Operations and Project Management Report

This report analyzes the principles of operations management and their application in a real-world scenario. It examines the effectiveness of Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing in improving efficiency and quality within XYZ Company, a home appliance manufacturer. The report also explores the use of the Product Life Cycle (PLC) in launching a new product, a 52-inch television, and evaluates the effectiveness of the Waterfall Model in promoting the product in the market.

Operations and Project
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1. Evaluation of appropriate theories and concepts of operation management....................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
P2. Continuous improvement plan based on the review and critique of operations management
principles within an organisational context............................................................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P3 Each stage of the PLC to a given project, producing necessary supporting documentation
for completing project ...........................................................................................................9
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................13
P4 Effectiveness of PLC in application of project...............................................................13
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Operation management is the planning and execution of operations in the service and
manufacturing world which includes demand forecasting, production planning, inventory
control, quality management and supply chain collaboration. Project management deals with
non-routine activities like initiation, monitoring, controlling and closing of projects. They
together are the experts in analysing designs, controls and improvement of operations, projects,
logistics and supply chain management issues. Organisation undertaken in this report is XYZ
which manufactures, markets and sells home appliances like freeze, gas electric, washing
machine, electric fans, etc. and implementing new product development of television of 52
inches. This report will review and critically evaluate the effectiveness of operation management
principle. It will apply the concept of continuous improvement and product life cycle in an
operational context. The later part of the report will critically review the application of the PLC
used in a given project.
TASK 1
P1. Evaluation of appropriate theories and concepts of operation management.
Operation management program is designed to provide employees with the skills to make
informed decisions and the ability to achieve better level of performance. It is the administration
of business practice to develop the highest level of efficiency within XYZ organisation. It is
concerned with converting materials and labours into goods and services effectively and
efficiently to maximize the profits of the organisation. There are various theories and concepts
which XYZ will adopt are discussed below:
Six sigmas’
It is a disciplined, statistical based, data driven approach and continuous methodology
for eliminating defects in a product, process or service (Artto, Ahola and Vartiainen, 2016). It is
a measuring-based strategy for process improvement which aims at improving process,
eliminating defects and increasing customer satisfaction. The primary motive of this is to
minimise the fluctuation in process which will leads to consistent and desired outcomes from
processes. For this purpose, XYZ organisation adopt the DMAIC model which help in
minimising the problems and increasing the quality. This model is explained below:

 Define (D): In this stage the firm is able to define the problems associated while
introducing products on the basis of product plan and objectives. As developing new
product involves problems like analysing market demand, price, financial availability,
etc. It is the stage company XYZ will define the new products and its designing and
manufacturing and therefore helps the firm in determining required changes in on the
basis of measurement, analysis, verification and designing.
 Measure (M): This focuses on what areas are needed to be improved and to analyse that
those areas are measurable in terms of quality and standards. It will help XYZ, in
measuring the problem quantitatively and qualitatively.
 Analyse (A): After developing measurement, XYZ analyse the process and evaluate
various methods that can influence the development of new product (Fleming and
Koppelman, 2016). For instance, it can use methods like market testing, etc. which will
be advantageous in knowing the responses of the customers.
 Improve (I): At this stage, XYZ will be able to identify the various factors that can affect
the company or process of new product development and they will take various actions
for improvement.
 Control (C): This stage will give an assurance that improvement will sustain. It will help
XYZ organisation in monitoring and controlling the process to avoid defects and
deviations.
With implementing six Sigma at XYZ company, it is easy to understand flow of
activities. It is clear to analyse changes and then take actions with proper planning. This method
is effective because activities of various departments are planned. As there is flow among
different departmental activities so it is easy to perform business operations in effective and
relevant manner.
There are some issues ion this method such as costly approach, communication barrier,
etc. As there is difference inn perception of individuals, so sometimes, there is barrier in
performing operations.
There are some recommendations such as proper planning, use of local and known
language, proper communication technique, etc. which helps to create awareness among people.

Source: The Importance Of Data Collection For The Six Sigma DMAIC Approach. 2018
Lean manufacturing
It is method which puts emphasis on minimising waste within manufacturing system and
maximising productivity. It is based on various principles like Kaizen, continuous improvements,
etc. Thus, it will help XYZ organisation in creating huge improvements in efficiency, cycle time,
productivity, material cost and scrap which leads to lower cost and improved competitiveness
(Gilbert and et. al., 2015). There are various principles which are regarded as lean principles and
help organisation in accomplishing objectives effectively and efficiently which are discussed
below:
 Define value: Value here refers to what the customer is willing to pay, it is
predominant to discover and analyse the customer actual needs. Many times,
customer does not know what they want. This is common when it comes to
technological products. For this purpose, XYZ can use various techniques like
interviews, surveys, demographic information and web analytic, etc. which will
help the company in knowing the demands and needs of the customer before
entering into television market. It will be helpful not only in analysing their needs
Illustration 1: Data Collection For The Six Sigma DMAIC Approach

but also in determining the prices which they are ready to pay for a product which
will make new product development plan valuable.
 Mapping the value stream: In this principle, the aim is to use the customer's
value as a citation point and determine all the activities that contribute in these
values. Activities which do not contribute in adding are value are considered
waste. The waste is divided in two parts namely necessary non-value added which
must be minimised as much as possible and unnecessary non-value added which
is a pure waste and must be eliminated. This will XYZ organisation in assuring
that customers are getting exactly what they want while at the same time reducing
the cost of production.
 Create flow: After minimising and removing the waste from the value stream,
organisation will ensure that the remaining steps of developing new product runs
smoothly without any interruptions and delays (Glukhov, Ilin and Levina, 2015).
For this purpose, XYZ can use strategies like breaking down steps, training
employees, etc. to assure that management is operating effectively.
 Establish pull: Inventory is considered one of the biggest wastes in any
production unit. The aim of pull based system is to set limits for inventory and
work in progress items to ensure that the requisite materials and information are
available for a smooth flow of work. They are always focussed towards the need
of the customers. This will help XYZ organisation in ensuring that the product
produced by them will satisfy customers.
 Pursue perfection: It is the most important principle because it makes lean
thinking and continuous process improvement a part of the organisation culture.
This will help XYZ company in attempting towards perfection while delivering
products based on customer needs.
With use of lean manufacturing, there is advantage of conducting business operations in
best and effective manner. Under this method, cheap rate source to conduct business operations
of XYZ company. As per change in plans and policies, it is easy to implement, new policies at
workplace. Merit of this technique is to get best tools to perform business activities in best and
relevant manner.

But there are some issues in implementing this model is that it is time and cost
consuming process. There is requirement of approval from managers of XYZ company. In order
to deal with these issues, it is important to provide some decision making authority to workers.
There must be provision of reward and punishment which makes workforce more responsible.
The above discussed principles develop a model for creating an efficient and effective
organisation. It will permit managers to discover ineffectiveness in the organisation and deliver
better value to customers. This helps XYZ in inspiring to create better flow in work process and
develop a continuous improvement culture (Harrison and Lock, 2017). Also, when the
organisation w exercising lean principles helps firm in manging competitive advantage,
maximises the value delivered to the customers, reduces the cost and maximises the profitability.
Source : The Five Principles of Lean. 2018.
TASK 2
P2. Continuous improvement plan based on the review and critique of operations management
principles within an organisational context.
To make a business sustainable in market, it is necessary for an organization to keep
changes. The changes are done from the organization in order to fulfil the demand of customers.
Illustration 2: The Five Principles of Lean. 2018.

The needs and demands of customers are changeable at frequent times therefore it has become
necessary for the companies to adopt the recent trends so that they can sustain their business for
a long time (Kerzner and Kerzner, 2017). In case of XYZ, it has become necessary for them to
adopt the changes as per customer requirement. The company is launching itself in large screen
television market therefore it has become necessary for it to take feedback and adopt changes as
per customer requirement. This will allow them to sustain their business for a long time.
CONTINOUS IMPROVEMENT PLAN
Plan Do Check Act
The XYZ company is
lacking itself in
improving the quality
of product,. For doing
this TQM is used
which help the
company in improving
its quality.
To improve the quality
of product TQM is
used. This approach is
helpful in improving
the internal standards
of product
manufacturing.
Therefore with the
help of TQM the
quality of product
improves.
With the help of TQM
the internal procedures
improves. Therefore in
this stage, the internal
procedure is checked
and evaluated so that
the product can be
improved smoothly.
(Kundu, Jain, Kumar,
and Chandra, 2015).
In order to improve the
quality of product,
TQM will help. With
the help of which the
internal procedures of
manufacturing the
product is checked and
thus product is
manufactured.
Another issue to which
the company should
implement principles
of operation
management is that the
cost of product is a bit
higher. To reduce the
cost the company
should use Lean
manufacturing.
In lean manufacturing
company should
reduce the steps which
are used unnecessarily
in the manufacturing
of product. This will
help the company in
reducing the cost of
product.
When all the strategies
have been applied this
will help the company
in reducing cost. The
procedure of lean
manufacturing should
be checked. It is
evaluated that by
implementing such
strategy the cost of
product is reduced or
The cost of product is
reduced with the help
of lean manufacturing.
This will help the
company in selling its
product in a cheaper
rate from its rivals.

not.
In the above continuous improvement plan, there are two types of deficiencies found in
the working of XYZ company. One is about the lack of quality in the product. This deficiency
can be overcome with the help of TQM (Lam and Lai, 2015). This approach will help the
company in checking all the required steps to follow some standards of manufacturing.
Another issue in the operations of XYZ company is that cost of product is higher. To
reduce the cost of product, Lean manufacturing is used. This approach help the company in
checking all the required steps are necessary or not. This approach reduce the manufacturing
steps and thus cost of product decreases.
Proper planning- There is requirement of proper planning related to using resources. It
is important to change resources in case of costly approach. With proper planning, it is easy to
understand activities.
Good decision making- Decision making is required in Six Sigma because this is the
approach which helps to motivate and guide workers to conduct activities in relevant manner.
Managers of XYZ has to make proper decisions through which can conduct business operations
in effective and significant manner.
Proper communication techniques- Communication is one major aspect because this is
way through which information transfers. There is requirement of latest and up to date
communication which helps to conduct business activities in best and relevant manner.
Effectiveness of continuous improvement plan
In order to implement continuous improvement, plan it is necessary for the company to
adopt some strategies. Following are the strategies to help the company in implementing
continuous improvement plan.
TQM
This is one of the finest strategy to improve the quality of product(Nicholas and Steyn,
2017). In this strategy, the different steps of manufacturing are set for some specific standards so
that all the units of product will be manufactured with standards. This will effectively improve
the quality of product.
Lean Manufacturing

This approach is helpful in reducing the cost of product. With the help of this approach,
the company can check all the steps of manufacturing the product. When all the steps have been
checked than the unnecessary step has been cut and thus cost of product can be reduced
effectively.
TASK 3
P3 Each stage of the PLC to a given project, producing necessary supporting documentation for
completing project
As per the case scenario, XYZ company decide to enter into large Screen Television
market. Company mainly deals in manufacturing, selling and marketing of home appliances.
Company has a very good and effective market reputation and they enjoy an excellent customer
confidence in its product. Apart from this company need to expand their business by launching
new product which is minimum size such as 58 inches of television It is a main project and help
an organisation to sustain long term and strong position at market. There are different stages of
project life cycle which are explained as under:
Phase 1: The Conceptualization Phase: It is a first phase of PLC and in which XYZ
company develop an effective idea which is related with project. At this stage, XYZ company
plan to design features of television and analyze customer needs through market research. By
launching television product at market, company has large scope in order to increase market
share and sales within predetermined time period. In this, company ascertain different issues and
even ways to overcome problem which effect upon entire activity of project. This step includes
different activities which is mainly related with the project such as Undertaking a feasibility
study, identifying scope, identifying deliverables, identifying project stakeholders and
Developing a business case. Apart from this, with the help of Gantt chart, project manager of
XYZ company can easily identify opening and ending time of project. Preparing check list for
activities of launching, list of team mates, time scale, Gantt Chart, etc. documents are required in
this phase.

Phase 2: The Planning Phase: It is second phase of project life cycle and in which
company need to plan an accurate budget to do each activities of project systematically. In order
to launch large screen television at market, XYZ company require accurate amount of budget. In
this stage, work break down structure and business case play vital and effective role by
supporting in collecting of funds from different ways such as bank loan, peers-to-peers funding
etc. Along with this work break down structure also play significant role in breaking larger
project into smaller activities, build a strong team and prepare a schedule for the wind up of
project (Perry and et. al., 2018). In this phase, Gantt chart is also effective because it describes
different activities of completing planning phase such as creating a project plan, creating

workflow documents, estimating budget and developing a financial plan, gathering resources,
anticipating risks and potential quality roadblocks. There are different feature in television requir
by company such as 4K UHD Streaming Video, Media Player, Recommendation Engine,
Streaming Video Services etc. Project scope plan, project work plan, quality assurance plan,
project charter, etc. are required as documents in this phase.

(Source: Work Break-Down Structure, 2018)
Phase 3: The Execution Phase: It is a third phase of project management plan for this
company received approval for their business project. After this, XYZ company develop an
effective plan and build a strong team which help them in completion of business project more
successfully and systematically. In this phase, role of project manager is to keep work on track,
manage timelines, organize team members and make sure the activity is completed according to
the first plan. There are different activities required by project manager to complete this phase
successfully including, creating tasks and organizing workflows, briefing team members on
tasks, communicating with team members, upper management and clients, monitoring quality of
work and managing budget. All these are possible with the help of work breakdown structure,
business case and project plan. In order to managing project life cycle, there are different
number of methodology such as lean, Kanban, Scuum but for this project lean methodology is
more suitable and help an organisation to reduce wastage and achieve better results for future
success. In this phase there is requirement of risk register, check list, change request log,
progress reports, project management plan, work break-down structure, etc.
Phase 4: The Termination Phase: Once project team of XYZ company done work on a
project, they enter the termination phase (Rosemann and vom Brocke, 2015). In this, they give
final deliverables, and determine success of the given project. For this, different stages needed by
the project manager in order to complete project which is related with launching a large screen
television at market. In this, analysing project performance, analysing team performance,
documenting project closure, conducting post and accounting for used and unused budget are

consider major stages. In this stage, there is requirement of check list, log book, etc. are required
to conduct this stage in better and relevant manner.
Therefore, project plan, work break down structure and business case are important
document for project manager to complete all phases of project life cycle systematically and
successfully.
TASK 4
P4 Effectiveness of PLC in application of project
For the company to effectively launch the product in the market they used different
techniques and tools. For this the operational manager performs well so that the company is able
to achieve the objective of launching the product successfully (Schwalbe, 2015). There are
various techniques which enables the managers to launch the product in the market successfully.
These techniques helped the managers of the company to launch the product into market. Also,
there are some models which helps in explaining the effectiveness of PLC promoting the product
in the desired market. These models are discussed as below:
Waterfall Model: This is the best model that can be used in the large projects such as marketing
of televisions. There are different phases in this model which helps in promotion of the
projects. This model is based on step wise basis where first step has to be accomplished
before going to the second step. Hence it is seen that there is no overlap of one step over
other because of this it is known as falling water model. Various stages of water fall model
are described below:
Requirements:
This is the first phase in this model that is used to promote the product in the global
market. This includes understanding the design of product, purpose of product and the suitability
of product in the global market (Takey and de Carvalho, 2015). In case of XYZ company the
managers of the company have decided to collect and consider the design and the functioning of
television so that the product can be successfully developed.
With analysing requirement in current market, it is easy to understand changes which are
taking place in external environment. This is effective to make products and services according
to change in better and effective manner. With analysing requirement, it is easy to make new
product large size TV in market.

Product design:
This is the stage where the output of requirement stage is considered as input of this
stage. The mangers study the requirements carefully and design the product accordingly. They
consider the feedback of customers and market while taking into consideration the design of the
product. Also, the managers of the company studies and prepare the plan for the next stage.
Hence this will make production of the plan accurate and as per the requirements.
With designing product in better and relevant manner, it is easy to make product growing
in market. As there is much competition in electronics sector, so it is important to understand and
then taking actions according to external environment. This makes product introduction stage
from development stage.
Implementation:
This is the stage where the implementation of the design and the product requirements
which are discussed above are considered. All the parts of the products are testes for the quality.
In case of XYZ company all the small circuits of the televisions are produced by the company
itself so that quality can be assured. This is the stage that helps the company to build quality
items which will further help in satisfying the customers.
With implementing new techniques to XYZ then it is easy to retain in market. As
managers of XYZ is launching new large size television, hence it is important to understand new
technologies and implement to new product. This is beneficial because with implementing new
techniques, product does not go in decline stage which gives negative impact on growth of XYZ.
As it is seen that waterfall model is being used for the purpose of making the large
product advertisement in the market so that they can become a fast-seller and can also become a
benchmark in the industry. This model believes that every project needs to be handled in
different way so that the existing method can be tailored in better manner which suits the project
requirements. This model also helps the small projects to become successful. This process
includes the interactive approach which when taken into consideration helps to build incremental
terms of features. The steps included in agile manifesto includes the following:
 Individuals and interactions
 Customer collaboration
 Responding to the challenges

These steps include the production life cycle of the product that is to be produced. Also,
while producing these products company would be able to assure the quality (Todorović and et.
al., 2015). Also, as this process includes the maintenance of product which would help in making
a better and loyal customer. Therefore, implementation of project life cycle is important as it will
be effective to launch the product in the market.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that operation management plays an important role
in the organisation. This is important so that company can take competitive decision to resist in
the market. Different operational principles help the company to check and identify the
principles of operational management so that further steps could be taken to complete the task
and formulate the policies. Continuous improvement plan would help the company to adopt new
trends so that it can gain the competitive advantage. At last the project life cycle also helps the
company to develop the product which includes various steps through which the product goes.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Artto, K., Ahola, T. and Vartiainen, V., 2016. From the front end of projects to the back end of
operations: Managing projects for value creation throughout the system
lifecycle. International Journal of Project Management. 34(2). pp.258-270.
Fleming, Q. W. and Koppelman, J. M., 2016, December. Earned value project management.
Project Management Institute.
Gilbert and et. al., 2015. Case management system and method for collaborative project teaming.
U.S. Patent 9,189,756.
Glukhov, V. V., Ilin, I. V. and Levina, A. I., 2015, August. Project management team structure
for internet providing companies. In Conference on Smart Spaces (pp. 543-553).
Springer, Cham.
Harrison, F. and Lock, D., 2017. Advanced project management: a structured approach.
Routledge.
Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H. R., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Kundu, A., Jain, V., Kumar, S. and Chandra, C., 2015. A journey from normative to behavioral
operations in supply chain management: A review using Latent Semantic
Analysis. Expert Systems with Applications. 42(2). pp.796-809.
Lam, J. S. L. and Lai, K. H., 2015. Developing environmental sustainability by ANP-QFD
approach: the case of shipping operations. Journal of Cleaner Production. 105. pp.275-
284.
Nicholas, J. M. and Steyn, H., 2017. Project management for engineering, business and
technology. Routledge.
Perry and et. al., 2018, April. Successful Management of Major Marine Operations for the
Hebron Project. In Offshore Technology Conference. Offshore Technology Conference.
Rosemann, M. and vom Brocke, J., 2015. The six core elements of business process
management. In Handbook on business process management 1 (pp. 105-122). Springer,
Berlin, Heidelberg.
Schwalbe, K., 2015. Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.
Takey, S. M. and de Carvalho, M. M., 2015. Competency mapping in project management: An
action research study in an engineering company. International Journal of Project
Management. 33(4). pp.784-796.
Todorović and et. al., 2015. Project success analysis framework: A knowledge-based approach in
project management. International Journal of Project Management. 33(4). pp.772-783.
Online
Operations and Project Management. 2019. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.beds.ac.uk/research-ref/bmri/centres/bisc/opm>.