Holden Cars: Operations Management and Locational Analysis Report

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the operations management and locational strategies employed by Holden Cars Australia. It begins with an executive summary highlighting the importance of effective operations management in achieving business targets, emphasizing the utilization of resources and strategic planning. The introduction traces Holden's history from its inception in 1856 to its evolution in the automobile industry, including its relationship with General Motors. The report delves into operational management, defining its key processes and the significance of efficiency in product creation. It examines Holden's operational strategy, focusing on the automotive industry's complex supply chains and the importance of skilled personnel and technological adaptation. The locational strategy section discusses key factors such as market accessibility, capital availability, and transportation networks. The conclusion summarizes the company's challenges, including the impact of shutting down, and emphasizes the need for technology adaptation and effective operations management in the automotive industry. The report includes references to support its findings.

Holden Cars
Australia operations management

Executive summery
Operation management or production management of any company follows a very important
process which involves varieties of steps and strategies, managing its operations to achieve
the desired targets with maintaining the available resources with effective planning,
organising and controlling of the people, production process and the final product. This report
will focus on the managing operations and locational factors of a company. This report will
discuss about the operational and the locational strategies of Holden Cars a famous car
manufacturing company of Australia was founded in 1856 started its business in leatherwork
and saddler initially. This report will focus on the entire journey with its operations
management ant the strategies applied in the production of the products and factors that are
considered in the production of a car.
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Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
Operation management..........................................................................................................................3
Operational strategy of Holden Cars..................................................................................................4
Locational strategy of Holden cars....................................................................................................5
Factors in locational strategy.........................................................................................................5
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................6
References.............................................................................................................................................8
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Introduction
The successful operation of a business requires an effective utilisation of available sources as
input to make profitable result as output. Operation management of a business follows the
selection of effective strategies applied to get better outcome. An automobile company
(Holden Cars) deals both domestic as well as international customers and it also deals with
various suppliers world-wide to purchase its raw materials. Holden cars deal in the
manufacturing of the automobile. It was founded in 1856; 163 years ago in the name of J.A.
Holden & co. at Adelaide, South Australia. It was founded by James Alexendar Holden
(Original firm) having headquarter at Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. In the year of 1908
company moved into automobile sector and was merged as subsidiary of General Motors
(GM) which is based in United States in 1931 with the name General Motors-Holdsen’s Ltd
(Thoms & Holden, 2016). In the year of 1998 it was renamed with Holden Ltd and general
Motors-Holden in 2005. As it was started as saddler business entity moved in the automobile
sector popularly known as one of the famous fully integrated global General motors deals in
designing, manufacturing and selling of vehicles in Australia and across the world. This
assignment will deal with the strategies followed and applied by the Holden cars in its
operation management including operational strategies and location strategies.
Operation management
Operation management is the management of process or system to create product and service
with effective administration of its business policies. Operation management is the process of
planning, controlling, organising and directing the utilisation of available resources like raw
materials, human resource and money as an input to create a product to be delivered to its
consumers (Conlon & Perkins, 2018). Efficiency of effective utilisation and selection of best
process to create useful product in an idle coast to satisfy the consumer demands and needs
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simultaneously is an effective operation management (Ageron et al., 2012). Operation
management is the study how businesses create a plan, execute the plan and review the
obtained results in order to improve their performance. Operation management in Holden
deals with how a company will succeed against local as well as global competition (Barbaro
& Spoehr, 2014).
Operational strategy of Holden Cars
An automotive industry has the one of the most complex, highly developed supply chains
system. Here a continuous reliable flow of goods is delivered in the perfect timing are
important. And every piece manufactured is asked to fit the market demands. Planning to
allocation of the resources of an organisation create support to its infrastructure and
production (Clarsen, 2010). It is the policy which deals with the production of quality product
in minimum coast and expenses. Operational strategy needs more skilled and talented people
because it is the foundation of any plan going to be executed. This is followed by the
different steps;
 Setting up the goal target
 Setting up time limitations
 Consider previous achievements
 Check Feedback and input
 Revise and review
 Communication and discussion
To carry out all tasks in effective manner, operation managers need to be well organised,
creative, optimist, flexible and skilled in planning, organising and leading the people to
accomplish the desired results.
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Automotive companies like Holden cars face new challenges daily so it try to put great
efforts in its production and operational management (Steve, 2009). It gives opportunities
to highly skilled employees to create new ideas and implement them accordingly. Holden
cars give importance to talent performed on the adequate time because it sufficiently
understand the changes in technology and to move with flow of required time period
(Lampel & Giachetti, 2013). Automobiles are relevant with the technology changing on
daily basis and in the upcoming years it will be a huge market with a tough competition.
So the managers need be very skilled and updated to new technologies to beat the
competition.
Locational strategy of Holden cars
Location strategy is a key ingredient of setting business success plans. It not only affects the
seller or dealer but all the other who provide any kind of material or services to those
manufacturers (Don & Tom , 2018). If a company select proper and appropriate locational
strategy for its business so it come into easy access to its customers, workers, material
suppliers and also with easily available distribution and transportation. Generally a company
set its location taking into consideration, all the factors of easy access which maximizes its
gain and minimizes its coasting (Erling, 2016). A plan to obtain the optimal location of a
company according to its need and objectives is the process of locational strategy. Holden has
settled its manufacturing factories after a proper identification of suitable location
considering following factors;
Factors in locational strategy
 Accessibility of internal and external market
 Availability of capital
 Availability of power
 Availability of raw materials
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 Effective and efficient resource availability
 High technological advancement
 Presence of skilled and experts manpower
 Transportation and communication network
Holden manufacturing the final product in automotive industry supplies its product to both
local and international customers so it plan its strategies to keep effective access to internal
and external market effectively, it tries to maintain and develop new source of capital
availability, adequate suppliers of raw material and effective labour experienced skilled and
proficient to develop the business (Joshi et al., 2013). Location suitable for business involves
easy access to local transportation and communication (Zhang et al., 2013). Important factor
in an automobile industry is technology; availability of changing technology leads a business
to new growth and success (Terninko, 2018).
Conclusion
It is concluded that Holden as it deals in automotive industry not only have to focus on the
profit as well as it has to take into the consideration to the satisfaction comfort and strong
bond with its customers as well as the suppliers. It needs to perform its operations in the way
though it can meet the desired profit and also can handle its internal process. Holden works as
an international company so it has to manage the proper relations between the suppliers,
producers and the customers local as well as global. Australian car market faces a rapid
change in the sales of automobiles; car manufacturing companies have developed advanced
technologies to make the effective production and to satisfy the consumers demand. Shutting
down decision affected many lives, market and also the economic conditions of Australia.
Reason behind this decision was lack of skilled labour, lack of effective business policies,
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high coast of manufacturing and the inability to meet global demands. Things that are to be
considered in an automotive business it should be updated and technology adapting.
Operations management need to be effectively performed so it can help in the continuous
success of the organisation and can make more possibilities to face the upcoming challenges.
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References
Ageron, B., Angappa, & Spalanzani, A., 2012. Sustainable supply management: An empirical
study. International journal of production econnoics, 140(1), pp.168-82.
Barbaro, B. & Spoehr, J., 2014. Closing the motor vehicle industry: The impact on Australia.
Australian Workplace Innovation and Social Research Centre (WISeR) & the National
Institute of Economic & Industry Research (NIEIR). [Online] Available at:
http://hdl.voced.edu.au/10707/305392. [Accessed July 2019].
Clarsen, G.W., 2010. Automobiles and Australian Modernisation: The Redex Around-
Australia Trials of the 1950s. [Online] Available at:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1031461X.2010.493948 [Accessed 10 July
2019].
Conlon, R. & Perkins, J., 2018. Wheels and deals: The automotive industry in twentieth-
century Australia. Abingdon: Routledge.
Don, T. & Tom , S., 2018. Value Stream Management for the Lean Office. New york:
Productivity Press.
Erling, H., 2016. Achieving Sustainable mobility. Abingdon: Routledge.
Joshi, D., Nepal, B., Rathore, A.S. & Sharma, D., 2013. On supply chain competitiveness of
Indian automotive component manufacturing industry. [Online] Available at:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925527312005154 [Accessed May
2013].
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Lampel, J. & Giachetti, C., 2013. International diversification of manufacturing operations:
Performance implications and moderating forces. Journal of operations management, 31(4),
pp.213-27.
Steve, B., 2009. Holden V Ford: The Cars, the Culture, the Competition. Australia: Rockpol
publishing.
Terninko, J., 2018. Step-by-Step QFD. 2nd ed. Abingdon: Routledge.
Thoms, & Holden, L., 2016. The motor car and popular culture in the twentieth century.
Abingdon: Routledge.
Zhang, D., Nilay Shah , s. & Lazaros , G.P., 2013. Efficient energy consumption and
operation management in a smart building with microgrid. Energy Conversion and
Management, pp.209-222.
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