Lean Transition Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Lean Transition - Case Study Example As the company transition to lean practices, their accounting system and performance measurement reports have become unreliable, inaccurate and inapplicable to the flow line value streams. The lean production environment led to problems in the current labor reporting, production efficiency and product costing methods. The management wanted to monitor the efficiency, productivity and profitability under the lean production practice. Yes, the management must change the product costing system of Aero Gear, Inc. in order to align the system with their lean production practice. An aligned management accounting system maximizes profit. An accounting system that fails to provide information that is timely or in a useful format will be rejected by users and will not be beneficial to the management. Identifying costs at the item level will lead to inaccuracies and will result to irrelevant information. The management should manage the product costing at the aggregate level. It would be preferred to use management financial statements instead of profit and loss statements. The information communicated by the new financial statements should allow readers to easily evaluate the results of changes in the lean business practice. The change from cost accounting to cost management is inevitable. Attaching direct labor and setup costs to the finished product also creates trouble with the product costing system under lean manufacturing. The old product costing system utilizes direct labor measure as the overhead rate denominator, which is applicable only if the manufacturing capacity is proportionate to direct labor consumption. Also, elimination of all waste is the objective of lean manufacturing. Since lean practices would lead to a lower inventory level, it would create a negative effect on the reported gross and net profit in the profit and loss statement because inventory is recognized as an asset. Should they hold off making a change despite their dissatisfaction with the current system and continue to look for a better product costing method Holding off change would only create more inaccuracy in product costing, performance measurement and cost management. The company can employ two or more product costing while evaluating their effectiveness. Lean business practice embraces the concept of continuous improvement. In order to initiate improvement, the company must first adopt a system and then find ways to improve it, if not replace it. Were there any additional measures they could collect and use to measure flow line performance The central focus of lean manufacturing is to eliminate wastes. Measures of wastes like scraps, defects and machine-downtime and its impact on the line performance would benefit management decisions. A recommended method of reporting is through a cash flow analysis where it will effectively track the positive aspect of liquidating inventories. Cycle time can be integrated in the analysis. Additional metrics such as tracking the improvements in direct and indirect labor on a weekly or monthly basis would also be helpful. Was it fair to

White-tailed Deer Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

White-tailed Deer - Research Paper Example It has a brownish gray body with white hairs on the under side of the tail. During summer its color is reddish brown. Today the white tailed deer population is 18 million (pp. 5-11). They are found in deserts, swarms, farmlands, prairies. They mostly prefer living in open lands near the rivers and streams. As described in Zwaschka (1999), an adult male deer grows 41 inches tall and weigh about 160 pounds.(72 kgs) Female deer (doe) is smaller in size and they weigh 40-90 kgs on an average. The weight of white tailed deer varies from region to region. They live up to 10-20 years. It is herbivore and its feeding hours are in the early morning and late after noon. Its diet changes depending on the habitat and the season (pp. 4-10). It is a shy and cautious animal. They are good runners, leapers and swimmers. In alarming situations they flag their tails and run. The bucks alone have antlers that grow annually and fall off in the winter. Female deer gives birth to one to three young ones a t a time, usually in the May or June. Their gestation period is 7 months. They are nocturnal and crepuscular animals. They are preyed up on by bobcats, coyotes and mountain lions. The scientific classification of white tailed deer; Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Artiodactyla Family: Cervidae Subfamily: Capreolinae Genus: Odocoileus Species: O. virginianus (Source: Squam Lakes Natural Science Center). Life Cycle The breeding season or rut extends from October to January though the majority occurs in October- November. Both bucks and does are seen active and they get out of their nocturnal habits during the breeding season. Patent (2004) describes the life cycle of white deer; the bucks rub their well developed antlers against big trees to mark their territories. These signs are called rubs. Bucks often fight with each other using antlers but fatal injuries are rare. During winter they shed off their antlers. But, antlers grow very fast, and those which grow will be stronger than the previous ones. (pp. 5-11). Antlers get their nourishment from a highly vascularized membrane called velvet which dries off which is rubbed against trees and shrubs. Fully grown antlers mark the breeding season for the bucks. Fawns are born after a 200 day gestation period. Two to three fawns are born in one litter. For the first few weeks the doe hides the fawns by themselves. The fawns have a spotted coat for the first 3-4 months but it is lost when the first winter comes. As described in National Geography website, when the mother goes in search of food the fawns lay flat on the ground quietly among the grass. They are scent free for few weeks to safe guard themselves from predators. Deer reproduces quickly and can over populate the area. To keep check on their numbers natural predators like bobcats and coyotes play a significant role (National Geography). Structure and function The organ system of the white tailed deer is same as that of any mammal. But its digestive system requires special mention. The front of the upper jaw bone does not have any teeth like other mammals. Teeth are replaced with a resilient pad which is in contact with the lower incisors. As Deal (2010) illustrates, they have 32 teeth. 8 incisors, 12 pre molars and 12 molars. They have a four chambered stomach. This ruminant stomach enables the deer to collect large quantity of food at a time, chew and digest it later. The deer pushes its food with its tongue to the back of the mouth where it is chewed. It is chewed just enough to swallow (p. 139). Then it is passed to the gullet of the stomach. The stomach is compartmentalized to four sections. They are the rumen, reticulum,