Operations and Project Management Report

This report analyzes the principles of operations management and their application in TK Maxx, a leading retailer. It also examines the Project Life Cycle (PLC) for Sunshine Drinks Company's new energy drink, Sunshine Energy. The report includes a critical evaluation of the PLC using the Waterfall model and explores alternative methodologies like Agile and Scrum. It also discusses the importance of continuous improvement plans and performance measurement techniques like KPIs and 360-degree feedback.

OPERATIONS AND
PROJECT
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................1
P1............................................................................................................................................1
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................4
P2............................................................................................................................................4
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................6
P3............................................................................................................................................6
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................12
P4..........................................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Project Management, in a wide business scenario, refers to the overall planning and
execution of a specific project. It is a crucial task that allows an organisation in accurate,
sustainable and effective management of the projects undertaken by the firm (Binder, 2016).
Furthermore, project management enables companies in appropriately reviewing the feasibility
as well as scope of success of their different projects, along with a systematic analysis of long
term consistency of the same. This assignment is conducted on TK Maxx and Sunshine Drinks
Company. This is further classified into two sections. The first section includes review of
efficacy of principles associated with operational management and application of constant
enhancement. The second part covers a detailed PLC as well as critique of the same in a project
to ascertain its effectiveness.
LO 1
P1.
Company Overview
TK Maxx was incorporated in 1994 in the UK and deals with a range of products for its
customers like footwear, clothing, domestics, bedding, furnitures, etc. Since its inception, the
company has satisfied its customers within the country as well as beyond with top quality as well
as diverse offerings (Fleming and Koppelman, 2016).
Differences between Operations and Operational Management
The former refers to activities which are undertaken by organisations in order to achieve
their organisational objectives. Moreover, latter refers to planning, management and
consequently effective execution of certain procedures and processes of corporation related to
production and other tasks within the company.
Review as well as Criticism of Principles of Operational Management
There are several effective principles of operations management which are necessary to
be reviewed critically in relation to appropriately understand and apply the same in an
organisational context. In case of TK Maxx, the company's logistics and supply chain are crucial
operations of the company and firm pays a decent amount of attention to make sure it turns
effective. Following is the implementation of operations management principles within TK
Maxx:
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 Variance: This principle of operations management is pervasive in every procedure
adopted by the company. However, for reduction of overall costs, this principle is
required to be controlled as well as measured. Within SCM, several activities such as
outlay reduction must be executed to ensure its effective implementation. In context with
TK Maxx, the company directly manage their logistics, which could add to the cost. This
is because self managing would require employment of new labour which is costly,
seeing their training and development costs. Thus, this function is not effectively
implemented within the firm (Harrison and Lock, 2017). Organisation: According to this principle, in case to increase efficiency and
profitability, operations must be organised appropriately into a coherent whole. To
manage the supply chain and logistics, TK Maxx is applying several methods such as
hybrid trucks, using of dual-fuelled vehicles, etc., which could not be easily organised
because difficult to handle different operations with same effeciency, hence, making
implementation of this operation quite ineffective for the organisation. Change: Change, as an operational management principle, is necessary to ensure better
logistics and supply chain management. Furthermore, with new solutions and theories,
these could help in ensuring better and timely delivery of their products to customers. For
TK Maxx, the company has a standard procedure of sharing capacity with other retailers
to reduce GHG emissions. Despite of presence of different and better methods, firm tends
to use a standard technique for its delivery as this will results in increment of overall cost
(Logistics, 2019). Fundamentals: As per this principle of operations management, there must be a strict
adherence to certain norms and fundamentals in order to ensure the best standards of the
process possible. TK Maxx, in their logistics and supply chain management, use “green”
clause as a fundamental to ensure utmost safety to environment and enhanced
sustainability. Thus, implementation of this principle is effective within the firm (Heizer
and et. al., 2017).
Degree of alignment of Principles of Operations Management with the requirement
There are various operations management principle which are quite necessary to be
understood by the firm to effectively apply them in relation to their new product development.
Some of these principles are mentioned below:
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 Reality: As per this principle, the firm must effectively focus on the problem, rather than
techniques and methods which would be used for the same. This is because, application
of a single technique would not present universal solutions. Accountability: Managers of the firm must effectively set up metrics and rules for their
subordinates to work upon and must effectively measure if the goals and objectives are
being met.
Positive Aspect:
The positive aspect of application of operations management principles is that it provides
a firm with a set guideline and pathway for each of the organisational employee to work upon.
Furthermore, this also enhances skills and capabilities of employees through regular monitoring.
Negative Aspect:
As for negative aspect, employees would be restricted in working flexibly and apply their
creativity in processes due to the rules and metrics set upon them. In addition, focusing on just
the problem would also limit the scope of success of the firm with respect to applying
appropriate techniques as solutions.
Conclusion
It is essential for TK Maxx to appropriately analyse the formulation of such principles to
determine the magnitude of alignment with requirements of the company. Despite their negative
aspects, the firm must apply the same for effectively enhancing the scope of success for the new
product development.
The analysis of the requirements is discussed as under:
 The most crucial requirement of TK Maxx has been on reduction of operational cost. As
for the principle of variance, the firm is applying the same principle for enhancing their
variety of product offerings like different range of clothes, furnitures, etc. However, this
principle does not aid the firm in reduction in its cost as it is not applied to reduce the
cost of operations, rather, to increase the variety. Thus, this principle does not meet the
requirements of the company (Heldman, 2018).
 Another requirement of the firm is consistency in operations. The company performs
several diverse activities in relation to logistics and SCM which causes difficulty for
corporation to effectively implement it This owes to the fact that every activity has its
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own set of requirements, which causes hindrances in accomplishment of principle of
organisation.
 Another requirement for the firm is to appropriately ensure that best techniques and
methods are used to manage their supply chain. However, the company adopts the
principle of change as it roots for new techniques for its logistics. Yet, the company is
required to apply this principle more consistently regarding their supply chain
management as there are ongoing developments in the market. Thus, it results in a
moderate extent upon which this requirements are fulfilled.
 Additionally, safety is another requirement of TK Maxx, and the firm implements
principle of fundamentals appropriately in relation to ensure the same. Safety standards
are set for each employee regarding safety of themselves as well as the logistics. Thus,
this requirement is fulfilled at a high extent through this principle.
LO 2
P2.
TK Maxx should implement this plan in relation to ensure enhancement of its SCM
procedures. CIP refers to a description of all the activities designed to achieve consistent and
maximum output (Kundu and et. al., 2015). This is one of the crucial methods for the firm to
ensure that effective and consistent enhancement is achieved. This could be attained by way of
Lean Methodology which aims at performing the activities in a way which reduces wastage
hence, enhancing output.
The firm could also include PDCA model in relation to ensuring an effective and
consistent implementation of continuous improvement within the company. There are different
aspects which we needed to improve continuous basis includes about cost, quality, delivery and
safety. Application of the each step is quite similar is all the respects and this can be understood
from the approaches which comes under the each stage. The model is described below: Plan: This will includes about the continuous planning about the initial factors which
result into the creation of the changes in the different determinants. Do: It includes the process of implementation. This can be understood from the point that
planing assist in building programmes which are applied in actually under this step. For
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ex., Planning about the factors which increases the cost can be reduced with help and
application of lean production mention. This will further results in saving cost. Check: This will includes about the ascertainment of the effectiveness of the working.
This can be demonstrated with the help of gap analysis. It help to to ascertain the factors
which are still needed to improve and requires further action.
 Act: This is the last step which includes implementation of actions which are determined
above and goes towards the process of continuous development.
However, it is necessary for TK Maxx to develop a continuous improvement plan in
relation to effectively enhance the efficacy of its logistics and supply chain management: this
plan is mentioned below:-
CRITERIA FOR
DIFFERENCES EXISITNG METHODS FUTURE METHODS
COST
Implementation of principle of
variance is upon diversity of
product range rather costs and
directly manage its operations
(Lientz and Rea, 2016).
Variance must be applied in
the future by the organisation
to cut cost, and Automation, as
a method, must be used to
manage the logistics which
would reduce labour cost.
QUALITY
Principle of organisation is not
effectively implemented and
methods like dual-fuelled and
hybrid vehicles are used for
ensuring quality in logistics
and supply chain management.
In future, in order to ensure
quality, it is essential for TK
Maxx to organise each
operation of supply chain
management. For this, instead
of using different techniques,
Just-In-Time method could be
used by the company to ensure
utmost quality within logistics.
DELIVERY Change, as a principle was not
implemented appropriately and
The firm must implement
change within organisation in
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capacity was shared by other
retailers to ensure effective
delivery.
future and instead of sharing
capacity with other retailers,
different modes of transport
such as air train and ship cargo
could be used for delivery of
their goods.
Recommendations
As per the assessment of operations management principles in TK Maxx, previous set of
requirements and continuous improvement plan, there are various recommendations which
could be used by the firm to ensure improvement in operations functions (Maylor and Turner,
2017). These recommendations are mentioned below:
 With advancements in technology, TK Maxx must use new and advanced methods like
Artificial Intelligence and Automation to ensure cost effective and quality structure
within the company (Maylor, Turner and Murray-Webster, 2015). This would allow the
firm to achieve its objective of enhanced quality within their products.
 Just-In-Time inventory could help the firm in ensuring organisation in the operations of
the company. This means, inventory would not be kept for more than 3 days of the order.
Moreover, this would also help in cutting up carrying cost which would improve logistics
and supply chain management. This would reduce the cost of inventory and other
operations which is another effective objective of the company.
LO 3
P3.
Sunshine Drinks Company is planning to combine their diverse range of drinks along
with the natural spring water already sold by them to effectively include a new variety of energy
drinks for their customers. This new range would be termed as Sunshine Energy. This project
undertaken by the company requires them to work effectively through each phase of Project Life
Cycle, which includes all the stages associated with the timeline of a project from initiation to its
closure. Following are the Business Case and Project Life Cycle for the new product by Sunshine
Drinks Company:
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Business Case:
BASIS DESCRIPTION
Importance
Sunshine Energy is being developed by effective combination of
range of fruit drinks along with natural spring water which have
several health benefits like increased brain functions. Furthermore,
with natural sweetness through fruits, it removes the health
concerns of caffeine and sugar content.
Target Market
The target market for the new offering would be general public of
the UK, belonging to age group 18-50, having an income more than
£1000 and which are health conscious and are habitual of
consuming energy drinks (McArthur, 2015).
Cost Benefit Analysis:
Particulars Situation 1 2
Costs 100000 120000
Benefit 0 20000
(BEP point)
Costs Benefit
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
140000
Chart Title
Column C Column D
Illustration 1: Cost Benefit Analysis
 Project Initiation:
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Foremost phase of Project Life Cycle is initiation of the project. In this stage, Sunshine
Drinks Company needs to determine the project objectives, along with assessment of
opportunities and threats associated with the project (Nicholas, and Steyn, 2017). Firm is
required to measure the overall project on the basis of their feasibility as well as its value.
Appropriate brainstorming is required for the company to meet their needs as well as developing
factors contributing to assessing the opportunity.
Objectives
 With its new product, Sunshine Drinks Company is planning
to enhance its market position by at least 4% in the next 3
months after distribution of their product.
 The company is also planning to increase its customer base
by 15% after one year of production and distribution of their
new drinks.
Strategies
To accomplish the same, this company would be developing a top
quality energy drink along with robust advertising and marketing
through social media to gain popularity. Further, pricing penetration
strategy would be used by the firm to sell this product.
The project manager requires to submit the report to the higher management for approval
(Pheng and Meng, 2018). The company could use tools like Microsoft Project 2019 Professional.
Moreover, the methodology which could be applied at this stage could be Six Sigma
Methodology which would allow the firm perform better feasibility analysis. The reason for
using this methodology is that it would define deliverables as well as help the firm identify
aspects to reduce the operation cost, thus, making the project more feasible. As for Leadership,
the firm could use transformational leadership. This is because it would help create a unified
vision for the overall project (Schönsleben, 2016).
 Project Planning:
The next stage of the project is related to the overall planning of the new product
development for Sunshine Drinks Company. After confirmation from management, project
manager along with project team is required to formulate a detailed plan. This would require
them to assess the resource gaps to identify what resources are needed to be employed for the
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project. Moreover, project plan and process maps would be formulated in this stage along with
estimation of budget and finance planning. Following is the Project Plan for Sunshine Energy:
Cost
It requires cost incurred for resources, processes as well as technology
used in development of Sunshine Energy. The overall cost of new
product development would be around £90,000 to £1,10,000.
Communication
The firm would be undertaking internal, external, vertical as well as
linear communication in development of Sunshine Energy to ensure
consistent and smooth exchange of information.
Quality
To ensure quality, the firm would be acquiring new technologies such
as Automation to ensure highest productivity with no compromise to
the quality of the new product development.
Scope
The scope of overall project is wide as company is willing to employ
talented individuals along with new equipments and processes to
ensure top quality and sustainable product range.
In this stage, Sunshine Drinks Company could use Lean Principles. The reason of its
effectiveness could be reflected by the fact that these principles are associated with minimising
the waste which is necessary in planning the project and would be very much contributing to the
development of the new product by firm. As for leadership, Sunshine Drinks Company could use
Autocratic Leadership, as this would allow project manager to allot tasks and responsibilities to
their subordinates appropriately to ensure maximum efficiency in execution of the same. As for
tools, Work Breakdown Structure, along with Gantt Chart could help the firm in development of
an effective structure along with the timeline.
Gantt Chart:
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Illustration 2: Gantt Chart
Illustration 3: Gantt Chart
Illustration 4: Network Diagram
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Work Breakdown Structure:
Illustration 5: Work Breakdown Structure
 Project Execution:
It is one of the most crucial stage of Project Life Cycle as all the concept and ideas are
effectively executed in this phase. Project Manager at Sunshine Drinks Company would be
organising workflows which would require them to allot tasks to respective teams. For instance,
while one team would focus on acquisition of raw material, another team would be dedicated to
actually develop the product by mixing flavours with the natural spring water. Moreover, it is
also necessary for them to brief their members along with crucial process-based training. Lastly,
this stage needs the firm to effectively monitor the overall project in terms of time, budget and
quality to determine any deviations and modifying the project to overcome the same. The
company could use tools like ProofHub and Zoho Projects as they would help guiding the
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company regarding the overall execution process (Project Management Tools and Techniques
That Actually Work, 2018). Both these software allow their users to monitor the overall
execution and reports deviations effectively which is necessary for a successful execution.
Democratic leadership could be chosen by the organisation as this would boost participation of
subordinates in relation to contribute creatively in execution of the project. The reason for the
same is that the execution could only be possible if subordinates cooperate and provide their
creative inputs. TQM could be chosen as an effective methodology as it would help the firm in
managing the quality of Sunshine Energy. This would be focused upon the mixing process as
well as purifying process of the drink to ensure utmost quality. Its overall production process
would continuously be monitored by TQM to ensure that standards related to quality, cost, safety
and health are well achieved in its development (Simpson and et. al., 2015).
 Project Closure:
The last stage requires Sunshine Drinks Company to analyse the performance of the
overall project. This also needs the organisation in assessing team performance. Moreover,
detailed documentations must be formulated regarding closure of the project along with
accounting of budgets. Communication plays a vital role in this process as company would be
informing all the stakeholders regarding the successful completion of the process, which in this
case, is the new product development. Basecamp could be used as a tool by the company in
determining the overall project quality and closure. It would help the company in reviewing
overall standards achieved by the project and the extent to which Sunshine Energy is produced
on these given standards. Strategic leadership could serve as an effective kind for the company to
assess the effectiveness as well as modify the plan accordingly as tactical decisions would be
required to modify the project to achieve the objectives laid at initiation in case of deviations.
LO 4
P4.
Designing and implementing PLC is an effective practice for a company as this strives to
provide an organisation as it gives them framework and a well structured guide to appropriately
carry out management and monitoring the project. To accomplish this, the firm would make use
of Waterfall as a mechanism to evaluate their PLC: This concept can be elaborated as under:-
 Requirement:
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This stage needs the company for analysing the requirements of resources for beginning
it. PLC during its initiation phase, helped the company in determining necessary requirements
for their project. However, the company made use of Six Sigma to define deliverables. However,
principles associated with this are found to be very rigid, which reduce the scope of
modifications in later stages.
 Design:
It is associated with development of a sustainable design to ensure success of project.
This depicts planning phase wherein the respective organisation made use of Lean Management
Principles to ensure minimum waste. This was an effective step to ensure minimum wastage
right at planning stage. However, autocratic leadership is used in this stage which completely
eradicates participation of employees while planning the new product development. This could
be a threat for the company as this leadership might lead to lesser contribution of subordinates in
the later stage which would hinder development of Sunshine Energy.
 Development:
This step depicts the overall formulation of the processes. During implementation, the
respective organisation used Total Quality Management along with democratic leadership has
been used. While the leadership style ensures effective participation and maximum productivity,
Total Quality Management could only focus on quality and not on cost effectiveness, which is
necessary at this step. However, the firm could have used several cost-effective mechanisms for
savings of costs at this step. One of these mechanisms can be stock management, which would
give access to the firm to ensure JIT practices, thus, saving the costs as procurement of necessary
material would depend upon the exact orders from customers. Another technique could have
been using Software Cost Reduction (SCR) Toolkit in production processes, which could have
ensured the quality as well as cost effectiveness (Software Cost Reduction (SCR) Toolset, 2019).
This software would help the company in determining processes and equipments that could be
removed or altered to achieve a better and cost effective development of Sunshine Energy.
 Test and Maintain:
This end stage is regarding effective test and maintenance of plan and this can be taken
into use for it could be used for assessing the project shutting down step. This stage is associated
with appropriately evaluating the efficacy of plan wherein the respective organisation is using
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strategic leadership. It is a tactical decision which would help the project manager to strategically
deal with the assessment in an accurate and necessary manner.
However, there are various different techniques could be utilised by the firm in assessing
the quality, scope and tenure of the overall project. For instance, agile methodology could have
been used throughout the phases of project life cycle to appropriately enhance the scope
management, implementation as well as execution of the project. Another technique which could
have been used was Scrum Methodology, where small, cross-functional, as well as self-
managing teams could have been formed for development of Sunshine Energy. This would
ensure enhancements in productivity and better management of production, packaging as well as
distribution of Sunshine Energy in the market (Slack and Brandon-Jones, 2018).
The firm could effectively measure the performance of PLC using several performance
measuring techniques which are mentioned below: Key Performance Indicators: One of the most effective aspect and technique which
could be implemented by the firm is KPI's. Each deliverable per stage must be
effectively set up against an indicator which would allow the firm to appropriately
evaluate performance as per this indicator. For instance, timeline and quality standard
could be set as KPI for each stage of the PLC. 360 Degree Feedback: Another performance measurement technique which could be
utilised within the company to measure performance of PLC is 360 degree feedback. The
firm could effectively gather feedbacks from associated members and external audits
through which the organisation would effectively evaluate the pace as well as the quality
of the overall development project. Thus, this would help the company in modifying
stages within the PLC which could enhance its performance.
Usage of Methods for various types of projects
METHODS SMALL-LEVEL PROJECT LARGE-LEVEL PROJECT
Six Sigma For packaging the commodities,
Six Sigma could be used in a
very lenient and sustainable
development could be achieved
In relation to completely new
offerings, Six Sigma as well as its
methodologies would be applied
on the overall project which
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by reviewing in the packaging
process and improving the same.
includes defining standards,
measuring and analysing
resources, design as well as verify
a whole new process along with
its effective management.
Lean Principles
The principles of lean in a small
project like labelling the
containers could be utilised for
reducing unrequired operational
activities regarding the same,
such as labelling the caps from
inside as well.
For new product development,
these principles could be used in
planning procedures wherein the
unimportant and cost-ineffective
activities were completely
eradicated using these principles.
CONCLUSION
It can be comprehended that management of operations as well as project are important
activities for a corporation to ensure consistency and quality in operations as well as their
different projects. Operation management principles, if applied appropriately could help in
achieving improvements in operations. Moreover, continuous improvement plan helps to ensure
uniformity within the organisational premises. Besides this, the formulation of PLC assists in
provision of framework to the projects of an organisation. Furthermore, its critical evaluation is
necessary through concepts like Waterfall model to ensure that each stage is accomplished and
performed at its best.
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REFERENCES
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management. Wiley.
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Lientz, B. and Rea, K., 2016. Breakthrough technology project management. Routledge.
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theory and practice. International Journal of Operations & Production
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Simpson and et. al., 2015. Professional, research, and publishing trends in operations and supply
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Online
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<https://www.tjx.com/responsibility/environment/logistics>
Project Management Tools and Techniques That Actually Work. 2018. [Online] Available
Through: <https://www.proofhub.com/articles/project-management-tools-and-
techniques>
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Software Cost Reduction (SCR) Toolset. 2019. [Online] Available Through:
<https://www.nrl.navy.mil/itd/chacs/5546/SCR>
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