Operations Strategy And Quality Management Practices Of MAS Holdings Are Discussed In The Essay.

Select an organization of your choice and answer the following questions:-
1.) Critically assess the current operations strategy of the organization. Describe your answer using the strategic, tactical and operational factors mentioned above in the assignment brief.

2.) Doing things right by providing error free goods and services, which will satisfy the customers, is known as quality. Critically assess the Quality Management practices in the organization. Benchmark the current practices with industry leading practices and recommend required improvements.

3.) Identify five core cross-functional processes in the organization. Describe each of the process with standard tools and diagrams. (Standard tools and diagrams are: Process Chart, Process Flow Chart, Responsibility Matrix, etc¦). Critically evaluate and re-engineer the processes and recommend improvements.

4.) Describe the importance of “Process innovation and improvement to the organization. Support your answer with TIM implementation (total innovation management), technology acquisition and automation practices.

Critical assessment of the current operations strategy of MAS Holdings and the strategic, tactical and operational factors creating an impact on business

The operations management could include the strategic and tactical activities at various operational levels as well as identify the strategic issues which might hinder the proper designing of goods and services and also deteriorate the process efficiency and capacity designs (Abeyrathne et al. 2015). The location strategy, layout strategy, designing of human resources and jobs, management of supply chain activities within the selected organization named MAS Holdings are all essential components of the operations management. The business organization chosen here as the case study is MAS Holdings and the tactical issues that can create complexities in managing the business operations properly such as layout and structure, methods of managing project, selection and replacement of equipment and machineries are also included here in this report (Masholdings.com 2017).

The operational issues such as management and control of operations, scheduling, management of inventories and controlling the quality of products and services delivered by MAS Holdings will also be illustrated in this topic. Not only the management of business operations and processes is essential but also the Quality Management practices and major cross functional processes have been shown here for making necessary changes and improvements within the organization (Osborne, Radnor and Nasi 2013). There are several benefits of process innovation which have helped in making improvements along with the implementation of total innovation management or TIM and processes of automation. The ways of managing a good amount of traffic, handle the materials and maintenance of policies will be included here as well for deriving a good conclusion in the end.

The business organisation MAS Holdings is one of the major synthetic dresses manufacturing company in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is one of the most established technology apparel design-to-delivery solutions provider, which has its development centre in Asheboro. An investment of US $ 20 million has already been made, and more than 130 new jobs are created as well. The company has managed to integrate the technology into clothing and even enabled partnership working with new companies in Silicon Valley region and New York (Panetto, Dassisti and Tursi 2012). The company has also acquired Acme-McCrary in the location of North Carolina for creating a worldwide presence and brand reputation within the textile and clothing research industry. The good climatic conditions and convenient location have further helped the company to expand global reach and furthermore serve the large numbers of customers with ease and efficiency (Ramos-Sandoval, García-Álvarez-Coque and Mas-Verdú 2017).

Other than the partnership with business organizations such as Victoria's secret, Nike, Marks and Spencer, there are many clients of the company too like Rebook, Tesco, etc. The first major project undertaken by the company was with Mast Industries and Courtaulds Clothing, which set up a major benchmark for delivering excellence in the management of employee relations. This also puts MAS Holdings as a reputed and established organisation within the global map. The whole group has managed to carry out strategic investments with its various business operations in different countries other than Sri Lanka, where the company has been operating (Rice 2013). The company also specialises in fabric printing, lace manufacturing and elastic. This has placed the company in Sri Lanka as a centre of excellence, which delivers good quality intimate apparels and sportswear to the customers (Rushton, Croucher and Baker 2014).

Current operations strategy

As the topic revolves around the case study of MAS Holdings, so the various ways of managing operations will be illustrated here and how the management of business practices has helped in enhancing the efficiency level of the organisation largely. The present operations strategy of MAS Holdings includes financial management, human resources management, marketing, sales, manufacturing, purchasing and distribution of products and services too (Sarkis 2012).

MAS Holdings created an effective Toyota product system that can control the major business operations from its implementation of policy to the execution, which is known as the MAS operating system as well. This effective system integrated the lean manufacturing and developed an operating system that can enhance the process of production and delivery, to fulfill the needs and requirements of customers in various market segments. The lean management strategy has helped MAS Holdings to gain high quality products, increase the safety and morale of workers, reduce costs and even the times for lead (Schiederig, Tietze and Herstatt 2012). One advantage of this kind of operations strategy is that it eliminates all kinds of wastes from the business operations and processes too.

The lean manufacturing by MAS Holdings has also enhanced the customer value for reducing the wastes and furthermore deliver excellence regarding manufacturing and production. By reducing the wastes, the company has developed processes that require less effort, space, capital and time to deliver products that are of high quality with lower cost. The lean manufacturing defines wastes as waiting, motion, over processing, transportation, overproduction, etc (Schönsleben 2016).

From the survey of operations strategy, it has been found that the activities range from strategic to tactical and operational levels. There could be strategic issues regarding the determination of ways of designing goods and services, process and capacity design, location strategy, layout strategy, human resources management, job design and supply-chain management.

Tactical issues include layout and structure, project management methods, and equipment selection and replacement (Slack 2015).

Operational issues include scheduling and control of operations, inventory management, quality control and inspection, traffic and materials handling, and equipment maintenance policies.

The strategic factors include the development of policies and strategies for management of business operations properly and deliver good quality textile and synthetic products. The strategic factors include the designing of products and services of MAS Holdings, its business processes and capacity along with the strategies regarding the selection of best location and layout. The policies are implemented for assessment of regulatory issues and develop control requirements that are aligned with the business goals and objectives (Sodhi and Tang 2013). The long term policies could help in managing production outside Sri Lanka and enter new markets with ease while the short term policies include development of an MOS roadmap for moving towards the right direction, conducting SWOT analysis to determine strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, set a mission and vision statement and evaluate the key performance indicators as well (Stadtler 2015).

The strategic, tactical and operational factors are mainly considered for driving the business through a proper road map execution plan and furthermore ensure successful accomplishment of business goals and objectives. The tactical factors include the culture of empowerment, stability of business operations and allowing the employees to gain a mindset for ensuring necessary changes and improvements in a continuous manner (Subramanian and Ramanathan 2012). KAIZEN is the main motto of MAS Holdings, i.e., managing changes for the betterment of the organisation and ensuring successful accomplishment of organisational goals and objectives in an effective manner. The role of leaders and managers of MAS Holdings are to promote a good culture, give them freedom and time and furthermore encourage them to perform to their potential. This would also ensure proper communication and share organisational values and beliefs to build empowerment and drive organisational changes (Vaccaro et al. 2012).  

Strategic, tactical and operational factors

The culture of empowerment helps in understanding the importance of workers performance and consider the contribution of employees too. This promotes effective teamwork and allows them to pursue training sessions for developing their skills and knowledge too. The rotation of job has developed a better motivated and flexible workforce environment too. The operational stability is maintained by creating an effect on every waste such as defects, overproduction, transportation, waiting, holding inventory and processing of motions (Walker and Jones 2012). The audits were managed on a weekly basis for understanding the performances of employees and increase the time of turnaround by creating a better working environment and condition where individuals can work with ease. The continuous improvement of operations is managed by Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP system, which monitors the standardisation of MAS Holdings and enhances the MAS financial and commercial centralization (Wang, Chen and Chen 2012).

Operational factors

The operational factors that are considered include storing the raw materials and afterwards allocate those properly. The conveyor belt usage, controlling of statistical processes and meeting the deadlines or objectives just in time are other operational factors considered. There is enough space where all the raw materials and resources are stored and kept properly so that it could be used prior two days of manufacturing and production processes. A minimum number of 20 employees are allotted for managing the business operations and ensure that production is complete prior two days to delivery (Winter et al. 2012).  Maintenance of conveyor belt is done properly so that the flow of materials around the warehouse is all right and the production process does not stop.  The seating arrangements should be made properly so that every worker can work properly and ensure that the flow of work is arranged in a supply chain manner within MAS Holdings, Sri Lanka (Zehir et al. 2012).

Total Quality Management

The Total Quality Management or TQM is a process for maintaining productivity along with management of quality of production in an effective manner. TQM is a management approach for gaining long-term success by fulfilling the needs and requirements of customers and allow all the members of the organization to participate in the processes of innovation and improvement. This would also result in creating a good culture and maintain good quality products and services. The approach is considered as effective for a customer focused organisation like MAS Holdings where all the employees will be involved in the process of continuous improvement (Zhu, Sarkis and Lai 2012). The strategies, data, information and communication between employees are considered for integrating the quality principles into the culture of the working environment to deliver better organisational effectiveness and enhancement of quality. The major principles of total quality management are focusing on needs and requirements of customers, allow the employees to participate in group activities and reach towards a common goal or objective, focus on process thinking, create a strategic and systematic approach and ensure continuous improvement of business operations for MAS Holdings, Sri Lanka (Abeyrathne et al. 2015).

Strategic factors

The TQM practices include the first time production of MAS Holdings where good quality raw materials are used for delivering good quality products made of good fabric. The products and services offered come with certified quality from the suppliers who provide the raw materials and resources that are of certified quality and can fulfill the expectations of customers and quality standards too. Thus, the products do not need any repeat quality checking within the factory and are directly delivered to the customers for fulfilling their needs and requirements.  

2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Empowering women and carbon accounting by managing good quality sustainable fashion products	Technical excellence in Seamless Knitting technology	Green initiatives and certified quality raw materials	Highest export turnover due to good quality fabrics used	Management of sustainability and creating environmental awareness
Asia's Best CSR Practices Awards	Sri Lanka Fashion and Apparel Awards	Excellence Award for Green Initiative	Export Excellence award	Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Awards

The TQM approach was followed by MAS Holdings for establishing standards and methods, which could ensure management of quality of products and reach the objectives through continuous activities and not by just focusing on one final monitoring technique. The cost of managing quality includes prevention costs, cost of appraisal, cost of internal failure and opportunity costs too. The aspects of quality management include meeting the needs of customers, which possible by delivering high quality products and reduce the defects, which can also maintain the good quality of products (Abeysekera and Illankoon 2016). The quality management system used by MAS Holdings can help in understanding the abilities and skills of workers and make them resolve certain issues, through dedication and commitment. The major components needed to maintain good quality are management support, focusing on the mission statement, enable proper planning of business strategies, focus on the customer and bottom line, promote communication and team working and these would result in improvement of processes consistently (Becker, Kugeler and Rosemann 2013).

MAS Holdings Quality management practices

The Quick Change Over or QCO system is used for manufacturing and production of products and services in bulk amount. This management practice is essential for managing the human resources properly and ensure that the operators of sewing machines are provided with proper training to enhance the productivity and organisational performance. The technicians of manufacturing department of MAS Holdings must be skillful and knowledgeable enough to make necessary changes for delivery of good quality products and services and prevent the idle time too (Benavides-Velasco et al. 2014). There are other ways of reducing the time wastage such as increasing the QC points during the critical processes and flagging the issues regarding quality of products and services. This would help in maintaining the production and packaging and even prevent the blockage and other issues during the chain of distribution (Bon, A.T. and Mustafa 2013).

Andon is another management practice used by the company to gain information about the management of financial and human resources and how those have been maintained. The Andon light system has been used by MAS Holdings to communicate the workers about the mechanisms and techniques and present the raw materials and resources properly to reduce the waiting time (Christopher 2016).

Kanban is used as well for controlling the inventory system and calculate the amount of productivity and performances of workers too. There are other systems used to prevent damages and to incur output that is not required. Few of the management practices are quality audit system, managing clear accountability among the workers, inspection on a line wise basis and enhance the partnership with suppliers, so that they can provide good quality raw materials and resources, which are required for the production of good quality products and services (Conti 2012).

Tactical factors

The basic management practices are developed for managing the business processes at a lower cost and reduce the chances of failures, though not compromising on the quality of products and services delivered by MAS Holdings. The improvements should be made for achieving the highest quality of products and ensure that those are delivered at the right time by fulfilling the quality standards too. It is also recommended to manage good relations with suppliers so that they deliver good quality raw materials, which is possible by introducing a quality scorecard (Cordón, Hald and Seifert 2013). This would evaluate the performances of suppliers and the kinds of products delivered by them. Last but not the least, it is recommended for MAS Holdings to maintain good quality products so that the customers are kept satisfied, and they are influenced to place more orders in a consistent manner. This would allow the company to generate more revenue as well as sustain in the competitive business environment (Cummings and Worley 2014).

It is important for MAS Holdings in Sri Lanka to represent nearly 50 percent of the total invested capital. It is also the responsibility of the operations manager to balance the investments in inventory and improve the customers' services for influencing their buying behaviour too. Maintenance of cost of inventory is essential for saving the unnecessary expenses and store the inventories such as warehouse rental, security, insurance, etc. in an appropriate manner. The different types of inventories are raw material, work in progress, maintenance, repair and finished products waiting to be shipped and delivered to customers (Dulanji and Hettiarachchi 2016).

The major cross-functional processes of MAS Holdings are to develop world-class apparel products and create a sustainable place within the global apparel industry.  The other cross-functional processes help the members of the company to work according to the needs and requirements of consumers and sourcing partners. The company positioned itself to the global customer portfolio, which has further helped in collaborative working and effective team work (Durst and Runar Edvardsson 2012). The designing of aesthetics and new technologies is an integral part of the designing of products of MAS Holdings, which allows for the development of good quality fashion lingerie as well as remains one of the most popular brands within the fashion industry.

With the help of design incorporating the technology and innovation, the development of raw materials has improved. The sampling of products is done by leveraging the technical and garment-engineering department’s expertise, furthermore allowing to improve the process of manufacturing, production and delivery of innovative products and services (Eliasson 2012). This has increased the organisational efficiency and enhanced the quality of products and services too.  The other cross-functional processes are management of creation of sales order, management of standard billing process, enabling process of recruitment and selection, preparing a sample and managing payments after purchasing products and services (Fernando and Almeida 2012).

Sales Order Creation process

The responsibility assignment matrix, also referred to as the RACI matrix demonstrates the participation of individuals in various roles for accomplishing the tasks and objectives in business for a particular business venture of business processes. This matrix is essential for evaluating the roles and responsibilities of individuals during the cross-functional processes of MAS Holdings with ease and effectiveness (Franco-Arroyave et al. 2014).  The responsibilities used in this matrix include R for responsible, A for accountable, C for consulted and I for informed. The diagram shows the sales order creation process.

		Responsibilities	Responsibilities	Responsibilities	Responsibilities
	Activities	Consumers	Merchandiser	Production process	Commercial process
1	The orders are placed by customers, and the automation process is commenced	R
2	The orders are granted and sent to the header level of MAS Holdings		C,R
3	The final audit is prepared to manage the quality processes before delivery			R	C
4	The booking of products is confirmed		I	R
5	The sales order created would be allotted to the accounts of customers		R
6	The billing of invoices is done at last				R

Operational factors

The process flow chart is used by MAS Holdings for understanding the ways by which a process has been completed, identify the process of making changes or improvements, communicate with others once a process is over and develop documentation and planning for a project. The flow chart illustrates the standard billing process such as how bills are created along with the booking of orders (Ghadge, Daniand and Kalawsky 2012). To manage proper amount of sales, MAS Holdings must ensure that the billing process is done properly so that the merchandiser makes confirmation of the sales order while the production team confirms the actual quantity of products delivered. After the orders are made, and confirmation regarding quantity and sales order is done, the FG and commercial departments manage the documentation process for delivering the goods properly (Gimenez-Espin, Jiménez-Jiménez and Martínez-Costa 2013).

		Responsibilities	Responsibilities	Responsibilities	Responsibilities	Responsibilities
	Activities	Merchant	Production	FG	Commercial	Finance
1	Booking of orders based on quantity of products ordered	R
2	Packaging details prior to delivery	I	R	R
3	Creating the delivery components			R
4	Confirmation of orders placed			I,R
5	The shipping procedures are managed to confirm the shipping of product			R
6	Matching the billing process with the invoice value and value of FOB				R
7	Lastly, the payment gateway is managed for allowing the customers to make payments for their purchased products					R

The process of recruitment is another cross-functional process within MAS Holdings which allows for recruitment and selection of the most skilful and knowledgeable workers for a particular job role and ensure filling up the gap in an effective manner for contributing to the organisational effectiveness. Recruitment is the process of selecting the right individuals for the right roles and further develop their skills and knowledge on a consistent basis through training and developmental sessions provided to them (Goetsch and Davis 2014). Before the recruitment and selection of employees, it is important to check the requirements of the job and the qualifications of candidates who have shown interest in the job. The advertisements are posted on newspapers, magazines for attracting candidates to apply for the job and then manage the screening, hiring and integrating the employees within the organization. In the diagram, the process of recruitment has been shown for selecting the finance manager (Guang Shi et al. 2012).

The flow of processes is managed by allowing the manager of the organization to let human resource management department know about the vacancy and fulfill the job roles with the support provided by the finance department. The information regarding vacancy will be communicated with the other department managers, and the HR manager will perform his roles and responsibilities to recruit the most suitable candidate (Hajmohammad et al. 2013). When there is lack of internal options, the information about vacancy will be communicated to the communication team for ensuring successful public advertising techniques.

	Activities	Finance department	HRM executive	Head of finance department	Head of Human resource management	Financial director
1	Requirements from finance department	R
2	Notification of job role through advertisements		R
3	Selection of candidate by assessing their resumes		R
4	Call for the interview session		R
5	Manage the first phase of interview	R
6	Conduct the second round interview by finance and HR			R	R
7	Select the most suitable Candidate			R	I
8	Conduct 3rd round interview					R,I
9	Final recruitment or selection			R	R

	Activities	Customers	Merchant or wholesaler	Marketing manager	Sample selection	Delivering	Designing
1	The needs and preferences of customers regard samples are identified	C	R
2	Evaluating the various market segments		S	R
3	Provide requirements to the manufacturing department		R		I
4	Development of sample with the consultation of sewing specialists				A,C	R
5	After production, the garment passes through quality check				A	R
6	Working again on the design and structure						R
7	Creating the graphic representation				S
8	Handing the sample to courier for delivery to customers		R,A
9	Delivery to customers		A		R

The payment gateway and systems are managed with the help of involving financial heads, managers, etc. The accountants, process team executives and RM departmental manager are other individuals involved during the payment process (Heizer 2016).

Activities	RM department	Manger of department	Team executives who manage processes	Accountant	Finance manager
The invoices regarding payment are provided to the RM	R
Verification of goods is done	R	I
Quantity of goods and prices confirmed for that product			R	A
Making entries of the invoices and systems			R
Verifying the terms and conditions of invoice				R
The system requests are approved					R

Process innovation and improvement

The innovation process helps in making necessary changes and improvements to the business operations and processes and furthermore allocate the resources properly for delivering value and benefits to the products and services offered by MAS Holdings. The innovation process allows for generating new ideas and concepts and convert the previous products and services into new ones for the achievement of organizational goals and objectives and keep the customer satisfied as a whole (Hill and Hill 2012). The innovation of business processes drives the productivity and organizational efficiency as well as speed up things for ensuring successful and timely delivery to clients. The process of innovation also allows for the transfer of customer specific product designers and makes them skillful enough to check out their created designs according to the inputs made by the merchandiser during the initial stages of the product life cycle (Holsapple 2013).

Quality Management practices in MAS Holdings

Improvement of business processes, on the other hand, refers to the new marketing approaches, generating new ideas and concepts, manage the technical development processes for enhancing the quality of products and motivate the employees to perform to their potential. The improvement of business processes is also possible with the help of providing them with training sessions for enhancing their skills and expertise level (Janvier-James 2012). Thus, it could be understood that innovation and improvement of business processes would be possible through management of vision, mission statement and strategies for sustaining in the competitive business environment and become successful as one of the major apparel manufacturers in Sri Lanka (Jiang et al. 2012).

MAS Holdings has developed an Innovation Eco system for remaining proactive in delivering innovative design, products and technological solutions to the customers. This helps in adopting the greener approaches for providing good quality products and services to customers with ease and effectiveness. This would allow the company to grab the opportunities to increase market share as well as focus on research and innovation unit to meet the needs of customers through innovative design, fashion and functionality. All the strategic units are combined and help the company to sustain in the competitive business environment of apparel business. The organization also provides a good culture, which can enrich the team and bring new talents and skills of workers from various disciplines.

Process innovation is considered as much more effective than the product innovation because it can fulfil the needs of customers by developing the products and services according to their requirements, test that product, manage proper funding and investments, market the products and finally launch it to various segments of markets.  The innovation of business processes can also improve the process of benchmarking another business organisation, which has performed similar kinds of business activities (Kalpakjian and Schmid 2014).

The innovation processes within MAS Holdings have helped in adding value to the customers and allow them to rethink about the apparel products. The innovation process has enabled changes by combining with strong partnerships and follow the global domain leaders to differentiate its products and services from other companies within the clothing industry (Kaplan and Mikes 2012). This is quite effective for making the organisation reach greater heights and ensure leveraging the core competencies, growth and development in different business areas with ease and effectiveness.

MAS Holdings believe that innovation is science and it can allow them to go beyond certain limits and requirements to fulfill the needs and requirements of the customer and achieve the organisational goals and objectives too. The company challenges the three aspects including what is needed to be achieved, what is required and what is possible to get in the future (Karim and Arif-Uz-Zaman 2013). The innovation process must be managed properly by aligning with the organisational goals and outcomes for creating demands in the global market through combination of science, technology and persistence (Masholdings.com 2017).  

The integrated business model further helped MAS Holdings to innovate the existing solutions of apparel and other fashion segments such as the newly introduced silicon embedded technology, Speedo Fastskin FS Pro swimsuit and other new age sportswear for people in Sri Lanka. The open innovations led to the acceleration of quality management process and allowed the company to allocate the resources properly for defining the needs and preferences of people within the fashion and clothing industry (Osborne, Radnor and Nasi 2013). The company has now become an established organization, which delivers its products online and even source its solutions from various domains for creation of good quality products that can be made available in other industries too.

Benchmarking Quality Management practices

Total innovation management or TIM

The Total innovation management is one of the major activities of the organisation, which combines the innovation synergy mechanisms and patterns between technological and non-technological components. This creates an effective pattern for the products and services delivered and manage product and process innovation with ease and effectiveness. The portfolio innovation management depends on the TIM for ensuring that a proper culture is maintained for developing innovation competence and provide more extension to business (Panetto, Dassisti and Tursi 2012). This also creates additional scopes for the organisation expand business globally and create a more upgraded, unified and enhanced view of the field of innovation management for MAS Holdings, Sri Lanka (Rice 2013).

The total innovation management has been possible for MAS Holdings by introducing a structured sift skill program, which can allow individuals gain relevant knowledge and skills regarding Textile Engineering and Fashion designing departments. The skills obtained would enable them to become more marketable and enter the corporate with vast amounts of skills in both technical and innovation field. MAS Holdings also created a training ground for managing industry related research and share the requirements of the industry to become successful in the global fashion industry (Rushton, Croucher and Baker 2014). This ability to innovate would make the company fulfill the requirements of positioning of Sri Lanka as a major innovative and sustainable sourcing destination too. MAS Holdings has differentiated its products and services by working as an innovation partner for many global fashion brands all over the world and obtain various technical skills to create a sustainable place in the market (Sarkis 2012). This is essential for succeeding in the clothing and textiles industry and furthermore creates new products and processes that are necessary for remaining competitive within the business environment.

The TIM has improved three major areas of the organisation including the functional areas comprising of components such as cultural, institutional and organisational processes. With the management of innovation procedures, it has become easy for MAS Holdings to measure the time and reduce the time for manufacturing and production (Schönsleben 2016).

The total innovation management within MAS Holdings has been possible by following the Deming’s model of profound knowledge. This effective concept has helped in creating enough scopes to sustain in the marketplace, manage improvements and adopt new philosophies for working continuously on the production system. The modern methods of training have been implemented along with new techniques to monitor and evaluate the performances of workers (Slack 2015). Thus, MAS Holdings has broken the barriers between departments and allowed people to communicate with each other and accomplish the process of transformation with ease and effectiveness. The strategic partnerships have further helped the company to drive its organizational performance and ensure successful implementation of strategies for management of innovation and creation of a healthy work culture (Sodhi and Tang 2013).

Technology acquisition

The technology acquisition has helped the company to establish manufacturing, and department centres in Asheboro and new acquisition is still pending. MAS Holdings has created more than hundreds of new jobs, and in the upcoming years, there is plan for making investments of $20 million, which will be effective for reaching the customers and serve them quite easily. The company has state-of-the-art facilities in 15 countries, which is beneficial for providing technology solutions within the apparel and footwear industry too (Stadtler 2015). The company has integrated technology into clothing, by working in partnership with new companies in the Silicon Valley region of California and New York in various fields such as wearable technology, health & wellness. Few of the latest technologies used by MAS Holdings for promoting innovation within the industry are use of Garber cutter for laser cutting, various garment printing technologies, new enterprise resource planning or ERP system, E-transport system, etc (Subramanian and Ramanathan 2012).

Identifying core cross-functional processes

Automation processes

The process of automation makes it faster and easier for MAS Holdings to manage its business operations with no involvement of human beings. With the apparel industry, automation process is vital for delivering innovative solutions as well as enhance the quality of products and services. The conveyor belt system is used at the stores for reducing the time of production and also improve the performances of workers. The E-transport automation system is useful for elimination of paper wastes and ensures that the organisational premises are kept clean (Vaccaro et al. 2012). The sales automation system reduces the errors made by human beings while managing financial transactions and reduces the time consumption for proper delivery of products and services to the consumers.

Conclusion

The TQM approach has helped MAS Holdings to maintain quality and fulfill the needs and requirements of customers with the use of various tools and latest technologies. The business organisation MAS Holdings has been selected as the case study on this topic. The report included the various operations strategies conducted by the company in the recent period along with the strategic, tactical and operational factors which had created an impact on the business functioning. To keep cust0omers satisfied, it is important to manage quality and provide goods that are free of any errors, and thus the most effective quality management practices had been recommended as well. The major cross-functional processes have been understood with the use of process flow chart and responsibility matrix as well. Lastly, the benefits of Process innovation and improvement and implementation of total innovation management or YIM for managing good technological acquisitions and enhancing the efficiency of automation processes ad been illustrated here as well to derive a good conclusion in the end.

References

Abeyrathne, G.D., Habaragamuwa, I.D., Holipitiya, G.P., Indrachapa, R.G.P., Jayawardana, L.J., Nandasiri, D.L., Ranasinghe, H.W.K.G., Sandeepani, G.A.S.P. and Javid, H.J.M., 2015. Technology Adaptation of Apparel Industry in Sri Lanka: An Observational Survey.

Abeysekera, J. and Illankoon, P., 2016. The demands and benefits of ergonomics in Sri Lankan apparel industry: A case study at MAS holdings. Work, 55(2), pp.255-261.

Becker, J., Kugeler, M. and Rosemann, M. eds., 2013. Process management: a guide for the design of business processes. Springer Science & Business Media.

Benavides-Velasco, C.A., Quintana-García, C. and Marchante-Lara, M., 2014. Total quality management, corporate social responsibility and performance in the hotel industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 41, pp.77-87.

Bon, A.T. and Mustafa, E.M., 2013. Impact of total quality management on innovation in service organizations: Literature review and new conceptual framework. Procedia Engineering, 53, pp.516-529.

Christopher, M., 2016. Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson UK.

Conti, T., 2012. Building total quality: a guide for management. Springer Science & Business Media.

Cordón, C., Hald, K.S. and Seifert, R.W., 2013. Strategic Supply Chain Management. Routledge.

Cummings, T.G. and Worley, C.G., 2014. Organization development and change. Cengage learning.

Dulanji, S.D.I. and Hettiarachchi, H.A.B.W., 2016. An Assessment of Factors Affecting Voluntary Labor Turnover Intention in Apparel Industry (with special reference to MAS Holdings (Pvt) Ltd; Mihintale). Sri Lanka Forum of University Economists (SLFUE), Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya.

Re-engineering processes and recommending improvements

Durst, S. and Runar Edvardsson, I., 2012. Knowledge management in SMEs: a literature review. Journal of Knowledge Management, 16(6), pp.879-903.

Eliasson, G., 2012. Firm objectives, controls and organization: the use of information and the transfer of knowledge within the firm (Vol. 8). Springer Science & Business Media.

Fernando, M. and Almeida, S., 2012. The organizational virtuousness of strategic corporate social responsibility: A case study of the Sri Lankan family-owned enterprise MAS Holdings. European Management Journal, 30(6), pp.564-576.

Franco-Arroyave, C., Martins-Cheze, A., Siegel, E. and Díaz Vásquez, J.C., 2014. Internationalization strategies of a multilatina in the service sector: Avianca-Taca holdings SA case study. AD-minister, (25), pp.79-96.

Ghadge, A., Dani, S. and Kalawsky, R., 2012. Supply chain risk management: present and future scope. The International Journal of Logistics Management, 23(3), pp.313-339.

Gimenez-Espin, J.A., Jiménez-Jiménez, D. and Martínez-Costa, M., 2013. Organizational culture for total quality management. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 24(5-6), pp.678-692.

Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson.

Guang Shi, V., Lenny Koh, S.C., Baldwin, J. and Cucchiella, F., 2012. Natural resource based green supply chain management. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 17(1), pp.54-67.

Hajmohammad, S., Vachon, S., Klassen, R.D. and Gavronski, I., 2013. Lean management and supply management: their role in green practices and performance. Journal of Cleaner Production, 39, pp.312-320.

Heizer, J., 2016. Operations Management, 11/e. Pearson Education India.

Hill, A. and Hill, T., 2012. Operations management. Palgrave Macmillan.

Holsapple, C. ed., 2013. Handbook on knowledge management 1: Knowledge matters (Vol. 1). Springer Science & Business Media.

Janvier-James, A.M., 2012. A new introduction to supply chains and supply chain management: Definitions and theories perspective. International Business Research, 5(1), p.194.

Jiang, K., Lepak, D.P., Hu, J. and Baer, J.C., 2012. How does human resource management influence organizational outcomes? A meta-analytic investigation of mediating mechanisms. Academy of management Journal, 55(6), pp.1264-1294.

Kalpakjian, S. and Schmid, S.R., 2014. Manufacturing engineering and technology (p. 913). Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA: Pearson.

Kaplan, R.S. and Mikes, A., 2012. Managing risks: a new framework.

Karim, A. and Arif-Uz-Zaman, K., 2013. A methodology for effective implementation of lean strategies and its performance evaluation in manufacturing organizations. Business Process Management Journal, 19(1), pp.169-196.

Kerzner, H., 2013. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Masholdings.com. (2017). Leading Manufacturer of Intimate Apparel, Sportswear, Performance Wear and Swimwear | MAS - Change Is Courage. [online] Available at: https://www.masholdings.com/ [Accessed 5 Aug. 2017].

Osborne, S.P., Radnor, Z. and Nasi, G., 2013. A new theory for public service management? Toward a (public) service-dominant approach. The American Review of Public Administration, 43(2), pp.135-158.

Panetto, H., Dassisti, M. and Tursi, A., 2012. ONTO-PDM: Product-driven ONTOlogy for Product Data Management interoperability within manufacturing process environment. Advanced Engineering Informatics, 26(2), pp.334-348.

Ramos-Sandoval, R., García-Álvarez-Coque, J.M. and Mas-Verdú, F., 2017. Innovation behaviour and the use of research and extension services in small-scale agricultural holdings. Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research, 14(4), p.0106.

Rice, A.L. ed., 2013. The enterprise and its environment: A system theory of management organization (Vol. 10). Routledge.

Rushton, A., Croucher, P. and Baker, P., 2014. The handbook of logistics and distribution management: Understanding the supply chain. Kogan Page Publishers.

Sarkis, J., 2012. A boundaries and flows perspective of green supply chain management. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 17(2), pp.202-216.

Schiederig, T., Tietze, F. and Herstatt, C., 2012. Green innovation in technology and innovation management–an exploratory literature review. R&d Management, 42(2), pp.180-192.

Schönsleben, P., 2016. Integral logistics management: operations and supply chain management within and across companies. CRC Press.

Slack, N., 2015. Operations strategy. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Sodhi, M.S. and Tang, C.S., 2013. Strategies and tactics of Chinese contract manufacturers and western OEMs (2001–2011). International Journal of Production Economics, 146(1), pp.14-24.

Stadtler, H., 2015. Supply chain management: An overview. In Supply chain management and advanced planning (pp. 3-28). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Subramanian, N. and Ramanathan, R., 2012. A review of applications of Analytic Hierarchy Process in operations management. International Journal of Production Economics, 138(2), pp.215-241.

Vaccaro, I.G., Jansen, J.J., Van Den Bosch, F.A. and Volberda, H.W., 2012. Management innovation and leadership: The moderating role of organizational size. Journal of Management Studies, 49(1), pp.28-51.

Walker, H. and Jones, N., 2012. Sustainable supply chain management across the UK private sector. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 17(1), pp.15-28.

Wang, C.H., Chen, K.Y. and Chen, S.C., 2012. Total quality management, market orientation and hotel performance: The moderating effects of external environmental factors. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31(1), pp.119-129.

Winter, S.G., Szulanski, G., Ringov, D. and Jensen, R.J., 2012. Reproducing knowledge: Inaccurate replication and failure in franchise organizations. Organization Science, 23(3), pp.672-685.

Zehir, C., Ertosun, Ö.G., Zehir, S. and Müceldilli, B., 2012. Total quality management practices’ effects on quality performance and innovative performance. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 41, pp.273-280.

Zhu, Q., Sarkis, J. and Lai, K.H., 2012. Green supply chain management innovation diffusion and its relationship to organizational improvement: An ecological modernization perspective. Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 29(1), pp.168-185.