Operations, Quality and Supply Chain Management

Operations, Quality and
Supply Chain Management
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Critical Evaluation of business operations in different organisations of different industries.
.....................................................................................................................................................3
1.2 Critical analysis of contribution of process and lean techniques and methods in effective
operations....................................................................................................................................5
1.3 Role of customer service in organisations and its impact on operations..............................6
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................7
2.1 Critical evaluation of range of quality models, systems and standards................................7
2.2 Usage of quality models and systems in different companies across different industries....9
2.3 Identification of pros and cons and relevance of using quality models and systems in
modern day business operations................................................................................................10
Task 3.............................................................................................................................................11
3.1 Critical evaluation of supply chain theories and models and usage of supply chain
management in different companies across various industry sectors.......................................11
3.2 Review of impacts of logistics on supply chain management............................................13
3.3 Identification of main requirements of supplier contracts and the risks involved and
mitigating strategies for organisations when securing effective contracts................................14
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................15
References......................................................................................................................................16
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Introduction
Operations and supply chain management is an area that covers and integrate
manufacturing and service industries. It involves areas of operations for manufacturing industries
like material management, operations planning, demand forecasting, etc. and supply chain
operations for service industries like logistics, order fulfilment, distribution, etc. (Bozarth and
Handfield, 2016). In other words, it can be said that it covers all activities that completes the
process of reaching a manufactured product to the final customer. This report has been prepared
to understand the various factors, prospects and impacts of operations and supply chain
management over the quality of products and services of the company. This report undertakes
the evaluation process of how business organisations that operate in different business
environment works. It also discusses various similarities and dissimilarities in their operations
and supply chain management. Companies use various supply chain management theories and
models to improve their processes. Such models and the impact of logistics on supply chain
management are also discussed below. Also discussed below are the role of customer service in
the organisation and how it impacts the operations and profitability of an organisation. There are
various quality models and systems that different companies adopt to enhance their day to day
business operations. Such model as well as their pros and cons are also discussed. Companies
enter into various agreements with their suppliers. Main requirements of such contracts, risks
associated and the strategies to mitigate those risks are also presented below.
Task 1
1.1 Critical Evaluation of business operations in different organisations of different industries.
Business operations include all those activities that an organisation undertakes on a daily
basis with an objective to maximise business profits and increase the value of the enterprise
(Amankwah-Amoah, 2016). It includes all the activities that help the management accommodate
changes that are taking place in dynamic business environment of various industries.
 Retail Industry – All the business organisations in retail industry places the emphasis of
their operations on customer service and satisfaction. It helps them in creating a
competitive advantage over their rival businesses. Therefore, they lay stress over their
inventory management process, logistic chain and supply chain processes the most, in
their daily business operations. For example, Tesco Plc. It aims to have most optimum
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inventory turnover so that they can maintain that stock all the time that is high in demand
by the customers and reduces dead stock. For this, they negotiate friendly credit terms
with their suppliers so that they can orders new stock any time and not needing to store
more. It helps it avoid under-storage and over-storage problem.
 Service Industry – Business operations of the firms operating in this industry are
primarily divided into front end and back end operations. Front end operations include
customer handling part while back end operations include supporting those processes
that handles front end operations. For example, Hotel Holiday Inn. On the front end, its
activities involve streamlining all the services delivery that aims to increase customer
satisfaction such as feedback and complaints management. On back end operations, it
includes activities such as finance and personnel management.
 Manufacturing industry – Business operations of companies in this industry involves
the process that starts from procuring raw material to convert it into finished product and
ends on either selling it directly to consumers or to wholesaler or retailer part of their
supply chain (Lieder and Rashid, 2016). For example, Unilever. Its main focus on daily
operations is to improve efficiency of its procurement and storage of raw material
inventory and effective shipping of its finished products to be be sold further. Company
continuously focuses on eliminating bottleneck that is inhibiting its operational processes
to provide better customer services and improve its chances to increased its profitability.
 Technology industry – Businesses of this industry are heavily dependent on their
human resource and strive to hire right person to do the right job in their operational
process (Morecroft, 2015). For example, Darktrace. This company provides expert
solutions for cybersecurity. It extensively uses AI and depends on it cyber experts to
develop specialised applications like the Darktrace Antigena. Therefore, their smooth
operational process includes training and development of specialists and other staff to
work in co-ordination with each other. Their business operations also include the regular
maintenance of their applications, websites, servers and systems to identify any glitches
and eliminate them quickly.
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