Operations and Project Management

This document discusses the principles of operations management and project management. It includes a critical evaluation of operations management principles, effectiveness of principles in meeting organizational requirements, continuous improvement and lean principles, and recommendations for improvement. The second part focuses on the project life cycle of Sunshine Drinks Company.

OPERATIONS AND
PROJECT
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
Introduction of TK Maxx.......................................................................................................1
Operations vs Operations Management..................................................................................1
Critical Evaluation of Operations Management Principles....................................................2
Effectiveness of Principles in meeting Organisational Requirements...................................3
Continuous Improvement and Lean Principles......................................................................4
Preparation of Continuous Improvement Plan.......................................................................5
Recommendations of TK Maxx.............................................................................................5
PART 2............................................................................................................................................6
Project Life Cycle...................................................................................................................6
Effectiveness of the PLC......................................................................................................11
Critical Analysis of Use of Methodologies in Small and Large-scale projects....................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Project Management is a process followed by firms in order to effectively plan, execute
and monitor several projects within their respective organisation (Meredith and et. al., 2017). It
involves several stages and principles which are essential to commence projects in ways helps
the companies in achieving business objectives. The report below is divided into two parts and is
based on TK Maxx and Sunshine Drinks. First part of the report addresses the operations
management of the firm with its principles, effectiveness of the same and a continuous
improvement plan in order to improvise the current operations management of the organisation.
As for the second part, it takes Sunshine Drinks into consideration and covers project
development of a new drink by the organisation, which includes a detailed project life cycle, its
critical evaluation and difference between application project life cycle in comparison to small
and large scale projects.
PART 1
Introduction of TK Maxx
TK Maxx is a retail chain that deals in designer products and effective appliances within
UK and beyond. Furthermore, the firm has appropriate and effective technological solutions in
context of managing its supply and delivery to customers nationally and internationally in an
effective manner. However, after the likely events of Brexit, the organisation's supply chain has
become weaker, particularly in areas like Ireland in terms of cost and volume of goods (Supply
chain fears for TK Maxx, 2019).
Operations vs Operations Management
Operations of a company refer to all the functions which are required by them to
appropriately and effectively accomplish activities within the firm such as production,
manufacturing, delivery, supply, etc. Operations of every department is independent of the other
and accomplish distinct objectives.
In comparison to this, operations management is an appropriate management area which
is responsible towards planning, as well as controlling the procedures and processes associated
with with all the operations of the organisation towards manufacturing, production, supply and
delivery (Heizer, Render and Munson, 2016). In addition to this, it collectively manages all the
1

independent processes and develops an integration towards accomplishment of objectives and
requirements of the company.
Critical Evaluation of Operations Management Principles
There are certain principles which governs the operations management of an
organisation, Furthermore, they are required to be amalgamated by certain other management
principles which have provided guidance of how better to manage the resources and functioning
of an organisation. Thus, before operations management principles, there are certain other kinds
of principles which are required to be appropriately understood and reviewed, which are
discussed below:
 Taylor's Scientific Management:
F.W. Taylor provided the organisations with several principles, motive of which has been
to develop a scientific approach towards accomplishing the organisation's results (Frederick
Taylor and Scientific Management, 2019). The principles governing this management is
inclusive of adoption of science and not rule of thumb, scientific training of employees,
promotion of efficiency, division of work between employees and managers, as well as outcome-
based pay. It promotes appropriate and effective election of employees and staff based on
analysis, training and appropriate education. However, it does not encourage flexibility, which
could be disadvantageous towards creativity.
 Mass Customisation:
It is an appropriate management technique which is related towards combination of
personalisation and flexibility for custom made offerings and indulging in mass production,
leading to lower cost (Mass Customisation, 2019). One of the major advantages of this principle
is that it lowers the inventory cost for the organisation. However, the principle fails in building
up stock ahead of time, which contributes to pressure on the company.
Furthermore, there are certain other operations management principles in context of TK
Maxx which are critically evaluated below: Organisation: This principle works on the notion that organisation's processes and
systems must be interlinked where all the aspects must be consistent and predictable, in
order to achieve similar outcomes within profits. In terms of TK Maxx, the firm has an
appropriate logistics process, which is interlinked with the other functional departments
of the company, ensuring that each strategy and process is predictable. However, the
2

same could not be claimed as far as supply chain is concerned. Reason for the same is
that the organisation's supply chain is affected by the changing regulations of the
government, which has caused uncertainty in outcomes, which is adding to the cost as
well. Reality: Within this principle, the focus on the organisation must be on the issue, rather
than the techniques as no method or technique is universally viable in presenting a
universal solution. In this context, TK Maxx has been emphasising on improvised
technology for its supply chain, which is restricting the company in order to focus on the
bigger problem such as Brexit, which could be ineffective of managing the same in terms
of delivery.
 Managed Passion: Passion and dedication of employees are driving forces towards
growth of the company and could be enhanced through effective training and education.
Hence, the company is quite effective in training their employees in terms of logistics and
ensuring the quality of the overall product. However, the delivery process is yet
ineffective which is causing ineffectiveness within the company in ensuring appropriate
supply.
Effectiveness of Principles in meeting Organisational Requirements
There are several requirements of the organisation, which are required to appropriately be
met in order to ensure consistency and better performance . In relation to TK Maxx, its certain
requirements as well as the extent of effectiveness of operations management is discussed below: Cost: One of the major aspects which is a major requirement of the organisation is the
cost. The operations management of the company is not as efficient as it should be in
terms of saving up cost for the firm. The reason for this is because TK Maxx hasn't been
adopting the principle of organisation in an appropriate manner where the supply chain of
the company is concerned. This is because, the suppliers for the firm haven't been
consistent after the possibility of Brexit, which is major setback for the company in terms
of cost. Quality: This requirement is associated acquiring high quality within the products and
services of the company. The operations management of firm is very much effective in
relation to managing the quality of products of the company. Reason to back this up is
3

that each and every employee in TK Maxx is very much effective in relation to
dedicatedly working towards achieving the quality standards.
 Delivery: Since TK Maxx has international presence, consistent and timely delivery is
one of the most essential things which are required to be accomplished by the
organisation. However, the firm has not been in an appropriate and effective shape where
this aspect within the supply chain management is concerned. This could effectively be
explained by the fact that the principle of reality is not being adopted in an appropriate
manner as the company has been consistent in focusing on the technology rather than the
issues where supply chain management is concerned.
Continuous Improvement and Lean Principles
Continuous Improvement refers to the processes and techniques which are adopted by
companies in relation to indulging in an ongoing procedures which is subjected towards ensuring
continuous betterment in operations, functions and offerings within the company. It helps the
organisation in constantly enhancing its competence and assuring better competitive position in
the market due to striving for improvement.
One appropriate principle in this regard is Lean Principles. These principles are
implemented by an organisation in relation to ensuring utmost improvisation in their processes
by appropriately reducing waste within the same (Buckley and et. al., 2017). There are several
principles which govern these aspects that are discussed below: Value: This refers to the aspect for which the customers are willing to. This principle is
associated with discovering the needs of customers. Value Stream: Value of customers is used as a reference point in this principle to
determine procedures and techniques that contribute towards the value identified above. Flow: The above process helps in removing waste by elimination of factors that does not
contribute to the value. Hence, this process ensures that a flow within the steps is
maintained effectively. Pull: This process limits the role of inventory within the processes, which according to
the principle is the biggest waste element.
 Perfection: In relation with continuous improvement, this principle of Lean instils
continuous processes betterment as a culture within the company.
4

Preparation of Continuous Improvement Plan
As per the above analysis, it has been realised that the operations management of TK
Maxx is very ineffective in context of handling the delivery and cost requirements of the
company. Hence, for this purpose, Continuous Improvement Plan is being developed which
would be classifying the existing and proposed methodologies to ensure improvement in
accomplishing these requirements.
Cost Existing Methodology: For reduction of cost, the firm has been applying principle of
organisation. However, the same has been applied on logistics functions and not on the
supply chain, hence, causing ineffectiveness.
 Proposed Methodology: To essentially enhance the scope of improvement, the firm must
adopt principle of Variance as an appropriate methodology. This means that variances
within supply chain operations must be controlled in order to appropriately reduce the
cost.
Delivery Existing Methodology: In this context, principle of reality is been adopted by the firm.
 Proposed Methodology: To improvise the same, principles of Six Sigma must be applied
by the firm. These principles include defining the goals and problem within the supply
chain, measuring current state of the supply chain management, analysis of the root cause
of problem, improvise the same through implementing valuable solutions and control the
overall process in terms of improvement.
Recommendations of TK Maxx
Hence, in relation to enhance the effectiveness of operations management, TK Maxx
must perform several recommendations that are discussed below:
 The company must adopt unified processes in context of supporting and managing its
supply chain operations to reduce the cost of operations.
 In terms of delivery, the suppliers and retailers in the EU countries must be negotiated
and complied with to ensure that products are developed and delivered on time.
5

PART 2
Project Life Cycle
As per the case, Sunshine Drinks Company is willing to provide a new range of energy
drinks, by the name of “Energy Mix”, which is combination of its drinks with summer and
tropical fruit flavours, along with the natural spring water sold by the company. Hence, in order
to commence and execute the project, the Project Life Cycle for the same is discussed below
which is an appropriate display and evaluative framework to analyse each stage of a particular
project (Lock, 2017). Hence, the same in context of Sunshine Drinks Company is mentioned
below:
Initiation:
As the name suggests, this is the beginning of the project, the issue, requirements and
opportunities are identified by the project management team. Hence, in order to do so, the firm is
required to appropriately and effectively undertake feasibility analysis for Energy Mix, along
with defining the scope, which would be including the target market and locations it would be
serving. Within this stage, the organisation is also required to develop a cost benefit analysis and
business case which clearly identifies the importance and target market of the new product.
Hence, this case is developed as under:
 Cost Benefit Analysis:
Particulars Situation 1 2 3
Costs 65000 87500 110000
Benefit -5000 0 5000
(BEP point)
6

Costs Benefit
-20000
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
Chart Title
Column C Column D Column E
Illustration 1: Cost-Benefit Analysis
 Business Case:
▪ Importance: Energy Mix is a combination of mixed flavours and natural spring
water already sold by the company. Hence, importance of this product is that it
allows the customers to experience better taste and added health benefits through
natural spring water.
▪ Target Market: The target market for this product would be customers from 13-
45, who are inclined towards having better taste and consuming healthy drinks
and with income level more than £1,000.
▪ Objectives: With Energy Mix, the company aims at enhancing its customer share
by at least 2% in the next 3 months. In addition to this, the company also plans to
increase its profitability by 7% by the end of 12 months.
▪ Strategies: In order to achieve the objectives above, Sunshine Drinks Company
would be aggressively marketing its product, along with indulging into
appropriate social campaigns to enhance its appeal.
After the tools used above, the firm is also required to develop methodology which would
be implemented within this stage. In this context, the firm must adopt Agile Methodology, where
the whole initiation process could be broken in stages for better accomplishment through
collaborative efforts of teams. In addition to this, democratic leadership must be adopted by the
company within this step to ensure inclusion of people as well.
Planning:
7

This step requires the project management team to effectively and essentially plan the
whole project forward, which requires estimating resources, budget and activities to be
undertaken in order to commence the development of new product. In this relation the firm is
required to appropriately develop a project plan which is discussed below: Project Plan:
▪ Cost: One of the major determinants of this stage is the cost of the overall project.
The new product would require market research, hiring better technological and
human resources, enhanced marketing and so forth, which would be requiring
cost of £110,000 to £135,000. This could also be reflected by the cost benefit
analysis above.
▪ Communication: The company would have to use different styles of
communication such as assertive, as well as it would be adopting different
channels such as verbal, emails, notices, circulars and conferences.
▪ Scope: The new product development is very wide as the firm will be conducting
the new product development on a larger scale with more and better technologies
and human, as well as technical resources.
▪ Quality: To provide high quality in the process, Automation, along with Artificial
Intelligence will be used by TK Maxx.
Apart from this, the methodology in this step would be Total Quality Management, as
this would help the company in enhancing the quality standards in product development.
Moreover, Autocratic leadership could be chosen by TK Maxx because roles and responsibilities
are required to be allotted within this stage.
Moreover, as for tools, below is the Gantt Chart and Work Breakdown Structure of the
overall development of the product: Gantt Chart:
8

Task
Mode Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors
Auto
Scheduled
Planning of Objectives and
Scheduling of Energy Mix 1 mon Thu 14-11-19 Wed 11-12-19
Auto
Scheduled
Designing of packaging,
flavour, technologies and
resources for energy mix
1 mon Thu 12-12-19 Wed 08-01-20 1
Auto
Scheduled
Procuring Raw materials
like flavours, machinery,
packaging material
0.5 mons Thu 09-01-20 Wed 22-01-20 2
Auto
Scheduled
Execution and Development
of Energy Mix 2 mons Thu 23-01-20 Wed 18-03-20 2,3
Auto
Scheduled Energy Mix's Delivery 0.25 mons Thu 19-03-20 Wed 25-03-20 4
Illustration 2: Gantt Chart
Illustration 3: Critical Path
 Work Breakdown Structure:
9

Illustration 4: Work Breakdown Structure
Execution:
This stage witnesses the actual execution of the whole project, i.e., new product
development. At this stage, the firm is required to maintain and manage workflows,
communicating with members to manage timescales and ensure monitoring. In relation to
methodology, the company is willing to use Lean Principles, which would actually help in
cutting up wastage and save up cost. Furthermore, in terms of leadership, the company would be
using transformational leadership as this would lead the development of Energy Mix towards
achieving the objectives. In relation to tools, it must use Celoxis, which is an appropriate
software for project management that is flexible enough to be used by the whole project team as
a guide (Project Management Software, 2019).
Closure:
This is the last stage of the project life cycle, which comes after the completion of new
product development. Within this step, final deliverables, performing review and documentation
of project closure is completed to measure the effectiveness of the whole process. The leadership
at this stage was strategic leadership so as to appropriately motivate organisation in modifying
the product to ensure effectiveness. Moreover, KPI and Benchmarking has been used to monitor
10

Energy Mix. Moreover, as for tool, the organisation's project closure documentation is presented
below: Project Initiation:
▪ Planned Deliverables: Pathways, time schedules and objectives were planned to
be developed.
▪ Actual Deliverables: An appropriate basis of the project and objectives were
created. Project Planning:
▪ Planned Deliverables: Planning of deliverables, timescale, cost analysis and
budgets were planned at this stage.
▪ Actual Deliverables: Project plan and workflow was established in the step. Project Execution:
▪ Planned Deliverables: The actual creation of Energy Mix, along with marketing
and distribution was to be commenced.
▪ Actual Deliverables: Appropriate execution of product development in alignment
with timescales were accomplished at this stage. Project Closure:
▪ Planned Deliverables: Measuring of product was to be undertaken.
▪ Actual Deliverables: Methods like Key Performance Indicators was utilised to
monitor product effectiveness.
Effectiveness of the PLC
It is important that the organisation evaluate the effectiveness of PLC to analyse as to
how the overall process could be improvised. To achieve this, Waterfall Model has been used in
alignment with the project life cycle stages (SDLC- Waterfall Model, 2019). This aspect is
clearly discussed as follows:
 Requirement:
In this stage, the requirement of the project is judged. This reflects the initiation stage of
the development of Energy Mix. The firm used agile methodology along with democratic
leadership. While the latter is effective in involving individuals in decision making, the former
could induce rigidity in processes, which could be ineffective for future modifications (Agile
methodology: advantages and disadvantages of an innovative method, 2019). Thus, the company
11

could have applied principles of Lean in order to remove aspects which does not contribute to
perception of customers.
 Design:
This step is related to designing he whole process, which relates with planning stage of
the PLC. In this stage, the firm utilised Total Quality Management and Autocratic Leadership.
However, in this stage, it is required that the cost is reduced and quality and scope enhances.
Hence, to reduce cost, the firm could have implemented mass customisation, along with real time
inventory to ensure reduction of cost. Moreover, in terms of quality, the company could have
adopted Scientific Management Principles and Transformational leadership to develop a vision
and ensure scientific approach towards the same.
 Development:
This reflects the execution phase, where the firm utilised lean principles and
transformational leadership. Both these aspects were very much effective in executing the
development of Energy Mix. However, adopting Six Sigma Principles could have had an
appropriate and better impact on the development of the product due to its effective principles.
 Testing and Maintenance:
The last stage of this model is related to maintenance and testing of the process. To
accomplish this agenda, the firm used KPI and Benchmarking and strategic leadership to monitor
the performance of Energy Mix. In this regard, the firm chose appropriate and effective methods
and leadership which contributed in terms of appropriately measure effectiveness of the whole
product.
Critical Analysis of Use of Methodologies in Small and Large-scale projects
There are several methodologies which were utilised above with respect to the
commencement of project related to development of Energy Mix. However, the same
methodologies could be used differently in small-scale projects. Such use of methodologies is
critically analysed below:
Six Sigma: Small-scale Projects: This methodology could be implemented within small-scale
projects like branding of the product, where it could be implemented in a small scale, just
confined towards just the branding.
12

 Large-scale Projects: In such project, Six Sigma could be implemented throughout the
execution of the product development, which ensures defining and measuring several
resources, along with the whole process to ensure improvisation.
Total Quality Management: Small-scale Projects: A small-scale project such as labelling the containers could use
TQM towards the material, durability and clarity.
 Large-scale Projects: However, in large-scale project, the same is required to analyse all
the processes, techniques and processes to ensure highest quality possible.
Lean Principles: Small-scale Projects: This could be used in processes such as additional staff or
technologies that could add to cost in a small scale project.
 Large-scale Projects: This is required in the planning and overall execution of a large
scale process to identify value, create a flow and ensure perfection in the project.
CONCLUSION
Thus, it is concluded from the report above, that operations and project management is
one of the most essential processes which must be included by a company in order to ensure
effectiveness in fulfilling the requirements and business objectives. Operations Management
Principles are very much necessary to be critically evaluated and implemented in context of
appropriately ensuring effectiveness towards fulfilling the requirements of the company.
Moreover, continuous improvement plan could very well enhance the scope of improvement
within the organisation. In addition to this, it is highly essential for an organisation to ensure
appropriate implementation of project life cycle, along with its critical evaluation to improve the
overall commencement of the project. Lastly, Small and Large scale projects apply the
methodologies within PLC in a different manner.
13

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Buckley, P., and et. al., 2017. Staying Lean: thriving, not just surviving. Productivity Press.
Heizer, J., Render, B. and Munson, C., 2016. Operations management. Pearson Australia Pty
Limited.
Lock, D., 2017. The essentials of project management. Routledge.
Meredith, J.R., and et. al., 2017. Project management: a managerial approach. John Wiley &
Sons.
Online
Agile methodology: advantages and disadvantages of an innovative method. 2019. [Online]
Available Through: <https://twproject.com/blog/agile-methodology-advantages-
disadvantages-innovative-method/>
Frederick Taylor and Scientific Management. 2019. [Online] Available Through:
<https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_Taylor.htm>
Mass Customisation. 2019. [Online] Available Through: <https://www.cleverism.com/mass-
customization-what-why-how/>
Project Management Software. 2019. [Online] Available Through:
<https://www.capterra.com/project-management-software/>
SDLC- Waterfall Model. 2019. [Online] Available Through:
<https://www.tutorialspoint.com/sdlc/sdlc_waterfall_model.htm>
Supply chain fears for TK Maxx. 2019. [Online] Available Through:
<https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/supply-chain-fears-for-tk-maxx-6s2b9zmp0>
14