An Integrated Approach to Strategic Decision and Operational Planning: Application to a Small & Medium Size Food Manufacturer

Liu Mengya

Abstract

This paper proposed an integrated approach which aims to help Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) to apply scientific managing method in their strategic decision-making process and operational planning for day-to-day production. The proposed method mainly consists of three phases: Phase I: strategic, Phase II: tactic and Phase III: Operational. The method starts with the top strategic level, the discussion focuses on the selection of the business supply chain strategy and it set the main direction for the entire organization. In the second Tactic Phase, the focus is zoomed in to the production line design. The objective of this phase is to re-evaluate the current production line, analyse it and identify with potential areas for improvement by linking the management strategic concept obtained from first phase with the actual production line. The integration of the strategic concepts and production line can be implemented through production line design. The third Phase comes to the operational planning. This session is made up of three parts and they are covered from the economic production volume of intermediary product or semi-finished product with implementing lean paradigm, the selection of the manufacturing methods and day-to-day production scheduling and planning for finished-good under agile idiom. An Application of Company S is provided as case study to illustrate the idea of the proposed methodology. The data input used in the case study is the best estimation values based on the information provided by Company S Management and feedback from relevant production personnel, as well as the direct observation.