connection, and therefore the speed. The closer to a mobile phone mast the better the connection is likely to be. Also the more people online at the same time there will be more congestion there will be on the network which will slow down. Dimensions of quality: Performance – primary operating features Features – optional extras Reliability – Likelihood of breakdown Conformance – Conformance to specialisation Technical durability – length of time before the product or service becomes obsolete Serviceability – ease of service Aesthetics – look, smell, feel, taste Perceived quality – reputation Value for money Delivery time importance – On time delivery is the ability to deliver on time contracts.A This is a business unit may not have at least the high cost or product quality.A But will compete on the basis of delivering reliable products on the date the contract even if the contract is far in the future.A Some confidence to deliver customer is not enough;A Speed of delivery is also a necessity to win orders.A Key informant survey items that measure respondents in each location, these categories of delivery time. VAIO The delivery usally takes two or three weeks to reach to the customers place.

Laptops are configured in japan and shipped from china. Dimensions of time: Manufacturing Lead time Due date performance Rate of product introduction Delivery lead time Frequency of delivery Cost importance – Although all manufacturers are concerned to some degree with cost, most do not compete solely or even primarily on this basis. Manufacturing cost-related categories include (direct) production costs, productivity, capacity utilization, and inventory reduction. Individual survey items measure the importance that respondents place on each of these cost categories. VAIO – At sony, new innovation are regular in order to reduce the cost such as labour cost, environmental cost, financial cost.etc. finally Sony is still in a critical condition where they need to be extra caution about all the potential crisis that the organisation may face in the future. O2 – They aims to deliver high quality, reliable products, memorable services and more over value for money. The value and price are high among the consumers when they choose a internet service provider.

Increasingly todays consumer is also willing to switch service provider because of cost. O2 has already began several new priced based loyalty schemes to help reduce the mix including O2 treaTs in UK. Dimensions of Price and Cost: Manufacturing cost Value added Selling price Running cost – cost of keeping the product running Service cost – cost of servicing the product Profit Flexibility importance – Flexibility is essential. In a conceptual study the dimensions of flexibility is been developed. Individual research sites to measure the importance of the dimensions of the flexibility i.e. product mix, volume, turnover and change. O2 – At O2 they respond quickly to the needs of business. It is driven by consumers insight.

They know the true value of their customers and focus on providing them with services. During the period of global economic crisis their customers needed flexibility with the contract and controlling such cost was a paramount. But in month of march they responded with three flexible options to manage their customers requirements in line with the changing fortunes of your business. VAIO – Sony has always had the capability to be flexible in order to meets the needs of their customers. recently to help with the VAT increases Sony came out with VAT refund scheme further it also maintained the same VAT rate for its customers in the beginning of the new year. Dimensions of flexibility: Material quality – ability to cope with incoming materials of varying quality Output quality – ability to satisfy demand for products of varying quality New product – ability to cope with the introduction of new products Modification – ability to modify existing products Deliverability – ability to change delivery schedules Volume – ability to accept varying demand volumes Product mix – ability to cope with changes in the product mix Resource mix – ability to cope with changes in the resource mix MARKET STRATEGY The marketing concept of building an organisation around the profitable satisfaction of customer needs has helped firms to achieve success in high growth, moderately competitive markets.

However, to be successful in markets in which economic growth has levelled and in which there exist many competitors who follow the marketing concept a well developed marketing strategy is required. Such a strategy considers a portfolio of products and takes into account the anticipated moves of competitors in the market. Diversification – Diversification is a form of corporate strategy for a company. It seeks to increase profitability through greater sales volume obtained from new products and new markets. Diversification can occur either at the business unit level or at the corporate level. At the business unit level, it is most likely to expand into a new segment of an industry that the business is already in. at the corporate level it is generally very interesting entering a promising business outside of the scope of the existing business unit. Diversification is part of the four main growth strategies defined by the Product/Market Ansoff Matrix: Market Penetration Diversification Market Strategy Market development Product development Diversification strategy stands apart from the rest of the three strategies.

The first three strategies are performed with same technical, financial and merchandising resources used for original product line. On the other hand diversification generally requires a company to acquire skills, new techniques and new services. The strategies of diversification can include internal development of product or markets acquisition of firm, collaboration with a company, licensing of new technologies. There are three types of diversification strategy such as Concentric diversification – a technological similarity between industries, affirm is able to leverage its technical knowhow to gain some advantage, Horizontal diversification – here the company adds a new product or service that are often technologically or commercially unrelated to current products but they may appeal to the current customers, Lateral diversification – company here markets a new product or service with no technological or commercial similarity with current products but it may appeal to new group of customers. VAIO – ‘In the past five years it has diversified into entertainment, software and a host of related and converging fields. The diversification has been successful because Sony has identified all of its new projects with its brand name and reputation for quality: Its core competency in electronics has been at the heart of its successful diversification.

Sony Corporation (SNE) and the family of companies associated with its diverse interests are a trans-national electronics and media mega-corporation. O2 – O2 came up with its – Connect with your people anytime, anywhere. Inspiration can strile anytime anywhere. Whether its for comparing digital cameras or to find a nearby restaurant . consumers increasingly browse and search internet from their phones. With O2 mobile ads one can reach to the fast growing audience and engage customers to buy when they are open Market Penetration – Market penetration is a name for a growth strategy where the business concentrates on selling existing products into existing markets. The main objectives at such strategy are – To maintain or accelerate the market share of current products. It is achieved by combination of competitive pricing strategy, advertising, sales promotion and perhaps more resources dedicated to personal selling. To secure dominance of growth markets. To restructure a mature market by driving out competitors. It requires a much more aggressive campaign supported by a pricing strategy.

Increase the usage by existing customers by introducing loyalty cards This theory is much about business as normal. The business concentrates on the markets which are known very well. It is likely to have good information on competitors and on the needs of the customer.

Market development – In this strategy a business sells its existing products into new markets. Possible approach to this strategy includes – New geographical markets like exporting the product to a new country, new packaging, new distribution channels, in order to attract customers different pricing policies should be implemented or create new market segments. Product development – It’s a growth strategy where a business concentrates on introducing new products into existing markets. Such strategy requires development of new competencies and requires the business to develop changed products in order to appeal to the existing markets. THEORITICAL PRINCIPLES Capacity Planning – Capacity planning is the process of determining the production capacity needed by an organisation in order to meet changing demands for its products.

The target of capacity planning is to minimise the discrepancy. Demand for an organisations capacity changes based on changes in production output such as increasing or decreasing the production quantity of a product. Better utilisation of existing capacity can be accomplished through improvements in Overall Equipment Effectiveness. Capacity can be increased through introducing new techniques, equipments and materials etc, Broad classes of capacity planning are Lead strategy, Lag strategy and Match strategy. Capacity planning is a long term decision that establishes a firm’s overall level of resources.

Excess capacity can drain company’s resources and prevent investments into more profitable ventures. Capacity Planning Techniques – There are four procedures for capacity planning: capacity using overall factors, capacity bills, resource profiles and capacity requirements planning. The first three are rough cut approaches involving analysis to identify potential bottlenecks that can be used with or without manufacturing resource planning (MRP) systems. CRP is used in conjunction with MRP systems. INVENTORY MANAGEMENT – Inventory management or inventory control is a way to balance inventory needs and requirements with the need to reduce the costs resulting from obtaining and holding inventory. Inventory is a quantity or store of goods that is held for some purpose or use (the term may also be used as a verb, meaning to take inventory or to count all goods held in inventory). In order for a retailer to stay in business, it must have the products that the customer wants on hand when the customer wants them. If not, the retailer will have to back-order the product. If the customer can get the good from some other source, he or she may choose to do so rather than electing to allow the original retailer to meet demand later (through back-order). Hence, in many instances, if a good is not in inventory, a sale is lost forever.

Lead time is the time that elapses between the placing of an order (either a purchase order or a production order issued to the shop or the factory floor) and actually receiving the goods ordered. A just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing firm, such as Boeing can maintain extremely low levels of inventory. Boeing takes delivery on as many as 18 times per day. However, steel mills may have a lead time of up to three months. That means that a firm that uses steel produced at the mill must place orders at least three months in advance of their need. In order to keep their operations running in the meantime, on-hand inventory of three months’ steel requirements would be necessary. Controlling Inventory Firms that carry hundreds or even thousands of different part numbers can be faced with the impossible task of monitoring the inventory levels of each part number. In order to facilitate this, many firm’s use an ABC approach. ABC analysis is based on Pareto Analysis, also known as the “80/20” rule.

The 80/20 comes from Pareto’s finding that 20 percent of the populace possessed 80 percent of the wealth. From an inventory perspective it can restated thusly: approximately 20 percent of all inventory items represent 80 percent of inventory costs.

Therefore, a firm can control 80 percent of its inventory costs by monitoring and controlling 20 percent of its inventory. But, it has to be the correct 20 percent. Fixed order Quantity Model EOQ is an example of the fixed-order-quantity model since the same quantity is ordered every time an order is placed. A firm might also use a fixed-order quantity when it is captive to packaging situations. If you were to walk into an office supply store and ask to buy 22 paper clips, chances are you would walk out with 100 paper clips. You were captive to the packaging requirements of paper clips, i.e., they come 100 to a box and you cannot purchase a partial box. It works the same way for other purchasing situations. A supplier may package their goods in certain quantities so that their customers must buy that quantity or a multiple of that quantity. SUPPLY CHAIN DESIGN – Successful supply chain design is about deploying assets in ways that enhance profitability and shareholder value.

You need to consider market and sourcing strategies that will generate the best financial performance. You must identify the optimal number of plants, warehouses and distribution centres to maximize long-term profit. It is important to understand exactly how and where to deploy assets for optimal operational and financial performance. Personnel involved in supply chain design require a tool that considers business objectives, resource constraints and subsequent financial impacts in order to define an optimal supplier-to-customer supply chain structure – one that cuts costs and increases profitability. PERFORMANCE MEASURES – Performance measurement is a fundamental building block of TQM and a total quality organisation. Historically, organisations have always measured performance in some way through the anancial performance, be this success by prot or failure through liquidation. In the cycle of never-ending improvement, performance measurement plays an important role in: Identifying and tracking progress against organisational goals Identifying opportunities for improvement Comparing performance against both internal and external standards Reviewing the performance of an organisation is also an important step when formulating the direction of the strategic activities. It is important to know where the strengths and weaknesses of the organisation lie, and as part of the ‘Plan -Do – Check – Act’ cycle, measurement plays a key role in quality and productivity improvement activities. The main reasons it is needed are: To ensure customer requirements have been met To be able to set sensible objectives and comply with them To provide standards for establishing comparisons To provide visibility and a “scoreboard” for people to monitor their own performance level To highlight quality problems and determine areas for priority attention To provide feedback for driving the improvement effort A simple performance measurement framework A good performance measurement framework will focus on the customer and measure the right things.

Performance measures must be: Meaningful, unambiguous and widely understood Owned and managed by the teams within the organisation Based on a high level of data integrity Such that data collection is embedded within the normal procedures Able to drive improvement Linked to critical goals and key drivers of the organisation There are four key steps in a performance measurement framework – the strategic objectives of the organisation are converted into desired standards of performance, metrics are developed to compare the desired performance with the actual achieved standards, gaps are identied, and improvement actions initiated. These steps are continuously implemented and reviewed: Initiate Improvement Understand Performance Establish Metrics Establish Key Goals Initially, focus on a few key goals that are critical to the success of the organisation or business and ensure they are SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely. TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (TQM) – Total Quality Management (TQM) is an approach that seeks to improve quality and performance which will meet or exceed customer expectations. This can be achieved by integrating all quality-related functions and processes throughout the company. TQM looks at the overall quality measures used by a company including managing quality design and development, quality control and maintenance, quality improvement, and quality assurance. TQM takes into account all quality measures taken at all levels and involving all company employees. TQM can be defined as the management of initiatives and procedures that are aimed at achieving the delivery of quality products and services. A number of key principles can be identified in defining TQM, including: Executive Management – Top management should act as the main driver for TQM and create an environment that ensures its success. Training – Employees should receive regular training on the methods and concepts of quality.

Customer Focus – Improvements in quality should improve customer satisfaction. Decision Making – Quality decisions should be made based on measurements. Methodology and Tools – Use of appropriate methodology and tools ensures that non-conformances are identified, measured and responded to consistently. Continuous Improvement – Companies should continuously work towards improving manufacturing and quality procedures. Company Culture – The culture of the company should aim at developing employees ability to work together to improve quality.

Employee Involvement – Employees should be encouraged to be pro-active in identifying and addressing quality related problems. Impact of conceptual frameworks on Competitiveness Key Issues of the above conceptual mix affecting Competitiveness are – Client capability Policies or targets set within departments without taking sufficient account of implement ability or marketplace considerations.

Poor communications with suppliers and insufficient engagement with them about departments future intentions Insufficient encouragement of R&D and innovation. An uncoordinated approach to government demands on the marketplace. Insufficient attention to the development of an effective supply market. High dependency on key suppliers in the IT sector. Innovation It confirms that TQM – considered as a set of practices – has a positive impact on the organisations innovativeness. It discovers that not all TQM practices enhance organisation innovativeness.

Only leadership and people management, process and strategic management, and open organization showed a positive impact on the firm’s innovation performance. A TQM has contributed in clarifying the disputed relationship between Management practices and the firm’s innovativeness, and shows empirical evidence in the organisation to confirm that the TQM practice set deployed has a positive impact on its innovation performance. Sustainability Sustainability is a rising priority for companies as investors, customers, government bodies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), management, employees and other stakeholders all try to understand the social and environmental implications of the company’s financial and operational decisions. For the 2011 New Year, many individuals and organizations have resolved to become more “green” right?A A Well, one of the more interesting uses of Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) and Business Intelligence (BI) technologies seen recently is in the support of sustainability reporting and management.A A Also known as the “triple bottom line”, sustainability reporting is the reporting of environmental, social and economic metrics to key stakeholders; including customers, partners, employees, community members and investors.A Whatever approach you decide to take, organizations can derive strategic advantage by embracing sustainability as part of the business and disclosing the details of their sustainability efforts to external stakeholders. The benefits include cost savings by limiting waste and consumption of natural resources,A enhanced brand value and reputation with customers and partners, better risk management, the ability to attract capital from “green” investors, and the opportunity to attract better staff by offering a great place to work. Conclusion A business exists because there is a product or service demanded by customers in the market place.

Operations Management is concerned with managing all decisions that needs correction of that product. So in Operation management we ask questions like what is the type of process we have to use. how good is that process to deliver the product or service?. How much service we can provide to the customers? And finally how should the operations compete in order to supply the product or service and business strategy of the firm. There is a significant difference in the approach of topic between the expertise and professional? If you look exactly at the CEO and top management of the organisation what executive and top management see is a need to appreciate that the firm needs to see is the value and relevance of the operation functions within the business. Most executive understands why the business exists how to compete but they do not have a sharp understanding what exactly the operation management does, what it contributes to help in succeeding with competing in the marketplace. So one of the key distinguishes between executive and professionals are that we have a convinced executive as to the value of having a proper operations management.

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