Business Management: AB Foods Warehouse Automation Project Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of a warehouse automation project undertaken by Associated British Foods (AB Foods), a food processing company with diverse divisions. The project aims to improve warehousing processes through automation, focusing on activities like picking, storing, and shipping to reduce errors and delays. The report outlines the rationale for automation, emphasizing efficiency gains in supply chains and cost reduction. It details project milestones, including critical success factors, resource allocation, communication strategies, and human resource planning. The potential return on investment (ROI) is assessed, considering both short-term costs and long-term benefits. The report includes a project plan and budget, a financial analysis, a Gantt chart, and a work breakdown structure (WBS) to illustrate the project's implementation and management. The conclusion highlights the positive impact of automation on AB Foods' processes, cost savings, and the need for employee training to manage technological changes. References to relevant books and journals are provided.

Foundation of Business
Management

Table of Contents
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
Summary of the case study.........................................................................................................3
Rationale for exhibiting...............................................................................................................3
Project plan milestones...............................................................................................................3
Potential return on investment....................................................................................................4
Project plan and budget...............................................................................................................5
Financial Analysis.......................................................................................................................5
Gantt chart of plan.......................................................................................................................6
Work breakdown structure..........................................................................................................7
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1
.........................................................................................................................................................1

PART 1
Summary of the case study
Project management is a practice in which various actions are planned by the
organisation with the help of which they can achieve specific goals and objectives of the
project(Wrenn and Cafferky, 2015). This report is based on Associated British foods which is a
food processing company. They have five division in their company which are grocery,
agriculture, sugar, ingredients and retails. The organisation aims to improve their process of
warehousing by introducing automation in the activities such as picking, storing, shipping of the
goods etc. which will reduce chances of human errors and delays in the processes.
Rationale for exhibiting
The success of the companies are dependent upon their efficiency in their process for
which they focus must be on improving the supply chains, cutting down costs thus it will lead to
reduction in the expenses of the company (Kelley and Nahser, 2014). Due to manual operation
the AB Foods has to face various issues such as improper timings, lower productivity, human
error and many more. With the help of this project more space can be created within the

warehouse and organic path can be created by AB Foods so that placement of the machineries
can be done effectively. This will bring accuracy in the picking and dropping of the inventory.
With the use of vertical space and layout the flow of traffic can be managed and due to this
primary functions of warehouse can be improved which includes storing of the cargo,
improvement in the incoming and outgoing processes, other operations such as applying price
sticker to the products, labelling etc.
Project plan milestones
Milestones of the project are the tools with the help of which project can be executed in
an effective and productive manner. Also they provide a way with which the progress and
performance of a project can be observed, measured and monitored. For this various important
components are taken into consideration by AB Foods which includes:
Critical success factors: These are the factors that defines various aspects related to the
projects such as deadlines for the project, quality standards, satisfaction of the employees etc.
For undertaking this project of warehouse automation the project managers of AB Foods will be
required a time period of 3 months as for this they have to rearrange their machineries on the
floor, managing the incoming and outgoing of the inventory, by managing the supply chain etc.
In addition to this various standards for quality must be established such as minimum level of
stock with specified standards.
Resources: For undertaking this project it is important for the project managers of AB
Foods to determine various resources that they will be required. This project will required funds,
experts who can provide technical guidance to the warehouse managers, employees who has
understanding of changes in the technology must be procured. In addition to they need to acquire
various machineries that can facilitate automation such as they have to procure automatic sorters,
palletizer, robot picking and various software that can facilitate effective management of the
inventory in the warehouse.
Communication: The communication is important factor that must be taken into
consideration by managers of AB Foods with the help of which the tasks, deadlines, budgets
must be communicated to the employees. Due to poor communication the outcomes of the
projects can be affected. For this project the warehouse managers must communicate directly to
the workers by way of meeting, emails etc. about the changes in the processes and the

responsibilities. In addition to this the requirement of various trainings must be communicated to
the employees so that they can effectively adopt the changes (Baars and et. al., 2015) .
Human resource plan: Human resource planning must be done by the project manager
of AB Foods so that they can effectively manage their existing employees and procure new
employees as per the required level of competence that has changed with change in the
technology. In this they determine the types of trainings they need to provide to them so that they
can be made capable of managing such change in the organisation.
Potential return on investment
Return on investment is associated with the gain or loss that the company will have to
face after implementing this project. It is generally calculated in terms of percentage so that the
comparison can be done efficiently. While implementing automation in AB Foods they will
have various advantages of faster operating that will reduce in terms of faster process and
prevention of delays. But it will increase the cost of the company as they have to procure the
more of technologies and efficient labour along with adoption of various technologies. The
technology so adopted by AB Foods are physical robots, automatic sorters, palletizer and robot
picking. AB Foods will have gains in long term as they have been operating in various segments
due to which their gins for now will be lesser but in long terms it will increase their profitability.
Project plan and budget
For implementing the project it is important for AB Foods to formulate budget so that
they can effectively manage the total activities of the organisation. With the help of this they can
keep the cost of implementing the project in limit that is pre-determined. Specific funds allotted
to different activities enable the project managers of AB Foods in managing the overall
requirement (Melé and Cantón, 2014). The budget for AB Foods is given below:
Particulars Amount
Cost allocated for procuring new machineries 50000
Cost allocated for training and development of
the employees
20000
Cost for hiring the experts 10000
Cost of maintaining the machineries and 8000

equipments
Financial Analysis
With the help of analysing various financial statements the AB Foods can identify
various financial aspects which are required to be critically analysed so that they can effectively
determine various profits that they have been earning and what changes can be faced after
implementing this project (Atamanenko, 2015). This will enable them in taking various actions
regarding which activities they have to undertake such as trainings and compensation of the
employees, future investment and many more.
Gantt chart of plan
Gantt chart will be prepared with the help of which various activities are determined by
the project managers of AB Foods. In this activities are presented on the graph in which the
length of the bar reflects the time, duration and end date of the activities till which they must be
completed. The Gantt chart for undertaking this project is given below:

Work breakdown structure
WBS will be prepared by the project manager of AB Foods in which entire project will
be divided into small manageable sections of the society. This will make them efficient enough
in undertaking various activities and competing them on time. Also with this sequence is also
determined. The WBS for undertaking this project is given below:
Conclusion
It is concluded from the above project report that the business will have positive impact
of such project as with this they can improve their processes in warehouse. This will enable them
in reducing the delays in the activities and improving the processes with which they can save
their cost. Also in the near future their the requirement of the human capital will reduce that will

further save cost of the company. But due to this their procedure will become complex and for
dealing with them efficiently the managers need to organise various trainings and development
sessions.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Atamanenko, I.B., 2015. Cultural foundations of strategic management business organization.
Baars, H and et. al., 2015. Foundations of information security based on ISO27001 and
ISO27002. Van Haren.
Kelley, S. and Nahser, R., 2014. Developing sustainable strategies: Foundations, method, and
pedagogy. Journal of Business Ethics. 123(4). pp.631-644.
Melé, D. and Cantón, C.G., 2014. Human foundations of management. New York: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Wrenn, B. and Cafferky, M.E., 2015. Biblical worldview and the business curriculum: The
scriptural foundations for business series. Christian Business Academy Review, 10.
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