Gold Coast Convention Center Inventory Cycle Report †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Gold Coast Convention Center Inventory Cycle Report. Answer: Introduction Inventory is also called an inventory stock. Basically, it refers to the planning, controlling andmanagement of the stock inventory of a business. Generally, this means the planning and scheduling of the finished product distribution as well as understanding of the consumer needs and wants to be able to satisfy them to the optimum level. However, for a business like Gold Coast Convention Center, it means themanagement of the raw material purchasing, production process and distribution of the already produced product. The business has decided to start offering catering services for its customers; may it be inside the conference center itself or even outside the conference center. This is as a result of its successful sales and business operations. In the business world, when businesses succeed, they tend to expand themselves or decide to venture in many other different service or product production business (Firmin, 2016). Nevertheless, most of the businesses seem to engage in venture s that are a lot similar or related to their original businesses with the hope of relying on the expertise and skills from its original business. Food and Beverage Department Key Issues Apparently, the company has a new Food and Beverage manager who is not completely experienced in the field. The manager seems to know about the sales terms and procedure in the organization but not able to carry out the leadership responsibility as expected. The profits before his reign were $800,000 and after his reign nil. This is a clear indication of how successful the organization was before the era of the new Food and Beverage manager. The new manager did not seem to perform well simply because the company was not making as much profit as before, made losses at some times and if it made any profits, they were very small profits. Also, with the fact that he had not qualified for the position of being a manager, he relied a lot on the experience of his employees which did not give him effective or efficient results at the end of it all. However, this should not be the case for such a business, i.e. in the food and beverage industry. Every manager should be able to work on his own terms and be able to make his own decisions as well as rely on his experience and thinking capacity of his own (Matthews, 2015). This is not the case for Gold Coast Conference manager. In addition to that, the manager has decided to not device new policies, principles and rules for the department. This means that, even with the separation of the department, he decides to still use the old laws to govern its employees and catering operations. He relied on the assumption that the employees are okay with the new structure of the organization as well as the rules governing the department. Every manager should be able to their own rules and regulations to govern their departments. They should enquire from the employees and any other person who is going to be involved with the departmental operations at any time (Hill et al, 2014). Furthermore, the rules should be able to work towards the overall goal and objective which means that they have to be correlated to those of the whole organization. By doing this, every business will certainly be able to achieve their objectives as well as achieve those of the specific organizational departments. Literature Review Evaluation of the Inventory Cycle and Suggested Improvements The organization is receiving a large number of complaints from the consumers in respect to the catering department but specifically the Food and Beverage department. This is a situation that occurred immediately after the new manager was given the role which means that the job that was done did not give the expected results. In addition to that, the business started making much less or even no profits at some times which reflected negatively on the manager as well as on the whole organization. Therefore, for the business to regain its previous identity and popularity among its customers, it has to change the different ways in which it carries out its operations; especially the Food and Beverage department. Therefore, the following are some of the areas that it has to focus on: Purchasing Operations Quality of the materials This relates to the raw material purchasing. Considering the fact that the organization offers catering services, then it means that most of its raw material are purchased from the farmers or the grocery stores for instance, examples of the material may include food and beverage ingredients. Therefore, they should concentrate on buying the best quality materials to be able to produce the best quality foods and beverages (Li, 2014). By doing this, the problem of food quality that has been reported by the customers. Adequacy of the material Apart from purchasing the good quality products, they should also purchase enough inputs in terms of amounts. The organization should ensure that all the ingredients needed for the production of any type of food or beverage is available and enough to produce the amount that was ordered by the customer (Caniato et al, 2014). It should ensure that there are no shortages of the resources simply because it will cause variances in the amounts of food that the consumer has ordered. Therefore, by doing this, the organization will be able to reduce the problems of the food sizes that they are offering to the customers. Freshness of the raw materials To be able to cub the problem of offering bad or almost bad food to their customers which causes illnesses, the organization should be focused on rechecking the viability of its raw materials before they purchase them. It should ensure that the ingredients are all fresh and very well stored even before they are sold to them (Renaud et al, 2008). They should also be clean. As it is well known, effective and efficient inputs produce the best quality products. Therefore, but achieving this, the organization will certainly be able to prepare the best quality food as well as fresh food for its customers. Receiving Operations This operations will certainly be in relation to the receiving of the customers orders and the raw materials. The organization should ensure that the customers orders are not interfered with no matter what. This means that they are received exactly the way the customers have described them. This may be possible when the business devices a method of direct customer order booking directly to the person in charge rather than passing through many channels where there may be possible confusion. Therefore, when the customer is able to make a direct order, they will be able to give a clear explanation and specifications about their order. Therefore, this will reduce the problem that is being reported by the customers about the fact that sometimes the food is unavailable when ordered. When it comes to receiving of the raw materials, the organization should ensure proper transportation system and methods to reduce the period of receiving the materials. Considering the fact that the organization deals with food and beverage services, it most certainly deals with the transportation of perishable raw materials. Therefore, the receiving period should be as short as possible to make sure that they do not go bad or stale before they are used. Also, the business should ensure that the packaging system of the raw materials is done correctly and appropriately. This will ensure that the physical appearance as well as the quality of the material is not interfered with on the process of transportation. Apart from that, the organization should make sure they are handled in the correct way during packaging, transportation and also during the unpacking process (McCormack et al, 2016). For instance, materials like cooking tomatoes should be transported and handles very carefully. Also, decorating flowers for the tables should be handled with care and transported with the fastest process possible so that they do wither. By doing this, the business will be able to achieve the responsibility of using the best quality raw materials for their food preparation and presentations to the customers therefore reducing some of the problems being reported. Storage Operations Every organizations storage operations should be able to accommodate every type and form of raw material and finished product without affecting its quality or appearance. On the contrary, the method of storage of any product or material should be able to increase its viability and lengthen its lasting period. In that case, the following are some of the ways that Gold Coast can improve its storage system: The organization should ensure that its storage system is modern and with modern technology equipment. This basically relates to the warehouses and stores where the materials and finished products are stored. Therefore, the stores should be equipped with the modern, effective and efficient systems and machines that are able to regulate the environmental conditions of the store e.g. refrigerators, freezers, funs, heat regulators to name a few. This means that the warehouses and stores should have the right temperature levels, humidity levels, pH levels, heat degrees among other things. The storage areas should be able to regulate their conditions according to the type of product or material being stored there (Grillo et al, 2012). Through this, the business will be able to maintain the quality of the materials before they are used for production and even improve the quality of the finished products before they are sold; e.g. the quality of drinks like wines. Therefore, this reduces th e possibility of preparing food with stale or expired material and also the possibility of giving stale food to the customers. In addition to that, by having the storage facilities, Gold Coast will be able to store as much materials as possible for future use. Every organization should ensure that its production is continuous and outstanding throughout the business year. Through raw material storage, the business will be able keep its production high even when the materials are scares; especially with Gold Coast business which uses farm products for its production. Therefore, when the material suppliers face challenges in supplying, the business will still be well catered for. In that case, Gold Coast will be able to provide its customers with the amounts and sizes of orders no matter what the season is which reduces and cubs the problem of offering bad quality food and inadequate food amounts. Also, the storage areas should be able to accommodate the many different types of raw materials as well as the finished products. This means that they should be as spacious as possible. This will reduce congestion of the materials and products and hence distorting any of the feature and characteristics of any of them. This basically to reduce the chances of interfering especially with the appearance of the products and the raw materials as well. Production Operations Businesses should ensure that their production operations are effective and efficient for them to be able to make profits. A products production process determines the quality and appearance of the product. Therefore, the production process should be perfect and reliable. Therefore, as for Gold Coast, some of the methods in which it can improve its production operations are: Ensure that the production process is effective and efficient This will entirely rely on the systems, machines, technology and labor force being used for the production process. Therefore, the organization should implement the use of the best and most modern technology that can prepare any type of food or beverage e.g. cookers and microwaves. Also, it should ensure that the employees are skilled, experiences and are experts on the food preparation industry (Azizi, 2015). Additionally, the devices being used should be fast and effective for the purpose i.e. things like knifes, cooking pots, electricity among others. By doing this, the business will be sure of producing the best food quality and in the shortest time possible which reduces the problems being reported by the customers. Also, the organization should reduce the cost of production or food preparation. This is certainly possible by involving the best technology available, good quality but cost effective raw materials, use effective and efficient production strategies or processes among other things. Through this, the business will be able to shorten and make the production as effective as possible. Cost of Goods Sold Calculation Cost of Food Sold= Cost of food sales/Food sales*100% =$315,000/$510,000*100% =61.76% Cost of Beverage Sold=Cost of beverage sold/beverage sales*100% =$112,000/$290,000*100% =38.62% The costs of both the food and beverages are certainly very high compared to those were being incurred before the new manager is put in place. This means that the revenue became very low at some times or even no revenues at most times. This is not a realistic case for any business. Reccomendations Gold Coast Center should work on themanagement qualities and qualifications of the Food and Beverage department. For instance, it should have offered training to the new manager before offering him the new position or even before letting him start on his new role. However, the general manager should make sure that the need manager is supervised and guided not just left to figure out things on his own. This will be a way to help him achieve his departmental objectives hence overall business success (Oropesa et al, 2016). In relation to the losses that the business is incurring and the small profits it is making, it should improve all of its business operations and most importantly themanagement team of the catering department. It should make sure that all the process are working a certain target achievement. Also, if the process does not make profits, they should rethink it or even change it. Also, as for the sake of the raw material purchases operations, the organization should ensure the materials are of good quality for the production of good quality foods and well-priced too. Through this, it will be able to give the customers the quality foods they desire and with realistic prices. Gold Coast should make sure that its storage systems are well placed, spacious and with the best equipment to perform the responsibility they are set to perform. For instance, the warehouses and stores should be equipped with computers to record the raw material inventory, refrigerators and freezers to preserve some materials to name a few things. Also, they should be able to accommodate the required conditions for certain specific materials to keep them fresh and viable. To improve its transportation operations, the business should use techniques that will guarantee raw material safety in terms of quality and appearance. The transportation and handling process at any stage should not interfere with any of the materials as well as the finished products quality. For the sake of improving the production process, Gold Coast should be able to use the most effective process in terms of labor force, technology, equipment and machines (Azizi, 2015). This is simply because the production process is one of the most fundamental stages of product quality and appearance determinants. It is the stage that is likely going to determine whether the product will attract more customers, will be of good quality or the best and expected appearance. Therefore, with this in mind, the business should ensure that the whole process is effective and efficient. Conclusion From the report, Gold Coast has a very long way to go for it to manage and succeed in the food and beverage industry. This is especially when it come to the management skills and practices. Also, it has to be able to run its operations effectively and efficiently to be successful. This means that it has to ensure that all its operations are leaning towards customer satisfaction and profit making. Therefore, it has to follow the techniques mentioned above and take heed of the recommendations given. Through this, it will be able to manage each operation and improve its management and production processes. References Rothaermel, F.T., 2015.Strategic management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. 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