Operations and Project Management Analysis for New Product Launch

This report provides a detailed analysis of operations and project management principles, focusing on a case study involving the XYZ company's new product development and market entry. It explores key concepts such as Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing, evaluating their applicability and impact on operational efficiency and waste reduction. The report further examines continuous improvement plans, outlining stages for enhancing product quality and manufacturing processes. It also delves into the project lifecycle, dissecting its phases and strategic importance for successful project delivery. Supporting documents and relevant theories and models are incorporated, comparing large and small-scale projects. The report concludes with an evaluation of different operational management theories, concepts, and models, providing insights into their practical applications and strategic significance for the company's expansion.

Operations and Project
Management

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
ACTIVITY 1 ...................................................................................................................................3
ACTIVITY 2....................................................................................................................................5
ACTIVITY 3....................................................................................................................................7
ACTIVITY 4..................................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Operation management refers to the process of planning, organising and controlling the
operations and routine activities in the most effective and efficient manner. It is concerned with
proper administration of labour, machines and materials for attaining the maximum productivity
and efficiency. Project management is concerned with the systematic process of initiating,
planning, implementing controlling and appropriately ending a specific project for attaining a
specific goal and target in a stipulated time (Akhtar and et.al., 2018) .
The present report is going to discuss about the XYZ company that has decided to enter
into another market for which it is undertaking new product development. The study will include
an analysis of theories and concepts of operations management, a continuous improvement plan
for the organisation. Further, an evaluation of project life cycle will be done along with
necessary supporting documents. Lastly, the report will highlight the appropriateness of different
theories concepts and models that will help in differentiating between large and small-scale
projects.
ACTIVITY 1
P1 & M 1
Operation management is the process of managing the activities of a company in the most
efficient manner. The management has different theories and concept that are discussed below :
Six Sigma : It is an method of improving the process of production in an organisation.
XYZ company could use this methodology for improving its manufacturing process. The
technique helps in eliminating the probability of defects in the products, process or services. It is
data driven technique and uses quality management tools, statistical tools for detecting errors and
removing them. The sigma in the approach represents standard deviation that again represent the
defects in the quality of the product, process or service. One of the model of six sigma is DMAIC
that stands for :
 Define : This aspect states that a project plan must be properly defined such as
defining problems, goals and objectives, strategy for overcoming such issues etc.
 Measure : This phase is concerned with the measurement of the plan and its
feasibility. The data is collected and is analysed for drawing meaningful
information.

 Analyse : The mentioned phase is all about finding the root cause of the problems
stated in the project plan, that is business inefficiency in terms of product quality,
long product life cycle of XYZ company.
 Improve : The phase is concerned with the improvement in the business, its
product or process by identifying the practical solutions for it.
 Control : The purpose of this phase is to monitor and control the executed plan
by finding out the deficiency in the actual performance with the standards set in
plan. Corrective actions are taken if deviations largely variates from what the
XYZ expected.
The method is useful and important because it helps in improving the quality of the
products by detecting them in the manufacturing process. This leads to delivery of better quality
products and services to the customers which makes it as a customer driven approach. If
executed successfully, it would lead to great profitability and cost reduction for XYZ company
(Ferguson and et.al., 2019).
However, implementing six sigma technique is a very complex task, involves cost and
time that less feasible for small-scale organisations. The technique is very rigid as each task has
to be performed in the standardised manner which destroys the creativity and innovation. It also
requires highly skilled workforce for executing the plan as expected and employing this
techniques would consume lots of resources of the XYZ company in planning and introducing
new products in market.
Lean manufacturing : It is a technique of waste minimization within the production of
the organisation. XYZ could employ this methodology for eliminating its waste in the
manufacturing process. It involves designed, manufacturing and distribution in such a way that
helps firms in reducing the waste. Examples of waste are over- production, unnecessary of
movement of man, materials and machines, defects in quality, unneeded transportation etc. There
are different principles of lean manufacturing that are mentioned below:
Value : This principle states that value is build by manufacturer but it is ascertained by
the customers. XYZ needs to determine what its customers assigns value to its Fridge, gas,
washing machines, TV, etc. This would help it in assessing what people are willing to pay for its
products. Organisation can reach to customers willing price by reducing waste and cutting cost
of operations.

Value stream : This principle is concerned with recoding and analysing the information
flow or flow of materials that are needed for producing product or service. This is done for
identifying the potential room for waste upon which improvement methods could be developed.
Flow: Creating a flow by eradicating the functional barriers and hindrances and
ascertaining the methods of improving production cycle for ensuring that production takes place
smoothly and seamlessly. In other words, creating a seamless flow of work and manufacturing
process by preventing and eliminating interruptions (Hazen and et.al., 2018).
Pull : It means XYZ shall consider only those activities for which there is a demand and
must avoid unnecessary overproduction. No materials are purchased by company until there are
demand for product in market.
Perfection : The methodology is based on the idea of continually striving for perfection
in the production process by identifying cause that affects quality and undertaking more effective
methods of reducing the waste.
This methodology is advantageous to XYZ company as by reducing waste of different
types in the manufacturing process it would result into greater productivity, quality products to
customers, cost efficiency and higher profitability.
However, the technique is very costly to implement as it involve entire dismantling
former manufacturing set up. There is lack of skilled professionals and providing training to
them is a lengthy and costly affair. Also, equipment failure would lead to interruption in the
production process that will eventually lead to inconsistencies in the delivery
procedure(D’Ariano and et.al., 2018).
ACTIVITY 2
P 2 & M 2
Operation management is an ongoing process of continuously improving the ways of conducting
operational activities for achieving greater productivity and maximum efficiency.
The management is based on the following principles :
 Organization : This principle requires that in XYZ company, each and every must be
interrelated and perfectly organized for facilitating a smooth flow in the production
process. Absence of such organized culture would result into mess at production area
leading to wastage and development of poor quality products(10 Principles of Operations
Management, 2019).

 Reality : This principle of operation management provides that XYZ needs to emphasis
on problem in general rather than just focusing on specific tools and technique. This is
because a particular tool will not be able to solve entire problem alone (Bretthauer and
Savin, 2018).
 Humility :Managers in XYZ have to carefully employ their techniques and tools as trial
and error procedures are very expensive. This would help the manager and organization
in saving their energy, time and funds that would assist the production process in long
run.
 Success : Different organizations define the success criteria in their production process.
However, the customer satisfaction must be included while defining success criteria. This
is because satisfied and happy customers are the reason of XYZ existence. Loyal
customers helps in achieving long term profitability(Choi, Wallace and Wang, 2018).
 Change : Changes are required for coping with the dynamic business environment.
Changes in the operations are sometimes necessary for making the manufacturing process
more effective and efficient.
 Causality : The general meaning of causality is relationship between cause and effect.
The principles state that for overcoming a problem in the operations permanently, its root
cause or underlying cause have to be cut out as well.
 Collaborating: This involve understanding of the behavior of the customers like what
they are there requirements and what they use. Collaboration of XYZ operations with
customers requirements helps the company in better development of the products and
better assemblage of production activities.
 Competition : Knowing what the rivals are doing and offering in the market is one of the
important principle of operation management. This would help the company in better
formulation of its operational strategies that could assist it in creating a competitive edge
in the market place.
 Quality control : Quality control is the essence of the operation management. Offering
insufficient quality products to the customers results into dissatisfied customers. Thus,
maintaining quality of products is necessary for serving the needs and requirements of the
customers and also helps it in delivering consistent services and products.

Stages of continuous improvement plan
Identification of improvement
opportunity
 Making the production process
cost effective
Analyzing  wastage and long process cycle
time, underutilized capacity
Taking action  Labour costs control by
controlling wastage, optimizing
equipment usage and enhancing
production capacity, reducing
the unnecessary safety stocks.
Studying results  Confirming the actions set for
attaining the targets.
Standardize solution  Setting the standards according
to which the actions are to be
implemented for ensuring the
improvement level is
maintained.
Planning for future  Evaluating the actions taken
like whether reduction in
unnecessary safety stock has
helped in reducing costs of
operations or not.
A continuous improvement plan is a set of actions that are undertaken by the XYZ
company for enhancing the quality of its products, manufacturing process and delivery services.
The plan is prepared by using the principles of operational management (Bretthauer and Savin,
2018). Like application of reality principle which states that problems must be solved by taking
every aspect in consideration. Improvements must be based on the small things and not only on
particular tool or technique. Creating a value to the customers by making products and services

that perfectly meets their demands. This could be done by maintaining skilled and competent
workforce that could contribute significantly in achieving the organisational objective of
maximum satisfaction. Making a mechanism for quality control for ensuring consistency in the
products of the company. This would help the XYZ in improving its products that have the
capability of fulfilling customers expectations. Improvement plan is made by considering the
competitiveness in the market. What its rivals are selling is an important base upon the company
can make its strategies of making itself innovative by taking the advantage of competitors'
weaknesses. Such consideration also helps organisation in knowing what it has to do in its
production process and how it can make its products to outperform the competitors. Causality
principle is also applied for making an effective improvement plan where the cause and effect
relationships of factors creating deficiencies in manufacturing process are assessed and analysed.
These underlying cause are then removed for improving the quality of goods, services and the
process (Machuca, Größler and Morita, 2018).
ACTIVITY 3
P 3 & M 3
Project life cycle
Project life cycle describes the processes that helps companies analyse life of a particular
project fro delivering a successful project. . Every project under taken by of a company goes
through four main phases i.e., initiation, planing exception and closure. This strategy helps
companies to determine the life, completion and especially the portability of the project and how
long the project will take to give returns to business . Project life cycle is a strategic plan to
describes high-level processes for delivering a successful project.

Initiation:
In the initiation phase of the project, identification of the business needs and associated
problem, opportunity are identified. With this brainstorming ways that project team can meet are
developed required to solve, problem, or seize this opportunity. At this stage, the project
managers figure out an objective for project and determines that whether or not the project is
feasible, and identify the major deliverable for the project.
Planning:
Once the project is approved to move forward based on your business case, statement of
work, or project initiation document, you move into the planning phase. In this phase, you break
down the larger project into smaller tasks, build your team, and prepare a schedule for the
completion of assignments. During this phase, you create smaller goals within the larger project,
making sure each is achievable within the time frame. Smaller goals should have a high potential
for success.
Execution:
business approval, developed a plan, and built your team. Now it’s time to get to work. The
execution phase turns your plan into action. The project manager’s job in this phase of the

project management life cycle is to keep work on track, organize team members, manage
timelines, and make sure the work is done according to the original plan.
Closure:
Once project team has completed work on a project, the project enter the closure phase.
In the closure phase, team provide final deliverable, release project resources, and determine the
success of the project. With completion of project work the project manager’s job is not done,
there are still important things to do, including evaluating what did and did not work with the
project.

 Product development: This is the first stage of product life cycle it also known
as “ the valley of death”. This is an initial stage where complete research and
development for a product is done before it can be launched in the market. Cost
associated with the product are high at this stage with no profit in return. This
stage is highly risky due to the cost attached with the development of product
which leads to lower funding(Stark, 2015).
 Introduction stage: This is a stage where product is introduced for the first time
in the market. Cost associated at this stage are really high as company launch
various promotional activities to make people aware about the product. The
market for product is not competitive as people are not aware about the product.
At this stage, sales volume are low which lead to little or no profits.
 Growth stage: This is a stage where people are aware about the product which
leads to rapid increase in growth sales volume and company benefits from
economies of scale as there is reduction in cost and increase in profit. At this
Illustration 1: product life cycle
Source: Marketing Management - Product Life Cycle, 2019

stage, competition arise by launching more attractive and innovative product
which leads to lowering price of the product to maintain competitive edge in the
market. Demand for the product is increasing which leads to higher market share
with increased revenue an sales.
 Maturity stage: This is a stage where product remain for the longer period of
time. Cost of the product decline due to increase volume in sales. Price of the
product drop due to competitive products. Company needs to improve or modify
the product to maintain a competitive edge in the market. Company maintain its
market share due its unique brand identification. At this stage, profits of the
company goes down as product has reached the saturation point of market which
lead to slight decrease in demand for product.
 Decline stage: This is the last stage of product life cycle. Profit and sales of the
product tends to decrease in the market due to increase in competition and change
in preference of consumers. This is a stage where product has reached its market
saturation which leads to lower demand for the product. This is a stage where
demand for the existence product comes to end and there is a need to strategize
and introduce improved product in the market.
Necessary documents
Task
Mode Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessor
s
Auto
Schedule
d
Initiating 12 days Wed 06-03-19 Thu 21-03-19
Auto
Scheduled Idea generation 7 days Wed 06-03-19 Thu 14-03-19
Auto
Scheduled
Discussions &
Communication 5 days Fri 15-03-19 Thu 21-03-19 2
Auto
Scheduled Market survey 3 days Fri 15-03-19 Tue 19-03-19 2
Auto Planning 12 days Fri 22-03-19 Mon 08-04-19 1,3