ing subsidiary is located in Shajin, Guangdong Provide in Southern China just north of Hong Kong ("About WKKT", 2004).
In recent months, WKK Technology has experienced increasingly serious problems associated with production operations. The most salient issues are (a) falling manufacturing productivity and (b) increasing overtime costs for both line workers and engineering staff. These operations management problems are related to one another (e.g., overtime costs affect productivity measures). The probability, however, is that an underlying problem is the root cause of both manifestations of the production problem at WKK Technology. Further, it is possible that actions at WKK (Holding) Ltd. in Hong Kong have an impact on production efficiency at WKK technology (all marketing operations, including customer specified product requirements are handled at corporate headquarters).
External Forces Affecting Company Operations
Substantial foreign investment in China is raising the country's technology and manufacturing capabilities to globally competitive levels, and this trend should continue. It seems likely that much of the manufacturing and technical base will continue to shift to mainland China as foreign corporations transfer their leading-edge technologies.
Hong Kong-based companies have been very successful at finding low-cost manufacturing sources for firms desiring to cut their production costs. One source is Wong's International (Holdings), Ltd., a parent company for electronics-product-related companies.
Description and Analysis of Key Operational Processes
An investigation of the operations management at WKK Technology was conducted to develop the data and other information required to assess the production problems at the manufacturing facility. Among other important information, it was determined that both the WKK (Holdings) operations in Hong Kong and the WKK Technology operations in Shajin are ISO 90...