Slavery In the Chocolate Factory Essay Example for Free

bondage In the deep brown Factory Essay lineament is the measurement of excellence or state of universe free from deficiency, defects, and signifi evoket variations, (Nader, 2009). whole tone of a annex fire be mainly assessed from a citer and a customer spirit level of view. From a customer point of view, product bore is perspective as from each one individual perceives grapheme antitheticly. Ultimately, product lumber is the capability of the product to fulfil customer expectations as mandatory from the users. Quality from a manufacturers perspective depends on company size, culture, financial resources, kind resources, market pressures and company st investgy. Due to the availability of a full-size number of products in the market, different industries hand oer put forward different parameters that allow a product to be judged against the competition. For example, an electronic product whitethorn endure character parameters much(prenominal) as manageanc e, reliability, safety and appearance that has to be met (UNIDO, 2006). demonstrate reference surgery spirit targets the life cycle of a product from the beginning, design, development, roll out(a), updates and product relief.Both product and look quality argon combined together and quality catch measures put in get into to get word the final outcome is of a postgraduate quality. Interaction between product quality and physical knead quality In point to produce a quality product it requires a quality appendage. This involves respecting the mathematical surgery in unconscious process(p) at a level that complies with required quality criteria. When the quality of a process varies it get out see a direct impact on product characteristics and hence product quality. For example, a metal producing instal has processes such as cutting, machining, bending and coating.The smoothness, hardness and thickness etc of the metal be directly impacted by the quality of the p rocesses. Once the metal is manufactured, the customer go out judge it against the product specification and make a judgement on quality. (McG blunt-Hill, 2002) Scharffen Berger java Maker is a company that prides itself on product quality. As a result of this it led to an increase in customer demand and an increase in market share. To maintain the game quality of the end product while meeting demand, Jim Harris and co.put in place procedures that help them to retain quality throughout the different stages of the action process. The following table returns a summary of the quality techniques used in the production line Table 1 Quality Techniques in Production parentage Production StageQuality assurance and quality run across techniques used to maintain quality of the process Bean spicThe precise process associated with separating the chase away from beans. Once cleaned, storing the beans under specific climate and humidity controls RoasterRoasting different types of bean s separately.Human tasting WinnowerPrecise process associated with separating cocoa beans from the shell MelangeurQuality exam of the product for texture, admiration perception and physical properties ConcheQuality testing of the product d atomic number 53 through a scrape gauge to measure the level of smoothness normalize and moldingHuman testing for texture, snap and taste Packaging plosive consonant quality after the production line GeneralBlind tasting at different stages Hiring practiced operators Calibration of equipment All the above processes result assist in maintaining the quality of the final product.While victimisation tertiary party companies with the productions process, product quality is maintain by random sampling and testing to go through the product meets required specifications. Quality process analysis Quality control measures are put into place before and during the production process to ensure the raw substantials and processes are of acceptable qua lity. To ensure a utmost quality product at each stage of the production process quality techniques coffin nail be used such as quality assurance (QA), quality control (QC) and through means of incessant process profits.By implementing these strategies duty risks with regard to quality base be managed. However, a embody improvement analysis is required to be carried out to de landmarkine if the extent of quality assurance and quality control is beneficial to the task. The final inspection of the product is used for quality assurance as well. There is a fine balance between quality and cost of any product. If the product maintains a higher than required quality and the cost is high due to this very requirement, demand go forth decrease.Therefore, quality should be maintained at a level where it is sustainable so that a the product screwing be cost effective to face a competitive market. In the case study, Harriss team experiments with different techniques to undertake the succession required to prepare the burnt umber at different stages of the process of chocolate make. It is clear that with the changes in the processes of chocolate production, the final quality was some eras so much affected that the pioneers of the factory refused to endorse the change. This proves that thither is an undeniable interaction between product quality and process quality.However, the decision was made to make changes in the process precisely after so more trials, testing and tasting. This demonstrates that, In gild to make a computable quality product a series of quality processes are required. To maintain quality process a series of quality control systems are required. In a process quality control scheme the sequence of the musical notes is very important as some processes will be particular which would reflect largely in the quality of the final product. The following table details each process where Harris and his team have turn backd quality control s chemes to minimise variation.Table 2 Harriss Quality Control Schemes in the process Process sequenceQuality control Raw material quality controlPurchase BeansFind the farmers who grew the highest quality bean Ferment beans properly before dried and shipped to US Process quality controlBean CleanerThe precise process associated with separating the waste from beans. Once cleaned, storing the beans under specific climate and humidity controls. RoasterRoasting different types of beans separately to optimize the flavor. Operator oversee the temperature and taste the sample. WinnowerPrecise process associated with separating cocoa beans from the shell.MelangeurUse historical melangeur to perform task. Operator determined the time of completion found on look, feel, and taste. Ball MillIt provide quality benefits by decreasing the amount of flavor degradation. The resulting chocolate be tested and evaluated for quality. ConcheAeration was an important step for the quality control as bubbl e will created when blades moves. Quality testing of the product done through a scrape gauge to measure the level of smoothness Tempering and moldingHuman testing for level of stability, glossy surface, smooth feel in the mouth and snap.Quality control when transporting fluent chocolate to third-party molding. Finished product inspectionPackagingOwn packing in order to keep a close shopping mall on quality. Third-party pacing as they have better equipment and quality control. Quality control at when re-melt and re-temper procedure. lay off quality after the production line. Critical control points (CCp) can affect the quality of the entire product. However, non all steps in the process are considered as critical points. Specification or guidelines can assist in maintaining quality of certain products.These set regulations and standards such as to ISO 9000 and ISO 9001 that need to be complied with in a process. Transport or shipping becomes critical points because for example, the basic problem with transporting chocolate in containers is its comparatively low melting point. Solar radiation and other(a) external influences (heat sources, such as double merchantman tanks, engine rooms) may cause the temperature in the container to rise considerably and exceed the melting point, so making enormous quality degradation inevitable. Process con rigorousions.A hinder in project management is one process in a scope of processes, such that its limited condenser stamp downs the electrical condenser of the whole chain (Wikipedia, 2012). The efficiency of the production process is determined by the long-play chain task. These mute tasks are referred to as chokepoints and they have an impact on the throughput of a manufacturing process. Bottlenecks in a manufacturing process refer to resources that requires the longest time in operation to meet demand. One of the characteristics of bottlenecks is that it makes the run rate of the non-bottlenecks operate be low 100%. thusly increase message of the bottlenecks helps to reduce the time required for the entire process. However when one bottleneck is eliminated then another bottleneck is usually formed (Imaoka, 2009). The bottlenecks in the process can inhibit flow, cause inventories, and proscribe throughout from matching customer demand. This chapter determine the capacity of bottlenecks throughout the process, analysed the management and improvement methods in order to make progress towards Scharffen Bergers goal. Process flow diagram.The first step to create a process flow diagram is to define the process boundaries. The process boundaries are the entry and exit points of inputs and produces of the process. The input of Scharffen Berger deep brown Maker process is the raw chocolate bean and the output will be packaged chocolate ready to sell. Once the boundaries are defined, the process flow diagram is a valuable tool for savvy the process victimization graphic elements to repres ent tasks, flows and storage. intercept 1 is flow diagram represents Scharffen Berger coffee tree maker production process at earlier 2005Figure 1 Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker Production Process The symbols in a process flow diagram are defined as follows Rectangles represent tasks. The equipment capacity, process capacity, duration and flow time are listed under each of the task. Arrows represent flows. draws include the flow of material and the flow of information. In this case the flow represents flow of raw bean, roast bean, waste, Nibs, and chocolate.Triangles represent storage ( origin). depot bins commonly are used to represent raw material inventory, work in process inventory, and finished goods inventory. The process flow diagram linked tasks in series are performed sequentially. Tasks drawn in latitude such as devil Conche machine and different packaging options are performed simultaneously.In the above diagram, raw bean is held in a storage bin at the beginnin g of the process. After the last task, the output overly is stored in a storage warehouse. Scharffen Berger typically kept on to 2 monthes of inventory in stock for each of its major products. Process performance measures.In order to identify the bottlenecks in Scharffen Berger Chocolate manufacture process, the process performance measures become essential, this aspects include Capacity The capacity is its maximum quantity that the equipment overt to perform in once. This parameter can affect the process rate and utilisation of equipment. Process capacity The process capacity is its maximum output rate, measured in units produced per unit of time. The capacity of a series of tasks is determined by the lowest capacity task in the string. The parallel tasks is the sum of the capacities of the devil strings.Flow time The average time that a unit requires to flow through the process from the entry point to the exit point. The flow time includes both processing time and any time the unit go through between steps. Duration The duration is the total running time of each of the task in a week unit, it can be one shift a day, seven days a week. The inventory in the process is related to the throughput rate and throughput time WIP Inventory = Throughput Rate x Flow while This relation is known as Littles Law, named after John D. C Little whos proven it mathematically in 1961 (Barton et al, 2002). The process bottleneck improvement.The process bottleneck occurred at the slowest flow rate of the series task in the process. The bottleneck can be found by comparing the process capacity. Saving time in the bottlenecks activity saves time for the entire process. Saving time in a non-bottleneck activity does not help the process since throughout rate is limited by the bottleneck. If the next slowest task is much faster than the bottleneck, then the bottleneck is having a major impact on the process capacity (Starnes, 2000). direct hour The first bottleneck of prod uction capacity throughout process was place as operating hour.Before Harris manage the Scharffen Berger, in order to revoke overtime turn overment to employee, the business only operating one shift per day. The equipments such as Conches, Melangeurs, were not efficiently used. Harris calculated each completed conche could be worth over $30,000 in sales and industry average 40% in contribution on sales. It would be worth to pay overtime and increase productions. Conche operating The second capacity bottleneck throughout the process can be identified as conche operating hour. Scharffen Berger owned two Conches used to refine, mix and aerate the chocolate.The disadvantage of this machine is time consuming, each 1400kg bath of chocolate hard drink typically spend 48 to 72 hours inside of the conche machine. Figure 2 indicate the identified bottleneck task (red colour) in the Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker process in earlier 2005. Figure 2 Conche Bottleneck in Scharffen Berger Pro cess The production rate of Conche is the slowest compare with other tasks. The total capacity for two Conche is 2800kg, and its requiring 40-60 hrs to finish each operation, Conche working(a) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The capacity of the melangeur is 115kg and requires 1. 25hr to finish the job.The working duration of melangeur is 16 hours a day, 7 days a week. By applying production rate radiation pattern By comparing the production rate, the bottleneck of the process can be identified as conche task. Two conche working 24hours a day compare with melangur only work 16 hours a day, the maximum working hour of melangur can not be reached as it constrained by slow operation of conche. In order to improve bottleneck of conche, the ball footle has been introduced as it can perform most conche tasks effectively. Instead of 40-60 hours, the ball mill can grain particles from 100 microns to 25 microns in trinity hours.The conche would still be needed for its aeration mixing funct ion. The total operation time for ball mill and conche can reduce to 15 hours instead 40-60 hours. Melangeur operating After the company decided to use ball mill instead of conches, melangeur becomes the capacity bottleneck throughout the process. The capacity of the ball mill and conche is 1400kg and requires 15 hours to finish the job. The working duration of melangeur is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. By applying production rate formula Since the production rate of melangeur only 1472 kg/day, the melangeur becomes the capacity bottleneck throughout the process.Figure 3 represent the new flow chart as the ball mill introduced. The melangeur was used to grind the nibs this released the cocoa butter and turned the dry nibs into chocolate paste. The company recently located a used melangeur that could be purchased and refurbished for $50,000. Figure 3 Melangeur Bottleneck in Scharffen Berger Process Molding process The last bottleneck affect the production capacity process could be modelling process. The larger, faster modelling equipment would be prohibitively expensive, and several third party co-packers had excess capacity and would be able to model more Scharffen Bergers chocolate.Harris thought Scharffen Berger might avoid the resulting duplication of the tempering and modelling steps by transferring the legato chocolate directly to the co-packer. Figure 4 shows the operating process when the modelling and packaging task been given to the third party and co-packers. Figure 4 Third Party Molding and Co-Packer for Scharffen Berger Process In this stage, the process boundaries at output point will change from chocolate ready to sell to liquid chocolate. The modelling and packaging task has been withdrawn from operation process.But the challenges is transporting liquid chocolate was a very tricky, expensive and require high level of quality control with third parties. Future improvements The following lists some methods that can improve the operation process for Scharffen Berger Chocolate maker Add additional resources to increase capacity of the bottleneck. For example, an additional Roaster or Cleaner machine can be added in parallel to increase the capacity. Reduce work-in-process inventory. Reduce the lead time such as reduce the cooling time after roasting the coffee bean.Move task away from bottleneck resources. Increase availability of bottleneck resources, for example, increasing the daily operating hour for melangeur from 16hours a day to 24 hours a day. Minimize non-value adding activities. Such as reduce transporting time, rework, waiting time, testing and inspection time. Redesign the chocolate type for better manufacturability can improve several or all process performance measures. Quality Process For a Premium Quality Product The main aim of any organisation is to provide customer satisfaction by providing product and serve.Quality of an end product requires production design establish on customer feedback which not on ly minimises loss but also provides competitive advantages. In Scharffen Berger Chocolate maker case study Scharffen berger prioritises specific areas to achieve a high quality product . These areas are as follows Raw material- Scharffen Berger prided itself on using the highest quality beans available from countries such as Ghana, Trinidad, Jamaica, Domician Republic, Madagascar, and other countries. Scharffen Berger intermingle up to 9 varieties of beans to make each type of chocolate unlike other companies that used only 2 different types of beans.Steinberg and Scharffen travelled to remote regions near the equator to find farmers who grew the highest quality beans and to ensure that these farmers allowed there beans to bend properly before shipping them. 2) Cleaning Prior to being cook, beans were poured into a large bean dry-cleaned machine that separated cocoa beans from objects like dust, piddling stones and twigs 3) Roaster To enhance the flavour all cocoa beans were roasted before they could be sent to make chocolates. Scharffen Berger roasted each kind of bean separately in order to optimise flavour.The sample was tasted by them regularly in order to check whether the roasting is complete. agree to Harris, practice of tasting is the best methods of measurements at each stage of the chocolate production process. Once beans were roasted they were used within a few days in order to optimise flavour. 3) Conche Once the chocolates left over(p) the melaunger there were still some small nib pieces that needed to be ground further. This was done in the conche. Other grant quality products were also added in the conches which broke all the ingredients down to microscopic pieces.Experiments were also done with powdered sugar in order to reduce the time for Conching but found the taste unacceptable. 4) Tempering and moulding This process was to be done in a specific sequence with a certain degree of stirring. It was used to avoid duplication of the tempering and moulding steps by transferring the liquid steps to co-packers 5) Quality Control This was the most important step performed in order to get a premium quality product. Operators measured the quality of the product by examining its look and texture, breaking it and tasting it.At least once in 15 days, Scharffen Berger management and machine operators got together to calibrate their perceptions and standards for acceptable quality by blind testing the beans and chocolate at various stages of production. 6) Equipment Balmill using Balmills can increase the capacity of production at least 75%. In addition, it will be extra beneficial for the products with high sugar content by decreasing the amount of flavour degradation that can occur when a premium product is over-processed and excessively manipulated. New equipment such as ball mill will assist in increasing capacity and efficiency of the process.7) Quality Control Operators measured the quality of chocolate by consta ntly examining its appearance, texture, tasting and breaking it. The quality of the product is checked at various stages to test if it is good to be sold. As a result of these quality checks the number of defects in the final product is rock-bottom and will also lead to an overall increase in organizational performance. In addition this will also have a positive flow on effect on customer confidence and customer satisfaction of the product which will yield further increase in demand.8) Every two months, management and machine operators calibrate their perception and standards for acceptable quality by blind testing. 9) Operating time Increased conformance to legislation such as carbon emissions by reducing operating time. For example the existing conches are operated 24 hours a day and seven days a week. By replacing the conches with the new ball mill, Harris (Chief operating Officer of Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker) and his team will reduces the operating time of machinery an d increase the efficiency of the process. Adantages of high quality productAdvantages of developing high quality products are, Increase in demand needs increased generate. Addressing the bottlenecks of the production process and improving stages of the process will assist with increasing supply. Increase in customer satisfaction and improving the business output. Using Quality Assurance techniques to check the product at various stages by tasting or testing to ensure that the final product obtained is of premium quality and meets customer expectations will lead to increase in business growth as the customer numbers will increase. Quality improvement is a planed managerial activity.It involves identifying potential improvements, prioritized potential areas of improvement and planning and the implementation of projects and improvements, (Foster, 2010). Scharffen Berger prioritized potential areas of improvement. Then these improvements were planned and implemented in several stages i n order to achieve a premium quality product. Every year, more than 30,000 volume toured the factory and many of these visitors bought the products during these tours. By demonstrating how good the quality of the processes was, Scharffen Berger won the confidence of his clients.Moreover, quality processes can be used to manage risks in the production line. As a result quality processes can be used as a risk mitigation strategy by business. In the case of Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker, the types of risks that can be decrease by quality processes are quality of raw material, appearance, texture, snapping and tasting. In addition to risk management, customers in universal are willing to pay an additional amount of money for a premium quality product. consequently there is a niche market for these chocolates.In order to satisfy customers in this market the business needs to follow high quality process development techniques and produce an end product that will satisfy their high expectations. Innovation leads to high quality process development in the long term and an increase in system efficiency. Hence overtime this will result in competitive advantages over the other products and a greater market share in the industry. Another benefit of high quality process development is that it will lead to standardization or bench marking.Benefits of standardization includes for instance, increase in cost effectiveness (e.g. decrease in manufacturing cost), improve negotiating power with third party companies, simplify support and training, simplify purchase of raw materials, procurement, upgrade and disposal of plant materials and economies of scale in manufacturing, training and testing. laid-back quality process development will also minimise the failure costs of the product, both inbred and external. Reasons for using a high quality process The aim of Scharffen Berger chocolate maker is to produce premium chocolates. In order to produce premium chocolates Harri s and his team requires high quality process development.Some of the reasons for using a high quality process development are as follows Another benefit of maintaining supply to future demand is the perceived quality of the product by the customers will improve due to an increase in customer satisfaction. It also improves aesthetics of the Scharffen Berger Chocolates such as taste. Increases reliability of the production line with automation for example the use of the ball mill. It gives the company the opportunity for continuous improvement. For example Harris and his team carried out many investigations to reduce bottlenecks and to increase capacity of the existing production line.As an outcome of their investigation they decided to incorporate a new ball mill. Quality management is incorporated into the production line to ensure agreement of the quality of the product is maintained. This can be reflected in the case study by Harris and his team employing a skilled workforce. Qu ality assurance is maintained throughout the production line to ensure the high quality of the end product. For example Harris and his team undertook extensive testing and tasting of the product at various stages of production. This address aims to explain the issues underlining the Cocoa industry mainly in entropy Africa.It relates to nestling trafficking and the actions that corporations such as Nestles and impair are taking in order to tackle this issue. Lastly it will conclude the actions one can take as a manager in order to resolve these issues using different theories and approaches. chela Trafficking Child Trafficking is in direct violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948-2008 which states that all humans have a choice to work to just and favourable conditions of work. It also states that everyone should be paid fairly and passable to their work.Lastly it states that everyone has the right to rest and limitation on working hours. Children in South A frica. India and other countries in general arent given any of these things. It is the duty of the people high in power to enforce these rights onto their people by putting strict restrictions which can lead to punishments if broken. Dealing with an issue on a large scale is difficult as it is extremely difficult to keep an eye on such small areas of an operation. Due to the high number of production and harvesting it is easy for companies such as SAF-CACAO to keep their secrets confidential from their buyers e.g.Nestle. However Chocolate manufacturers arent bothered by these issues as their main objective is to maximise profits. Due to the high volume of Coco they buy even a small percentage of increase in cost per kg of coco can lead to a huge rise in costs in production. Nestle signed an agreement to end child labour in 2001 however they have failed in this because they didnt deem out checks on their suppliers in South Africa. Reports show that 1. 8 Million children are soon in danger of being used as slaves (Humphrey Hawksley, 2012).Companies such as Nestle and Mars can still deal with this issue by boycotting SAF-CACAO and other companies using child labour because this can reduce their profits and pressuring them into bankruptcy. The world must shift the focus of trade from being driven solely by profits to serve people-cantered development (Yash Tandon Executive Director of South Centre). If Nestle stops buying from inequitable suppliers then this in return promote a better image of their business which will seeming to increase their sales and customers will be more happy with Nestles actions.According to McGregors theories X Y SAF-CACAO is currently following the Authoritarian Management Style . This is because they are irresponsible and dont take into account the views of their workers and the conditions they are living through. Cultural differences are also playing a major role in this because South Africa is mainly collectivist based and due t o this children are trafficked into slavery and even though this is bad they dont in reality have a choice because if they return to their parents they will probably be punished for not transport them any money.Due to the lack of education in areas around ivory coast there is a misunderstanding and unethical views on the age at which a child should work. Parents expect children to work and pay their families regardless of their capabilities and the dangers of them being kidnapped. Dealing with these issues wouldnt be possible unless us as customers boycott Nestle and other star signs that are buying chocolates from unethical companies. Buying Fair-Trade products is an alternative which we can all resort to even though it is more expensive it is at least ethical.There are many other firms that promote anti-child trafficking such as Freedom Matters , Anti-Slavery. These influence people to replace their normal purchases with fair-trade products. However there is no strict action th at anyone can take to stop child trafficking. As a manager of a firm that uses suppliers in Africa it would be wise to set main priority to fight child trafficking, first step would be to enforce the Human rights law in all the companies operations in order to make sure all the operations within the business as well as the businesses that the firm is traffic with all are following this law.Secondly monitoring the origin of cocoa will be carried out to check exactly where it is made and whether the farms are using children to harvest the crops. If this is the case then social services and the police will be notified. Another way to deal with this issue will be to final payment suppliers who operate ethically by offering them higher prices for their cocoa. These suppliers can also be monitored on a monthly basis to check if they are working under the human rights act.In majority of maturement countries it is very easy to buy someone by offering them a lot of money to do something b ad. Due to this it will only be wise for someone high in power to carry out checks on a businesss production because they will likely to be the only people that will give truthful information. Bibliography FairTrade. (2013).What is Fairtrade?. procurable http//www. fairtrade. org. uk/what_is_fairtrade/default. aspx. Last accessed initiative December 2013. Foodispower. (2013). Slavery in the Chocolate Industr. Available http//www. foodispower.org/slavery-in-the-chocolate-industry/. Last accessed 1st December 2013. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (1945).Preamble. Available http//www. un. org/en/documents/udhr/. Last accessed 1st December 2013. Douglas Mcgregor. (1960). Douglas Mcgregor Theory X,Y. Available http//www. businessballs. com/mcgregor. htm. Last accessed 1st December 2013. Humphrey Hawksley. (2012). Nestle failing on child labour abuse, says FLA report. Available http//www. bbc. co. uk/news/world-africa-18644870. Last accessed 1st December 2013.