Process Technology Strategy

Estrategia de Operaciones - CD4000
Process Technology Strategy

Omar Salgado, PhD. http://www.omarsalgado.info/

Process Technology Strategy
What is Process Technology Strategy? • Therefore, Process Technology Strategy is the appliance of science to add value to products & services • A common misapprehension in that the term of process technology describes only technology that actsdirectly on resource inputs to their operations; however nowadays indirect technology forms such as information technology help to control & coordinate direct process • Process technology addresses the following questions:
– – – – – – What does the tech do which is different from other similar tech? How does it do? What constraint does using the tech place on operation? What skills will be required?What capacity does each unit of tech have? What is the expected useful lifetime of the technology?

Process Technology Strategy
Materials, information & customer processing
Material processing technologies Flexible manufacturing systems Baking ovens Information processing technologies Optical character recognition machines Management information systems Customer processing technologies Surgicalequipment

Body scanner

Automatic vending machines Search engines on the internet Trucks Archive & storage systems

Renal dialysis systems

Theme park rides

Process Technology Strategy
Scale & Scalability
Few, large units of process technology Scale issues… -Higher capital cost -Economies of scale -Vulnerable to failure -“All or nothing change” Many, small units of processtechnology Scalability issues… -Reliable architecture -Dispersed system skills -Standard process -Outsourced?

High

Scale/Scalability

Low

Scalability issues… -Customized, legacy systems -Specific expertise required -Idiosyncratic process -In-house development

Scale issues… -Lower capital cost -Demand matching -Failure redundancy -Upgrading easier

Cinema complex… -Demand: 400 seats daily-Configurations: 1. 1-400 seat room 2. 4-100 seat rooms 3. 1-300 seat room + 2-50 seat rooms 4. 4-100 seat rooms 5. 8-50 seat rooms

Question to be addressed: -What is the capital cost of the technology? -Can the process technology match demand over time? -How vulnerable is the operation? -What scope exist for exploiting new technological developments? From scale to scalability: the systemarchitecture, underlying process standardization

Process Technology Strategy
Automation & analytical content
Process (Tech plus humans) has low acuity & judgment High Automation/Analytical content Low Process (Tech plus humans) has high acuity & judgment

Automation issues… -What degree of support is required? -How flexible is the process? -How dependable is the process?

Analytical contentissues… -Higher capital cost -Parallel processing -Complex connectivity

Automation issues… -Higher direct cost -Human control & judgment -Human creativity

Analytical content issues… -Lower capital cost -Simple sequential rules -Often simple point of connection

Warehouse management system: Situation: the warehouse opens at 7 am daily and the first thing to do is to organize the truck loading.- Automated: the system releases processing orders in batches - Analytical content: warehouse manager check what trucks to load and releases the according processing orders

Question to be addressed: -Amount of parallel processing required -The level of customer interaction

Process Technology Strategy
Coupling & connectivity
Technology is integrated High Coupling/Connectivity LowTechnology is separated

Coupling issues… -Higher capital cost -Speed or rigidity? -Better synchronization -System efficiency

Connectivity issues… -Platform independence -Bandwidth available -Reliable middleware -Security concerns

Coupling issues… -Lower capital cost -Fragmentation or flexibility? -Control flexibility -System robustness Question to be addressed: -Hardware development -Software...