Product Development System

Thirty years after its founding by potato farmer Paul Kuck, Regal Marine has became a powerful force on the waters of the world.  The world’s third-Largest boat manufacturer (by global sales), Regal exports to 30 countries, including Russia and China.  Almost one-third of its sales are overseas. 

Product design is critical in the highly competitive pleasure boat business : “We keep in touch with our customers and we respond to the market place,” says Kuck.  “We’re introducing six new models this year alone.  I’d say we’re definitely on the aggressive end of the spectrum.”

With changing customer taste, compounded by material changes and ever-improving marine engineering, the design function is under constant pressure.  Added to these pressures is the constant issue of cost competitiveness combined with the need to provide good value for customers. 

Perusahaan perlu terus menerus melakukan upaya penciptaan produk baru atau pembaharuan produk untuk dapat mengimbangi persaingan yang dihadapi diantaranya produk substitusi maupun perubahan kebutuhan dan keinginan konsumen.

Walaupun pada kenyataannya seringkali produk baru banyak yang gagal untuk dapat

dipasarkan akan tetapi usaha yang terus-menerus untuk memperkenalkan produk baru

harus tetap dilakukan .

Oleh karenanya seleksi produk, pendefinisian produk maupun desain produk sangat penting dilakukan terus menerus sehingga manajer operasi dan organisasinya harus memahami resiko kegagalan yang mungkin terjadi, dan harus menampung banyak produk baru sementara aktifitas yang dijalankan tetap dilakukan.

Sistim pengembangan produk bukan hanya demi keberhasilan produk tetapi juga untuk kepentingan masa depan perusahaan. Oleh karena itu melakukan pengembangan produk memerlukan tahapan sebagai berikut:

sumber:

Jay Heizzer &Barry Rander

Employee Empowerment - Pemberdayaan Karyawan

These are the ten most important principles for managing people in a way that reinforces employee empowerment, accomplishment, and contribution. These management actions enable both the people who work with you and the people who report to you to soar.

1. Demonstrate That You Value People

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Your regard for people shines through in all of your actions and words. Your facial expression, your body language, and your words express what you are thinking about the people who report to you. Your goal is to demonstrate your appreciation for each person's unique value. No matter how an employee is performing on his or her current task, your value for the employee as a human being should never falter and always be visible.

2. Share Leadership Vision

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Help people feel that they are part of something bigger than themselves and their individual job. Do this by making sure they know and have access to the organization's overall mission, vision, and strategic plans.

3. Share Goals and Direction

Jacob Wackerhausen

Share the most important goals and direction for your group. Where possible, either make progress on goals measurable and observable, or ascertain that you have shared your picture of a positive outcome with the people responsible for accomplishing the results. If you share a picture and share meaning, you have agreed upon what constitutes a successful and acceptable deliverable. Empowered employees can then chart their course without close supervision.

4. Trust People

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Trust the intentions of people to do the right thing, make the right decision, and make choices that, while maybe not exactly what you would decide, still work. When employees receive clear expectations from their manager, they relax and trust you. They focus their energy on accomplishing, not on wondering, worrying, and second-guessing.

5. Provide Information for Decision Making

Dean Sanderson

Make certain that you have given people, or made sure that they have access to, all of the information they need to make thoughtful decisions.

6. Delegate Authority and Impact Opportunities, Not Just More Work

Image Coypright Jacob Wackerhausen

Don't just delegate the drudge work; delegate some of the fun stuff, too. You know, delegate the important meetings, the committee memberships that influence product development and decision making, and the projects that people and customers notice. The employee will grow and develop new skills. Your plate will be less full so you can concentrate on contribution. Your reporting staff will gratefully shine - and so will you.

7. Provide Frequent Feedback

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Provide frequent feedback so that people know how they are doing. Sometimes, the purpose of feedback is reward and recognition as well as improvement coaching. People deserve your constructive feedback, too, so they can continue to develop their knowledge and skills.

8. Solve Problems: Don't Pinpoint Problem People

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When a problem occurs, ask what is wrong with the work system that caused the people to fail, not what is wrong with the people. Worst case response to problems? Seek to identify and punish the guilty. (Thank you, Dr. Deming.)

9. Listen to Learn and Ask Questions to Provide Guidance

Steve Cole

Provide a space in which people will communicate by listening to them and asking them questions. Guide by asking questions, not by telling grown up people what to do. People generally know the right answers if they have the opportunity to produce them. When an employee brings you a problem to solve, ask, "what do you think you should do to solve this problem?" Or, ask, "what action steps do you recommend?" Employees can demonstrate what they know and grow in the process. Eventually, you will feel comfortable telling the employee that he or she need not ask you about similar situations. You trust their judgment.

10. Help Employees Feel Rewarded and Recognized for Empowered Behavior

Copyright Lisa Gagne

When employees feel under-compensated, under-titled for the responsibilities they take on, under-noticed, under-praised, and under-appreciated, don’t expect results from employee empowerment. The basic needs of employees must feel met for employees to give you their discretionary energy, that extra effort that people voluntarily invest in work. For successful employee empowerment, recognition plays a significant role.


(sumber:  http://humanresources.about.com/od/managementandleadership/tp/empowerment.htm)

Tata Letak Fasilitas

Tata letak (layout) adalah salah satu kunci keputusan yang menentukan efisiensi operasi dalam jangka panjang. Layout fasilitas adalah penenpatan atau susunan segala sesuatu yang dibutuhkan untuk proses operasi dalam dan sekitar bangunan.

Tata letak mempunyai sejumlah implikasistrategis karena menentukan prioritas bersaing perusahaan dalam hubungannya dengan kapasitas, proses, fleksibilitas, biaya, kualitas hidup kerja, kontak konsumen dan image. Tata letak yang efektif dapat membantu organisasi mencapai keunggulan strategi yang mendukung diferensiasi, biaya rendah, atau respon.  

Mc. Donald, misalnya, mendukung strategi diferensiasi dengan investasi tinggi pada tata letak, seperti terlihat pada gambar diatas, dimana dari sekian banyak inovasi yang dilakukan lebih banyak fokus ke arah tata letak

Tujuan strategi layout adalah mengembangkan layout ekonomis yang memenuhi persyaratan kompetitif perusahaan. Desain layout ekonomis harus mempertimbangkan beberapa hal berikut :

1.    Pemanfaatan/penggunaan ruang, peralatan dan orang secara maksimal.

2.    Perbaikan aliran informasi, material, atau orang.

3.    Perbaikan moral dan kondisi kerja yang lebih aman.

4.    Perbaikan dalam interaksi konsumen/klien.

5.    Fleksibilitas (layout yang ada sekarang akan memerlukan perubahan).