Manage Innovation of The Mysto Manufacturing Company

Question: Discribe about manage innovation and continuous improvement of The Mysto Manufacturing Company? Answer: 1. Scenario of the company This report has been prepared on The Mysto Manufacturing Company. The company was formed in the year 1916 and manufactured toys for children. Alfred Carlton Gilbert had originally formed the company. By 1950, the company had gained reputation and it became one of the leading companies in the United States of America. The company had earned fame despite of selling expensive toys. However, there was no match to the quality and designs that were manufactured by the company. The toys were manufactured by small group and the designs were implemented for sales. Planning formed an important part for the sales for the product. In this process the raw material requirements and other factors were taken into consideration. Information was collected from different resources and the same was used for manufacturing the goods or toys that were intended to be sold to the clients. The toys were manufactured and it was transferred to the storehouse. In this process, the company concentrate on few desi gns, and manufacturing toys on a limited number. During the year 1960, there were huge changes in terms of cultural factors and customers demanded for unique products. The cultural changes included introducing of new toys by different companies like Barbie and others (Augier, and Teece, 2006). 2. Continuous improvement Continuous improvement is one of the prime requirements that would contribute towards the success of the operational activities of the companies. The process needs to be customised as a particular plan wouldnt be cater the needs of another company. There has to be space for creativity, as it would encourage the staffs to perform better at the workplace. The company need to highlight the areas or the departments that needs to be improved. It wouldnt be possible to introduce continuous improvement process for every department at the same time. The changes intended to be introduced by the company, needs to be communicated with various departments (Bateman, 2005). Team members and the managers need to be encouraged to work towards the goal achievement. For introducing changes with the improvement plan, the management need to collect essential information from various departments. The reliability of the information and the process that would be followed to execute the plan needs to be ana lysed. In the toy industry, cultural factors majority affects the performance of the company. The factors that could affect the culture and the performance of the staffs can be included in the continuous improvement process (Bendoly, and Swink, 2007). 3. Continuous improvement strategies 1. Strategic goals - Continuous improvement has to be included into the strategic goals of the company. The designs and the process required for implementing changes in the production process has to be analysed (Benner and Tushman, 2002)2. Proposed process or amendment to current process The current process for the company is simple. Management of the company draft policies for designing limited toys and sell the same to the customers. In order to attract the clients, it is essential to introduce more designs, as this will increase the sales (Choo, Linderman, and Schroeder, 2007).3. Performance will improve production - Plan for improvement can be associated with the technology change and production activities. The changes can be introduced after analysing the changing needs of the clients. Such factors would improve the sales and performance for the company.4. KRA and KPI targets - Key responsible areas are the ones that would help the management to increase on the production activ ities and sales for the company. It includes RD, marketing, and production departments. Key performance indicators are determined on the basis of the performance of the company (Crossan and Berdrow, 2003). 4. Consultation Proposed strategies The proposed strategies include changes that would help the management in increasing the sales, goodwill, and production activities for the company. In this case, the changes are intended to be included for the below mentioned departments Production Sales Marketing RD The changes for improvement with such departments would help the management to introduce new methods for production and manufacturing of the goods and services. In this case, the improvement process needs to be planned and introduced by the company y after analysing the time, budget, and customer needs (Cua, McKonen and Schroeder, 2001). Pros and cons Pros Improve production activities Enable the company to introduce variety of products Increase the brand image (Davenport, 2006) Cons Expensive, Require experienced and efferent staffs for performing the changed tasks. Changes to the improvement strategies The changes intended to be introduced by the company, has to be planned and introduced in an effective manner. For this, the staffs and the managers have to be trained for carrying out the new tasks. The time required for increasing the performance and introducing the changes has to be analysed. This would help in increasing the sales for the company (Delbridge and Barton, 2002). 5. Lead session Options for communicating The proposed changes for production and others have to be planned and implemented in an effective manner. For this, the management need to discuss the proposed changes with the group members or the team. At the time of discussion, it is essential to review the views of the managers and the team members. This would help in finding more options through which the changes in the production process can be introduced. Creative techniques for generating ideas Management can introduce changes in the research and development process. For this, six sigma standards can be introduced by the company. Through such standards the quality can be analysed and the changes can be implemented without losing much time (Dyer, and Ericksen, 2005) Issues The process that needs to be followed for introducing the changes with the continuous improvement method can be a challenge. In order to overpower the issue, the management has to plan the areas that need to be worked upon, and analyse the risks involved with the areas. Implications of the suggestions The suggestions provided by the staffs and the managers, can be analysed. This would help in introducing the changes that would benefit the company, clients, stakeholders, and the staffs (Emden, Calantone, and Droge, 2006). Acceptance of ideas and generating new ones New ideas can be generated after analysing the cultural changes in the industry. Through this process, the expectations of the customers and the offer of the rival companies can be analysed. This would help in introducing changes in the concerned areas, where the management would benefit (Evans, 2004). 6. Group approval for amending the strategy Group approval can be gained by discussing the changes that are intended to be introduced by the company. For this the list of changes that has been proposed to be introduced by the company and the steps that are intended to be followed for the same would be analyse. Through this method, the challenges are analysed, and the corrective changes can be introduced by the management. Changes in the technology and the process have to be analysed. For this the approval is required from the staffs to introduce the changes. If employees are not informed about the changes, then the process that would have to be followed wouldnt be known to the staffs. This can affect the affect the productivity and the process for the sales of the company. It is essential for the company to get an approval of the willingness of the staffs to perform the tasks elated to the changes (Jansen, Van Den Bosch, and Volberda, 2006). 7. Incorporate the changes for changes in the strategies The changes proposed to be introduced by the company have to be introduced in the best possible manner. For this, the area that needs to be worked upon for introducing the continuous improvement has to be highlighted. This includes production department and marketing process. Changes in such departments would help the management in introducing the changes that is required for improving the production and sales for the company. However, the challenges related to the budget and delay in the process for introducing the changes that would uplift the production activities. The steps that would have to be followed for introducing the changes have to be highlighted, as the management would be able to analyse the performance (Kraatz, and Zajac, 2001). 8. Risk analysis for strategies Through the risk management process, the management of the company identify the risks or the areas that are a concern for the performance. In this method, the assessment of the factors that causes or increases risk is analysed. It would help in improving the performance and preparing a back-up plan that would enable the company to continue with the production activities. The strategies include introducing better strategies for ISO certifications and improving the quality of the production activities. This would require coordination of the tasks and effective communication. The challenges included in the process of improving the performance has to be planned and the issues have to be analysed (Linderman et al., 2003). The areas of the concerns have to be analysed, and the corrective steps needs to be implemented. Changes in the staffs and production process have to be analysed and the changes has to be introduced. 9. Cost benefit analysis for strategies Through this process, the management attempts to introduce effective strategies that would control or reduce the operational expenses. The charges involved in the process of production can be controlled by reducing the wastages and introducing better technology. Such changes will enable the company to introduce better changes that will benefit the company. Strategies include analysing the present system and analysing the changes that needs to be introduced by the company. Through this process, the benefits associated with the costs are analysed and it is interacted with the staffs (Kraatz, and Zajac, 2001). 10. Discussion of the risk and cost benefit factors The factors related to risks and costs have to be analysed. This would help in improving the production activities and introducing the changes that would benefit the company. Through risk factor, the company identic the risks associated with the new product introductions, marketing, and other factors. Such an analysis will enable the company to identify the key areas that needs to be worked upon. With the help of the cost benefit factors, the company introduce better methods through which the expenses related to the production can be reduced. This is one of the most important factors that would contribute towards the successful business operational activities. References Augier M, and Teece D, 2006. 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