Operations Management in Greggs Plc.

This document discusses the operational management in Greggs Plc., a bakery chain in the UK. It explores the alignment of organizational practices with industry standards and highlights the role of operations manager. The document also includes a process chart showing how customers are processed through operations.

Running head: OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................1
Scene of the study:.......................................................................................................................1
Purpose of the research:...............................................................................................................2
Outline:........................................................................................................................................2
Operations Management in the Organisation highlighting the key issues as well (Part A-i):.........2
Alignment of organisational practices with industry standards:..................................................2
Role of Operations manager at Greggs Plc..................................................................................4
Process Management in the Organisation including the Process Chart (Part A – ii):.....................5
Process chart showing how customers are processed through operations:..................................5
Description of the process chart:.....................................................................................................5

Management of Greggs
Plc approves requirements
and approves funds to
acquire inventory
Customers visit the bakery chain
outlets and ordering online
Selling staff interacts with
customers directly on their
requirements and expectations
Customers give
feedback on
Facebook, Istsagram
etc
Marketing department collates
customer information
Marketing department communicates customer
information to inventory department
Does the inventory dept. have the
inventory to manufacture goods as per
customer requirements?N
Y
N
Production of goods as per
customer expectations
Inventory presents
requirements before
management
Accounts dept releases
funds
Inventory orders placed
Inventory received
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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
.........................................................................................................................................................7
Analysis of the process:...............................................................................................................8
Process analysis and improvement:.............................................................................................8
Customer service strategies:......................................................................................................10
Inventory management:.............................................................................................................11
Scheduling operations:...............................................................................................................12
Purchase and supplier management:..............................................................................................14
Lean management within Greggs:.................................................................................................15
Lean management model:..........................................................................................................15
Example 1..............................................................................................................................16
Example 2..............................................................................................................................17
Application of lean management in Greggs Plc.:......................................................................17
Lean management in product manufacturing:.......................................................................18
Lean management in customer services management:..........................................................18
Example 3..............................................................................................................................18
Capacity management within Greggs:...........................................................................................19
Example 5:.............................................................................................................................19
Conclusion and recommendations:................................................................................................20
Training of staff:....................................................................................................................20
Acquisition and merger:........................................................................................................20

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
References:....................................................................................................................................21

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Introduction:
Scene of the study:
Corporate organisations emphasise on marketing products as per the needs, demands and
expectations of the customers. Operations management in these organisations plays a very
crucial in ensuring this alignment of business operations to customers; needs. The operations
management takes place in these organisations at three levels namely, strategic, tactical and
operational. The entire process today is very much dependent on the capacity of the operations
managers to integrate operations of departments like marketing, finance, human resource and
procurement or supply chain management. The operations mangers plays key roles in the
business organisations in integrating these different operational areas to ultimately streamline the
operations of the entire organisations to meet the needs of the customers. Customer needs are
dynamic in nature and keep on changing. Thus, it is not feasible to totally align the operations of
any organisation with customer needs. However, large gap between the two variables namely
customer needs and organisational operations can have detrimental impacts on the business
generations of companies concerned. The senior management bodies in multinational companies
often employ operations management consultants who evaluate the actual operations of the
companies concerned against the industry standards. This evaluation reveals the degrees to
which the organisations concerned are actually aligned according to the needs of the customers.
Given the fact that industry standards constitute operational standards followed by all the leading
companies operating in a particular industry, failure of a company meet the industry standards
actually indicates to one or more issues which are likely to attract business risks. The research
would be based against current operations management of a company against the industry
standards of the particular to which the company belongs. The industry considered would be

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
bakery industry and the company chosen to represent the industry in the research is none other
than Greggs Plc, based in Newcastle upon Tyne
Purpose of the research:
The purpose of the research is to explore the operational management in multinational
companies to ultimately satisfy the customers with their products. The research in order to
achieve its purpose has a very well structured layout or outline.
Outline:
The research would begin by evaluating the actual operational functions and the role of
operational managers with the chosen organisation namely, Greggs, the largest bakery chain in
the United Kingdom. The evaluation would take place in the light of the standards of operations
management prevalent in the industry chosen namely, bakery. The evaluation would bring out
the issue which would whose solution the research would seek to find. The second part of the
discussion would study the process management which customers are integrated to the entire
process of operations management using a process chart. The third part would go on to
investigate and assess the application of lean management in Greggs Plc. Then the next part
would go on to explore the application of business forecasting taking once again Greggs Plc as
the base of the study. The discussion would ultimately close by concluding the findings and
recommending strategies to the board of directors of Greggs to deal with the issue uncovered in
the first part.

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Operations Management in the Organisation highlighting the key issues as well (Part A-i):
Alignment of organisational practices with industry standards:
A critical evaluation of the existing operational functions within Greggs performs highly
and contributes towards marketing products which create value for the customers. The product
line of the company is provides evidence to this fact. An analysis of the product line of the
British bakery chain shows that it offers a wide variety of products which adds value to the
customers. The product line of Greggs Plc consists of breakfast, sandwiches, pasta, salads and
soups, drinks and snacks, sweet treats, bakes, platters and balanced choice (Greggs.co.uk. 2019).
An analysis of the product line shows that it has been designed to create value for customers by
offering them with healthy food items free from pesticides, chemicals and preservatives. For
example, the breakfast product offering of the bakery chain consists of food items like almond
croissant, porridge and fruit platters, all of which are not only tasty but also nutritious. These
food offerings are aligned to the lifestyle of the people of the United Kingdom. The consumers
can consume these food items within short time and at the same time can get a portion of their
daily nutritional requirements (Chavez et al. 2016). Similarly, the ‘Drinks and Snacks’ product
offering of the bakery chain contains items like tropical fruit juice, orange juice and yoghurt
containing strawberry and granola. An analysis of the products available for drinks shows that
they in line with the customer centric product line of the bakery have several attributes which
aim to create value for the customers. First of all, the products line fruit juice are tasty which
would life the mood of the consumers, thus bringing down the stress. Secondly, the products
contain sugar and minerals, thus enabling the consumers to meet a part of their daily nutritional
requirements. Thirdly, the minerals in these products boost the immune system of the consumers,
thus enabling the consumers to reduce the negative impacts of lifestyle issues like stress which

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
damage their health. Fourthly, it can be pointed out that the company uses pricing strategies to
maximise the value creation to customers (Rahimi and Kozak 2017). The bakery company uses
economic pricing strategy which enable the large number of customers avail its products. Fifthly,
it can be pointed that unlike the local bakery, Greggs Plc. is present both in the form of brick and
mortar format and ecommerce format. The customers can visit the outlets to purchase the
products of company. They can also order the product online on the official website of the
company. Thus, it is evident that the operations of Greggs Plc. are designed to create value for
customers. This analysis shows that the current practices of Greggs Plc. is aligned with the
standards practices of the bakery industry to bring about value creation for customers. Food
Standards Agency, Government of the United Kingdom lays down standard practices which
should be followed in the firms involved in the bakery companies. The body mentions that
bakery companies should comply with the food hygiene measures and food standard measures
mandated by the body. The standards mention that the food companies should ensure that the
suppliers supply food raw materials in appropriate conditions. The suppliers must store the raw
materials in appropriate environmental conditions like like freezing them to prevent spoilage of
the raw materials. Food Standards Agency further mentions that the food industry like bakeries
should maintain proper details about the suppliers. The companies selling food should provide
information to customers regarding food allergens which some consumers might encounter
(Food.gov.uk. 2019). As far as Greggs Plc. is concerned, it can be pointed out that the bakery
business incorporates these government directives in its food processing operations. Thus, it can
evaluated that the operations of firm are aligned with the standard practices established in the
bakery industry by Food Standards Agency.

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Role of Operations manager at Greggs Plc.
It can be pointed out on the basis of the above discussion that the operations manager
plays a very significant role in ensuring alignment of the operational standards at Greggs Plc.
with the industry standards. The page called ‘Board Responsibilities’ shows that the company is
headed by a board of directors which meets to take important decisions in significant operational
areas like risk management, financing, customer management and human resources. The page
also mentions that the directors measure the achieved levels of operations against the key
indicators of performance which are in turn set on the basis of standard operational standards by
the apex management of Greggs. This analysis of the control of apex managers on the operations
of the company in significant areas like risk management and customer satisfaction ratifies the
role of operations managers at apex levels to ensure smooth operations in the company.
The second evidence to prove the important role which operation managers play in
ensuring alignment of the performance of Greggs Plc. with the industry standards is provided by
the statement showing financial performance of the company. The statement shows that the
company earned a turnover of ₤835.7 m in 2015 against ₤804 m and ₤762.4 m in the years 2014
and 2013. Pulles et al.(2016) opine in this respect that business organisations are able to earn
continuous profits on ensuring customer satisfaction at steady rates. Malininas et al. (2017)
strengthen the opinion by pointing out the perpetual customer satisfaction is achieved only when
companies operate in ways aligned with the customers’ requirements. Wang et al. (2016) point
out that operations managers ensure that organisations operate in alignment to the needs of the
customers. Thus, it can be established on the basis on the analysis that the operations managers at
Greggs Plc plays significant role in ensuring alignment of the operations of the company with the
industry standards.

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Process Management in the Organisation including the Process Chart (Part A – ii):
Process chart showing how customers are processed through operations:
Description of the process chart:
The process chart shown below shows how Greggs Plc. process customer orders or
requirements through operations. As shown in the diagram below, the process of integrating
customers in the operations of the bakery company initiates with the customers offering
feedbacks about their experiences of purchasing bakery products from Greggs. The customers
here can purchase the products of the bakery at the outlets and order products online. The
customers communicate their experiences directly to the sales staff or on the social media
handles like Facebook and Instagram. The marketing department’s staff members collate the
customers’ feedback regarding consumption of the products of Greggs, their expectations and
issue, if any. The marketing department communicates the expectations of the customers to the
inventory management department or the manufacturing department, if the former is under the
supervision of the latter. If the inventory department already has the inventory which would be
required to manufacture products as per the customer’s requirements, the production of the
finished goods (bakery products) are initiated, If the inventory department does not have the
required inventory, then the inventory places the requirement of funds to procure the inventory
with the apex management. The accounts department releases funds after the apex management
approves the requisition placed by the inventory management department. The inventory upon
being received by the inventory department is channelized into the manufacturing of the bakery
items at Greggs.

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Management of Greggs
Plc approves requirements
and approves funds to
acquire inventory
Customers visit the bakery chain outlets and
ordering online
Selling staff interacts with customers
directly on their requirements and
expectations
Customers give feedback on
Facebook, Istsagram etc
Marketing department collates customer
information
Marketing department communicates customer
information to inventory department
Does the inventory dept. have the
inventory to manufacture goods as per
customer requirements?N
Y
N
Production of goods as per
customer expectations
Inventory presents
requirements before
management
Accounts dept releases
funds
Inventory orders placed
Inventory received

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Figure 1. Process chart showing customer involvement at Greggs Plc
(Source: Author)
Analysis of the process:
The discussion of the process chart clearly shows that Greggs Plc considers customers as
the very crux of management of its operations. Chen and Wang (2016) opine in this respect that
customer value co-creation is the ultimate aim of operations management in companies. Business
organisations involve the customers at the very initial phase of strategy making which is clear
from the process flow diagram shown above. As shown in the flow chart above that company
acquire feedback from customers regarding their expectations about the bakery products of the
company,. Then, the marketing department processes the customer data and communicate the
inventory management department which in turn mobilises resources towards production of
bakery products. If the inventory management department does not have the inventory required
to produce bakery products as per expectations of the customers. The department upon approval
of the management and obtaining of the funds places orders with the suppliers (Zhang et al.
2017). Thus, it can be pointed out from the analysis that Greggs involves customers right at the
initial stage by gaining their feedbacks which the marketing department channelizes towards
production of goods. It can in fact also be pointed out that, the demands of customers also find
importance in the ordering of suppliers of inventory from suppliers. Thus, it can be established
that company involves customers in throughout the length and breadth of the operations
management process.
Process analysis and improvement:
The analysis of the process chart brings into light the fact that Greggs can bring
improvement in its operations management. Rosenbaum, Otalora and Ramírez (2017) opine that

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business organisations should align their processes with the expectations of customers to bring
about improvement in their operations. As shown below Greggs Plc can analyse the operational
processes in place to point out the errors and weaknesses. The weaknesses here can be referred to
as the lack of alignment of the process flow with the customer needs. The marketing department
of the company can communicate with the customers on regular basis on grain real time data
about their changing preferences. The company can then incorporate the feedback of customers
to carry on continuous innovation to introduce new bakery products, improved versions of the
existing products or both. The company can then market these new products in the market to
generate more revenue and ensure customer satisfaction among the existing customers. This
would enable the company to acquire more customers and strengthen its markets position. The
marketing department can then continue using this cycle to bring about continuous improvement
in its operations to expand its market in the United Kingdom.

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Figure 2. Cycle showing product improvement process at Greggs Plc.
(Source: Author)
Customer service strategies:
Greggs Plc. should use customer service strategies to improve its level of customer
service to ensure higher levels of alignment of operations with customer requirements. The
company should form customer strategies which would provide round the clock services to
customers. The British bakery chain should form its strategies to meet the needs of the
customers.
Marketing
departments
commicate with
customers and
gain their
feedback
Marjketing
department
collaborates with
R&D department
to carryu on
innovation
Greggs
intrdouces more
innoavtibe
products
Generates
revenue and
customer
satisfaction
Acquire new
customers
Strengthens
market position

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Figure 3. Customer strategy of Greggs Plc
(Source: Author)
The first customer services strategy which the British bakery chain should offer its
customers is its presence through its official website. The customers can gain full information
about the products of Greggs Plc on its official website. The next customer service strategy
which Greggs Plc. can adopt would be meeting customers at the store outlets of the bakery. The
sales staff deployed at the outlets would attend the customers in person and satisfy their queries.
The sales personnel would also enable the customers to choose appropriate bakery products to
suit their needs. The third customer service strategy which Greggs can adopt would be
continuous customer support on the telephone. The customers, especially the business customers
namely, smaller bakery stores can again full information about the products of the company by
Customer
servivce
staretgy of
Greggs Plc,.
Continuous
customer over
phone
Continuous
customer
servive on
email
Continuous
customer
service at the
outlets
Ecommerce
customer
services
Continuous
customer
support on
social media
Official
website

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
calling up the customer care department. The fourth customer service strategy which the bakery
company would implement would be continuous customer support on email chat service. This
would enable customers, especially business customers. The business customers can gain
information like prices of specific products and invoices on their registered email ids only. The
fifth strategy which can be used to serve customers would consist of continuous communication
with customers on the social media. The customers would be able to communicate the feedback
on the social media. The sixth and the last strategy which the company can use would be
ecommerce services. Greggs Plc. would be able to serve the customers living away from the
outlets by enabling them place orders for products of Greggs on the ecommerce portals. Thus, it
is evident from the analysis that the company would be able to serve customers both within its
premises and on the virtual platforms.
Inventory management:
The process to manage inventory should be same as the process chart (figure 1).
Cannella, Dominguez and Framinan (2017) mention that inventory management in business
organisations should be aligned to the customer requirements. This would lead to making
inventory management less complex and more dynamic. As shown in the first figure, the Greggs
Plc should align its inventory management with the customer requirement. The inventory
management department should gain information from the marketing department regarding the
orders received for a particular period like coming month. The inventory manager should then
take the inventory reading from stock register, bin card or general ledger (Feng and
Shanthikumar 2016). The inventory manager should then recognise the inventory of raw
materials and work-in-progress which have to be acquired. He must place the orders accordingly
to ensure production of sufficient amount of finished items to meet the leads generated. Thus, it

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
can be pointed out that the inventory management of Greggs Plc. should be aligned with the
customer demands.
Scheduling operations:
The operations at Greggs should be scheduled to meet the requirements of the customers
on time. Feng and Shanthikumar (2016) mention that business organisations should schedule
their operations as per the needs of the customers. For example, the marketing department should
first prepare a report regarding the estimated future demands of finished products. In case in
Greggs the finished products would be the bakery products and beverages which the company
sells. The marketing manager of the company can prepare a report on the estimated demand for
the bakery products which would be required to be produced both to meet the customer’s
demands in the store as well as to entertain online orders. The apex management can hold a
meeting in presence of all the operational managers in charge of different departments like
finance, procurement and human resource. The apex management of Greggs can then decide the
funds and inventory required to produce the target amount finished goods. The financing and
procurement functions can be scheduled as per the target amount of products to be produced.
Defraeye and Van Nieuwenhuyse (2016) supports the previous author by mentioning that this
scheduling of important functions around customer requirements enable the firm to prepare more
accurate estimates of the capital like financial capital (red arrow), inventory and human capital
required to produce a the target units of finished products. The finance department allocated
funds for procurement of raw materials. Raw materials are acquired and flow into the
manufacturing process (green). The finished goods are marketed by the marketing department
(black arrow) which generate revenue for the company (red arrow). Thus, it is evident that the
company should schedule its operations around customer requirements. This alignment of

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Marketing dept, presents
estimated amount of
finished products required
Presents report before
management
Finance dept. prepares funds
required to produce the estimated
units of finished goods
Procurement/purchase
dept.
Acquires inventory
Manufacturing of
finished goods
Marketing dept. sell
Finished goods both
at Gregg outlets and
online
Greggs generate
revenue
operations with customer requirements ushers success to operational management in different
department at Greggs Plc.
Figure 4. Scheduling of operations
(Source: Author)
Purchase and supplier management:
The purchase function and supply chain management of business organisations like
Gregg Plc. as shown above (figure 4) should be done in accordance to the requirements of the
customers. Apparently purchase and supplier management does not have any relationship with
customer requirement but the truth is just opposite. Marsden (2018) reports that supply chain
management is responsible for timely production of raw materials which in turn promotes

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
continuous manufacturing of products. Berti and Mulligan (2016) opine that this ready supply of
raw materials ensure that food firms are able to reduce their material costs, thus producing food
products at lower rates.. Jurgilevich et al. (2016) expands the discussion of previous two groups
of authors to point that the food manufacturing firms owing their ability to keep their cost of
production low due to low material costs. This means that the companies are able to market their
products to customers at more affordable prices. Thus, the analysis of the aforementioned articles
bring the matter into light that purchase and supply chain management should be pursued as per
the needs of the customers. As far as Greggs is concerned, the bakery company should take into
account the customer needs as shown the figure above. This would require the British bakery
chain to order appropriate amount of inventory at appropriate time. This means that the company
is able to utilise the amount of inventory acquired into production of goods. Thus, the bakery
chain does not have to hold high amount of excess stock of raw materials. It can in fact be
pointed out that the company being a bakery chain, most of the raw materials it acquires are
perishable by nature. This means that acquisition of raw materials without sufficient exposes the
company to lose immense of its raw materials due to spoilage. This incurs heavy loss for the
firm. Further, it can be mentioned that Greggs by aligning its acquisition of raw material with
customer demands is able to enjoy liquidity as inventory of raw materials is quickly converted
into finished products which sold to recycle the amount invested to acquire inventory of raw
materials. Thus, in short it can be pointed out that aligning supply chain and procurement
management enables Greggs to enjoy high amount of liquidity and profits (Galli et al. 2015).
Lean management within Greggs:
Greggs Plc. adopts lean management model as one of the core operations management
strategies. The application of lean management model at Greggs would be divided into two

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
sections. The first section would explain the lean management model while the second section
would apply the model with Greggs Plc as the example.
Lean management model:
Lean management is a manufacturing model which derived from the manufacturing
process used at Toyota. Kadarova and Demecko (2016) define lean management as the
production strategy which comprises of removing unwanted or unprofitable steps in production
flow. The aim of the model is to reduce the steps used to manufacture goods so as to minimise
the wastes. This is because wastage of materials leads to immense losses. Urban (2015) mention
that generation of wastes especially in large amount means the manufacturing companies are not
able to utilise a large portion of their raw material inventory to turn it into finished goods. This
means that the expenditure incurred to acquire the wasted part of raw materials and WIP goes
into wastes means the amount cannot be recycled back. Dawood and Abdullah, (2017) mentions
that disposal of wasted materials would harm the environment, thus attracting penal charges.
Krishnan et al.(2015) point out that manufacturing companies do not incur wastage of inventory
in the raw materials and WIP but also finished goods. This is because faulty and defective
finished goods cannot be used, they actually add to the losses companies suffer. The use of lean
management enables the operations managers supervise and restructure the manufacturing
process in ways to reduce wastes.
Example 1.
As far as bakeries like Greggs are concerned, these companies are today acquiring state
of art plants which are able to handle mass production by using same amount of fuel usually
electricity compared to their older counterparts. Thus, bakeries are able to manufacture more
amount of finished goods using the same amount of electricity.

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Particulars of
comparison
Modern
machinery(Use of
lean management) Old machinery
Wastag
e
Fuel cost/hr 100 100 0
Units produced/hr 2000 1000 1000
Unit produced:fuel cost 20 10 10
Per unit sales price(₤) 10 10 0
Sales(₤) 20000 10000 10000
Profits(₤) 19900 9900
Figure 5. Table showing use of lean management in production
(Source: Author)
1 2 3 4 5 6
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
Chart Title
Modern machinery(Use of lean management)
Old machinery
Wastage
Figure 6. Table showing use of lean management in production
(Source: Author)
Example 2.
The table above brings into light the benefits of lean management. It has been assumed an
imaginative situation where a bakery company transforms its production process by installation
of modern machinery to embrace lean management. It has been assumed that the both the old

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
and the modern machinery required fuel costing ₤ 100 an hour. However, the modern machine
was capable of producing 2000 units per hour while the old machinery was capable of producing
1500 units/hour. This means that before embracing lean management and installing modern
machinery, the company used incur loss of 500/hr. Similarly, with ratio between the units
produced and the fuel cost was 20 in case of the modern machinery against old machinery. It has
also been assumed that the firm sold its goods in both the cases at sales price of GBP 10 which
meant the sales generated in the first case was GBP 20000 while in the second case, the sales
price was GBP 15000. The difference between the two sales prices could be considered as loss or
wastage of revenue. If it is assumed that the only expenditure borne was the fuel cost of GBP
100 in both the cases, then with application of lean management, the profit would be GBP
19900. The profit earned prior to adoption of lean management was mere GBP 14900. The
analysis of the example shows that lean management is capable of reduction of wastage of raw
materials, WIP and finished goods, thus enabling companies to recycle more revenue.
Application of lean management in Greggs Plc.:
Greggs Plc applies lean management in two areas namely, while manufacturing the food
–products it serves to customers and the customer service management. The following sections
would study the application of lean management in the company to a greater detail:
Lean management in product manufacturing:
Greggs Plc uses lean management in manufacturing products namely, bakery food
products and drinks. An analysis of the product line of the company shows that most of the food
items are made using simple steps. This reduces the time the company would require to
manufacture one unit of product (Greggs.co.uk. 2019). Thus, the company is able to manufacture
multiple units of food products as it uses simple and fast food preparing methods. Secondly, the

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
company uses natural ingredients like vegetables to prepare food products. This means that the
food products do not contain preservative and add value to the health of consumers. Thirdly, the
company sell items perishable beverages like fruit juice in sealed containers which prolongs their
shelf life. This appropriate use of food storage enables the company reduce the loss of finished
food products due to spoilage. Thus, it is evident that the company uses lean management in
product manufacturing (Vlachos 2015).
Lean management in customer services management:
Greggs Plc. uses lean management in customer service management. First of all as per
Colicchia, Creazza and Dallari (2017) mention that the aim of lean management is to ensure
reduction of unproductive steps which do not contribute towards generate of revenue. As far as
Greggs is concerned, it can be pointed out that the British bakery chain serves customers both
within the premises of its outlets and also be accepting orders online. Thus, serving customers
using both the channels enables the bakery chain to serve more numbers of customer at any
given time. This eliminates the chances of wastage of the perishable raw materials like fruits.
Example 3.
The use of lean management at Greggs Plc would be exemplified by using two situations
under which the company is assumed to be function. According to the first case, Greggs has
embraced lean management to serve customers by using both outlets and online channels. The
company according to the second situation has not embraced lean management and functions
only either at outlets or online. Now, if the estimated number of bottles of fruit juice prepared by
the company for a day is 1000 and the number of customers who consumed the drink was 800,
the company can sell the excess 200 bottles through its online platform. The company under the

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
same situation, in the second case (only one channel) would suffer loss of 200 bottles. Thus, it is
evident that Greggs applies lean management in serving customers as well.
Capacity management within Greggs:
Organisations should try to match their respective capacities to the estimations or
forecasts and known patterns. This is evident from the fact that business organisations like
Greggs are often faced with the challenge of making decisions to counteract market challenges.
They in these cases require to consult past records of the firm in question or any other firms.
Example 5:
Greggs Plc is based in Britain and is the larger bakery chains in the country. Now, with
the growing number of Asian residents in the country, the bakery chains have to show
acceptance of the Asian customers by providing appropriate food products. This means that the
product planning team either seek guidance from the past records of the firm. In vase of lack of
availability of data with the company, the operations manager might to be required to seek
advices from companies which have experienced and dealt with such issues successfully.
Conclusion and recommendations:
It can be concluded that Greggs Plc., based in the United Kingdom, adopts and
implements operations management successfully, The company has applied lean management in
both production of goods and providing services to customers. It can also be pointed out that the
company seeks to centre its main functions like supply chain management and finance. The case
study also brings into the light that the company operates in ways to reduce wastes and generate

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
higher revenue. However, the analysis leads to formation of certain recommendations which
would be presented before the management of the company:
Training of staff:
The management of the restaurant should train its staff which enable them to take part in
the operations of the company. This would enable the company strengthen the lead management.
Acquisition and merger:
Greggs Plc should acquire smaller bakery companies. This would boost the revenue
generation of the company.

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