Process Design

Primarily, Home Properties uses a line product flow with their properties. With the economy of scale theory they can essentially remodel more apartments, houses and townhouses at a cheaper cost. However, each specific property can be classified as a Project process flow. Every employee put lot of effort behind each and every home.
Most times it is for individual or a family. For example, if the family is looking to rent or purchase a home or an apartment the customer order process would be M.T.O. (Make to Order). Home Properties can tailor homes and apartments which can accommodate individual’s needs.
Prospects and other companies that have come to Home Properties and want to rent a number of homes from the community, for this customer order they would used an A.T.O. (Assemble to Order) process. There are more individual orders than the corporate orders. So the Make to Order process is what they adhere to.
This company falls into batch / job shop category and Make-to-order slot on the process characteristics matrix. Every custom request is attended regarding their preference. Customers can choose from multiple characteristics for their house e.g. Number of bedrooms, kinds of facilities available, location, appliances, etc. The apartments, homes and the town houses are then rented according to individual specifications.
Primary factors influencing process selection are market condition, consumer base, and competition. The company's properties are primarily located in developed areas where there are other multi-family properties which directly compete for residents. There is also competition from single family homes and condominiums for sale or rent. The competitive environment may have a detrimental effect on the Company’s ability to lease apartments at existing and at newly developed properties, as well as on rental rates.
The Company should position itself to compete effectively for both residents and properties as a result of it’s focus on service and resident satisfaction. Using high variety at a high volume would be ideal. However, in today’s economy a mass customization method would not be feasible. However, if the market has a turn around within the next couple of months or even years, this tactic will be to their advantage because in many communities located in Central Jersey they do not provide such incentives. This differentiates the company from its competitors both for residents and properties.
They can also do corporate rentals. This will increase long term relationships with other companies. By doing corporate rentals the company doesn’t have to find the traffic to rent the vacant apartments, they will save in advertising cost and time. Corporate Companies are interested in more than one rental at a time, therefore; the mass customization method would be ideal in this situation.