Chapter 5: Operations management

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Additional school-assessed coursework 1

Outcome 3
Analyse the relationship between business objectives and operations management, and propose
and evaluate strategies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of business operations.

ASSESSMENT task — case study

Time allowed: 75 minutes
Marks allocated: 40 marks (the marks for each question are indicated at the end of each
question)
Conditions: Closed book (no notes or textbooks may be used when completing this task).
Read the case study and answer all questions in the spaces provided. Use the
marking scheme as a guide to the time you should spend on each question.

Vittoria Coffee
Vittoria Coffee is a well-known manufacturer of coffee products. Established in 1947, it is
owned by Vittoria Food and Beverage. Vittoria Food and Beverage’s mission is ‘building
brands, in step together with our customers for greater profit.’
Vittoria employs a team of coffee experts, ranging from roasters to trainers to service
technicians to marketing and sales support, to produce the equivalent of half a billion cups of
coffee a year. Its fleet of vehicles, including service vans and delivery trucks, deliver coffee to
restaurants, hotels and cafés. Vittoria also supplies retail outlets and supermarkets, such as
Woolworths, and exports to countries including New Zealand, USA, Singapore, South Korea,
Canada, Fiji and Japan.
Vittoria opened a new Sydney-based $20 million coffee roasting and production facility in
2006. The factory is equipped with a computerised state-of-the-art coffee roaster and
packaging equipment from Italy. Coffee is still roasted using a traditional drum method – a
slower, more controlled method of roasting coffee, but which is considered to be world’s best
practice and achieves a consistent roast profile. Coffee roasting consists of several processes
including cleaning, roasting, cooling and grinding. Vittoria Coffee’s coffee beans are imbibed
with a range of flavours by roasting them at different temperatures. Packaging equipment
stores the coffee beans in four-corner seal bags that preserve pack stability, and which also
feature a degassing aroma valve to retain freshness.
Vittoria sources quality coffee beans from all over the world. Working in a lab, a team of staff
uses a combination of traditional cupping (the practice of observing the tastes and aromas of
coffee) and test equipment to monitor consistency and quality of all the coffee produced.
One of the ground coffees that Vittoria produces is called Organic Rainforest Alliance Espresso.
It is a blend of 100 per cent Arabica beans, grown on Rainforest Alliance certified plantations.
The plantations meet rigorous social and environmental standards that support the
conservation of forests, protect wildlife habitats and provide workers with healthy work
conditions, decent housing and accesses to education and health care.

© John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd 1

 Chapter 5: Operations management

1 Explain the following terms.

(a) Global sourcing of inputs
     
(b) Quality
     
2 + 2 = 4 marks
2 Explain how the operations management area would assist Vittoria Coffee with the
achievement of its business objectives.
     
2 marks
3 Describe two differences between the operations of a manufacturing business and the
operations of a service business. Illustrate your answer with examples from Vittoria Coffee or
another business you have studied.
     
4 marks
4 Outline the key elements of Vittoria Coffee’s operations system.
     
6 marks
5 Explain what waste minimisation is and how could it be performed by Vittoria Coffee.
     
4 marks
6 Outline and discuss the use of a technological development strategy at Vittoria Coffee.
     
5 marks
7 Recommend and explain a materials management strategy that could be implemented to
improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Vittoria Coffee’s operations. Justify your answer.
     
5 marks
8 Vittoria Coffee uses quality control to make sure that its coffee meets customer expectations.
Explain the difference between quality control and quality assurance and suggest the impact of
each strategy on the level of Vittoria Coffee’s efficiency and effectiveness.
     
4 marks
9 Analyse two corporate social responsibility issues that would concern the operations area at
Vittoria Coffee.
     
6 marks

© John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd 2