Answers to Questions on Nissan Case Study

Answers to Questions on Nissan Case Study

When one considers the proposed eight year plan on the behalf of Nissan to bring the production of the “Leaf” model to the plant there is the consideration of the issue of why its takes so long to bring about the actualisation of such an initiative.

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However, when the literature (Slack et al 2009) is consulted the answer in short would seem to be that the whole process of concept generation and design is a complex and elongated one which begins with the customer and marketing departments long before the process ever reaches the operations stage.

Initial stages see concept generation taking place, this is the initial brainstorming stage in which a new “concept” product will be thought up by those within the company.

Slack et al (2010) however, highlights the importance that the concept generation stage is one in which a whole new encompassing concept must be brought to the consumer rather than merely a detailed plan and specification.

For the Nissan Leaf, the concept is not the design of an electric car, but the presentation of an environmentally friendly form of transport as a concept (Paukert 2010).

After concept generation, the next stage is that of the start of the marketing process. Here detailed market research needs to be conducted which will ascertain whether or not any one will want to actually buy the Nissan Leaf (Jobber 2007). There is little point in continuing with an initiative from an operations perspective, if there is no market for the initial concept.

Having considered the initial stages of the marketing process Nissan will then be able to consider two other key elements of the initiative, the finance of the project and the physical design of the process. In some ways these two elements may be seen as going hand in hand, given that it is unrealistic to ascertain the costs of a process without knowing exactly what that process is. Yet a process would never be designed without constant reference to the costs involved.

In designing the process detailed attention needs to be giving to the input factors, these are raw materials and labour on the whole as well as any specialised capital equipment needed for the new Lead model.

Once the input factors have been determined process designers can give a detailed specification of the manufacturing process which encompasses all elements of the transformation including quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and costs (Slack et al 2010) and results in the production of the final model of the car.

Again the design stage may be seen as adding significant levels of time to the imitative overall. Take for instance the element of procurement of raw materials, this may seem like a simple buying operations. However, in the automotive sector the buying of raw materials may involve months of complex negotiations in itself. Such negotiations may include items ranging from the detailed specifications of products and services to be obtai……………………………………..