Operations Optimzing At Kunming XB Mold Company

Mold businesses are the "mother of industries" as well as the cornerstone for modern industries in terms of machinery, automobile, light industry, electronics industry, chemical industry, metallurgical industry, and building materials industry. Currently,75%parts of rough processing and50%fine processing are made through molding, for the most of plastic products are mold made. Mold business is a typical one-lot sized production and operations process and often order-driven business. It is very critical that an efficient system established for mold business in its production and operations in order to meet customer demand in terms of quality, delivery, cost, etc,.This case depicts the internal operations process of XB mold company, a Kunming-based mold factory in mold manufacturing. Business weaknesses and bottlenecks are analyzed and then followed by countermeasures to optimize management in operations at XB. Specifically, the case consists of3parts:The first part of case introduces XB and its founder, the characteristics of mold industry and mold products are discussed. The current situation of XB and its shortcomings in its operations sector are disclosed.The second part of case begins with the reviews of relevant operations theories, followed by tactics XB may take to upgrade its management.The last part of case is the case notes offering the aim of the case, suggested questions concerning the case and the clues for case analyses.The highlights of case are the depictions of the operations aspect at XB created by the author himself and run with his team. During the early age of XB, technologies about molding are everything and management is ignored, however management gradually becomes a weak point with XB growing bigger. The author analyzes XB situation from operations aspects and figures out solutions by introducing operations theories learning from school and combining XB practice with these theories. The countermeasures provided in this case may serve as references to business men in mold industry in order to better manage their business in operations sector.