Business Operations and SCM Strategies Report: Aston Martin

This report provides a detailed analysis of Aston Martin's operations management, focusing on the inputs, transformation processes, and output elements. It examines the operational challenges faced by the company and reviews its operations strategy, including both current and long-term solutions. The report delves into three SCM strategies designed to enhance profitability and success, alongside quality management approaches. Furthermore, it explores how an AI-driven platform, leveraging big data, can improve overall business operations. The report also includes a project plan for a business scenario, offering a comprehensive overview of Aston Martin's operational landscape and strategic recommendations. The report highlights Aston Martin's history, market position, and key performance indicators, while also discussing the external factors affecting the company such as competition and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

OPERATIONS
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1A.........................................................................................................................................3
Inputs, transformation process and output elements of the operations must be presented with a
brief overview of the operations challenges................................................................................3
Review of the operations strategy of the organization, exploring the current and long-term
solution to address the challenges................................................................................................5
3 SCM strategies which are likely to contribute to a successful and or more profitable
enterprise......................................................................................................................................7
Quality management approaches towards an enterprise..............................................................7
AI (big data driven) platform can further enhance the overall business operations....................9
TASK 1B.........................................................................................................................................9
Covered in PPT............................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Operation management is known as the management of corporate programs to enhance the
greater degree of productivity that is necessary inside an organisation. This is perceived to be as
productive as possible in converting labour and also resources into finished goods or services,
which would help improve the effectiveness of the enterprise. This is important for the agency to
seamlessly handle the regulating activities. With their support, a corporation is able to make
good use of its capital, like resources, raw materials and equipment (Ahmadi and Rezaei, 2020).
The current study addresses the four styles of quality activities relevant to the priorities of higher
management inside the organization's quality assurance, employee engagement in quality
assurance, customer services and supplier relationship management. All four standard of quality
control, and also the role of these activities in consistent growth within the enterprise, are also
discussed. It is important for the efficient process productive improvement of overall
productivity. In basic context, processes are known to include the planning, coordination,
supervision, monitoring and direction of the manufacturing and building processes. This article is
based on the Aston Martin, which is a popular sports car brand of UK from 1913.
In this report, transformation process and output elements of the operations, OM strategy of
the organization, exploring the current and long-term solution, 3 SCM strategies, quality
management approaches and an AI (big data driven) platform can further enhance the overall
business operations is discussed. In addition, Project Plan for a Business Scenario is also
prepared in the context of selected company.
TASK 1A
Inputs, transformation process and output elements of the operations must be presented with a
brief overview of the operations challenges.
Aston Martin is an international British premium performance car and touring car maker. It
was established by Lionel Martin or Robert Bamford in 1913. Guided by David Brown since
1947, it had become synonymous with the fictitious character of luxury grand sports car racing
throughout the 1950s as well as 1960s. Their luxury cars are considered a popular British
cultural brand. Since 1982, Aston Martin also kept a Royal Charter as a provider of racing cars to
just the King of Wales and has more than 160 service stations in 53 nations, rendering it a
multinational car company. Created in 1904, the Lagonda brand is being resurrected as the first

premium car website in the market solely powered by 0 emission engine and transmission
technology. In August 2017, a 1956 Aston Martin DBR1/1 selling for US$22,550,000 at a
Sotheby's sale at the East Lake, Florida Concoursd'Elegance, and according to Sotheby's.,
rendered it one of the most valuable British automobile every offered at a sale. Carroll Shelby as
well as Stirling Moss has formerly powered the engine. Aston Martin revealed on 26/05/2020
which Andy Palmer has stepping served as Chairman. Effective on August 1, Mercedes-Tobias
AMG's Zero steady state error will function as his successor, with Keith Stanton picking up the
slack as temporary chief executive officer. In June 2020, as a consequence of the COVID-19
disease outbreak lockdown, a company revealed it was cutting 500 employments of low profits.
Profit warning as car sales drop: After a disappointing year where revenue dropped as well as
its stock price plummeted, Aston Martin once again cautioned about earnings but will reduce
spending $100 m in equity as it considers options to collect more finance. Reported profits for
2019 would be £ 130m to £ 140m, a portion smaller than investors' projected £ 200m, although
margins would be 12.5 percent to 13.5 percent, compared with 20 percent forecasts that have
already been cut.Not all luxurious numberplate, though has endured. A 25% sales growth in
2019 at 5,152 was announced by Rolls-Royce Automobiles, led by its Carat sports car. Over
three-quarters including the SUV's sales are with new buyers (Rendon and Snider, 2019). The
pattern implied that Aston spends on more distributor incentives, which varies depending on
model, including higher funding expenses because more clients took advantage of the lease
instead of renting it directly. In the fourth period, also it led to a lower estimated price
throughout Aston's market.
Low production volume: Its traditionally poor output figures are one obstacle Aston must meet.
The company sold less than 6,500 cars globally that year, so much less than even Lamborghini,
much less BMW or Mercedes-Benz. Certain uniqueness is and has been aspect of the company's
brand recognition, but revenues have been steadily declining. Car manufacturers should sell
tonnes of cars to keep alive for this day and era, where trucks as well as SUVs rule supreme.
Even Ferrari's outer has revealed intentions of making the SUV. Aston Martin, however, was
already compelled to sell deep distributor discounts for the new Viewpoint, a $150,000 coupe,
and hop demand. For overall corporate wellbeing, the popularity of that car is important, because
it was supposed to be the best seller as both the lesser, lesser Aston Martin. And even though this

year, respective company will announce its strongest Q1 results for Northern America, that IPO
culminated in a £ 68 million ($ 89 million) pretax losses during 2018.
Review of the operations strategy of the organization, exploring the current and long-term
solution to address the challenges.
Companies are claimed to be externally neutral, which means that the functioning of operations
is deemed incapable of affecting competitive success. Management, then, tries only to minimise
the detrimental effect on the business that activities might have. Manager of Aston Martin might
claim that a responsive mode is preserved by operations. The organisation typically brings on
outside consultants as strategic challenges affecting operations occur (Owda and et.al ., 2019).
Continual Development of New Product/Service Offerings:
Trend: In order to stay competitive, the absolute best thing Aston martin must do is to produce
new goods and services. Manager of company must assume that it relates to IT, inventory
management and processes just as well as it are doing to sponsorship deals. Thus
company marketing their goods to big-box stores through a main network, like wholesale, realise
that it is incredibly hard to meet the distributor compliance requirements.
Strategic Direction: Manger must understand that there could be order patterns and criteria for
other networks and clients that are clearly distinct from their main interface. Without versatility
in operational processes, they can't just market goods across various platforms. Their external
systems and processes can fundamentally alter these core systems.
Optimize the Supply Chain
Trend: Commodity procurement has depended heavily on industrial manufacturing systems over
the last 20+ years. Instead of treating processes as just inventory management, aim at enhancing
the manufacturing process outbound as well as inbound to achieve benefits, cost savings, etc. in
different process of Aston martin.
Strategic Director General:
Inbound
Drive value-added facilities up the chain of command (e.g. ticketing, shipping, etc. and safety
check. It should lower costs and eliminate redesign and gaps in meeting consumers with goods.
Maintaining and implementing procedures for vendor enforcement in the Aston martin.
Maintaining supplier portal for the sharing of funds transfer records, orders, invoices, etc.Gain
exposure via EDI or ASN on purchase orders.

Outgoing
 The outbound production levels have surpassed the average of most other costs
throughout the last 10 years (including management, labour, occupancy and packing).
This would entail regular debt restructuring with operators and tactical adjustments
between how inventory should be placed directly to customers (Nobe, 2019).
 Address whether multi DC techniques will cut moment and shipment costs; zone
avoiding; last-mile distribution solutions and possibly third-party fulfilment to bring
deliveries to consumers quicker.
Increased Labour Cost, Decreased Availability:
Trend: Labour, minus outbound delivery and employment compensation, accounts for 50 to 70
% of the expense of a completed order. Skilled labour was accessible in most regions during the
crisis. Although the population has changed, the efficiency and supply of labour has declined in
many regions. In our native place of Richmond VA, for instance, the unemployment in Aston
martin 3.75 per cent as well as for the nation just 4 per cent. Also on the increasing are pay
prices. The national minimum salary is likely to be $15 an hour. With the 15 percent to 25
percent good places, it was already reaching that in other businesses and territories.
Strategic orientation:
 Create reports by individual and division in order to improve productivity. Increase staff
reviews so that they can grasp the expectations.
 To decrease turnover as well as expenses of recruiting new hires, establish career path
preparation for staff in Aston martin.
 To maximise production, consider incorporating a reward scheme in respective
automobile company.
Managing Inventory
Trend: Among most industries, stock has traditionally been the main balance sheet resource. In
order to serve multimedia clientsin Aston martin, shipment from several factories and retailers
requires substantial changes in inventory volumes while minimising pre-orders and surplus
stocks (Kerzner, 2019).
Strategic direction: To make profits for omni - channel storesin Aston martin, they should be
able to successfully meet e-commerce and shop orders much as direct companies do. This

ensures that labour, customer-facing stock networks and cost-effective outgoing shipments are
used more efficiently by senior and purchase manager of respective company.
Bridging the Manager Talent Gap
Trend: Over the last fifteen years or more, we have constantly noticed a small amount of
seasoned multimedia executives for logistics, inventory, IT, etc. as they assist consumers in
hiring new managementin Aston martin.
Strategic direction: In Aston martin, manager creates and sustains the new managers and also
check out how each person wants to become successful and identify offline and network tools for
education. In areas such as inventory, billing, efficiency, and workforce management, build
internal corporation subjects (Ho and Chuah, 2019).
3 SCM strategies which are likely to contribute to a successful and or more profitable enterprise
Supply Chain Strategy or Strategic Supply Chain Management is defined as: “A strategy for how
the supply chain will function in its environment to meet the goals of the organization’s business
and organization strategies” These are very important in every company. To pursue a business,
strategies are needed that can take the right decision. It is present in every company which
determines how it will present its image in the market and how to compete in the competition.
This strategy should be such that every person comes into the union and he should also be
flexible. Which does its work properly to further the business and to bring stability in values.
There are 3 types of strategies being used here which are very important for a company. If we
talk about strategies in the automobile sector, business strategies should first be talked about.
Business strategies: Generally speaking, business strategies are considered very important when
it comes to strategies. Which is required externally to carry on the business. If talk about
business, then competition is given a very prominent place because the main decisions of
business are taken only by looking at the market situation. It is mainly made keeping in mind the
low cost and good and decision models are made with low cost. This model is designed to get a
good item by giving a low price to the customer (Al-Abrrow, Alnoor and Abbas, 2019) .
Predictive business: Design, make, and maintain the product of one: In the face of growing
complexity and rapid change, how do Austin martin keep pace? One way is to see what’s coming
before it happens: Addressing issues before they become major concerns, Fixing machines

before they break down, Adjusting shipments to avoid traffic or weather problems, Realigning
manufacturing to adjust to sentiment analysis.
Thanks to the emerging technologies available in the digital economy, all of this is possible. The
leading-edge practice for a predictive business is to build and manage networks of digital twins.
A digital twin uses IoT sensor data to maintain a direct connection between a physical product or
asset and its designed, manufactured, and deployed digital representation.
Managerial focus. It is important to explain the linkage and alignment between austin martin
organization's competitive positioning and its supply chain processes. The connection between
these two areas is governed by the decision-making process and is driven by the supply chain's
managerial focus. This focus is the most important factor in ensuring coherence between supply
chain execution and a business's unique value proposal. Yet it also can be an area where
organizations are more likely to fail. Such failures mainly result from a standard managerial
approach that emphasizes efficiency-oriented performance indicators regardless of the
competitive positioning defined by the organization. This approach encourages companies to
focus on seeking local efficiencies that may conflict with their value proposal to customers, thus
creating misalignment between the supply chain and business strategy.
Supply chain work has been going on for a long time by automotive suppliers at their maximum
efforts. The Austin Martin Company discovered after a special study that the supply chain
strategies are still not fully interconnected. For this, the company took important steps which are
as follows. Strategies will be such that they will be kept as passwords, this means they will be
told only what is worth it. There will be new changes in strategies that can prevent them from
breaking down quickly and do not be mistaken in haste. So it is very important for the company
that can bring Austin Martin to better heights (Antony and Gupta, 2019).
Quality management approaches towards an enterprise.
If manager assess the Complete Quality Management (TQM) approaches, they have to
decide which strategies fit the business and specific management style better. This hypothesis
concluded that prices can inevitably decrease dramatically by focusing on delivering a premium
commodity. Deming, on the other best feelings that while firms concentrated all their attention
on cost savings and then productivity was discarded. Absolute Quality Control has many
methods, as well as several executives prefer these three best ones which are discussed in the
context of Aston martin.

Cost of Quality:CoQ seems to be the contrast between the real cost of manufacturing, selling and
maintaining items and/or services as well as the corresponding cost of delivering, distributing
and maintaining commodity throughout the absence of defects during development or use n
Aston martin. The performance cost could be categorized into following ways:
Conformance expense-the cost of meeting given quality standards
Prevention costs are costs paid during or after manufacturing to discourage the manufacturing
of substandard or faulty goods or services.
Cost of assessment: extra costs to make sure that the products produced conform with the
quality requirements needed (Chapman, 2019).
Non-conformance costs - the expense of fails to achieve the necessary quality level
Internal fault losses: costs resulting from poor quality that are recognised prior to the transition
of possession from seller to buyer
External loss cost: costs resulting from insufficient consistency found after the transition of
control from seller to customer (Goodman, 2019).
Total Quality Management:TQM is an interconnected and systematic planning and management
mechanism for all corporate operations in order to deliver goods or services that match or
surpass consumer requirements. TQM is a corporate action theory implemented by the manager
of Aston martin promoting values such as staff engagement, performance growth at all stages
and consumer emphasis. This is also a series of similar strategies aimed at optimising service,
such as full operation reporting, consistent main objective and customer-specific success
metrics.The purpose of TQM, initially developed in the 1950s, would be to get everything' right
for the first time,' a strategy that raises the expense of mitigation, such as device construction, but
helps to avoid internally and externally risks of malfunction. There is a focus on engagement in
the supply chain, and a devotion to continual growth by continual process reappraisal in Aston
martin.
Six Sigma:As a technique for achieving very relatively low concentrations dependent on TQM.
The 'sigma' corresponds to denote confidence interval, so 'six sigma' indicates that there are more
than six percentage points again from average of the error margin. Thus in order to reach six
sigmas, a company must manufacture no upwards of 3.4 defects every million goods.In practise,
organisations use strategies such as systematic process management to track and map operations,

define lowest and highest limit deviations, and strive to decrease the quantity of faults in the
different production operation of Aston martin.
In the context of other company, In order to allow regions greater power and decision regarding
safety as well as other health and safety issues, Toyota's initiatives involve new regional
reliability officers. It has formed a new General Select Committee with groups to review cases of
sudden acceleration rapidly (Fewingsand Henjewele, 2019). It improved its design potential by
moving one hundred technicians to concentrate on design optimization as well as other quality
issues.Toyota expanded product life - cycle by 4 days to provide more steps to settle
security/quality issues and strengthened reporting mechanisms to further collect input from
diverse outlets on performance concerns, namely site mentions, consumer calls and public
records. In order to detect problems and disclose defects ('black boxes'), it plans to provide more
cars with the software but has enabled third parties to evaluate the technology.
AI (big data driven) platform can further enhance the overall business operations. Importance of
AI tools in Austin martin company: AI tool which is very important for the automobile sector.
He makes a lot of changes in the tools sector to develop a new communication which is very
important for the Austin Martin Company. A tool is based on a completely created model that
performs its role by doing special tasks at its level. It requires a special type of study to condense
because it is made using computer language. In the beginning, these tools do not easily come into
the union because it meets its limit by joining many languages of the computer. According to
this, there is a lot of need to keep updated in the automobile sector because there are major
changes from time to time. This tool helps in developing new thinking about vehicles as it also
helps in being smart with the sector. It pays attention to all kinds of external elements of a
vehicle so that it gets a better protection wherever the vehicle goes. The Austin Martin Company
has long accounted for a record that is very important in a company. In addition, it also exposes
the development of new technologies such as designing and a variety of online remote activities.
In the company, he also emphasizes on simulation technology and appreciates it. It also provides
a type of safe driving experience and has the following procedures related to it.
Driver assist: At Austin Martin Company, these tools help the driver a lot so that he can avoid
unsafe and dangerous situations while walking on the road. And avoid sudden accidents.

Autonomous vehicles: The company has made a special plan for vehicles, it has been said that
self-driving cars and trucks will be very easy to walk. To implement this system, technicians are
using more time than their overtime to increase the tendency to drive a car without a driver.
Maintaining Supply chain system: The tools in the company also do their work by developing
the supply chain very well, but sometimes this chain is broken due to may have to face great
loss.
Manufacturing: In the company, they also promote manufacturing, such as how to get a
computerized robot to work quickly. And the robot should be made to do such work which is
taking too long for the human to do and the cost is also high. Due to computerized robots, the
technical problems involved in repairing vehicles can be easily detected and corrected by robots
soon.
(Ferraris, Erhardt and Bresciani, 2019).
TASK 1B
Covered in PPT
TASK 2
Overview of project: This part of report is based on a project which is related to implementation
of AI software to enhance the Aston Martin’s proposals to help improve operations. Under this
task various aspect of project management is mentioned in such manner:
Project objectives: The intended outcomes of a project, which also involves a tangible thing, are
defined by a project goal (Radujković and Sjekavica, 2017). A goal is precise and measurable,
and must follow the constraints of time, expense, and consistency. A project may have one goal,
several concurrent goals, or many goals that must be completed sequentially. The aims of the
project are goals, pure and basic. What are the corporate priorities clients want the project to
fulfil? Inside managing projects, it is of the highest significance that the priorities of a project are
explicitly defined, since they will influence any decision in the duration of the project.
Project milestones must be observable and include main performance metrics that can be used to
measure the overall progress of a project. Requirements including such budget, efficiency, and

period to delivery will also contain these metrics. Below some key objectives of above project is
mentioned in such manner:
 Implementation of an effective artificial intelligence system.
 Enhancing operations and activities of Aston Martin by of artificial intelligence system.
 Improving customer experience by enhancing services through use of artificial
intelligence system.
Organizations objectives: Each business or organization has certain objectives which need to be
fulfilling in an effective manner (Demirkesen and Ozorhon, 2017). Organizational targets are
short-term and medium-term priorities an entity aims to attain. The priorities of an organisation
will play a significant role in establishing corporate strategies and deciding organisational
resource distribution. Objectives refer to unique ends that are measurable. They are familiar
priorities to which all operational operations are geared. These are the final product of the actions
of the organisation. Objectives are the particular objectives or criteria by which it is possible to
assess real performance. "It is a long term goal or end lead that a wants to accomplish." If goals
are not framed, preparation is pointless. Objectives serve as a developing, i.e., planning is aimed
at strategic targets. In the context of above mentioned company, Aston Martin this can be
assessed that they have certain objectives which are as follows:
 Gaining higher amount of revenues by serving customers in an effective manner.
 Improving quality of services and operations by implementing artificial intelligence
system.
 Beating competitors and becoming leading company in their sector.
Project scope: Project scope is the shared definition of what goes into some kind of project by
participants and what factors determine its performance. The scope of the project consists of the
features or requirements specified in the demands (Ika and Landoni, 2020). Plan scope is the
aspect of project preparation that requires a list of particular project priorities, milestones,
activities, expenses and timelines to be defined and reported. The description of the scope of a
project, named an address issues or selection criteria, defines the project's parameters, identifies
roles for each part of the squad and defines protocols for confirming and authorising the finished
work. Below scope of above mentioned project is outlined in such manner: