Portakabin Operations Management

The report provides a detailed analysis of Portakabin's operations management, including its use of target costing systems, quality management techniques, and product lifecycle management. It also discusses the importance of breaking down large projects into smaller chunks and making adjustments in scope and application. The report concludes that operations and project management are essential for an organization's stability and success.

Operations & Project
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
Overview of the organization.................................................................................................1
An explanation of operation vs operations management.......................................................1
Review and critique of implementation of operations management principles within the
selected organization..............................................................................................................2
Analyse the extent of operations management for meeting the requirements of the entity...2
Discuss continuous improvement as a philosophy and describe the lean principles.............3
Prepare a continuous improvement plan on the basis of review and critique of OP principles..4
Using continuous improvement principles provide two recommendations for improving
operations function.................................................................................................................5
PART 2............................................................................................................................................5
Overview of the case study.....................................................................................................5
Business case..........................................................................................................................5
Project plan.............................................................................................................................6
Work Breakdown Structure....................................................................................................7
Gantt Chart.............................................................................................................................7
Provide theoretical and conceptual arguments to justify the use of project methodologies,
tools and leadership................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Operations in a business firm refers to on-going or continuous implementation and
execution of activities to get desired output. On the other hand, project can be defined as
temporary endeavours which do not involve production of new thing (Heizer, Render and
Munson, 2017). However, both of these need management which itself comprises of different
steps such as planning, organising, staffing and controlling. In this report, Sainsbury has been
chosen which has its headquarters in London, United Kingdom. Furthermore, this assignment
covers part 1 in which overview of selected entity, difference between operation vs operations
management, implementation of OP principles, discussion of continuous improvement plan
followed by recommendations. Part 2 includes, case study for showing the project life cycle
(PLC) in which importance of new product, its target market and cost benefit analysis.
Furthermore, stages of PLC by linking it to the case study, Gantt Chart and Work Breakdown
Structure have also been included.
PART 1
Overview of the organization
Sainsbury is a supermarket chain located in United Kingdom and considered as second
largest in the country. It was incorporated by in 1869 by John James Sainsbury. It started with
grocery business before shifting to retailing. It is listed in London Stock Exchange and is a part
of FTSE 100 index. It has began selling products online by looking at the opportunity to expand
and reach many more potential customer. It is an outcome of technological transformation which
has taken place in business environment. It has competitors such as TESCO and ASDA which
have huge market share and customer base. Sainsbury is a large company in size which is
required to have effective management of operations and project to remain competitive and
retain the current position in the marketplace (Official profile of Sainsbury, 2019).
An explanation of operation vs operations management
Operation and operations management are two concepts which hold different value for a
business entity and should be understood by the management in order to make plans and
implement them. The difference between the two has been explained below:
Operations: It is the goals and objectives of the company for which it carries operations.
Generally, the aim of entities is to produce goods and/or services which require conversion of
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raw material into final output. Therefore, operations is about utilising the resources or input to
transform them into a whole new product or service by moving through different processes. It
should incorporate needs and requirements of the customers to whom the company is targetting.
In nutshell, operations comprise all the activities required to create and deliver an organisation's
goods or services to its customers or clients.
Operations management: It refers to design, management and improvement of the
existing systems and processes which are being used to manufacture goods and/or services of the
organization. It is important for the company to focus on this aspect as the success and failure
greatly depends upon it. Therefore, financial and human resources are required to be used in the
activities related to manufacturing of goods (Reid and Sanders, 2015).
Review and critique of implementation of operations management principles within the selected
organization
Operations management is function comprises of planning, organizing and supervising
the tasks to achieve higher profitability and improvement. It is an activity of strategic
management therefore, it has certain principles which have been explained below:
Reality: According to this principle, the issues in the organization should be assessed.
The focus should not only be limited to just one aspect. Sainsbury identifies all the problems
affecting its business in order to find the cause of them. However, it does not have adequate
techniques and ways through which these can be resolved.
Organization: Entity should form link between all the activities involved in there.
Furthermore, there should be forecasting about the future so as to get stability in business.
Sainsbury conduct extensive research to gather data in order to make decisions. However, it fails
to form a consistency among all the elements (Slack and Brandon-Jones, 2018).
Accountability: It focuses on formulation and implementation of policies and rules for the
employees so that they can follow them while completing their work. It helps to make the right
person accountable for any defaults. HR manager of Sainsbury make sure that each individual is
assigned tasks and responsibilities on the basis of their skills, competencies and talent. But
sometimes conflicts may arise between the employees due to this principle.
Analyse the extent of operations management for meeting the requirements of the entity
Sainsbury is a retailing company which is operating at a wide level in order to fulfil the
goals and objectives set by it. In such a scenario, operations management becomes imperative for
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meeting the requirements of the company for which it has been incorporated. The main motives
or goals of Sainsbury are as follows:
 To increase sales and profitability by meeting the targets.
 To raise standard of living of people by making contribution for social welfare.
 To provide higher satisfaction to customers by selling quality products.
The operations management of this company is looked and supervised by people who are
eligible and capable for this. For this purpose, it makes policies, make adjustments in strategies,
plans and tactics so that positive outcomes can be created. In the context of this, Sainsbury
consider all the departments of company and analyse their interconnection in order to have better
understanding of the same. Furthermore, individual guidelines are given to each unit for carrying
their work efficiently and effectively. It has resolved majorly of its problems for fulfilling the
objectives (Wiig, 2012).
However, there are some areas or problems which have not been resolved. The issues are
related with employees who fail to carry their work with full efficiency. This causes huge
problem in attaining the tasks assigned to them. Apart from this, problems are there related to
logistics due to which the delivery of products are often delayed.
Discuss continuous improvement as a philosophy and describe the lean principles
Continuous improvement is a practice under which processes are examined to make
improvements for increasing their efficiency. It is a constant exercise by which a business
identifies issues affecting the working in order to solve them. It is beneficial in bringing positive
change in the form of increased productivity, accountability and many more. There are stages
which are carried in this for attaining the goals (Singh and Singh, 2015).
There are principles of continuous improvement which should be considered by
Sainsbury. The same are as follows: Focus on the customer: It is about determining the particular needs of customers for
understanding them better. This can help Sainsbury in categorising into different types
for providing higher satisfaction. Use worker's ideas: Every company faces challenges related to management, leadership
teams and many more. Employees can provide their ideas to be included in decisions for
resolving the issues. Since, working people are familiar with activities, their views can be
valuable to the decision.
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 Leadership support: Leaders are crucial for the success of the company as they provide
directions and guidance to each team member by following which they complete their
tasks. Also, strategies can be prepared to apply in the organization.
 Incremental change: It refers to changes in small quantity or subsets for helping the
company to carry them in order to have big changes. It is useful in making adjustments
with limited costs also, the risks are reduced with this.
Prepare a continuous improvement plan on the basis of review and critique of OP principles
Action step Responsible
person
Deadline Necessary
resources
Potential
challenges
Result
Identification
of problems in
the all the
departments
Managers of
each unit
Within 15
days from the
time of
occurrence
Manpower
who are
eligible for
carrying the
investigation
The data for
this purpose
may provide
the realistic
view
The outcome
can help it in
providing
number of
benefits
Conduct of
research for
making
decisions
Manager It has to be
completed
within 2
months
Reports,
financial
statements and
budget for
carrying out
the research
There may be
some data
which may not
be authentic
enough to be
used.
It is likely to
have positive
benefit on
better
organization of
activities
Assignment of
tasks and
responsibilitie
s
HR manager The deadline
for this is
about 2 weeks
Performance
appraisal
report
providing the
details about
the efficiency
of each
personnel.
It may require
changes in
policies, plans
and structure
which may not
be accepted by
all the
employees.
It is going to
increase the
productivity
resulting in
higher growth
and
profitability
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Using continuous improvement principles provide two recommendations for improving
operations function
The principles that are used by Sainsbury are reality, organization and accountability to
ensure that all the activities are completed within the allotted time. Even with the use these, there
may be some unresolved issues which may create problem for the company. Therefore,
recommendations for the same are as follows:
1. It should focus on finding the issues expeditiously by using the resources efficiently. For
this purpose, it can have a team formed for carrying out research to assess the problems.
Furthermore, techniques and other ways should be developed by the company itself in
order to have effective solution without incurring huge costs.
2. It should appoint eligible employees who possess skills and have required qualifications.
Together with this, problem solving and analytical competencies should also be there so
as to understand the changes taking place and adapt them. For this, it can have good
leadership by having leaders who can supervise the functions and tasks.
PART 2
Overview of the case study
Portakabin is UK's market which deals in modular building innovator and have been in
this business for about 50 years now. It has its presence in 6 countries and number of employees
are approx 1300. Furthermore, it is a business to business organization and operates in secondary
as well as tertiary sector. It manufactures and hires variety of modular buildings. It believes in
bringing more unique and out of the box innovation in the organization for making it successful.
Currently, it has launched a product named Yorkon Building System loaded with all the
latest technology. For this, it has conducted research followed by planning and development of
plans.
Business case
The new product introduced by it in the market is Yorkon Building System which
comprises of number of features. It has been launched by looking at the needs of customers with
the changing business environment. It is important as it allows to make thousand of permutations
automatically with the production of walls, roofs and floors. It is beneficial in providing the
exact details of the plan which can take place in the future. In other words, architecture of the
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buildings have became easier with this technology. It has been designed to provide traditional
building which is steel-framed but with increased flexibility, aesthetic and speed of build.
Mainly, it has worked on fasting up the whole process.
The target market for this project is those customers who are looking for futuristic
designs which can meet the needs of the buyers. The buyers in this category involves those
individuals who want technology forward buildings.
Cost-benefit analysis is a tool which involves comparison of costs incurred in the project
against the benefits that are likely occur in the coming years. A company can have more than one
alternatives among which one has to choose which provides the higher net benefit. In this case, it
is expected that Portakabin is likely to multiple the benefit of the costs incurred in this project.
The cost estimated for this project is likely to be above than what was in the last projects.
The reason for this is that it is innovative and comprises of latest technologies. Hence, to design
this project huge expenditure has been done resulting in higher prices.
Project plan
Product life cycle is the progression of an item through various stages of time on the
market. It comprises of four stages viz. Introduction, growth, maturity and decline. It is
important for developing new products which may have number of benefits (Stark, 2015). The
stages have been elaborated below:
Product initiation: This is the beginning of the whole cycle in which a product is
launched in the market by following variety of activities such as advertisement, product
promotion and many more. In this, the role of marketing department comes into the picture in
which it makes plans and strategies for reaching the large number of customers. Furthermore,
distribution channels are decided which can be used for delivering the goods in the store. This
stage is related with creating awareness about the product and there is involvement of profits.
With regard to this case, it has decided the market that is going to be targetted for launching of
Portakabin. For this purpose, it has invested substantially into promotional activities for
providing information about this new development to large number of individuals. Portakabin is
in introduction stage for which it has proposed to use direct mailing to existing customers.
Product planning: This stage is related to with selling the product in the market to
potential customers. Here, the sales is the main focus as company wish to earn profit from this
time. The activities are done in such a way in which other entities are attracted towards to the
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company manufacturing the goods. Furthermore, it emphasizes in increasing market share by
maintaining stability. It is important for long-term survival in the competition.
Project executuion: When the products reach this stage, it has gained recognition in the
market and people have become aware about its presence in the stores. Therefore, the task in this
is to retain the market shares that have built. It requires efforts for sustaining in the competition
as there are different entities operating in the same field. There are different marketing strategies
which can be opted by Portakabin group for marking an impression in the minds of buyers. In
this stage, it becomes imperative to choose the appropriate marketing strategy with the aim of
investing in that. Furthermore, it can be challenging for Portakabin Group to sustain in at this
stage as the business environment keeps changing with the time and these should be analysed so
as to make adjustments (Joslin and Müller, 2016).
Project closure: There comes a point where the market for the product starts to lose or
decline for any of the reasons such as change in customers' demand, switching the seller and
many more. It is not under the control of the company therefore, there should be changes in
strategies for surviving in the market. During this time, reduction in the profit can be seen which
is not at all good for the business as this may bring the situation of winding up. In the context of
Portakabin Group, if it continuous face declining in the market of Portakabin leading to loss,
then it should investing further in this product.
Work Breakdown Structure
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is important for breaking the complex and large
project into small subsets so that project team can manage it well. In other words, the wider
scope is made shorter for having better supervision over the whole work. It helps in identifying
risks involved so that they can be removed (Garetti, Rosa and Terzi, 2012).
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Gantt Chart
Gantt Chart is a way through which activities of a project are shown against the time
allotted for them. It is helpful in showing the information visually. This tools was developed by
Henry L. Gantt in the year 1917. It assist in completing the tasks in the project within time
(Gantt, 2015).
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Provide theoretical and conceptual arguments to justify the use of project methodologies, tools
and leadership
Project methodologies: It can be defined as practices, techniques and rules which should
be followed while completing the project. These are important for controlling the tasks by using
resources efficiently. With the use of these, Portakabin Group can deliver the project on time
(Devi and Reddy, 2012). Portakabin can use agile methodologies by which it can divide YBS
into small iteration in order to conduct test during the life-cycle of the project. By this,
Portakabin can reduce the errors leading to saving of costs by reducing the wastage.
Project tools: There are different kinds of tool which are used in project for the planning
purpose. The significance of these tools is to make appropriate plans to be followed for
completing the project. It involves planning, collaboration, documentation and evaluation. It can
use task management which enables effective management of the whole project by
accomplishing the tasks. It is useful in managing the more than one project at a time.
Project leadership: It is basically the project manager who appoint number of individuals
to provide them direction for performing the tasks assigned to each one of them. It is important
for completing the project without any delay. By using this, Portakabin can get clear directions
for completing the project without crossing the deadlines.
(a). The PLC of Portakabin Group can make the product successful with the strategies it has
planned to follow. It is important for project manager to design appropriate plans and steps for
completing the project.
(b). Designing a proper PLC is important for Portakabin as its allows to determine the
requirements for making the project successful. It provides directions and plans by following
which tasks and activities can be completed within time. Hence, the PLC of Portakabin is useful
in execution of the project. The waterfall model used in this helps in checking each stage of the
PLC so that the results of one stage can be used in the following stage. Portakabin has to
complete each phase in order to start the next one as overlapping is not allowed. This can be time
consuming but the accuracy level is huge.
(c). The cost saving techniques can be applied for estimating the cost that is likely to incurred.
With this, Portakabin can use target costing system which allows the company to make
estimation of price points, costs of the products and margins which are to be achieved with the
new product.
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(d). There are different techniques which can be used in order to ensure quality, scope and tenure
which can be opted for variety of products. Some of these are cause and effect diagram which
allows to form reason for each activity. Apart from this, flowcharts can provide steps which
should be followed for maintaining these three elements.
(e). Theories, concepts and models can be used in small as well as large projects by making
adjustment in the scope and application. Portakabin can manage time, costs, and quality in both
of them. Large projects should be broken into small chunks. On the other hand, small project
need not to change.
(f). The PLC that has been prepared comprises of every stages and elements for making it
effective. It has described how the project is likely to be start by following strategies. It has taken
into every possible details so as to avoid any gaps. In this way, right cost and time have been
determined.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been concluded that operations and project management are
two different things but important for an organization. The manager decides the steps which are
followed for achieving the goals and objectives of the company. Furthermore, continuous
improvement plan provides stability in the business operations. Plan should be made for making
changes in systems, processes and methods for utilising the resources optimally.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals:
Heizer, J., Render, B. and Munson, C., 2017. Operations management. Pearson Education
Limited.
Reid, R.D. and Sanders, N.R., 2015. Operations Management, Binder Ready Version: An
Integrated Approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Slack, N. and Brandon-Jones, A., 2018. Operations and process management: principles and
practice for strategic impact. Pearson UK.
Wiig, K., 2012. People-focused knowledge management. Routledge.
Singh, J. and Singh, H., 2015. Continuous improvement philosophy–literature review and
directions. Benchmarking: An International Journal. 22(1). pp.75-119.
Stark, J., 2015. Product lifecycle management. In Product lifecycle management (Volume 1) (pp.
1-29). Springer, Cham.
Garetti, M., Rosa, P. and Terzi, S., 2012. Life cycle simulation for the design of product–service
systems. Computers in Industry. 63(4). pp.361-369.
Devi, T.R. and Reddy, V.S., 2012. Work breakdown structure of the project. Int J Eng Res Appl.
2(2). pp.683-686.
Gantt, H., 2015. Gantt chart.
Joslin, R. and Müller, R., 2016. The impact of project methodologies on project success in
different project environments. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business.
9(2). pp.364-388.
Online:
Official profile of Sainsbury. 2019. [Online]. Available through
:<https://www.about.sainsburys.co.uk/>.
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