Operations Management in Aston Martin: A Detailed Report

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Aston Martin's operations management, focusing on customer expectations, operational objectives, and various process types. It begins with an introduction to Aston Martin, highlighting the roles of the operations department and operations manager in achieving company goals. The report then delves into the 4Vs of operations management (volume, variety, variation, and visibility) specific to Aston Martin's production processes. It explores customer expectations regarding design, quality, innovation, and comfort, and outlines the corresponding operations objectives, including quality, speed, dependability, and flexibility. The report further examines process types applicable to Aston Martin, such as batch and jobbing processes, evaluating their importance in achieving operational efficiency and meeting customer needs. Finally, the report provides recommendations to enhance the company's operations and achieve its objectives effectively.

OPERATIONS
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Introduction............................................................................................................................1
Customers, their expectations, operations objectives and process types................................3
Process Types.........................................................................................................................5
Process to achieve operations objectives................................................................................6
Recommendations..................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Operations Management refers to the overall administration of practices involved in
business to maximize the efficiency of an organisation. This aspect takes the conversion of raw
materials as well as labour into various goods and services in a way that it enhance the
profitability of the firm. The report below is based on the application of operations management
in Aston Martin, which is an independent British manufacturer of grand tourers and luxury
Sports cars. It covers the discussion about the organisation, its customers, their expectations and
operations objectives required to fulfil these expectation (Smith, Maull and CL Ng, 2014). It also
undertakes the process for operations and its contribution in achievement of the objectives. The
report is also mention recommendations to enhance the ability of these processes in meeting
operations objectives.
Introduction
Aston Martin is one of the most modern and acknowledged sports car brand which is
recognised for its exceptional designs and unique heritage. It was founded by Lionel Martin and
Robert Bamford in 1913 and provide its customers with extreme performance, style, comfort and
luxury (ASTON MARTIN - THE COMPANY, 2018).
Large number of major departments are operating within the firm across its enterprises
worldwide, one of the main units that contributes in its success is the operations department.
Operations Department and Operations Manager, both contribute in different and effective ways
in the company that helps the firm in smooth running of operations and better achievement of
objectives. Their roles are described below:
Role of Operations Department: Optimum Utilisation of Resources: The Operations Department of Aston Martin is
required to manage as well as utilise each resource optimally. It is responsible for
managing both the raw materials and the company's employees. In addition, overseeing
the inventory covers a major part of their role. Through such effective management it
contributes in cost reductions and enhancement of efficiency and consistency (Hill and
Hill, 2017).
 Quality Assurance: Another major function performed by the operations department is
that they ensure the quality in the processes as well as the products before delivering it to
1

the customers. It determines the grounds on which the quality is ensured and properly
monitors the functions of production of cars in the company. These grounds for a firm
like Aston Martin are speed, reliability, comfort and safety in their cars (Hitt, Xu and
Carnes, 2016).
Apart from the operations department, the operations manager too has a prominent role to
play in the company.
Role of Operations Manager: Setting Up Goals: They are required to set up goals and policies for their department in
Aston Martin. They undertake the setting up of objectives like better performance from
employees and enhancement in the quality of their production and achievement of those
targets to ensure efficiency in the process of production and distribution (Fredendall and
Hill, 2016).
 Financial Management: Their contribution in the firm is not limited to goal setting.
They play a major role in cost control, budget forecasting and keeping a financial track of
the company. Any deviation from the set objectives is tracked and measures are taken to
improve the financial facet of the company (Mahadevan, 2015).
Four V's of Operations Management:
Each company performs in a somewhat similar manner, however, the operations in
production for a company like Aston Martin are more centralise and the product is followed
from its inception till its completed and delivered. The differences in these operations processes
are mentioned by the 4V's overview which is described below: Volume Dimension: This undertakes the volume of the product which is needed to
satisfy its demand in the marketplace. Low volume indicates less repetitive processes and
multitasking of employees whereas high volume enhances these repeatable processes
which could be automated or standardised. If the production of cars would be at high
volume, it would satisfy more demand. Variety Dimension: As the name indicates, this dimension relates with diversity and
tends to focus on the variety of offerings that the firm could present in the market. High
variety gives high flexibility to the firm and is in the correlation with the volume. This
means higher the variety, the lower would be the volume. As an example, Aston Martin
2

produces variety of cars for speed, luxury as well as comfort. If the firm introduces more
varieties, the volume of production of these cars would be low. Variation Dimension: This dimension deals with the changes in demand due to external
forces. For instance, as per the future anticipations, more millennials are opting for public
transport rather than private, which in turn could cause variation in Aston Martin's
processes of producing less speedy cars and more sedans to attract older group of
customers.
 Visibility Dimension: This dimension undertakes the visibility of operations of the
company to its customers. Aston Martin keeps sharing its production processes with its
customers which attracts the customers and ensures transparency.
Customers, their expectations, operations objectives and process types
Aston Martin sells its cars worldwide, and there are variety of customers that purchase
their cars. These customers are quite loyal to the firm and all the operations in the firm are
dedicated to satisfy their expectations.
The firm targets high-end customers which are loyal to buy sports cars. Moreover,
another segment in which the company targets are business persons. This is because it provides
comfort and luxury which are their prime demands alongside speed.
However, the company is targeting customers beyond its traditional target market. It has
planned new models as per the new age customers which demands enhancements in speed and
safety. This would help the firm reach wider market segments.
However, there are various customer expectations from the outputs in terms of the broad
market criteria of the company which are described below: Design: The major expectation of the customers from the company is the design it
provides them in its cars. The products of the company are designed in the way that they
could compete in the environment as well as fulfil the requirement of speed in their cars.
Some of their finest recent works which possess exceptional designs are Aston Martin
Vulcan, Aston Martin V8, Aston Martin DB11 and so forth (Marketing mix of Aston
Martin, 2018). Quality: This refers to the overall quality of the cars which is expected by the customers.
It involves speed, reliability, safety and ease in functions. Customers expect a top notch
3

quality in their vehicles and providing this would help them cause satisfaction of these
customers. Innovation: Apart from design and quality, a major expectation of customers are the
changes induced with the ongoing demands of time as well as technological
advancements. They expect the firm to produce its products which are highly innovative
and could provide them long term satisfaction in terms of advancements in features
present in their products.
 Comfort: As one of the most prominent demands, comfort is required in Aston Martin's
cars as customers tend to use the vehicles for long run and long distance purposes.
Having wide comfort would enhance the customer experience as well as increase their
trust and reliability on the firm's upcoming models (Kato and et. al., 2015).
Customers demand may vary according to their immediate needs and natures, but
their expectation of the outcome of the company are least likely to vary. To fulfil these demands,
it is imperative that certain operations objectives be clearly stated that will define the standard of
the company's operations. These objectives are described below: Quality of Operations: As per the company standards, quality in design could be
effectively achieved by enhancing quality of operations. This could be a prominent
operations objective for Aston Martin. The quality standards of the company are judged
on the basis of design, cost, sustainability and overall performance of their operations as
well as their cars. These aspects are required to be effectively achieved in a systematic
and productive manner. Speed: Another objective for the firm is speed in their operations and processes. This
requires the firm to effectively attain a minimum span of time to manufacture and
distribute their cars to the customers. Approximately, Aston Martin produces more than
5000 cars in a year since 2008 (ASTON MARTIN DELIVERS RECORD SALES
GROWTH IN 2017, 2018). This could be a major objective in the firm to enhance its
production processes. There are various ways in which the company could achieve speed
in its processes. One way could be to identify and eliminate resources that are causing
delay in the process of the company. For instance, ineffectiveness of equipments or
legislations like Environmental Protection Act, 1990 which exerts pressure on the
company to employ methods as well as produce cars in accordance to environmental
4

preservation. Another manner that would speed up the operations of Aston Martin could
be that the firm employs Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality Gears that could
ensure effective monitoring and aid in operation process and effectively help the firm in
achieving the objective. Dependability: This considers the aspect of dependability of customers on the company's
operations. It undertakes timely delivery, price, quality as well as cost to complete the
operations. From a customer's point of view, it is crucial for the company that it keeps
satisfying customers through consistent delivery, with pre-planned prices and effective
customer services that would help in building up their trust in the firm and its future
products. Achieving this operations objective would allow the firm to achieve its agenda
of reaching new markets which enhanced reputation.
 Flexibility: Operations in a company are required to be flexible enough to deal with
different requirements effectively and flexibly. For Aston Martin, it could be prominent
that flexibility be ensured in the processes as well as their product lines in a way that
adjustments could be made quickly to satisfy new demands. However, this objective has
a close link with the speed. Although this aspect is would require the firm to produce
variety of cars with top quality and adapt the operations as per the delivery schedules and
dynamic conditions of the marketplace (Walker and et. al., 2015).
Process Types
There are various process types that Aston Martin could operate with in order to achieve
their operations objectives. These types serve a range of operations objectives and helps
companies to enhance their level of production and distribution. Some of the most appropriate
process types for Aston Martin are described below:
Batch Process: This approach is used by manufacturing company in which more than
one item is manufactured by an organisation at the same time. It assists company to reduce
setting up cost of machines and also reduce production cost to a certain level. This approach can
only use in the repetitive work as machines are set in the starting and ends when the work gets
completed.
Importance of Batch Process: With the help of this process, Aston Martin can increase their
quantity of work they are doing. Though this process is not flexible as there are repetitive task
that are required to be performed by the workforce simultaneously. Company can rely on this for
5

a longer period of time as chances of getting defective goods are less. Quality of goods would be
perfect as all the work is done by the machines (Choi, Cheng, and Zhao, 2016).
Jobbing Process: This process requires customized work for each customer according to
their needs and preferences. Different companies apply jobbing process to make something
unique for their clients by charging more monetary value. It differs from batch process as each
product is individually designed and built successfully before the workforce moves on to the next
product.
Importance of Jobbing Process: Aston Martin could depend on this process as it ensures that no
defective car would be produced and proper standards be followed by company to satisfy all the
unmet needs of customers. Speed of the process is slow as it takes time because workforce will
complete one product before moving on to another. It would help Aston Martin to increase their
quality of products as every step is monitored and analysed by the Quality Managers.
Continuous Process: It is a perpetual flow of production of goods in which it only stops
when there is a requirement for maintenance or some other technical problems in the machines.
It would help company to reduce their production time as goods are made continuously and can
be use by company at any time. However, the process is rigid as repetitive tasks are required to
be done by the employees simultaneously.
Importance of Continuous Process: There are a less chances of getting a defective piece as most
of the work is done by the machines and humans work is to check the machines timely. Aston
Martin can not depend on this process for a longer period of time because if machines are not
working properly then company would not be able to attain maximum utilisation of resources
(Prashar, 2015).
Out of these three most important and relevant process types, the firm must choose the
one which effectively helps the company to accomplish its operations objectives. Batch Process
is the one amongst the three that satisfies most requirements and has the ability to achieve all the
operations objectives mentioned above.
Process to achieve operations objectives
As compared to the above mentioned process types, Batch Process is the most effective
process which would help Aston Martin achieve its operations objectives. There are number of
ways in which batch processing could achieve operations objectives.
Effectiveness of Batch Processes:
6

Batch processes are effective when it comes to provide speed, quality as well as
dependability in the operations of Aston Martin. The ways in which it achieves the effectiveness
in these objectives are described below:
 It promotes speed in the process as the cars are produced in batches which hinders the
possibility of delay as continuous processes and repetitive works are required to be done
by the employees. It would provide the firm with speed in manufacturing, assembling,
painting as well as giving an overall finish to cars of the company (Jacobs, Chase and
Lummus, 2014). There are various sections that produce one type of component that are
later assembled in further stages. The employees are trained well enough which could
benefit the company in reducing time which requires to give them more educational and
training programs. Communication too is an integral part of the process and helps each
compartment to coordinate with one another. Such, simultaneous processes and expertise
allow the workforce to accomplish the process with maximum speed and limited wastage
of time and resources (Gunasekaran, Irani and Papadopoulos, 2014).
 It also maintains the quality required and expected in the cars of Aston Martin. This is
because an essential requirement of batch process is the employment of latest
technologies and equipments to achieve the purpose effectively. Any inconsistency in the
machines are immediately communicated in the company which helps them in replacing
the equipments and continue with the operations (Kundu and et. al., 2015). Chances of
production of faulty products are less as replication of exact products are performed by
the machines and monitor by the employees as well as quality managers. Moreover, in
the last stages, each component is assembled and their efficiencies are monitored. With
such close monitoring, the chances of ineffectiveness and carelessness are eliminated
which would help the firm in presenting top quality products to its customers worldwide.
 Batch processes enhances dependability in the operations and ensures customers' reliance
on the firm's commitments as well as products. With effective design, proper finishings
and focus on the quality, the cars developed through batch processing would eradicate the
possibility of unnecessary cost incurred to regulate the processes and enhance the quality.
With premium quality, this process would enable Aston Martin to quote appropriate
pricing for its products which would be accepted by its customers seeing such enhanced
standards. In time production would help the firm in achieving timely delivery that would
7

satisfy the customers and ensure their long-term engagement with the firm (Swink and et.
al., 2017).
Recommendations
To enhance the performance in operations and better achieve the objectives, it is
imperative that some changes be induced in the operations of this process which would help the
firm in enhancing its overall efficiency in terms of speed, quality, dependability as well as
flexibility.
 Introduction of Artificial Intelligence in the production system would allow the firm to
speed up and reduce the possibility of breaks in the processes of production. It will help
the firm in overcoming internal challenges and reach the depth of production beyond
human reach. For instance, the firm could introduce Artificial Intelligence systems as
well as automated robots that would enable the firm to shift on to mass production going
on 24x7 with very little monitoring. This would ensure cost benefit of hiring more
employees as well reduce wastage with latest technological methods that are being
employed using AI (The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing Industries,
2018).
 To enhance the quality of the products and introduce new spectrum that is considered
with speed being an ultimate requirement. The future of super cars is filled with new
innovations which develops new challenges for Aston Martin to fulfil. Aerodynamic
efficiencies in vehicles is a new and emerging facet which would help the firm in
enhancing its quality of cars. There are various software which could help the firm in
achieving this requirement. One of the most reliable examples will be about the use
SIMULIA PowerFLOW. This software works on Lattice Boltzmann-based physics which
enhances its performance and predictions as it accurately forecasts the real-world
scenarios with complex use of geometry. It is beneficial in terms of elimination of
possibility of errors as each simulation helps in achieving accurate airflow evolution
around the car, through engine bay as well as underbody (Automotive: Aerodynamic
Efficiency. 2018).
 To enhance the flexibility in the process, the firm must set up a different functional unit
which specialises in developing products with specific requirements of the customers.
This would enhance the agility in the process as well as would help the firm in effectively
8

ensuring the achievement of all of its operations objectives in a better and appropriate
manner. Moreover, with this, the firm would be able to penetrate deeper in the market
and enhance its market share by attracting new customers and building more relationships
in the world. Flexible productions would also build a strong competitive image of the
firm in the market which would ensure its long term sustainability and better competence
for the current standards of auto-mobile industry as well as for the future (McCrie, 2015).
CONCLUSION
Through this report, it is concluded that operations management is imperative for a
company to enhance its customer experience as well as well as fulfil its operations objectives.
There are various processes such as batch, jobbing and continuous processes which effectively
help the firm in achieving the objectives it laid down for its operations. It is imperative that that
these processes be flexible, promotes speed, enhances quality and are dependable for long term
success of the firm. Batch process could effectively serve the purpose in accomplishment of all
the mentioned operations objectives. Lastly, it is required for any company to induce changes in
its production and distribution methods to better achieve its objectives and ensure its
sustainability in the market and build a strong competitive image.
9

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Choi, T.M., Cheng, T.C.E. and Zhao, X., 2016. Multi‐methodological research in operations
management. Production and Operations Management.25(3). pp.379-389.
Fredendall, L.D. and Hill, E., 2016. Basics of supply chain management. CRC Press.
Gunasekaran, A. and Irani, Z., 2014. Sustainable Operations Management: design, modelling and
analysis.
Gunasekaran, A., Irani, Z. and Papadopoulos, T., 2014. Modelling and analysis of sustainable
operations management: certain investigations for research and applications. Journal of
the Operational Research Society.65(6). pp.806-823.
Hill, A. and Hill, T., 2017. Essential operations management. Macmillan International Higher
Education.
Hitt, M. A., Xu, K. and Carnes, C. M., 2016. Resource based theory in operations management
research. Journal of Operations Management.41. pp.77-94.
Jacobs, F. R., Chase, R. B. and Lummus, R. R., 2014.Operations and supply chain management
(pp. 533-535). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Kato and et. al., 2015.Operations management methods and devices thereof in information-
processing systems. U.S. Patent 9,128,704.
Kundu and et. al., 2015. A journey from normative to behavioral operations in supply chain
management: A review using Latent Semantic Analysis. Expert Systems with
Applications.42(2). pp.796-809.
Mahadevan, B., 2015. Operations management: Theory and practice. Pearson Education India.
McCrie, R., 2015. Security operations management. Butterworth-Heinemann.
Prashar, A., 2015. Assessing the flipped classroom in operations management: A pilot study.
Journal of Education for Business.90(3). pp.126-138.
Smith, L., Maull, R. and CL Ng, I., 2014. Servitization and operations management: a service
dominant-logic approach. International Journal of Operations & Production
Management.34(2). pp.242-269.
Swink and et. al., 2017. Managing operations across the supply chain. New York, NY:
McGraw-Hill Education.
Walker and et. al., 2015. Theoretical perspectives in operations management: an analysis of the
literature. International Journal of Operations & Production Management.35(8).
pp.1182-1206.
Online
ASTON MARTIN - THE COMPANY. 2018. [Online]. Available
through<https://www.astonmartin.com/en/archived-content/media-centre/company/>.
ASTON MARTIN DELIVERS RECORD SALES GROWTH IN 2017. 2018. [Online]. Available
through<https://www.astonmartin.com/en/live/news/2018/01/04/aston-martin-delivers-
record-sales-growth-in-2017/>.
ASTON MARTIN MOVING AWAY FROM TRADITIONAL VEHICLE SEGMENT. 2018.
[Online]. Available through<https://www.caradvice.com.au/427416/aston-martin-
moving-away-from-traditional-vehicle-segmentation/>.
Automotive: Aerodynamic Efficiency. 2018. [Online]. Available
through<https://exa.com/en/industry/automotive/aerodynamics/design-efficiency/>.
10