Operational_Management

COMMUNICATIONS In my discussion, I will cover the communication issues for the Oregon facilities of the Canton Corporation. I will recommend effective ways of communicating to help them to overcome some issues that have occurred. There are many ways to communicate throughout the course of a day. Manager, production staff and other laborers all need to be informed of the different ways of communicating. Communication, according to Johann Wolfgang Van Goethe, “No one would talk much in society if they knew how often they misunderstood others”. It is said that effective communications only occur when the message or idea is understood by the audience in which the speaker intended to convey. In a company as large as Canton Corporation, it is vital that they communicate to each other. The problems or issues the Canton facilities are having is due to people failing to communicate with each other. Lack of communication causes confusion and it lowers production. Managers need to “coach, coordinate, counsel, evaluate and supervise” their employees (Mistry & Frush, 2008). The process of communicating involves: Thought which exist in the mind of the sender. Encoding is the message that the sender wants to be received by words or symbols, and Decoding which is how the receiver translates and understand what the sender is trying to convey (Clark, 2010). There are ways that the Canton Corporation’s Facilities P, S, and T can communicate with each other to cut down on costly mistakes. There is Telecommunication Technology in form of Faxes, Email, Intranet and Internet. Using either one of these methods, all of the facilities will be informed of each other’s activities. A situation that happened with Facilities P and T in which the parts from Facility S do not always arrive on time could have been solved if the trucks were equipped with a Global Positioning System (GPS). Facilities P and T would have been able to locate where the truck and the parts they needed were. It will enable the supervisors to keep track of the going and coming of The Global Positioning System can be away to encourage efficiency and productivity within the Canton Corporation. Since Canton is short on supervisory staff, the GPS will be a great tool for Canton to use as one solution to their problems. At the Canton Corporation, “the truckers waited for long periods of time to get their shipment and some had to drive from point to point to pick up merchandise” (Clark, 2010) and the trucks are arriving at the facilities and no one knowing when the freight has arrived can be solved with the use of a Computer Data System. This will allow the workers to check in the trailer when it arrives, and get it assigned to a dock to be unloaded in a timely manner. Using computer systems will track the shipments and provide the incoming and the outgoing manifest of each truck. There is a computer to computer exchange in which Facilities, S and T can use to always be on top of what each facility is doing. Another computer system and a good communication tool is the use of the Electronic Data Interchange or EDI. The EDI will enhance the productivity at each facility which they can all benefit from. It will reduce the cost in each of the facilities to aid in the prevention of loss of products. With there being only one supervisor to cover all facilities, the use a Management Information System can integrate all the computers throughout Canton. It is a tool which can assist the company to operate smoothly, the supervisors must be available to guide their staff, organize the work load evenly, and to move staff from one area to another if need be. It will allow the managers to process information like logging in the trucks when they arrive with the parts or finish products. It can also beneficial with keeping up with the production lines and assisting with decision making with staffing needs. Communication is highly important to all companies and Canton can run a smooth operation if they use the technology that is available. The lack of communicating can cause a loss in profits. To combat some of these communications issues, internally the use of the phone, fax machine and email could have helped. The integrating of computer systems can solve most of problems Canton is experiencing and improve the internal and external communications. References Clark, D., (2010). Communicating and Leadership. Retrieved October 27, 2010 from www.nwlink.com/donclark Mistry, K., Frush,K. (2008). Leadership Retrieved Octobers 27, 2010 from www.nwlink.com