Process Selection

1.  What type of product flow do they use?

-The type of product flow that Millington Savings Bank uses is the assembly line. When conducting a transaction at the bank, it is the same process for every interaction. It is a system of steps to complete one transaction, thus making it an assembly line product flow.

2. What type of customer order do they process?

-The type of customer order that a company such as Millington Savings Bank would use, would be a MTS order, Make-to-Stock. The reason why they use this customer order is because it consists of forecasting, control of inventory, and customer specifications.
When in the banking industry, you need to be able to tell the future and what is going to happen. Next, banks have an inventory of money that is controlled to only a certain amount; a bank cannot hold all the money that its clients are worth. Finally, customer specifications are something all banks need to do to make their clients satisfied. If a customer has a specification to get locked in at a certain interest rate, then the bank needs to meet those certain specifications.

3. Which cell do they fall into in the process characteristics matrix?

-According to the Process Characteristic Matrix our company would fall under the continuous and assembly line column. Being that Millington Savings Bank is a local bank with an emphasis on high investments, low inventory, and a low variety of production the continuous and assembly line column accurately describes what our company offers our customers.

4. What are some of the factors influencing their process selection?

-Market conditions, capital requirements, availability and cost of labor, and technology are the factors that influence Millington Savings Bank’s process selection. Market conditions is a major factor and Millington Savings focuses on providing the best possible service to the customers and also providing higher rates on the variety of accounts offered, then their competition. Millington Savings competes with not only other small savings banks but also the larger commercial banks. Millington Savings puts in an effort and makes itself aware of the competition surrounding and how to make our bank more attractive to the customers’ eye. Millington Savings provides unique benefits to our customers’ which maintains their loyalty. The second factor is capital requirements, which deals with the financial aspect of the institution. This factor deals with operations and keeping Millington Savings Bank up to date and fully stocked with inventory needs. This aspect of the process selection keeps the bank functioning properly while keeping the customer fulfilled. The third factor would be the availability and cost of labor. This factor goes hand in hand with the human recourses department of Millington Savings, by providing employee selection, training of the new hires, and the compensation issues for all employees. Since, Millington Savings is considered an assembly line approach of product flow, the labor is relatively low skilled and inexpensive to the institution as a whole. The last factor that influences Millington Savings process selection is technology. Technology is important for both process and product of the institution. New changes in the database system always occur. It is the employees’ job to keep up to date with the new changes of technology that are constantly occurring. Millington Savings Bank relies on technology to keep functioning properly.

5.  Can they adopt any of the mass customization methods discussed?

-Yes, Millington Savings Bank can adopt the modular production method of mass customization. Each customer has an own individual account customized personally, however with new technology nowadays there is no real need to come into a bank and make a transaction. With the recent technology of phone and Internet banking, customers can conduct a transaction that way, rather than making a trip to the bank. Also another way to complete a transaction other than visiting a branch would be to use an ATM machine as well. These are all examples of the modular production method of mass customization.