Discuss the below:
Review the CASE STUDY TTEFLEX CORPORATION
On December 1, 1988, Jon H. Simpson, 41, became president of Titeflex Corporation, located in Springfield, Massachusetts In that year Titeflex produced and sold $45 million worth of high-performance hcses to the aerospace, industrial and automotive sectors Earlier that year, Titeflexs parent, the Bundy Group, had been acquired by the British engineering conglomerate, Tube investments (TI) Simpson had been vice president of operations in CHR Industries, another Bundy company, when TFs management made him president of Titeflex. STRATEGY TI's initial strategy was to diveat Bundy's Performance Plastics Group, which included CHR Industries and Titeflex. After further study however, TI pulled Titeflex out of the divastment package, because its technology had value for Bundys autcmotive busineas as well as for T's flourishing aerospace Ail was not well with Titeflex, however. While the company was profitable and its sales were growing, competitors were nibbling away at Titeflex's market share, production was slow, deliveries were more often late than on time, and relations between management and Titenex's union were abysmal TI's CEO, Sir Christopher Lewinton, would not be satisfied with Titeftexs performance. He wanted each of Th's 70 companies to be worldwide leaders in technology and market share. He expected sales and profits to grow at 15 percent per annum while yielding at least a 15 percent retum on sales and a 30 percent return on net assats before interest and taxes Prior to the acquisition by TI, Simpson had been taking thme away from CHR to help the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which Bundy had brought in to study Titeflexs operations. As internal consultant, Simpson worked with BCG on flowcharting processes in every area to identify how efficiency and speed of response could be improved. The promotion to the Titeflex presidency transformed Simpson's life. Suddenly, he found himself in Springfield, Massachusetta, managing a new division under a new set of (British) bosses. Simpson felt sandwiched between irate customers warring employees, and demanding superiors. How should he deal with his customers? What could he do to improve Titeflex's operations and relations with the union? Simpson wondered what his priorities ought to be, where to begin, and how to proceed. PRODUCTS According to customers that Simpson met in his first few days in the company, Titeflex had a reputation for producing "pricey producta of excellent quality. The product line consisted of some 100,000 different hoses varying in size, shape, fittings, and type of protective sieeving
Q1. Develop an operations strategy for Jon Simpson and his colleagues at Titeflex. To what extent is your operations strategy also a business strategy ?
Q2. Which of the 16 principles of operations management applies most directly to your strategy ? Explain