Operation Management Principles Review and Critique for Aston Martin

This report conducts a comprehensive review and critique of Aston Martin's operation management practices. It begins with an introduction to operation management principles and their application within the automotive industry, specifically focusing on Aston Martin. The report examines the implementation of key principles such as reality, organization, humility, success, accountability, causality, change, customer collaboration, competitor analysis, and quality control. A detailed critique of Aston Martin's current operational strategies is provided, identifying strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, the report proposes a continuous improvement plan based on the review, incorporating lean management principles such as identifying value, mapping the value stream, creating flow, establishing pull, and continuous improvement. The plan outlines specific strategies for enhancing efficiency, reducing waste, and optimizing production processes within Aston Martin, ultimately aiming to improve customer satisfaction and achieve strategic goals. The report concludes with a summary of findings and recommendations for future development.

Review and Critique of
Operation Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Part 1................................................................................................................................................4
P1 Conduct a review and Critique of the implementation of operation management principles
within Aston Martin...............................................................................................................4
P2 Prepare a continuous improvement plan based on the review and critique of operation
management principles within Aston Martin.........................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Operation generally means managing internal activities of business so that functioning of
company can run efficiently as possible. The organisation must improve its operation activities
by thinking strategically about processes and systems. Company need to look out the design and
management while making and selling products. Operation management is one of the
departments in business having main aim of increasing efficiency in Organisation. The operation
management includes planning, organising and looking out the process of activities to balance
cost and revenues, so that they can achieve high operating profit (de Sousa Jabbour and et. al.,
2019). Role of Operation manager is to ensure that company successfully convert its input into
output in an effective and efficient manner. The function which is performed by operation
manager are managing supply chain, designing product, controlling quality, delivery
management and forecasting. For performing the functions, a manager must have coordination,
organisational and people skills. Operation manager is responsible for making strategy and
oversee day to day production whether in manufacturing or services.
The responsibility of operation management is to create goods and services by managing
resources such as machines, people, materials, making products and services, technology that
customers wants. The chain must be well managed by operation manager so that company could
remain competitive (Brinch, 2018). The foundation of Operation management includes Planning,
process, cost control, continuous improvement, efficiency, quality, profitability and technology.
The operation manager must think to compete in ever changing market by focusing on increasing
efficiency, profit and productivity which is needed for survival of any business. The report
consist review and critique of the implementation of Operation management principles in
Organisation and also a plan is made on the basis of Continuous improvement.
The chosen Firm for this report is Aston Martin which deals with luxurious sports car. It is a
British Company which was founded in 1913 by two friends Robert Bamford and Lionel Martin.
They are planning to build electric vehicles on their both the factories St Athan and Gaydon by
2025. Recently, company has cut the jobs due to poor sales due to COVID 19 pandemic. The
founders have paired together to make cars for singer, they decided to produce their cars own
cars and they bought a place at Henniker Mews in Kensington. The Organisation has produced
its first vehicle in 1915. Aston Martin is targeting women for increasing its sale by providing
them luxury lifestyle brand. They are designing the cars according to the taste of women, for this

company have established female advisory panel. The Company has also partnered with
Submarine building organisation to create a submarine called project marine, the name of the
firm was Triton Submarines. They have also collaborated with Hackett London, a luxury
clothing brand to serve items of clothing.
Part 1
P1 Conduct a review and Critique of the implementation of operation management principles
within Aston Martin
Operation management is a process to plan, organise and supervise the business activities
for achieving the goals and objectives of Company. When organisation implements operation
management activities they have to make some adjustments to reach its strategic goals. The goals
can be met by understanding the principles of operation management (Slack and Brandon-Jones,
2018). These principles are reality, Organisation, Humility, Success, Accountability, Causality,
Change, Collaborating with customers, Knowing the competition and Quality Control. By
applying these principles, Aston Martin can achieve its strategic goals. The strategic goal of
Aston Martin is to make process lean and efficient by cutting the cost base without reducing
quality through which they can become world class operator. The principles of Operation
management outline below-
Reality is one of the principles of Operation management through which Aston Martin
have to focus on the problem and issues instead of tools and technique as there is no tool which
provides universal solution. The trends and tools work in a broad sense but they do not provide
universal solution as Operation management is considered as business specific. Nowadays,
Company is facing a problem of financial issue due to Coronavirus pandemic so, for overcoming
this problem they have to make a strategy and plans. The Company is focusing on new
leadership to deliver their plans.
Organisation is also a principle of Operation management which helps in determining
that, as human biological system work together to keep a person alive same as processes is also
interconnected with operation. These elements must be predictable and consistent so that
company may achieve profit and goal (Bastas and Liyanage, 2019). In Aston Martin, there are
various departments which work collectively to make the Organisation successful and lead in

Market. If different management don’t work together, it becomes difficult to achieve the target
efficiently and effectively.
Humility generally means ability to reduce the errors so that company can save its time
and cost. As trial and error process are expensive so, it is the responsibility of operation manager
to understand limitation and cut the cost. If manager get successful in reducing errors they will
save money and time and also helps in running production activity for long run. They must work
keeping in mind that they are also an average citizen, if they are making mistake, manager must
know how when to ask for help. Aston Martin must reduce the trail and errors to accomplish its
goals and objectives.
Success is another principle of Operation management; the principle focuses on customer
satisfaction. For every business, customers are there first priority, they aim to fulfil needs and
requirements of people by providing them satisfactory services and products through which
company can achieve its strategic goals. It is necessary to satisfy customers, as they are the one
who can make the Organisation successful and also pull down easily. By using this principle of
Aston Martin, the operation manager must focus on providing services according to the taste and
preference of customers. The Company is also providing personalised services to people by
which their sales and profit gets increased.
Accountability is also considered as one of the principle of Operation management, by
applying this principle, operation manger have to establish following rules and regulation and
define responsibilities to each employee (Srai and Lorentz, 2019). After defining roles and
responsibility, they have to ensure that whether subordinates are working according to the set
goals and regularly check if goals are met. Through this way, operation manager can make
employees to put their best effort in achieving strategic goals of Company. Aston Martin also
monitors their workers performance and efforts so that they can know whether they are focusing
on meeting goals and objectives.
Causality means causes and effect, by applying this principle of operation management in
Aston Martin, the manager need to focus on root of issues rather than ignoring the problem and
solving the effects. There are many problems which is faced by Aston Martin while
manufacturing and producing products, so it is important to find out the root of trouble as it is
caused by something which is neglected by Company and if the problem is neglected for a long
period of time, it will continue to occur and reduces the performance of business.

Change is the other principle of Operation management, through which company is
adapting market change by understanding target clients, customers and their needs and
requirements. Change is also considered good as it helps in increasing growth and productivity
by enhancing customer base (Barnes, 2018). The Change is inevitable due to innovative
technology as it helps in getting better result. Aston Martin must focus on bringing change in its
products and design so that they can increase its customer base. The Organisation must be open
to change and also communicate change and explain the reason behind it.
Collaborating with customers is another principle of operation management which Aston
Martin must apply to increase its customer base. It is important to understand the buying pattern
and tastes of customers then only company can produce products according to the people and
satisfy their needs and demand. By understanding the nature of consumer, organisation can know
what better they can do with product and produce goods accordingly.
Knowing the competition is other important principle of operation management which
must be implemented as it is necessary to analyse its competitors (Slack, 2018). Aston Martin
must keep an attention on each action of its competitors so that they can also put their efforts in
increasing its performance and gain competitive advantage in Market.
Quality Control is the last principle of Operation management, by applying this principle,
Aston Martin can control its quality while manufacturing and producing Cars. Nowadays,
customers prefers products with high quality even they are ready to pay premium amount (Crane
and Noon, 2019). Without quality control, the company may lose its customers as they get
dissatisfied with the product. For increasing the quality, organisation must use best materials,
suppliers, partners and process.
Critique of the implementation of operation management principles within Aston Martin
Operation management principles helps in increasing the quality of product as they focus
on process of producing goods and determine that everything is running in order. The operation
manager ensures the need of product and informs employees about the objective of product
(Honda and et. al., 2018). The principles of operation management also help in increasing
customer satisfaction. The manager conducts quality management process through which
company can fulfil the needs and demands of customers by making the Car according to their
taste and preference.

The principles of operation management also have disadvantage, for applying these
principle there must be a proper coordination between the different components of Firm. The
Company also faces a problem of Human error while manufacturing operation which is tending
to be mistake-prone (Koval and et. al., 2018).
P2 Prepare a continuous improvement plan based on the review and critique of operation
management principles within Aston Martin.
Continuous Improvement as philosophy
Continuous improvement is a tool to identify the opportunities for reducing waste and
streamline work. Continuous improvement means making an ongoing improvement in products
and services through making changes (Sanchez-Ruiz, Blanco and Diaz, 2019). Through
continuous improvement technique, company improves its process by focusing on increasing its
activities. The tools and techniques of Continuous improvement are PDCA cycle, Gemba Walks,
5 why’s, Toyota Kata Coaching from Managers, 3 M’s, and continuous improvement software.
Lean Principles
Lean management is a tool through which organisation can manage and organise work
with a motive to increase its performance, profitability and quality of product. There are five
principles of lean they are Identify Value, Map the Value Stream, Create Flow, Establish Flow
and Continuous improvement. It is important to identify the value of customers by defining their
needs for a product (Nicholas, 2018). When value is determined, the process must be involved by
taking the product from raw material and offering the product to final destination of customers.
The next step is flow; it helps in conducting production process without any interruption,
bottlenecks and delays. The pull principle allows Just in time delivery where the products are
produced when it is needed with required quantity. The last principle is continuous improvement;
it helps in making improvement in process by focusing on increasing the activities which helps
in generating value for customers.
Continuous Improvement Plan
Plan
In planning stage, Aston martin has identified its objectives and problems. In this step
Organisation analyse the current situation, identify the solution and select the best solution which
gives best outcomes. As, Aston Martin create a plan to introduce Electric Cars in 2025. They
identified the benefits and disadvantages before creating a plan for producing electric car. Even

the organisation has made a list of challenges which they are going to face in future while
manufacturing the Cars.
Do
In this stage, for overcoming the challenges Company think many ideas to reduce the
impacts which will occur while producing the Electric Cars. Aston Martin identifies various
solutions for implementing the plan.
Check
In check stage, Aston Martin collects the data and compared results against the planned
objectives. There objective is to produce Electric Cars so before launching the product in Market,
they will check the results of Cars and also discuss if any further changes is required in Product
(Ershadi, Najafi and Soleimani, 2019). In this step company identifies the problems, causes and
summarise the key learning’s.
Action
Action is a last stage of Continuous improvement plan, where company apply solution and
will launch the product in Market. It includes acting on the feedback of customers and employees
and learn lesson by implementing the potential solution.
CONCLUSION
From the above information it is being concluded that, operation management helps in
improving efficiency of the organisation. The main motive of operation manager is to increase
the operation activities in order to achieve goals and objectives of Company. There are many
principles of Operation management which helps in increasing product quality and enhance the
customer base by providing them products according to their taste and preference. These
principles help in making business successful in Market and increase its growth and profitability.
But they have its own advantage and disadvantage which organisation must analyse before
implementing the principle.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Barnes, D., 2018. Operations Management. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Bastas, A. and Liyanage, K., 2019. Integrated quality and supply chain management business
diagnostics for organizational sustainability improvement. Sustainable Production and
Consumption. 17. pp.11-30.
Brinch, M., 2018. Understanding the value of big data in supply chain management and its
business processes. International Journal of Operations & Production Management.
Crane, J. and Noon, C., 2019. The definitive guide to emergency department operational
improvement: employing lean principles with current ED best practices to create the “no
wait” department. CRC Press.
de Sousa Jabbour, A. B. L and et. al., 2019. Circular economy business models and operations
management. Journal of cleaner production. 235. pp.1525-1539.
Ershadi, M. J., Najafi, N. and Soleimani, P., 2019. Measuring the impact of soft and hard total
quality management factors on customer behavior based on the role of innovation and
continuous improvement. The TQM Journal.
Honda, A. C and et. al., 2018. How lean six sigma principles improve hospital
performance. Quality Management Journal. 25(2). pp.70-82.
Koval, O and et. al., 2018. Can continuous improvement lead to satisfied customers? Evidence
from the services industry. The TQM Journal.
Nicholas, J., 2018. Lean production for competitive advantage: a comprehensive guide to lean
methodologies and management practices. Crc press.
Sanchez-Ruiz, L., Blanco, B. and Diaz, E., 2019. Difficulty in implementing continuous
improvement–Rasch measurement analysis. Business Process Management Journal.
Slack, N. and Brandon-Jones, A., 2018. Operations and process management: principles and
practice for strategic impact. Pearson UK.
Slack, N., 2018. Essentials of operations management. Pearson UK.
Srai, J. S. and Lorentz, H., 2019. Developing design principles for the digitalisation of
purchasing and supply management. Journal of Purchasing and Supply
Management. 25(1). pp.78-98.