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Manufacturing Strategy Document

 

Wilson Power Solutions Limited is a manufacturing plant located in Leeds, Manufacturing Strategy for Wilson Power Solution Ltd England. It is part of the Wilson Power Solutions Group Limited. The company produces power and distribution transformers and has 32 employees according to Fame (2014).

This report documents the design of a manufacturing strategy for Wilson Power Solutions using the Terry Hill Framework. Before the design of the manufacturing strategy, it was pertinent to understand the corporate objectives and marketing strategy in order to set a manufacturing objective which guides the design.

Wilson Power Solutions Limited strategy was evaluated to ascertain fit with the competition and align with market needs. These analyses lead to a marketing strategy and subsequent determination of order qualifiers and order winners.
The report also compares the designed manufacturing strategy and the current practice in section C while Section D deals with issues of implementation and communication. Manufacturing Strategy for Wilson Power Solution Ltd How to evaluate the success of the strategy and reliance of the strategy in a changing environment are also discussed in section E and F respectively.

Given below is a table summarizing the Designed manufacturing strategy which includes the Corporate objectives, marketing strategy, Choice of process, role of inventory, make or buy decision and capacity. Manufacturing Strategy for Wilson Power Solution Ltd The table also summarizes the infrastructure requirements which include function support, manufacturing planning and control systems, quality assurance and control, manufacturing systems engineering, clerical procedures, salary/ wage agreements, work structuring and organization structure.

Company Objectives Marketing Strategy Order Qualifiers and Order Winners Manufacturing Objectives Manufacturing Strategy
Process Choice Infrastructure
1. to increase the return on capital employed by 6% in 3 years.

2.To improve in industry ranking by 5% in 3 years Objectives
1.to increase customer satisfaction rating by 50% in 3 years
2.to increase market share by 2% in 3 years
3.to improve delivery efficiency by 50% in 3 years

Strategy
Target Markets
Focus on U.K market, Related diversification
Target Competitors
Mid-budget R&D companies (from strategic group map)
Competitive Advantage
Unique, reliable and fast delivery
Maintain strength on quality Order Qualifiers
Price Q
Quality
Conformance QQ
Product range Q
Technical
support QQ

Order Winners
Delivery speed 20
Delivery
reliability 35
Meeting specific customer needs 45 1.to reduce lead time by 5% in 2 years

2. to meet more than 96% of customer requirements
Choice of Process
Batch

Trade-Off
Lead time for inventory
Make-to-order for assemble-to-order
Supplier integration for improved production planning and control

Role of Inventory
For sales and marketing:
-demand uncertainties
For operations:
– capacity related
-cycle

Make or Buy
(combined strategy)
-based on process technology and speed

Capacity
Size: Medium
Timing: Leading
Location: Locally (Leeds, U.K) Function Support
Mixed control
Cross-functional teams
Planning
Master Scheduling: Assemble-to-order
Material Planning: Rate-based
Shopfloor Control: Pull
Quality Assurance and Control
Proactive
Right first time
Quality Management System (ISO 9001)
Clerical Procedure
Inventory records
Job schedule
Maintenance records (OEE)
Compensation Agreement
Fair
Bonus to promote order winner and qualifier
Shift when required
Work Structure
Operating procedure
Job enrichment
Semi-skilled and few labour
Skilled and few supervisors
Organisation
Centralized
Functional

Table of Content

List of Figures ………………………………………………………………………………….
List of Tables …………………………………………………………………………………..
A. Business Objectives and Strategy ……………………………………………………
A.1. Company Profile ………………………………………………………………………………………..
A.2 The Product ……………………………………………………………………………………………….
A.3 External Environment …………………………………………………………………………………
A.4 Internal Environment ……………………………………………………………………. …………..
A.5 Wilson Power Solution’s Objectives ………………………………………………………………
A.6 Wilson Power Solution’s Strategy ……………………………………………………… ………..

B. Manufacturing Strategy ………………………………………………………………..
B.1 Terry Hill Framework ………………………………………………………………………………….
B.2 Corporate Objectives and Marketing Strategy ……………………………………………….
B.3 Order Winners and Oder Qualifiers ……………………………………………………………….
B.4 Manufacturing Objectives …………………………………………………………………………….
B.5 Process Choice ……………………………………………………………………………………………
B.5.1 Choice of Alternative Processes ………………………………………………………………..
B.5.2 Trade-offs ………………………………………………………………………………………………..
B.5.3 Role of Inventory ……………………………………………………………………………………..
B.5.4 Make or Buy ……………………………………………………………………………………………
B.5.5 Capacity ………………………………………………………………………………………………….
B.6 Infrastructure …………………………………………………………………………………………….
B.6.1 Function Support ……………………………………………………………………………………..
B.6.2 Manufacturing Planning and Control …………………………………………………………..
B.6.3 Quality Assurance and Control …………………………………………………………………..
B.6.4 Manufacturing System Engineering ……………………………………………………………
B.6.5 Clerical Procedures …………………………………………………………………………………
B.6.6 Payment Agreements ………………………………………………………………………………..
B.6.7 Work Structure and Organisation ……………………………………………………………..

C. Comparism of Strategies ……………………………………………………………….
D. Implementation and Communication Issues ………………………………………
E. Strategy Evaluation Measures ………………………………………………………….
F. Continual Relevance of Strategy in a Changing Environment …………………

List of Figures
Figure 1 -Wilson Power Solutions Group Limited ………………………………………………
Figure 2 Product life cycle stages……………………………………………………………………..
Figure 3- Ansoff’s Product-Market growth strategy …………………………………………..
Figure-4 Porter’s Generic Strategy …………………………………………………………………
Fig 5 Strategic group map for Transformer manufacturing industry …………………..
Figure 6 -Terry Hill Manufacturing Operation Framework ………………………………..
Fig 8- Importance/performance Matrix …………………………………………………………..

List of Tables
Table 2 Number of Employees
Table 3- Key financials & Employees of Wilson Power Solutions Limited
Table 4 – Current Assets of Wilson Power Solutions
Table 5 Corporate Objectives and Marketing Strategy
Table 6- Order qualifiers and order winners

A. Business Objectives and Strategy
The development of strategic business unit(SBU) objectives and strategies for Wilson Power
A.1. Company Profile

Wilson Power Solutions Limited (WPS) is a company located in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. It was formed in May 2011 from a merger between Richard Wilson Dencol Limited (RWD) and Power & Distribution Transformer Limited (PDT). Wilson Power Solution is part of the Wilson Power Solution Group Limited which is has Wilson Power Solution Limited as the only registered subsidiary. Wilson Power Solutions Group Limited operates as a group and as a company within the group as indicated in in figure 1. The Group staff strengths are given in table 1 below.
The stated mission of WPS on its website is “to develop and provide power distribution solutions that are environmentally considerate” (Wilson Power Solution 2014).

Figure 1 Wilson Power Solutions Group Limited (Fame 2014 and Wilson Power Solutions 2014)

Company Name Description No. of Employees
Wilson Power Solutions Limited Company/ Subsidiary 38
Wilson Power Solutions Group Limited Company/Group 32
GROUP TOTAL 70
Table 2 Number of Employees (adapted from Fame 2014)

A.2.The Products
WPS manufactures and also provides services. Its areas of interest are power & distribution transformers, switchgear, battery charger, voltage management, re-engineered power equipment, package substations and equipment hire. The strategic business unit of focus if the power and distribution transformer manufacturer.

A.3. Environmental Analysis
Using tools like PEST Analysis, Porters Five forces and market segmentation the external environment can be evaluated to ascertain the factors that can affect the performance of Wilson Power Solution Group Limited. Some of these factors are summarized below:

Poitical/Legal
There are various standards regulating power efficiency of electrical equipments. The new EU Ecodesign Directive for transformers requires all transformers placed in the market to comply with strict new design specifications that specifically address transformer losses. (Wilson Power Solution 2014)

Market and Competitors
The major competitors are grouped under two categories: global players and local players. Some example of global players include ABB and Schneider. Local players include companies like
Bowers Electricals Ltd
JMS Transformers Ltd
R. Baker Electricals Ltd
ATL Transformers Ltd
Majestic Transformers Ltd
The markets are categorized as global, EU and UK. The major customers are the Power and distribution customers, supermarkets, the NHS and communications companies.

The internal environment for Wilson Power Solution is also analyzed based on Structure, Values and resources. It is observed that the company has a centralized structure with stated values as integrity and reliability. The company produced the U.K’s first super low loss amorphous transformer unit.

Industry Life Cycle
Power equipments are matured products. In order not to decline they become commodities. But differentiation can also deviate the curve from decline…