Assignment:
In reviewing the list below, Itza Yu noted that some of the items on the list are sound short-term goals and objectives while others are not and therefore, should be removed. He also noted that some of the items do not fit well with the company's vision and mission and will need to be eliminated.
(A) A goal is defined as being a broad aim and spells out what needs to be done generally.
(B) An objective is defined as a specific and measurable action needed to meet the goal.
An abandoned item is neither a goal nor objective, or does not fit with the time line of the project. Hint look at the pattern of the tasks and dates to achieve them.
Assuming the role of Management, students must determine whether the items on the list below are "goals" or "objectives" and whether they should be adopted or abandoned. The list is as follows:
Short Term Goals and Objectives List
- Production of quality MMTJE1 toys must start February 20th, 2018.
- Production of quality MMTJE1 toys must start by July 1, 2018.
- Dates for starting production set.
- Completion dates for new personnel hire set.
- MMTJE1 quality toys production.
- Additional personnel must be hired by February 20th 2018.
- Materials must be state of the art.
- Completion dates for material purchase and delivery set.
- 3D printers must be purchased by February 20th, 2018.
- 3D printers must be purchased and installed by November 1, 2018.
- The first MMTJE1 toys should be produced by December 1, 2017.
- QC should evaluate first toys by December 31, 2017.
- Completion dates for QC standards will be determined by QC.
- Safety standards should be determined by QC by May 1, 2017.
- Materials must be purchased by and delivered by July 1, 2017.
- New packages should be palletized by May 1, 2018.
- Personnel for all production functions must be organized by March 31, 2017.
- Shipping should begin immediately upon the nod from Quality Control.
- Shipping should begin July 1, 2018.
- Shipping start dates should be determined.
- IT must confirm programming for 3D printers is complete by June 1, 2017.
- 3D machine operators must be trained by October 31, 2017.
- Completion dates for 3D programming, training and installation set.
- Maintenance for 3D printers must be done daily.
- Personnel must be cross trained on the 3D printers.
- Training on new equipment must be done by October 31, 2017.
- Marketing will determine shipping start date.
- Dates for personnel hire set.
From the list above, students should generate a table with three columns. Label the first column, "Appropriate Short-term Goals." Label the second column "appropriate objectives". The third column should be those other goals and objectives that must be abandoned.
The information below can help a bit.
The other project "Moon Mission to Jupiter's Europa" (MMTJE1) is a 3D engineered of the Curiosity vehicle used to. explore Mars. The toy is operated remotely allowing a child and parent to launch the capsule "Juno 1" craft, 500 ft. in the air, unload the rover called Galileo and move it along all terrain surfaces. Galileo takes pictures remotely and sends them to a cell phone. The toy is geared for the age 11-15 market but can be used with younger children as long as there is adult supervision. The toy is made from a 3D printer and consists of a plastic capsule and rover base with electronics added separately in production. [Not sure what 3D printing is, view https://3dprinting.com/what-is-3d-printing/]
Focus group results suggest that it is a "wow" product and would also encourage sales of related toys and books as Jupiter's Moon Europa has been deemed by scientists as the most accessible and likely place to support habitable life as we know it to be. Children can view pictures and imagine a Moon currently covered in ice as a new space frontier adventure. An interactive video game is also envisioned. It will be the first intergalactic action toy that Galaxy Toys has ever produced. MMTJE1 is estimated to bring a 15% increase in unrelated NASA sales if rolled out in 2017 and 21.6% increase if rolled out in 2018. However, MMTJE1 is not production-friendly at this point.
The new production equipment, electronics, computer programming and trained personnel would not see production beginning before November of 2017. Anticipated budget costs of $450,000 necessitating a budget increase of $300,000 over all five plants would be needed. In order to meet the October deadline for Christmas 2017 sales additional labor would be needed with a cost increase of 20% over the projected $450,000 budget costs. In addition, the push would necessitate significant rescheduling of current production and likely require factory workers to put in overtime. Finally, the rush would be predicated on the assumption that production problems would not occur.
Keith Wisternick, VP of Production, has the job of aligning all the production teams for Galaxy Toys, and more specifically, he is the person that ensures that each of the plants are capable of producing toys that meet the quality standards of Galaxy Toys in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Also, part of Keith's job is to provide valuable input into the long-term planning process of the company. Every two years, Keith and his counterparts in the other departments meet to determine the new product line for the upcoming two years. They are presented with new ideas that have been developed by the Design and Engineering Department.
After soliciting input for recommendations on the toys that would most likely meet the company's future objectives, the Board of Directors narrowed the choices to Payload Nine and Moon Mission to Jupiter's Europa 1 (MMTJE1).
As VP of Production, Keith is very aware that his recommendation and vote lends great influence to the outcome. Lucky for Keith, he is not expected to provide his recommendation without first delegating some researching responsibilities to others. One person that he relies upon for research and analysis is Itza Yu who is a Production Manager. Yu has been tasked with creating a SWOT analysis for Keith's review. However, Yu has not had any prior experience with creating this type of information.