Operations management and performance of Kenya tea development agency managed tea factories in Kenya

Abstract

Operations play a major role in the tea industry where the business involves suppliers, some of who are the business owners and customers. Organizations in the tea industry are faced with challenges in their quest to deliver their products to consumers while concurrently ensuring profitability. Thus, they have to tailor their business operations practices to fit the market. This research aims to see to what extent operations management practices are being undertaken in the Kenyan tea industry by looking at the Kenya Tea Development Agency managed factories, studying their supply chain and their process to determine how they impact on the operational performance of the factories. The target population in this study was the 65 Kenya Tea Development Agency managed factories. Primary data on the project implementation was collected using a questionnaire. Secondary data was obtained from relevant publications and literature review from the different organizations. Data was tabulated and analyzed for purpose of clarity, using SPSS version 20 software. Data was presented using tables, and pie charts to make them reader friendly and his study conducted a multiple regression analysis. Multiple regression analysis was used to establish the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. The study found that there is a positive significant relationship between supply chain, lean management, value stream mapping, machine maintenance and operational performance. However, the study found a negative relationship between constraints and operational performance of an organization. The study recommends that factories should be urged to adopt all the practices under supply chain management, adoption of communication channels enhancement among all the staff working in various organizations to improve value stream mapping. The study further, recommends that all factories under KTDA should have a skilled team to handle issues on machine maintenance and replacement as this will lead to continued production. In addition, the study recommends that similar studies be done on change management in other organizations for deeper understanding of the phenomenon under research.