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Read more| What is process technology? 29-Aug-2011. |
Several examples are given throughout this chapter of very different process technologies. Each of these process technologies is used to create and deliver products and services. This distinguishes them from product technology which is the technology embedded within a product. In Chapter 5 we use the example of a video cassette recorder to distinguish between the technology within the recorder itself and the technology which made the recorder. If product/service and process technologies can sensibly be separated in an operation, they will not always receive equal attention. Sometimes developing product technology will be seen as more important than developing process technology and sometimes vice versa. One factor which influences this is the stage of the product or service in its life cycle, that is the maturity of the product. The figure below illustrates how the relative rates of product/service and process technology innovation vary as a product matures. For example, examine how the relative emphasis on product and process technology of personal computers (PCs) has changed since their introduction in the late 1970s. For the first few years after their introduction the product technologies of PCs were their main feature. The fact that a product which was capable of being so conveniently transported could also be so powerful was a major innovation in product technology. These early PCs were often assembled using the most basic production methods. Apple Computer, for example, built its first machines in a garage. That did not matter to customers who were concerned more with what their products could do. As the rate of change in product technology slowed, a little more thought was put into how PCs were to be produced. Increasing volumes made continued use of the ‘garage’ approach both infeasible and uneconomic. PC manufacturers realised that further market success would depend on investing in automated production technology. A small number of materials processing technologies are described in the chapter. These are, From this list it might seem as though all materials processing technologies are manufacturing technologies. However this is not the case. For example, Table 8.1 includes the integrated mail processing machines used by national mail collection and delivery systems as a material processing technology. It does not physically change the material, but it does sort it by its destination. Similarly, the photograph on page 233 of the conveyor belt sushi bar at Yo! Sushi processes material in so much as it moves the various dishes around customers who can then choose which item they want. Even trucks or cargo ships could be considered materials processing technologies. Again, they may not physically change the material but they do change its location. The progression from conventional machine tools to FMS involves a gradual replacement of manual operations with automated operations. The figure below characterises the relationship between the degree of possible automation and some of the technologies described in the chapter. Note how the steps at the core of the process, involving the shaping or cutting activities are the first to be automated, after which the more peripheral activities at either end of the whole process are gradually included within the capabilities of the technology. A number of information processing technologies are described in the chapter. The most significant ones are often at the interface of conventional information technology (IT) and telecommunications. Undoubtedly we are in a period of rapid change in this particular kind of technology. So an understanding of some of the basics of IT and telecommunications technologies is vital for operations managers. Certainly the impact on operations capabilities has already been very significant. The costs savings shown in Figure 8.7 which illustrates the relative costs of different technologies in retail banking, is worth thinking about. It could be easy to read the wrong implications into this figure. One should not infer that all banking will be internet-based banking in the future. Certainly there are significant advantages both from banks’ and customers’ point of view of using the internet to manage transactions. However, there will always be customers and always certain types of transaction which the other ‘technologies’ may be better at. There is also some evidence that some retail banks in Europe closed old fashioned bank branches too quickly, failed to persuade all their customers to use telephone and internet communication, and lost market share as a result. Remember that because a new technology makes something feasible it does not necessarily make it desirable. As the technologies of data processing and telecommunications are merging, so too are the services which they support coming together. The individual television screens, now common in aircraft, provide the entertainment which keeps passengers happy on long international flights. Now British Airways has gone one step further in bringing together entertainment technology with information provision and processing. Using a hand-held control device, passengers can access dozens of TV entertainment channels, an up-to-the-minute news service, computer games and a menu of information-processing options. For example, a customer who wants to book a hotel room, reserve a hire car, order flower deliveries or buy duty-free goods, can do so via the screen and control device. Payment for the services or goods ordered is made by swiping a credit card through a slot built into the seat’s armrest. Confirmation of the transactions are shown on the screen. The system can also transmit a passenger’s own data. A notebook computer can be plugged into the system and a faxed hard copy of the information sent back to the office. Behind the new service is a communications system which includes the Inmarsat satellite and BA’s central booking database in London. The database directs credit card details to the card company and, on authorization, transmits the customer’s orders and reservations to the respective companies. The airline views such technology as important in its efforts to provide a superior service. ‘The concept is based on providing customers with a total media centre from their seats. We have the opportunity to provide customers with a whole range of products and services where they will be able to choose what they want to do rather than be fed with entertainment.’ Unlike materials and information processing technology, there is no universally accepted categorisation for customer processing technologies. (This is why the typology used in the third edition is slightly different to the one we used in the second edition – things have moved on). Nevertheless customer processing technologies are becoming increasingly important. They do however present unique challenges for the operations manager. The main one is that many customer processing technologies require the customer to operate the technology. Customers unfortunately are not always skilled in doing this. Thus the nature of the customer technology interfaces becomes particularly important. For example, a European retail bank was concerned that its customers were getting frustrated when using its automatic telling machines (ATMs). The ATMs took the customer through a whole series of decisions, offering services, asking whether a receipt was necessary and so on. This process enabled customers to partake of a wide range of services but was lengthy. Customers who only wanted to get money quickly still had to work through a series of questions. After testing customers reactions, they decided to simplify the ATM questions in order to speed up the process. While this may have satisfied some customers, it also upset others. The ones who were upset at the reduction in service complained more vocally than those who were (presumably) pleased that the transaction was faster. What the bank had forgotten was that, even if most of its customers did want a faster service, they had come to expect the longer but richer level of service which the old system offered. CoimbatoreTaxi News |