Operations and Project Management: Analysis of Coventry Manufacturing

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of operations and project management principles applied to Coventry Manufacturing Ltd, a British tool manufacturer. It reviews key operations management principles such as reality, humility, organization, accountability, change, quality control, success, competition awareness, causality, and consumer collaboration, emphasizing their importance for enhancing efficiency and effectiveness. The report critiques the implementation of operations management within the company and proposes a continuous improvement plan, outlining specific areas for improvement, techniques to be used, responsible personnel, and timelines. These areas include addressing lack of efficiency, manufacturing defects, quality control issues, performance assessment problems, employee performance improvement, and inappropriate management techniques. The continuous improvement plan aims to identify and solve problems, identify improvement scopes, improve overall performance, and ensure goal attainment, ultimately optimizing operations and enhancing the company's competitive edge. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments and past papers for students.

Operations and Project
Management

INTRODUCTION
Operations and Project Management refers to the use of methods and techniques through
which the organizations can make sure that they can quite appropriately attain the future goals
and objectives in a proper and appropriate manner which will therefore help in maximizing
efficiency and effectiveness level and thus help the organizations a lot (Akkermans and et.al.,
2020). It is appropriate that their use can be made for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness
level in an appropriate way. Organizations should therefore make sure that they can attain the
goals and objectives in such a way so that they are able to appropriately deal with the needs and
requirements in a proper and appropriate manner. For this report, Coventry Manufacturing Ltd
has been selected. It is a British Company which manufactures tools and provides them to the
customers in the market according to their needs and requirements which can be helpful in
ensuring that their satisfaction level can be enhanced. In this project, a specific and detailed
focus will be made on the way in which the use of Operations and Project Management is
required to be made so that the efficiency and effectiveness level is enhanced.
TASK 1
P1: Review and Critique of Operations Management Principles
Operations Management Principle are necessary to be implemented because they will be
helpful for the particular purpose of enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness level (Arasteh,
2020). Therefore, for an organization like Coventry Manufacturing Ltd it is highly necessary to
make sure that the implementation of the following Operations Management Principles can be
done-
Reality- It refers to the display of reality. Thus, In this way it can be stated that the focus
of the Operations Managers should be on ensuring that the needs and requirements are managed.
Thus, In this way the managers should make sure that the reality is displayed in the organization
which will thus help them a lot. In this way, the goals and objectives can be attained.
Humility- Managers should understand and respect limitations by avoiding trial and error
at all costs. This will be useful in bringing out the necessary improvements.
Organization- It refers to the way in which production planning and control is required
to be done so that the efficiency and effectiveness level can be increased which will therefore
1

help a lot in the attainment of goals and objectives in a better way. The organization can be
managed in a better way in this way.
Accountability- It refers to making the people accountable for their actions which they
have taken (Barrado and et.al., 2020). The people should be able to make sure that they take the
appropriate actions which will therefore help a lot in enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness
level. The organization will be able to attain the goals and objectives in this way.
Change- It is quite important and is required to be carried out within an organization for
attaining the goals and objectives in a proper and appropriate way (Baur and Rieck, 2020). For
the organization, it is therefore quite important that it is able to take the necessary course of
action for enhancing the overall level of efficiency and effectiveness in quite a proper and
appropriate manner. This will be helpful for the organization.
Quality Control- It is necessary for the companies that they should have quality controls
in place (Fernandes and et.al., 2020). Therefore, For the organization, it is absolutely necessary
that it is able to enhance the quality of the products and services in quite a proper and appropriate
manner. This will help it in attaining the necessary goals and objectives. In this way, the way in
which the quality can be improved in a right way.
Success- It is quite important for the customers that they must be happy with the end
product/service which they receive (Guo, Grushka-Cockayne and De Reyck, 2020). This is thus
important for the firms.
Know your competition- It is absolutely essential that the identification of the way in
which the assessment of the competition can be done can be found out. In this way, the
management of the appropriate level of needs and requirements is required to be carried out. The
organizations will be able to make sure that by assessing the competition they can take the
necessary actions which will therefore help them a lot in ensuring that they are able to attain the
goals and objectives in a proper and appropriate manner.
Causality- Operational Problems have tell-signs. Thus, the managers should make sure
that they are able to identify these particular problems and eliminate them. Therefore, In this way
an enhancement if the overall level of efficiency and effectiveness can be carried out in quite a
proper and appropriate manner. This will be required so that then necessary improvements can
be made within the organizations as per their different types of needs and requirements so that
the attainment of the goals and objectives can be done.
2

Consumer Collaboration- It refers to the way in which the managers are required to
understand the customers in-depth through the collection of insights from them so that the
improvement can be made in the products/services (Helo and Hao, 2021). The organizations can
make sure that they can provide the products/services to the customers as per their needs and
requirements and thus this will be quite useful for them to be able to take the right actions and
thus ensure that the attainment of the goals and objectives can be done.
Therefore, for the managers of Coventry Manufacturing Ltd it is absolutely necessary to
make sure that they are able to attain the necessary goals and objectives through ensuring that the
implementation of these particular principles can be done in quite a proper and appropriate
manner. This will be highly useful so that the company is able to take the right decisions which
will help it a lot.
M1: Review and Critique of implementation of Operations Management
It is quite necessary and important that the implementation of Operations Management
can be carried out in a proper and appropriate manner which will therefore help a lot in ensuring
that the organization is able to enhance the overall level of efficiency and effectiveness so that
the needs and requirements are managed. For an organization like Coventry Manufacturing Ltd it
is therefore crucial that the use of the methods and techniques is made so that the goals and
objectives are attained. Therefore, it can be stated that this will be highly helpful for the
organization to be able to bring the required level of smoothness in the level of operations.
TASK 2
P2: Continuous Improvement Plan
A Continuous Improvement Plan is required to be framed so that the way in which the
improvements are required to be made can be identified which will help in the attainment of
goals and objectives (Hill and et.al., 2020). Therefore, In this way the way in which it has to be
used has to be identified so that the organizations are able to make sure that they can
appropriately take the right actions for the purpose of optimizing the level of operations in a
better manner.
3

Continuous Improvement Plan
Areas of
improvement
Technique to be used Person responsible
for taking of actions
Time-period required
Lack of efficiency and
effectiveness in
Production
Training has to be
provided to the
employees so that their
skill enhancement can
be carried out in quite
a proper and
appropriate manner
which will therefore
help them a lot in
ensuring that the
attainment of the goals
and objectives can be
done by them.
HR Manager 2 months
Manufacturing Defects
in the products
It has to be ensured
that the right approach
can be adopted so that
these particular
manufacturing defects
can be identified and
removed so that the
appropriate actions can
be taken quite
effectively and
efficiently to remove
them in a proper and
appropriate manner.
Production Manager 4 months
4

Lack of proper quality
of the products
Benchmarking
technique has to be
used so that the
identification of the
deviations and
variations can be
removed which will
therefore help them a
lot in ensuring that the
attainment of the goals
and objectives can be
carried out quite
effectively and
efficiently which will
be quite helpful for the
organization.
Production Manager 6 months
Problems and Issues in
assessment of the
overall level of
performance
The use of KPIs has to
be made so that the
assessment of the
performance level can
be made in quite a
proper and appropriate
manner which will
therefore help in
ensuring that the right
and appropriate
actions can therefore
be taken which will
help them a lot.
HR Manager 8 months
Lack of improvement The use of Balanced HR Manager 10 months
5

in the performance by
the employees
Scorecard is required
to be made here so that
the assessment of the
performance level of
the employees can be
done and therefore the
required
improvements can be
suggested to them
which will therefore
help them a lot.
Inappropriate
management of the
work in the company
The use of proper
management
techniques is required
to be made so that the
work can be managed
in a right way quite
effectively and
efficiently.
Operational Manager 12 months
It is therefore important that the managers of Coventry Manufacturing Ltd are able to
make sure that they can put their specific focus on ensuring that they can properly and
appropriately meet out their specific needs and requirements which can thus help them a lot.
Thus, it can be stated that there is a particular importance of preparation of Continuous
Improvement Plan (Hossan, 2020). It can be explained in the following manner-
 Through preparing a Continuous Improvement Plan the identification of the problems
which are persisting within the organization can be done and therefore the right actions
can be taken so that these problems can be solved which will therefore help the
organizations a lot (Kim, Song and Yang, 2021). Thus, it can be stated that for a company
like Coventry Manufacturing Ltd it is quite important and crucial that it is able to make
6

sure that it can take the desired and necessary actions so that these problems are solved
which will therefore help it a lot in the future in a right manner.
 The use of a Continuous Improvement Plan is also quite important and necessary to be
made so that the organizations can identify the scope of making the desired
improvements (Larsson and Larsson, 2020). In this way, the company will be able to
attain edge over the competitors in the market. By making its detailed use an organization
like Coventry Manufacturing Ltd will be able to bring out the desired as well as
necessary improvements which are quite important and therefore are required to be made
quite effectively and efficiently and can help it a lot.
 Through making the use of a Continuous Improvement Plan, the organizations can make
sure that they are able to bring out the desired improvement in the overall level of
performance. Therefore, In this way it can be stated that it should be used by the
managers of the firms quite properly and appropriately which will therefore help them a
lot. By making its detailed use an organization like Coventry Manufacturing Ltd can
ensure that it can optimize the overall level of operations in a right way.
 The use of a Continuous Improvement Plan is quite essential and should be made because
this can help a lot in ensuring that the way in which the attainment of the appropriate
goals and objectives can be done should be identified which will be quite helpful in
managing out the needs and requirements in a better way (Lu and Shen, 2021). Coventry
Manufacturing Ltd therefore needs to make sure that it should be used by it so that it is
able to make sure that the right-level of improvements can be made by it which will
therefore help it a lot in the future to be able to enhance the overall level of efficiency and
effectiveness level.
Therefore, for the managers of Coventry Manufacturing Ltd it can be recommended that they can
identify the scope of optimizing the operations through making the use of a Continuous
Improvement Plan. This is necessary because the use of this plan will help the companies to be
able to attain the goals and objectives. Thus, the managers should make sure that the staff
members are able to work according to the improvements which have been suggested by this
plan and can appropriately take the desired and necessary actions which can therefore help them
a lot.
7

M2: Analysis of effectiveness of Continuous Improvement Plan
The use of a Continuous Improvement Plan has to be made by the organizations for the
purpose of finding out the way in which they can make the desired level of improvements which
will therefore help them a lot so that they are able to attain the necessary goals and objectives.
Therefore it is suggested that the use of this plan is made by the managers by considering the
situation of the company.
D1: Application of appropriate theories, concepts and models
It is highly necessary and therefore it must be ensured that this can be done because this
will be quite helpful in ensuring that the attainment of the future goals and objectives can be
made. Coventry Manufacturing Ltd will therefore be able to ensure that it can take the right
actions which will help it a lot to be able to optimize its overall level of operations so that the
required level of smoothness can be brought under the operations which will be helpful for it in
the future.
TASK 3
P3: Application of the stages of PLC
Scenario- In Coventry Manufacturing Ltd there are specific Business Objectives related
with the staff members which are to be achieved. There is a focus which has to be made on
Reduction of the movement of staff members during the Lunch Break. Also, There is a specific
requirement of helping the staff members in developing a healthy lifestyle. For this particular
purpose, a project named as Health is Wealth can be implemented so that the staff members are
able to become more conscious towards their health which will help in ensuring that they are
able to work in a proper manner.
There are different stages of PLC which are required to be implemented. Therefore, it is
quite important and essential to ensure that the focus can be made on ensuring that the
implementation of PLC can be made in a proper and appropriate manner (Martinsuo and Geraldi,
2020). The stages of PLC are as follows-
 Initiating- This is the stage from where the project has to be initiated. Thus, it can be
stated that through this particular stage the managers can make sure that they are able to
start the project and work on it which will be quite helpful in ensuring that the project can
attain the necessary goals and objectives in quite a proper and appropriate manner. Thus,
8

for the management of Coventry Manufacturing Ltd it is quite important and necessary
that it can make sure that the project is initiated in a right way so that the objectives are
attained quite effectively and efficiently.
 Planning- This is also a crucial stage. The company therefore has to make sure that by
identifying the different types of plans it is able to make sure that it can attain its overall
goals and objectives in quite a better way. In this way, it can help a lot in ensuring that
the management of the appropriate level of needs and requirements can be carried out
which will therefore help the company a lot.
 Executing- This is also an important stage where the plan which was designed can be put
into action (Mergel, Ganapati and Whitford, 2021). For Coventry Manufacturing Ltd it is
quite necessary that it is able to make sure that it can execute the plans in a better manner
which will be helpful in the attainment of the goals and objectives and will therefore help
the company a lot in enhancing the overall efficiency and effectiveness.
 Monitoring and Control- In this particular stage, there is a focus on ensuring that the
monitoring and Control can be done so that the identification of the deviations and
variations can be made and the necessary steps are taken to remove them so that the
necessary improvement in the overall level of performance can be made in a proper
manner (Miković and et.al., 2020). For an organization like Coventry Manufacturing Ltd
it is highly necessary and important to make sure that the performance level can be
improved which will be helpful for the company.
 Closing- In this particular stage, the project reaches the stage where it has to be closed. In
Coventry Manufacturing Ltd it is quite important as well as necessary that can ensure that
the project is able to attain the necessary goals and objectives. This will help it a lot in
identifying the way in which the enhancement in the overall level of efficiency and
effectiveness can be carried out so that the improvements can be made as and when
desired in quite a proper and appropriate manner.
M3: Analysis of rationale for the project methodologies, tools and leadership within the PLC
It is quite important that it should be analysed in quite a proper and appropriate manner
because in this way it will be helpful for the particular purpose of ensuring that the attainment of
the necessary goals and objectives can be carried out. Therefore, for an organization like
Coventry Manufacturing Ltd it is important that it is able to identify the way in which it can
9

enhance the overall level of efficiency and effectiveness level which will thus help it a lot in the
future because the management of the needs and requirements can be carried out in a proper way
by making its right use.
TASK 4
P4: Review and Critique the effectiveness of PLC
It is necessary that the PLC is used by the managers of the organizations in such a
manner so that it is able to make sure that it can help in the attainment of the project goals and
objectives (Nguyen, Vidal and Al-Shamaa, 2020). This will be useful in attaining the various
types of goals and objectives. Therefore, it can be stated that it can be done in the following
manner by an organization like Coventry Manufacturing Ltd-
 The PLC framed by the company will be quite useful because it will be useful in
identifying the way in which the project can be made successful. Therefore, it is highly
important and necessary that it can be used for the purpose of ensuring that the projects
are managed in a right way.
 The PLC framed by the company is very useful for it because it will help it a lot in
ensuring that it can deal in a right way with the needs and requirements of the different
types of managers which will therefore help them a lot (Sevilla and Ellaga, 2020). Thus,
it can be stated that the management of the company will be able to make sure that it
takes the right decisions through making its right and appropriate use.
 Through the use of PLC the company will be able to make sure that it is able to deal with
the change in the needs and requirements related with the project (Sharma and et.al.,
2021). Thus, for the managers of the company it is quite important that they should be
able to make its right use for the particular purpose of ensuring that the attainment of the
essential goals and objectives can be done by it.
 By making the right use of PLC the company will ensure that it can ensure that the
project becomes successful in the future (Wiedemann and et.al., 2020). Therefore, for the
managers of the organization it is highly necessary that they should be able to make its
use which will thereby help it a lot in dealing with the needs and requirements which are
associated with the project in quite a proper and appropriate manner which will be useful
10

in ensuring that the project is successful in the future and can help the company to be
able to bring the desired improvements.
Thus, it can be stated that the use of PLC is highly helpful for the organization so that it is
able to make sure that it can identify the way in which it has to attain the relevant goals and
objectives which are related with the project (Yazici, 2020). This will therefore be quite useful
for the organization because in this way it will be able to enhance the overall level of efficiency
and effectiveness level in a highly proper and appropriate manner.
M4: Critical analysis of the use of appropriate theories, concepts and models in the PLC
PLC is highly necessary and important and thus its use is recommended within the
organizations. In Coventry Manufacturing Ltd, it can be stated that through making the use of
PLC it will be able to make sure that it can effectively and efficiently meet out the different types
of goals and objectives in the future. This will help the company to be able to take the right and
appropriate actions which will therefore help it a lot in enhancing the efficiency and
effectiveness level in a proper and appropriate way.
D2: Critical evaluation of PLC
PLC is important and must be used quite properly so that the organizations can ensure
that their projects can become successful in the future. Coventry Manufacturing Ltd therefore has
to ensure that through making the use of PLC it is able to identify the way in which the Project
can attain the desired level of success in the future. In this way, it can be stated that the company
will be able to make sure that it can deal with the needs and requirements related with the project
in a right way.
11

CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that Operations and Project Management
refers to the way in which the optimization can be done within the organizations so that the
improvements can be made as and when desired quite effectively and efficiently. The
management of the firms is required to make sure that the necessary actions can be taken by it
for the particular purpose of bringing the improvements which are quite necessary to be made.
For the managers of the firms, it is highly important and necessary that they can identify the
various types of strategic and tactical actions which are required to be taken for making the
project successful. The managers are required to make sure that the proper methods and
techniques are used by them which will help them to be able to make sure that they can bring
improvements in the organization which will help it a lot in the future.
12

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Akkermans, J. and et.al., 2020. Crafting project managers’ careers: Integrating the fields of
careers and project management. Project management journal. 51(2). pp.135-153.
Arasteh, A., 2020, December. Considering Project Management Activities for Engineering
Design Groups. In SN Operations Research Forum (Vol. 1, No. 4, pp. 1-29). Springer
International Publishing.
Barrado, C. and et.al., 2020. U-space concept of operations: A key enabler for opening airspace
to emerging low-altitude operations. Aerospace. 7(3). p.24.
Baur, N. F. and Rieck, J., 2020. Project Management with Scarce Resources in Disaster
Response. In Operations Research Proceedings 2019 (pp. 607-614). Springer, Cham.
Fernandes, G. and et.al., 2020. The roles of a Programme and Project Management Office to
support collaborative university–industry R&D. Total Quality Management & Business
Excellence. 31(5-6). pp.583-608.
Guo, X., Grushka-Cockayne, Y. and De Reyck, B., 2020. London Heathrow Airport uses real-
time analytics for improving operations. INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics. 50(5).
pp.325-339.
Helo, P. and Hao, Y., 2021. Artificial intelligence in operations management and supply chain
management: an exploratory case study. Production Planning & Control. pp.1-18.
Hill, A. and et.al., 2020, December. Concept of operations versus operations concept: how do
you choose?. In Modeling, Systems Engineering, and Project Management for
Astronomy IX (Vol. 11450, p. 114502U). International Society for Optics and Photonics.
Hossan, M. D., 2020. Managing political risk in international project operations: The case study
of a developed multinational enterprise (DMNE) in emerging markets (Ems).
Kim, S. H., Song, C. I. and Yang, K. H., 2021. Big data project management by agile approach:
in the case of the Seoul Metropolitan City Owl Bus. International Journal of Services
and Operations Management. 39(3). pp.316-336.
Larsson, J. and Larsson, L., 2020. Integration, application and importance of collaboration in
sustainable project management. Sustainability. 12(2). p.585.
Lu, M. and Shen, Z. J. M., 2021. A review of robust operations management under model
uncertainty. Production and Operations Management. 30(6). pp.1927-1943.
Martinsuo, M. and Geraldi, J., 2020. Management of project portfolios: Relationships of project
portfolios with their contexts. International Journal of Project Management. 38(7).
pp.441-453.
Mergel, I., Ganapati, S. and Whitford, A. B., 2021. Agile: A new way of governing. Public
Administration Review. 81(1). pp.161-165.
Miković, R. and et.al., 2020. The integration of social capital and knowledge management–The
key challenge for international development and cooperation projects of nonprofit
organizations. International Journal of Project Management. 38(8). pp.515-533.
Nguyen, J., Vidal, D. and Al-Shamaa, S., 2020. Principles and Practices of Agile Techniques in
Automotive Product Operations. Nguyen, J., Vidal, D., & Al-Shamaa, S.(2020).
Principles and Practices of Agile Techniques in Automotive Product Operations.
Journal of Contemporary Research in Social Sciences. 2(5). pp.119-129.
13

Sevilla, N. B. R. and Ellaga, J. P. A., 2020. Operations Management Practices of Printing Press
in Region IV-A: A Framework for Sustainable Strategic Operations. Journal of Business
and Management Studies. 2(3). pp.70-80.
Sharma, V. and et.al., 2021. Machine learning-aided cost prediction and optimization in
construction operations. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management.
Wiedemann, A. and et.al., 2020. Understanding how DevOps aligns development and
operations: a tripartite model of intra-IT alignment. European Journal of Information
Systems. 29(5). pp.458-473.
Yazici, H. J., 2020. An exploratory analysis of the project management and corporate
sustainability capabilities for organizational success. International Journal of Managing
Projects in Business.
14