BASED ON THE CASE,

ONLY HAVE TO ANSWER QUESTION 1:

Q1:Why is it important for the U.S. Postal Services( USPS) to have a high Volume of mail to process?

SECOND QUESTION:

Q2: Based on the case study given, analyze the role of operations managment in the areas of sustainability and social responsibility.

Thanks!

The U.S. Postal Service OPERATIONS TOUR "Neither rain, normow The majority of first-class med begins at the advanced facer The US Postal Service USPS) is the largest post canceling system. This system positions acheter so that it is face al service in the world, handling about 41 percent with the stamp in the upper comer, check the address 1630 million pieces a day of the world's mal volume tant, and pulls the hand addressed letters of the line. It The second largest is Japan's, which has only about percent o reacts ters that have the same covered by the of the world's mal. The USPS is huge by any standard. It employe postage, are third-class mail, or have meter impressions that are over 750,000 workers, making it the largest civilian employer too light to read. The rejects are handled many. The United States. It has over 300.000 mal collection DOR 3.000 posters are cancelled and date stamped, and then sorted to one of offices, 130 milion mail delivery in more than 300 processing seven stackers plants to stand ship mal, and more than 75.000 piece of mail pro Next the letters go to the mutline optical character readers cessing equipment. It handles over 100 billion pieces of races which can handle both printed and pre-bar-coded mail but not mail a year, and this about 3 billion pounds of mail on commercial and addressed mol. The optical reader spraysa bu code on the airline lights, making it the airlines largest shippet mail that hasn't been pre-bar-coded, which represents up to an 11-digit rip code. For hand addressed mail a camera focuses Processing First-Class Mail the front of the letter and the image is displayed on remote termi nalotes in another city, where an operator vows the image and The essence of processing the malesoning, which means provides the information that the optical readers could not deter organizing the manner and small subgroups to facilitate e so that a bar code can be added its timely delivery Sertiny involves a combination of manual and Bar code readers then sort the mall into one of the do- automatic operations. Much of the mail that is processed is first in this at a rate of more than 500 minute. The mal goes throw classmail another sont using manually controlled mechanical equipment. At Most first class mals handed using automated quomet that point, the mail is separated according to whether it is localor A small portion that cannot be handed by automated qui out of town mail. The out of town mal is placed into appropriate must be sorted by hand, just the way was done in continet Sacsccording to its destination, and moved to the outgoing and w where will be loaded on trucks The local all moved to another machine that not only sorta that local cartier delivery routes sorts it according to konce! Smal parties, brundes affetters and bundies offers are sorted ndio sorting machine Productivity Over the USPS has experienced an ever increasing volume of al Productivity has been important factor for the USPS inkoping postales low and maintaining rapid der ve Two y factors in improved productivity have been the cred use of automation and the introduction of codes Mal processing underwent major sit to me in the 1950s and 1960s, which led to read and higher productivity. In 1971, an dedip code wroduce That was lowed is 1983 by a foor-digit cadet These changes required new, some procent and the use of bar codes and optical readers to these changes added greatly to productivity. But even with these improvement the USPS faced in competitive our Competition the late the USPS experienced a lowdown of low due to a swing but co (concluded) of it was the result of increasing competition. Delivery giants FedEx To help accomplish these goals, the USPS underwent a reorga and UPS, as well as other companies that offer speedy delivery and nization. Layers of management were eliminated and overhead package tracking, gave businesses and the general public conve positions were cut by about 30,000. Five regions and 73 field divi nient alternatives for some mail services. At the same time, there sions were replaced by 10 areas, each with a manager for customer was a growing use of fax machines and electronic communications Services and a manager for processing and distribution. Ten cus and increased use of alternate forms of advertising such as cable tomer service areas were established, with managers for cus- TV, all of which cut into the volume of mail. Early in this century, e-tomer service and processing and distribution in each area, as mail and automated bill paying also cut into mail volume. well as a marketing and sales office. The new structure allowed postal managers to be focused, improved communications, and Strategies and Tactics Used to Make the Postal empowered employees to meet customer needs. The USPS also Service More Competitive took other steps to improve service. In 1993 it implemented im. provements in processing and mail delivery at major postal facili To meet these challenges, the USPS developed several strategies ties, expanded retail hours, and developed a more user-friendly to become more competitive. These included reorganizing, con Domestic Mail Manual. In cooperation with business customers, tinuing to seek ways to keep costs down, increasing productiv the USPS began to develop new services to meet specific mailer ity, and emphasizing quality and customer service. Here is an needs and to overhaul and simplify its complex rate structure. It overview of the situation and the strategies and tactics used by also awarded contracts for two more external tracking systems, the USPS one to measure satisfaction levels of business mailers, and the The USPS began working more closely with customerstoidentily other to measure service performance of third-class mail. better ways to meet their needs and expanded customer conve- The reorganization eliminated some programs, cut costs, at- niences such as stamps on consignment. With the help of busie tracted new business, and reduced the USPS's projected deficit. ness mailers, the USPS continued support for rates reflecting customer work-sharing features, many tied to automation, to Questions givo customers more Hexibility. At the same time, the USPS DO 1. Why is it important for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to have a gon forming Customer Advisory Councils-groups of citizens high volume of mail to process? who volunteered to work with local postal management on postal 2. What caused productivity to increase? issues of interest to the community. In 1990, the USPS awarded 3. What impact did competitive pressures have on the USPS? two contracts to private firms to measuro first-class mail ser 4. What measures did the USPS adopt to increase competitive- vice and customer satisfaction. In 1992, the USPS stepped up its quest to become more competitive by reducing bureaucracy and 5 What results were achieved by tho USPS's changes? overheed in order to improve service and customer satisfaction, 6. What elfect does the increased use of e-mail hove-on postal and to reduce the need to increase postage rates productivity? ness? 2) Based on the case study given, analyze the role of operations management in the areas of sustainability and social responsibility