Operations and Project Management

Operations and Project
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Conduct a review and critique of the implementation of operations management principles
within an organisational context.............................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................2
P2 Prepare a continuous improvement plan based on the review and critique of operations
management principles within an organisational context......................................................2
M2) Analyse the Effectiveness of Continuous Improvement Plan By Using Theories and
Concepts/Models....................................................................................................................7
D1) Recent Developments in Practise Done by Toyota.........................................................8
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................10
P3 Apply stages of project life cycle to given project by producing necessary documents for
project completion................................................................................................................10
M3 Analyse the rationale for the project methodologies, tools and leadership within the PLC
for the given project..............................................................................................................19
M4 Analysis of methods of Performance measurement ......................................................22
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................22
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................24

INTRODUCTION
Operation management can be consider as an important function of an organisational as it
helps in effective and efficient management of business activities. It plays a vital role in
successful running of a business as well as achieving organisational goals and objectives (Pemsel
and Wiewiora, 2013). Operation management includes a process of planning, organizing,
managing, controlling as well as supervising activities of operation management. Through this a
company can effectively manage its resources as utilize it in efficient manner. It is essential for
manufacturing of raw material into finished good as well as selling it to targeted customers. This
help in developing and producing product which is able to satisfy needs and wants of customers.
For this report chosen company is Toyota Motor Corporation. It is a Japanese multinational
company which is dealing in a automotive industry. Toyota Motor company was established in
August 1937 and founder of this organisation was Kiichiro Toyoda. This is one of the most
largest automotive company and it is manufacturing millions of vehicles over a year (Binder,
2016). Product range of Toyota Motor includes automotive, luxury vehicles, commercial
vehicles and engines. This company is providing its products and services to different parts of
the world and its headquarter is located in Toyota City, Japan. Respective report includes
detailed information about operations as well as operation management. It consist of critiques of
implementing principle of operation management. In this concept of continuous improvement
plan is explained as well as proper continuous improvement plan is developed. This plan
includes various various theories as well as models. In this strategies are developed in order to
achieve continuous improvement in effectiveness and efficiency of respective company. It
consist of product life cycle as well as supporting documentations. Effectiveness of PLC of
respective organisation while using appropriate theories and concepts has been evaluated.
TASK 1
P1 Conduct a review and critique of the implementation of operations management principles
within an organisational context.
(Covered in PPT)
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TASK 2
P2 Prepare a continuous improvement plan based on the review and critique of operations
management principles within an organisational context.
Concept of continuous improvement
Continuous improvement can be define as a process which helps in enhancing activities
and task of organisation. This is a very important concept of organisation as it helps in growth
and development of company as well as achieving desired results. Continuous improvement is
refers to a business process that will leads to maximize efficiency of operations. In order to
achieve continuous improvement in organisation, they should focus on growth as well as
incrementally improvement in process of organisation. This is very helpful in creating as well as
enhancing organisational culture. Continuous improvement process is very helpful in enhancing
productivity as well as profitability. This is also beneficial in improving morale and
accountability of employees. Organisation has to change as well as improve its business process
in order to keep up with he competitions. Continuous improvement will help help in gaining
competitive advantages over other rival companies (Harrison and Lock, 2017).
Continuous improvement plan
Continuous improvement plan includes a set of activities and tasks that is designed to
improve the efficiency of organisation. This process consist of ongoing improvement of the
products as well as services. In this company will plan to enhance its business process in order to
achieve desired goals and objective of organisation. This plan is very important to improve
organisational efficiency, productivity as well as profitability. In this context, there are two
frameworks i.e. PDCA cycle and Kaizen which supports the concept of continuous improvement
plan. This plan is a critical dimension that involves quality frameworks and methods like
Baldrige, Six sigma etc. By implementing this plan, manager in Toyota will be able to improvise
the quality of their services and products so that high customer satisfaction can be attained. This
will allow the concerned company to gain maximised benefits and profits against the rival firms.
In relation with continuous improvement of Toyota, a plan is formulated below:
Basis Current Approach Proposed approach
Quality In order to manage the quality of
their services and products,
To ensure best quality of products
or services, it is essential for the
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concerned company Toyota has
implemented the principle of
organisation. But under this
operation management principle,
company was needed to use
innovative and hybrid machines.
These machines were expensive
and if they were not used then
quality of products offered by
Toyota will be suffer in a
considerable manner (Kundu and
et. al., 2015).
manager in Toyota to organise
each activity of supply chain
management under a systematic
process. To overcome the quality
issues, company can implement
Just-in-time approach. In this
approach, inventory and other raw
material will be ordered at the time
of production due to which only
required and good quality material
as per the situation will be ordered
by the manager.
Cost Manager in Toyota is using
variance principle to increase their
product line without increasing
their production and other costs.
But this principle is not effective in
this situation. This is because
variance principle helps in reducing
only operational costs but not
production or some other costs.
To overcome the increased
expenses due to high production
cost, concerned company can adopt
Automation technology in which
manufacturing and production of
products will take place with the
help of machines. This technique
will require less manual efforts due
to which labour costs will be less.
Also, principle of variance will
helps Toyota in reducing their
operational costs so that overall
costs of company will be reduced
and more profits can be earned.
Delivery In order to perform their
distribution and delivery work in a
proper manner, company has
adopted the principle of change.
In order to resolve this issue and
carry out improvements in their
delivery and distribution logistics,
manager in Toyota can opt for
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Earlier company uses railways and
airways for their distribution
logistics. This method was not
much efficient as railways system
takes high time and transportation
via Airways require high capital.
maritime transport. By using this
way to deliver their products,
distribution cost and time can be
minimised in a considerable
manner.
Continuous Improvement Plan
Objectives Resources Required Timescale for Review Results/ Follow Up
To increase the
production of Cars by
7%.
Employees,
Technology,
Supervision, Raw
Materials,
Around 10 months Improvement in
production noticed.
To minimise defects in
goods produced by
20%
Technology,
Supervision, Raw
Materials,
Around 18 months The improvement is
not much effective.
To make reduction in
per unit cost of
production by 2%
Research and
Development,
Technology, Skilled
Employees,
Supervision,
Around 24 months Improvements has
been made in this
aspect as well but the
requirement of further
improvement is also
present.
Along with this, there are also some other plans that could be used in order to make
improvement in the overall performance of their organisation. As such Six Sigma is also an
important approach with the help of which improvement could be made in the overall processes
of the organisation in order to achieve efficiency in their work. The explanation of which is also
provided as under:
Six Sigma refers to the statistical data based driven approach which is used in order to
make continuous improvements in the defects in the products and services of an organisation.
The following tool has been developed by Motorola and Bill Smith which is based on the quality
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