Iphone 4 Case Study

Manager of Danshui plant number 2, Wentao Chen, has to form viable strategies and decisions without losing much time to catch up with their production schedule to meet Apple’s requirements. A few potential strategies that hopefully will help speed up the plant’s production of Apple’s new iPhone 4 will be discussed below.
A strategy that Chen can consider is to train his workers to full knowledge regarding the assembly of the new iPhone 4. Before Danshui accepted the manufacturing contract with Apple, Danshui’s workers were producing hard drives for computers, which is completely different considering to assemble a smartphone which have different assembling procedures and other precautions. Furthermore, the contract for assembling hard drives
In a master thesis done by (Jusufi & Saitovic, 2007), their purpose was to investigate on what motivates the assembly line workers in a small industrial laundry business. They have gathered that most of the assembly line workers do feel that due to their low salary, their motivation was negatively affected. The workers feel that higher pay rate would make them feel that their job was being worthwhile to do, even to the extent of an indication that they were not willing to perform their best due to them not being paid well enough. Workers should be entitled for the company’s profits, rather than just generating it. This is because the workers’ performance have a direct impact on the company’s profitability where higher production leads to higher revenue and vice versa. For the case of Danshui plant number 2, perhaps Chen can consider to come up with an incentive program or reward system for his workers to hopefully motivate them and boost their morale during work time. Chen can propose that if the company meets the production requirements from Apple at the end of the contract, every worker will receive a split from the company’s revenue from Apple as a bonus. Additionally, for a short term compensation, Chen can also reward any factory worker that has been doing their job well, which is a form of acknowledgement of their hard work and effort. The right incentive for the
This is because Danshui’s current main objective is to cater to Apple’s production target and they are currently behind schedule. Working overtime extends the production time per working day and may help to catch up with their schedule. However, if Chen does decides to extend the production time of the factory, all of the factory workers must be paid in an overtime rate which ideally be different than their standard working rate, preferably higher. One reason for the higher rate for overtime production is that the workers are continuing working when they are supposedly off-duty, leading them to have less rest time for themselves. Another reason for the higher overtime rate is for motivation purposes. Workers can use the opportunity of overtime working to earn extra wages for themselves and their family. Production efficiency can be increased when the workers at the assembly line are motivated to perform more than initially required when there is enough compensation for them. A short break before commencing overtime working may be able to further improve productivity as workers have a time to rest and catch their breath. It also shows that the company does care for them and in return the workers might have increased motivation to work overtime. If necessary, staying back overtime can also be used as a training session for the workers and might improve productivity during the standard