- Case study
This assignment is based upon the iPhone 7. You will find relevant information relating to this product at https://www.apple.com/uk/iphone-7/. This page provides detail on the many features of this product, including:
An overview of the product
The iPhone 7 finishes
Special editions
The splash and water-resistant feature
The new ‘home button’ feature
The Touch ID
Apple Pay
The iPhone 7 camera
The supercharge chip
iPhone battery life
Large capacity
Faster 4G LTE
Answering calls on apps like Facebook
Assignment task(s)
Effective strategic operations and quality management lies at the heart of Apple’s competitiveness. Investigate Apple’s iPhone 7 (using this web address as the starting point – https://www.apple.com/uk/iphone-7/) and produce a fully referenced report (using the Harvard Style), that addresses the tasks below.
Your report should not be merely descriptive; it should analyse and synthesise the material to build arguments that produces a coherent document that demonstrates your learning, its application and your understanding. Your report should therefore, link relevant academic theory to your findings. Academic theory will derive from not only course models and concepts, but also research from a range of reputable sources, including academic journals, published conference papers and books.
Task 1 – This task is weighted as 30% of the overall assignment
Apple has the second largest number of smartphone sales worldwide. Discuss the order winning and qualifying features of their iPhone 7 model. Critically discuss how these impact and influence the Operational Management Strategy for their production
Task 2 – This task is weighted as 30% of the overall assignment
Apple continues to manufacture different models of its older iPhones alongside the latest. (At the time of writing these are its iPhone models 5, 6 and 7.) The Efficient Frontier model indicates that as variety increases, cost efficiency reduces. Draw and critically evaluate the Efficient Frontier diagram for these models. Critically discuss (with examples) how standardisation and modularisation address this issue.
Task 3 – This task is weighted as 30% of the overall assignment
Another way of addressing the variety/cost issue is for the production environment to employ a suitable process type and operational layout. Critically discuss the likely process type and operation layout utilised by the iPhone manufacturer to address this dilemma, indicating why other process types and layouts are inappropriate.
Task 4 – This task is weighted as 10% of the overall assignment
Write a short conclusion that summarises the key findings and provides operational management recommendations for Apple as a business.
Note:
Wright 2500 word for this assignment
