Mount Michael Vineyard's High Quality Wine Production - A Case Study Essay.

Quality Production is the Key to Mount Michael Vineyard's Success

Q.1

After going through the given case study, it has been understood that for the owners of Mount Michael Vineyard: Choosing a High Quality Closure, are chiefly concerned about producing high quality wine and keeping the customers satisfied. It has been further identified that for one of the owners – Sue Anderson, it is essential at the very first not to deceive the customers. It has been identified that she herself tastes the sole product of the organization, which is wine and evaluates whether the product is appropriate for selling or not. Therefore, the case study initially gives the hint of the fact that for the organization, quality of the product is the chief determining factor for organizational success. The case study precisely deals with the issue of cork taint in the wines and one of the owners Sue Anderson discloses the issue itself and attempts desperately to sort out the issue. The aforementioned data is indicative of the fact that the owner gives utmost priority to the standard of the wine.

The case study shows Sue’s commitment and dedication for the organization by showing her utmost concern for the issue cork taint. Sue Anderson is not only concerned about finding an alternative option for cork but also bothered about the fact that with the application of the alternative options for cork, customer may acquire disappointment about the product. However, it has been found out that her main concern is to first change the bottle style and the quality of cork so that the organization can avoid the issue of cork taint. It shows that Sue is giving priority to that problem, which is currently making issue for the organization. It means the owner is completely dedicated and bothers about the wellbeing of the company. The case study indicates that Sue reviews each of the bottling procedures, which are being applied worldwide and at the same time evaluating the pros and cons of each of those styles. The particular activity of Sue Anderson bears the evidence that she is experienced in bringing significant change in product manufacturing procedure. She is not impulsive about bringing the change and gives importance to the fact that quality is the prime factor for the brand awareness and brand value of the organization. Most significantly, in order to ensure high quality wine, the owner – Sue gives priority towards “balance”. Moreover, her decision to make a consultation with a Viticulture consultant shows how important it is for her to make and maintain a unique quality of wine.

The Cork Taint Issue and Sue Anderson's Dilemma

In this context, it is essential to mention that the decision regarding the wine manufacturing procedure itself is a proof of the fact that Sue Anderson is highly committed in producing high quality wine. A brief elaboration of the decision regarding making wine and the process will help to establish the aforementioned statement. It has been understood that for Sue Anderson and the other owner, it is essential first to select an appropriate place for the Viticulture. Unlike most of the companies, the considered organization in the case study, takes advice from a Viticulture consultant. Through the procedure of pruning, trimming and bunch thinning, the amount of the grapes on the vines is controlled and unlike other company, in order to ensure quality of the wine, Sue prefers to thin the grapes. It has been understood that the owner can easily produce 7 tons through the aforementioned method though for the sake of quality, she prefers to yield only 5/6 tons. It is indicative of the fact that for the owner, success comes with quality and not with quantity. She bothers only about making profit through quality and it strengthens the fact that quality is ultimate priority to her.  

Sue’s actions regarding taking final decision regarding the cork taint issue strongly asserts the fact that she is committed not to deprive or betray the customers. The owner finally decides to catch a way through which the level of cork taints in the wine gets reduced. Unlike other owners, Sue manages to depict an authorial hold, which is not dependent upon the subordinates. This is proved by her act of evaluating and testing each of the possible alternatives to reduce the incident of cork taints. Most significantly, her decision to reject the alternative of synthetic corks is another proof of the fact that she is concerned about consumer behavior and demand. It is because she rejected the alternative by recognizing the true fact that the alternative can potentially impose harm upon the brand image of Mount Michael. Hence, the aforementioned discourse is indicative of the Sue’s complete commitment in manufacturing high quality wine.

Q.2

The provided case study implies that a final bottle of Mount Michael wine is a result of a series of procedures implemented by the management and authority of the organization. With the help of the fundamental supply chain model, the chief factors, which potentially affect the production as well as the quality of the product, can be evaluated. However, prior to accomplish that, it is essential to mention that according to the fundamental model of Supply chain that is known as the push and pull based models, the chief contributors are supplier, manufacturer, distributor, retailer and customer (Lu and Swaminathan 2015). For manufacturing organizations like the Mount Michael, the supply chain management procedure involves – planning for manufacturing, planning for material, product development, final production, logistics, marketing and sales, final selling and invoicing (Stadtler 2015). Most importantly, product development is not possible without customer information and an impressive extent of sales is not possible without proper sales planning (Christopher 2016). Therefore, it is understandable that quality of the product is determined by the product development procedure, which is a determined by customer information.

Procedures Implemented by Mount Michael Vineyard - From Grapes to Bottling

In this context, it is to keep in mind that the chief objective of following supply chain framework and maintaining the supply chain management is to accomplish customer demand and match with customer behavior (Brandenburg 2014). Considering the case of Mount Michael, it is definite that the organization has an efficient supply chain management and their activities serve for the primary objective of supply chain management too. Following the initial step of the Push-based model, it has been observed that Mount Michael produces their own grapes and only acquires local yet reputed suppliers’ help for the packaging purpose. For example, the organization buys corks for packaging from a reputed cork distributor of New Zealand. Here, it is to contemplate that for a wine manufacturing organization like Mount Michael, standard of the grapes is not only a piece of concern as bottling is a prime factor for them too. It can be therefore said that the material acquisition and the reputation of the supplier is one of the potential and determining factors for the quality.

The next procedure according to the push-based model is activities of the manufacturer or production based on product planning and forecast (Fernie and Sparks 2014). With an elaborated procedure, Mount Michael plans for the manufacturing process as well as for the materials. The organization has distinct procedures for making white wine and red wine. Therefore, it is understandable that the manufacturing planning and material planning are two other prime determining factors for affecting the quality of Mount Michael’s a glass of wine. Further, the supply chain activities of the concerned organization involve retailing through varied restaurants and wine shops. As understood from the case study, the owner Sue Anderson does not prefer initially to engage a distributor in their supply chain procedure and does the work of a distributor by herself. However, later when the business started to expand to UK, the organization opted for distributors. It can be said that the distribution and retailing activities do not count as potential as the previously mentioned factors as per the reason that do not directly affect the quality of the material. However, the final facet of supply chain model – Customer holds a significant position for being one of the pivotal factors for the quality of the wine as per the reason that their feedbacks let the owners of the company to decide whether to make improvements or not. It is also because the organization’s sole aim is to satisfy the customers with highest quality of wine. On the other hand, it to consider that the organization does not give much priority to one of the supply chain factor, which is warehousing. It has been mentioned above that the owner Sue Anderson initially did not prefer in hiring distributors therefore, understandably warehousing is involved in the organization’s internal activities of manufacturing, packaging and storing. For a wine manufacturing organization like Mount Michael, warehousing is an essential component that highly matters for the quality of the wine. If the storage locations are not convenient, then instead of making a high quality wine, an organization could not afford success at the end (Oakland 2014).

Efficient Supply Chain Management of Mount Michael Vineyard

Additionally, it is to consider in this respect that each of the aforementioned procedures is controlled by Sue Anderson and her husband. However, more, precisely it has been understood that planning of each of the major procedures of the supply chain activities are pursued by Sue Anderson precisely. From making consultation with viticulture expert to setting the price of the wine and choosing proper retailers to sell the wine, each essential step are carried out with efficiency by Sue Anderson.

Q.3

After going through the case study, it can be contemplated with assurance that the growth of the management in Mount Michael revolves around the organization’s commitment in producing high quality wine. It can be also said that the management of the concerned organization has developed over the years and the growth of the management has centered on the sole framework of quality management. The management growth of Mount Michael can be characterized as an aspect determined by the organization’s focus on result and precisely of quality. It has been understood that the growth objectives of Mount Michael’s management has been the following –

• To accomplish the organizational goal, which is to produce and sell high quality wine
• To assure the production method is being pursued without any failure
• To become responsible for managing all those risks, which prevent the organization from preparing high standard wine

The chief characteristic of the growth of the management is hence quality oriented. As per the case study, Sue Anderson and her husband grew from a mere grape supplier to reputed wine supplier concentrating on the above-mentioned growth objectives. In order to accomplish the responsibility of managing quality, Sue and her husband engaged themselves in market research and consultation with viticulture consultant. On the other hand, in order to accomplish the organization’s goal of providing high quality wine, the management has continuously strived to make the manufacturing process better by excluding all the possible risks. For example, the management of the organization became responsible about controlling and improving the quality by the grapes. Here, in order to characterize the management growth of Mount Michael, the four steps of quality management can be taken into consideration.

It is because after considering the case study, it has been understood that the management has grew stronger as well as efficient over years by concentrating on the essential quality components like – quality planning, quality assurance, quality control and quality improvement. The growth potential of the management has been nothing but the authority’s hard work and dedication. Through recruiting efficient and experienced workers and making consultation with a viticulture consultant, the organization started their management journey. Further, by pursuing in-depth market research and consultation and applying the methods like post harvest, Bud harvest, flowering and bunch closure, the management grew with the responsibility to assure that the quality is up to the mark. Further, it is understandable that the management became responsible in controlling and improving the quality of the product by managing the workforce appropriately. The management has further developed to become more efficient by making it a necessary habit to work and implement change according to customer complaints and choices. In order to do so, understandably the management has to communicate well with the subordinates and prioritize the need to maintain an impressive brand image.

Management Growth Focused on Quality Objectives

Consequently, the considered organization acquired reputation, which is evident through the rating Mount Michael has earned from Cuisine Magazine, Winestate Magazine and from Michael Cooper’s Annual Guide to New Zealand Wines. The aforementioned consequence is indicative of two facts; one is that Mount Michael has achieved the organizational aim to produce and supply high quality wine and second one is without the developed management, the achievement was not possible to gain. From two of the indicated facts, it can be contemplated that the management growth imposes a positive and adequate amount of influence upon the quality management. It can be also interpreted that accomplishment of four distinct steps of quality management of Mount Michael has been the sole motive for developing the management of the enterprise. With the growth of the management, the aspect of quality has been first planned then executed and finally modified and managed as per the organizational goal. Thus, management growth and development of the quality of the product of Mount Michael seems to be correlated.   

Q.4

It has been found out that the concerned organization of the case study is currently facing the issue of cork taint in their wines. The issue of cork taint is harming the quality of the wine and according to the owners of Mount Michael; the constraint can harm the reputation of the organization too. Prior to make an in-depth evaluation of the cork taint problem by applying the “cost of quality” framework, it is essential initially to understand the issue first. As per the case study, the issue of cork taint is brought by the use of corks as one of the most suitable alternative for wine closure. However, the issue of cork taint is mainly caused by TCA or 2-4-6 tri-chloro-anisole, a chemical compound that is resulted from interaction between invisible moulds, which grows in the pours of the corks. It has been understood also that the abovementioned harmful and chemical compound is found in the chlorine, which is utilized for bleaching the natural corks prior to shape it into wine closure.

According to the estimation of one of the owners Sue Anderson, near about 10% of the wines of Mount Michael has suffered from the distinct issue. Following the framework of “cost of quality”, costs of an organization is related with giving poor or low standard products or services. Precisely, there are four kinds of the costs, which a business organization can face – cost of internal failure, cost of external failure, costs of appraisal and prevention (Konieczka and Namiesnik 2016). The cost of quality framework will help here to determine how much the concerned organization can do to reduce the quality issue due to cork taint.

As per the “cost of quality” framework, in terms of prevention cost, an organization bears cost for preventing any kind of quality problems. Most importantly, such costs are incurred prior to start the actual operation (Matthews 2015). Following the production methods of Mount Michael, it has been understood that the following procedures are applied for preventing quality problems –

• Requirement for product or service – Sue Anderson used to buy Portuguese cork of highest grade from a well-known cork distributor of New Zealand so that the occurrence of cork taint is reduced. On the other hand, in order to acquire high quality wine, at the very first a suitable vineyard is chosen with the consultation of a viticulture consultant. However, as understood from the case study, Sue Anderson did not care for testing the corks like other wineries before the use. This is probably a cause, which has escalated the issue of cork taint.
• Quality planning – It has been understood that Sue with the help of her husband, planed for the quality, reliability and production. The organization plans for choosing a proper vineyard, makes individual procedures for white wines and red wines and finally tests them before bottling. However, the organization initially did not bother about the types of corks.
• Quality assurance and training – As per the case study, the owners did not prefer to run a test on the cork after buying them. Instead of knowing that if a bag of corks would be tainted then there is the possibility that the other bags would also be tainted, Sue had not taken any initiatives. Moreover, no training is given to the workers to test whether the quality of the corks are appropriate or not.

In terms of verifying as well as auditing the quality of the grapes and the vineyard, Mount Michael has shown efficiency. In case of choosing the right type of cork, the organization has verified the quality of the supplier and assessed or checked whether the organization is obtaining right quality of cork or not. However, quality of the assessment system is not recognized to be up to the mark as the corks are not being tested and the owners do not bother to test them as they used to believe that sealing with corks are traditionally best.

As per the case study, it has been understood that one of the owner Sue Anderson prefers to make analysis of the failure as she has caught the issue of cork taint after tasting the wine. The activity of Sue is indicative of the fact that the owner is concerned enough in reworking and rectifying her faults. Sue prefers to change the bottle of wine whenever any restaurant owner sent their bottle back; she preferred to send a modified version and thus it can be said that the defective products are replace d in terms of spending external failure costs. However, in terms of internal failure costs, the organization used to reject an entire batch, if it was detected with high percentage of taint.

Thus, it is understandable that the problem is grounded in the organization’s act of not testing the cork after buying it and taking it as an essential as well as traditional procedure.  

References

Brandenburg, M., Govindan, K., Sarkis, J. and Seuring, S., 2014. Quantitative models for sustainable supply chain management: Developments and directions. European Journal of Operational Research, 233(2), pp.299-312.

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

Fernie, J. and Sparks, L., 2014. Logistics and retail management: emerging issues and new challenges in the retail supply chain. Kogan Page Publishers.

Konieczka, P. and Namiesnik, J., 2016. Quality assurance and quality control in the analytical chemical laboratory: a practical approach. CRC Press.

Lu, L.X. and Swaminathan, J.M., 2015. Supply chain management.

Matthews, J.R., 2015. Assessing organizational effectiveness: the role of performance measures. The Library Quarterly.

Oakland, J.S., 2014. Total quality management and operational excellence: text with cases. Routledge.

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