PSB7094MAA Global Engineering Strategy Coursework Sample 2026 Singapore

1. Manufacturing Strategy Document

2.  Manufacturing Strategies

2(a)(i) Company /Market/Business background:

Trends in the Micro Irrigation Sector:

In India, the adoption of micro-irrigation was analysed, and it was found that in addition to subsidies, household characteristics, farming situations and institutional factors play important roles in influencing farmers’ decisions (Nair & Thomas, 2023, p. 76). The data from Maharashtra shows that drip irrigation improves productivity, profitability, water use efficiency, and energy efficiency of crops like sugarcane, banana, and cotton (Shroff & Miglani, 2024, p. 487). Thus, FPIL’s growth will rely on not only on the manufacturing and financial capacity, but also design according to each crop, training of dealers, financial support and good field service.

2 (a)(ii) Development and Completion of justified and appropriate company objectives.

FPIL is well established company in term of product manufacturing, distribution and installation of MI system in India.

Its objectives are analyzed with reference to SWOT & PEST analysis.

SWOT analysis:

 PEST Analysis:

After analyzing through SWOT and PEST Lens:

Financial Objectives:

1.Over the next three years, 10.53% annual increase in growth is expected for FPIL, so the company can expand their business in Brazil by leveraging their domestic sales to move towards 20% increase.

FPIL needs to do things to ensure its profitability, in the sense of lowering logistics cost per hectare served by localising production in Brazil (selective) and by utilising local inputs.

Strategic Objectives:

FPIL needs to create a product and service model for micro irrigation to be localised in Brazil, through the design of the product for a given crop, partnerships with distributors, training of the installers and establishment of a Quality Assurance system based on ISO standards.

Reduce the dependence on subsidy driven sales in FPIL and move more direct business to farmers, dealers and non-subsidy projects to increase sales to payment realising time. By setting up a new plant in Brazil, this strategy is their hedge against political risks in India which pose the major problem for their business 

2(a) (iii) Development of Marketing strategies, order winners and Manufacturing Objectives:

I) Marketing Strategy:

FPIL’s potential expansion of the Brazilian market should not only involve sales, but getting to know the market, how to deal with the regulations, the influence of the services and farmers’ confidence through partnerships with local distributors and installers. Partnerships and localisation allow companies to avoid the risk of entering into an international market and adapt their products and/or their services to the local context, as well as to better understand the characteristics of the local market in emerging economies (Nwabekee et al., 2024, p. 2920). Hence, FPIL must begin in a pilot region, a “pilot crop cluster”, compare the specifications of drip and sprinkler technologies to other world regions’ requirements for the crops, and then scale-up to trained dealers and service teams that are familiar with the crop and Brazilian requirements.

II) Order winners:

III)   Manufacturing objectives:

2(b)(i) Design of Manufacturing strategy Elements (Assessment of options)

1. Process Choice:
2. Choice of Processes:

Option 1: Line type process:

The process can be continued for different range of prodcuts.one to be included for efficient use of equipment. Each batch is to be planned based on market demand and keeping the inventory optimization in view. Economical Batch Quantity (EBQ) to be worked out for different products (material management book)

Option 2: Batch production:

Products move from step to predetermined step until process is completed. Batch can be used appropriately for low to high volume of production.

Selected option: Line type Production (Rane & Sunnapwar, 2017, p.7)

 Role of Inventory:

Option 1: Raw Material inventory:

Raw materials used for manufacturing lateral lines and pipes stocks are maintained. These stocks can be optimized by ABC analysis.

Option 2: Work in process inventory:

semi-finished items stock on the shop floor is to be minimized.

Option 3: Finished goods Inventory: 

Lateral lines, Finished Items are to be stocked as per the projections of the marketing.

Selected option: Raw material Inventory & Finished goods Inventory (Liu & Ma, 2020, pp. 1–2)

• Make or Buy:

Option 1 Buy: Make: Lateral lines, pipes are to be made in-house.

Option 2 Buy: Control valves, Filters, Controllers and other accessories are to be brought outside vendors.

Selected Option: Both Make and Buy. (Rosyidi et al., 2020, p. 2-4)

Capacity:

Option 1: Increasing the plant capacity in India by 20%

Option 2: Expanding the global business in Brazil.

Selected Option: Expanding business in Brazil. (Lucas & Paulo, 2022)

B) Infrastructure.

Function support

Option 1: Co-Locating Marketing and Engineering.

Each installation layout is different. So, marketing has to be intact with Engineering team to design suitable system.

Option 2: Co-Locating Procurement and Manufacturing.

Material planning will be done by manufacturing teams, and they can effectively co-ordinate on Just in Time (JIT) procurement of materials.

Selected Option: Co-Locating Marketing and Engineering and Co-Locating Procurement and Manufacturing. (Utama et al., 2022, p. 1)

Manufacturing Planning and Control System:

Option 1: Push strategy

Based on the market forecast, finished products are stocked and supplied. For seasonal products and standard products this strategy can be applied. Marketing will project the demand to cover targeted hectares.

Option 2: Pull strategy

If the products and customized and special products this strategy can be applied.

Selected Option: Hybrid Strategy (Reyes et al., 2024, pp. 6253–6255)

Quality Assurance and Controls

Quality Control:

Option 1: Reactive approach: Products are tested and based on the results changes are done.

Option 2: Proactive approach: Each process is monitored based on the input parameters and Product is checking the required quality parameters. To accomplish this ISO 9000 procedure is adopted.

Selected Option: Proactive approach. (Khan et al., 2024, pp. 7–8)

Quality assurance:

Option 1: Following Bereau of Indian Standards for the Products and Quality systems ISO 9000, ISO 14000.

Option 2: Following International organization for standardization (ISO) and Quality Systems ISO 9000, ISO 14000

Selected Option: Following International organization for standardization (ISO) and Quality Systems ISO 9000, ISO 14000 (Khan et al., 2024, pp. 14)

The following standards can be followed for the products: (ISO – Agricultural Machinery, 2025)

 Manufacturing Systems Engineering

Option 1: Continuous Manufacturing

Manufacturing is done continuously to produce high volumes. High level of automation and process control are applied.

Option 2: Flexible Manufacturing based on productivity. Care is taken to see that quality parameters are met in this option.

Selected option: Fixed salaries. In case of FPIL, all production lines are automatic and computer controlled. Human interventions are less hence fixed wages are preferable. (Bun & Huberts, 2018, pp. 1–2)

Work structuring

Option 1: Assigning tasks to groups

Tasks of the project are assigned to groups and group leaders, and team will be responsible for accomplishing the projects / tasks.

Option 2: Individual tasks

Tasks are assigned to individuals based on expertise of the people.

Selected Option: Option 1. (Ramírez-Zavala et al., 2024, pp. 1–2)

Organization Structure

Option 1: Team based.

Each team will take responsibility for the function of the organization. Designs team takes care of the development of new products and processes, manufacturing team looks after production etc.

Option 2: Flat organization structure

It is best suited for startups. Decisions will be made faster and creative ideas will be generated.

Selected Option: Team based structure. As FPIL is establishing new plant with expertise in Indian operations, it is recommended to go with Team based structure.

(Ramírez-Zavala et al., 2024, pp. 1–2)

2(b)(ii) Desing of Manufacturing strategy Element (Justified Selections) Manufacturing strategy Design:

 2(c) Depth and Breadth of relevant comments in comparing the proposed manufacturing strategy with the deduced existing manufacturing strategy.

Table below represents the present manufacturing strategies FIPL is following at Indian plant strategies to be followed at Brazilin plant. These are worked out considering the conditions in Brazil and targeted improvements to be done at new plant:

Above recommendations can be reviewed periodically and any improvements can be made based on discussions with cross-functional teams.

2(d)(i) Recommendations for implementing the proposed manufacturing strategy

For the standard, high volume products like pipelines and laterals, the Brazil facility should have line-type productions because line-type production systems are suitable for repetitive production, higher production volume, efficient utilization and reduction of cycle-time losses (Rane & Sunnapwar, 2017, pages 355-356).The system should also be flexible as there are different types of micro-irrigation products available for various crops, flows and project requirement. Reconfigurable manufacturing can help with the responsiveness to changes in product demands and product variety (Koren et al., 2018, pp. 121–122)

FPIL needs to have a hybrid model of push and pull planning system. The logic used for seasonal products should be push/MRP and for customized products like dripper spacing, combinations of filters, automation kits and confirmed orders of projects, pull/JIT should be used. Push systems are associated with forecast demand and pull systems are associated with firm orders and JIT and integrated planning can accommodate both firm orders and forecast demand (Reyes et al., 2024, pp. 6253–6255).

The ABC classification of inventory, and the integration of procurement-production planning should be used for managing inventory. Critical raw materials like HDPE, LDPE, PP, emitters, packaging should be stocked, there should be limited stocks of finished goods of fast-moving standard products. Based on cost, criticality and lead time, ABC analysis is a technique that can be used to help inventory management. Integrated procurement-production planning is a connecting of procurement and production planning decisions, which is a raw material, WIP and finished goods decision (Utama et al., 2022, p. 1).

2(d)(ii) Recommendations for communication issues:

The main communication issues will be between the India side and Brazil side. Since each irrigation project is different and the project depends on crop, farm layout, water source, pressure, farmer’s budget, marketing and engineering should be closely allied. The cross-functional integration enhances the collaboration of various functions in product development (Ramírez, 2019, pp. 1–2).

Common ERP/dashboard for production and procurement to share supplier lead times, raw material level, production plans, and quality issues. The information sharing is positively correlated with supply-chain performance in manufacturing companies (Mashiloane et al., 2018, pp. 1, 10). Dealer to installer communication should also be standardized, in the form of manuals, training videos, WhatsApp support groups and installation instructions in local language.

KPIs Table:

This table helps in assisting with the strategy proposed and KPIs that are used to monitor progress.

2(e) Strategy adaptation:

It is recommended to review the strategy every quarter and respond to the changes in the demand for the market, crop seasons, suppliers’ reliability and customer demands. For the primary product if its demand is predictable then the production of the same product can be increased in FPIL production. If there is a need to expand capacity because more customized projects are added, use pulling to increase the capacity. Within the hybrid approach, a variety of orders can be a mix of forecast and firm orders which can be managed simultaneously (Reyes et al., 2024, pp. 6253–6255).

A reversion of make vs. buy is needed. Core products take priority then – to remain in-house; accessories follow – you can be located outside of the business on a ‘cost, quality and delivery’ basis, if that is okay for the business. The make or buy will influence the decisions to be taken based on the following factors that have been identified such as cost, capacity, quality and the supplier capacity (Rosyidi et al., 2020, p. 2–4). The information flow and the creation of ideas and solving problems in manufacturing and cross functional teams has to be a part of the work teams through which it can be achieved, for continuous improvement as Ramirez-Zavala (2024 p. 142 ,1–2).