Shorter Product Life Cycles

For Clarie's having been in business for 11 years having shorter product life cycles, customer's rapid demands and quickly changing business environment are putting lot of pressures on manufacturers for quicker response and shorter cycle times. It would be a great time for Claire's to put pressures on their suppliers to get the parts in timelier manner. (Abbas, 2005) One way to ensure quick turnaround is by holding inventory, but inventory costs can easily become expensive. A wiser approach is to make your production move quickly and be able to adapt to changing customer demands. This can only be done by JUST IN TIME philosophy.

For Clarie's if they only produce what is needed then there would be no left over inventory sitting on the shelves.

In JIT workers are multifunctional and are required to perform different tasks. Machines are also multifunction and are arranged in small U-shaped work cells that enable parts to processed in a continuous flow through the cell. Workers produce parts one at a time within cells and transport those parts between cells in small lots. Environment is kept clean and free of waste so that any unusual occurrence are visible. Schedules are prepared only for the final assembly line, in which several different models are assembled at the same line. Requirements for the component parts and sub assemblies are then pulled through the system. The "PULL" element of JIT will not work unless production is uniform and lot sizes are low. Pull system is also used to order material from suppliers (fewer in numbers usually). (Abbas, 2005) They make be requested to make multiple deliveries of the same item in the same day, so the manufacturing system must be flexible.

As there is little buffer inventory between the workstations, so the quality must be high and efforts are made to prevent machine breakdowns. When all these things are taken into consideration, system produces high-quality goods, quickly and at low cost. This system is also being able to respond to changes in customer demands.

For Claire Antiques it would be my recommendation that we could also be thinking New Productivity Improvement with the changing environment, productivity improvement effort.

Claire's could be focusing on doing the right things by knowing what to produce and what to distribute. By looking into identifying changing customers' and there expectations and designing products and services to best satisfy the customers needs and meet there expectations. This could create more customer values.

Also for Claire doing things right by improving the production and distribution process to produce and deliver more goods and services in the most organized way possible.

Productivity improvements for Clarie's could also focus on value creation rather than on minimization of inputs. Having our customer value would be created when the products and services meet our customer needs for utility, timeliness, esteem, service, etc. This is what Claire customers buy and pay for.

For Clarie's there is increasing favorable opinion that productivity is not just an efficiency concept but that -equally important- it is also an effectiveness concept. Productivity improvement does not just mean the efficient production of any product or service but of products and services that are needed, demanded and bought by very discerning customers.

Clarie's Goods produced, however efficiently, which cannot be sold or are not required by customers, indicate low productivity. Any notion of productivity that is not related to the customer is lacking significance. The potential to improve productivity is much more than mere reduction in costs. Goods and services must be designed and produced in a way that satisfies customers' requirements for use, reliability, durability, price, delivery, esteem and other values. Productivity improvement starts with an understanding of who the customers are, what they need, why they need the products, how they use them, etc.

For Claire's making there bedroom sets out of more environmentally safe materials would increase the customer interest knowing that all material used in making the furniture will produce environmentally - compatible goods and services for improved productivity and profitability.

Furniture made from wood that has been "reclaimed" from warehouses, abandoned buildings, and riverbed floors helps keep forests intact.

Reclaimed wood, or recycled wood, is not only an environmentally-friendly choice, but it can also be more appealing and more durable than new wood. The coloring and rich texture of well-worn reclaimed wood can be highly desirable, and because a lot of reclaimed wood comes from old-growth trees, the wood itself can be denser and more durable, rendering any furniture made with reclaimed wood likely to endure even longer.

Reclaimed wood, sometimes also called recycled wood, can be harvested from many sources, such as old barns, buildings, and boats, or from old furniture itself. The older the source of the wood, the more likely it becomes that the wood harvested was milled from old-growth trees. Old growth trees are exactly what the name implies -- trees from dense pure natural forests that over time developed certain characteristics not found in trees from second generation forests (those that have seen harvesting and management of any kind). (Inspired American [IA], 2005) Most Trees that are from growth forests received limited sunlight and water due to the tightly packed natural treetops of an untouched forest, and as a result, grew more slowly. When a tree grows slowly, its growth rings are closer together and the timber is harder, stronger, and highly tight. Further more, furniture made from reclaimed wood is likely to be very durable.
There is much more added strength and durability, the coloring and rich texture of well-worn reclaimed wood can also be highly attractive. Aged wood has deep, beautiful colors and a rich surface sheen that can not be limited only these qualities can only be more beautiful by time. Add to this the fact that reclaimed wood is an environmentally friendly choice, since using reclaimed wood is recycling that which has already been used, and reclaimed wood makes an excellent choice for furniture.

This could be something that Clarie's Antiques could think about, going green The Amish craftsmen do this when making there furniture and have had great success at it. While buying there wood from vendors could stay the same as far as there oak wood, Clarie's could open up a new market in making Reclaimed Furniture.

References

Abbas, A. (2005, 2005, May 17). Importance of Just-In-Time Inventory System. Retrieved November 26 2007 , from http://ezinearticles.com/?Importance-of-Just-In-Time-Inventory-System&id=36700

Clarner Woodworks (). Reclaimed Wood. Retrieved November 26 2007 , from http://www.clarnerwoodworks.com/woodtypes.html

Inspired American (2005). Why Reclaimed Wood. Retrieved November 26 2007, from http://www.inspiredamericandecor.com/InspiredWhyReclaimed.html

Tolentio, A. L. (2004, May 24). New Concepts of Productivity and its Improvement. Retrieved November 25, 2007, from http://www.ilo.org/dyn/empent/docs/F1715412206/New%20Concepts%20of%20Productivity.pdf