Cadbury Operations Management

1. Cadbury

1.1 Company Background

Cadbury's, as we know it now, started as a shop that sells tea and coffee and homemade drinking chocolate or cocoa. Cadbury was founded by John Cadbury in 1824 as small street shop in Bull Street, Birmingham. John's aggressive marketing campaign and experiments with chocolate made him a leading trader in Birmingham. By early 1840's John Cadbury went into partnership with his brother, Benjamin Cadbury, and started operating from a factory at Bridge Street that manufactured drinking chocolate and cocoa. In 1854 Cadbury's received a Royal Warrant of Appointment as manufacturer of chocolate for Queen Victoria. After successful beginning, business fell apart when John Cadbury retired in 1961 and his sons Richard and George struggled to run the business. New processes and innovative products helped the business improve by the end of 1960's and were able to move from Bridge Street factory to what is now known as Bournville in Bournbrook estate. New products and experimentation created innovative products ensured that Cadbury's could match the competition from Switzerland and France and products were continually perfected to claim superiority in taste and quality. Cadbury's became a Limited company after the death of Richard Cadbury and the sons of the two brothers joined the firm that was headed by George Cadbury. By the end of the century business expanded further and the Bournville factory employed 2,500 workers. The organization was far ahead of its time, as George Cadbury introduced Pension schemes and medical facilities for his employees. Introduction of the brand Cadbury's Dairy Milk in 1905 became a landmark for the organization (Appendix 1). After Second World War, more factories were opened and the organization went from strength to strength with the launch of new products and new technology. In 1969 Cadbury merged with Schweppes to form Cadbury Schweppes. Today Cadbury World has a visitor center that is dedicated to the history of chocolate. This tour takes visitors for a guided tour of the massive factory and the shop with attractive products and prices ensures that the visitors don't leave empty handed (English Tea Store, 2009).

1.2 Operations/transformation process of Cadbury

According to Slack, Chambers and Johnston (2007), "Operations are the process that takes in a set of input resources which are used to transform something, or are transformed themselves, into outputs and services"(Appendix 2).

Since, early 20th century Cadbury chocolate products are manufactured to high degree of consistency and efficiency using a product layout developed by Cadbury's engineers. The process view of production of Cadbury Dairy Milk Bar is shown in the Fig 1.1

Fig