Operations and Project Management Report: ASDA and Thermotec Plastics

This report provides a comprehensive overview of operations and project management principles, with a focus on case studies of ASDA and Thermotec Plastics Ltd. It begins with an introduction to ASDA, a British retail supermarket, and explores the core differences between operations and operations management. The report then delves into the critique and review of the implementation of operations management principles, analyzing ASDA's strategies for business expansion. It further examines how operations management meets organizational requirements and describes lean principles, including defining value, mapping value streams, creating flow, establishing pull, and pursuing perfection, to enhance efficiency. A continuous improvement plan, based on the PDCA model, is presented to improve operations functions. The report also explores project management through a case study of Thermotec Plastics Ltd., discussing the project life cycle and its application. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of continuous improvement in achieving business goals.

Operations
and
Project
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
1. An introduction to chosen organisation..................................................................................1
2. Operation vs Operations management....................................................................................1
3. Critique and review of implementation of operation management principles.......................2
4. Analyse extent to which operations management of an organisation meets the requirement.
.....................................................................................................................................................3
5. Continuous improvement as a philosophy by describing lean principles...............................3
6. Build a continuous improvement plan after reviewing and critique of operation
management principles................................................................................................................4
7. By using continuous improvement principles and recommend to improve the operations
functions......................................................................................................................................5
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................6
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................6
1. An overview of the case study................................................................................................6
2. A description of PLC and explanation of each stage..............................................................6
3. How each stage of PLC applies to project by supporting documents.....................................7
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFRENCES ................................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Operation management refers to work conduct in order to convert material as well as
labour into effective goods and services which helps a firm in maximizing its profitability ratio
and market shares (Krajewski, Ritzman and Malhotra, 2013). Project management refers to
activities such as initiating, executing, planning, controlling and so on which help company in
attaining its target. Organization taken in this assignment is ASDA which is founded by Peter
and Fred Asquith and Sir Noel Stockdale in year 1949. They are operating their business at retail
industry. Topics covered in this assignment are information about company, diverse operational
management principle, operation management required to meet requirement. Along with this it
will also include description of lean principle and continuous improvement plan for attaining
goal.
MAIN BODY
1. An introduction to chosen organisation.
Organisation selected for this assignment is ASDA that is a British retail supermarket
which is founded in year 1949 by Peter and Fred Asquith and Sir Noel Stockdale. Its headquarter
is situated at ASDA House, South Bank, West Yorkshire, England. Products offers by respective
company are general merchandise, grocery, financial services. There are approx 1,65,000
employees are working in respective company. They are also operating its subsidiaries such as
ASDA Mobile and ASDA Money. The respective company have near by 25 supply chain store
which is situated at United Kingdom where they depots various products like clothings, food,
ambient products and many more.
2. Operation vs Operations management
In an organization both operation and operation management are essential because
through this all employees able to conduct their work in proper way which help company in
achieving their target for maximizing profitability ratio as well as market shares. Operations
refers to activities which is used to transform data and resources into appropriate outcome which
can be products and services (Harrison and Lock, 2017). It is consist of major four categories i.e.
processing, inspection, transport and storage. Whereas operation management refers to area of
management which focuses on designing as well as controlling of the production procedure in
order to develop proper products and services.
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3. Critique and review of implementation of operation management principles
Case study: ASDA management is planning to expand its business at Sri Lanka with
their existing offering. In order to this they are conducting effective marketing as well as
promotional activities which help them in attracting more and more customers. This will leads to
enhancement in customer's base and profitability ratio in effective manner. For which they
conduct analysis of organisation management benefits which help them in attaining their
requirement in effective manner.
Operation management principles refers to values or guideline which must be followed
by an organization when they adopt operation management at their workplace. There are
generally ten type of principles which are used by a firm i.e. Reality, Organisation,
Fundamentals, Accountability, Variance, Causality, Managed Passion, Humility, Success and
changes (Morris, 2013). From which some major of them are explain below:-
 Reality: According to this an organization must focuses on their problems or issues
alternatively of techniques. This is so because tool cannot solve or provide any solution,
it must be developed by management. In respect of ASDA, their management must
analysis situation in order to identify issues and accordingly they need to develop
strategies or plan. In order to expand business respective company will develop
strategies in order to expand business in respective place in effective manner.
 Organisation: In respect of this principle all procedures of manufacturing are interrelate
and it is necessary that all elements must be predictable as well as consistent so that
company able to attain effective outcome. In context of ASDA their management must
conduct evaluation procedure so that they conduct their work properly and obtain
effective outcome i.e. profit maximization. According to case study respective company
will develop and maintain effective working environment due to which all staffs conduct
work properly and with interrelation.
 Accountability: In an organisation it is necessary that manager must delegate role and
responsibility to employees so that they conduct their work in effective manner. Along
with this they also need to develop rules and regulation that leads to conducting of
activities in proper way (Van and Martinez, 2012). In ASDA employer must effectively
communicate rules and regulation to employees so that they conduct their work in proper
manner as well as they all are accountable for their conducting activities. Along with this
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in order to attain objective respective company will allocate role to all employees so that
they conduct their work properly.
4. Analyse extent to which operations management of an organisation meets the requirement.
ASDA develop standard by using organisation management principle which help them in
attaining their goal of expanding business at Sri Lanka market. For which they they adopt major
three principles so that they effectively attain target. After this they conduct evaluation by which
they able to understand effectiveness of their capabilities to attain their goal. Capabilities of a
firm in order to attain objective are the respective company have effective research and
development department which help them in identifying which promotional activities is most
effective. Along with this they can also respective company have strong brand awareness that
help them attracting more customers as well as they also have huge financial power which help
in establishing effective business.
5. Continuous improvement as a philosophy by describing lean principles.
Lean Principles basically follows core idea that is maximisation of customer value by
minimizing waste generated while manufacturing products and service. It simply help an
organisation in creating more value for customers needs with fewer available resources. This
primarily is a tool that assist in identification and elimination of waste generated (Weglarz,
2012). Thereafter waste is eliminated which helps in improving time of production and final cost
is reduced. Asda currently try to adopt principle of lean. This will help company in reducing
costs of production and improve time so that company can expand its business operations in Sri
Lanka.
The five principles that can help to improve the efficiency of Lean manufacturing are:
 Define Value: Value basically defines customer's need for a specific product. It is final
product for which customer is ready to pay for. In some cases customers themselves are
unable to understand their needs. Further company can use techniques such as interviews,
surveys etc. to understand customers requirements (Rowbotham, Azhashemi and
Galloway, 2012). Therefore, Asda should try their best to understand needs and
requirements of people living in Sri Lanka to expand its business.
 Map Value Stream: Once the end goals are determined by company mapping value
streaming is done. Asda should try understanding activities that contribute to add value.
Furthermore the elimination of unnecessary waste should be done, which will ensure
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Asda to exactly understand needs of customers living in Sri Lanka. This can help
company to successfully establish itself in Sri Lanka.
 Create Flow: Once waste is eliminated from value stream, next step is to make sure that
remaining process is smoothly followed (Heldman, 2018). However Asda should ensure
that value adding should follow smoothly to satisfy customer. This should help Asda
gaining productivity in Sri Lanka with efficiency.
 Establish Pull: Goal under this step is to limit inventory and work in process. This helps
companies in delivering products in “just in time”. This means Asda can pull product
according to customers wants and expand itself.
 Pursuit Perfection: This is the most important step of lean principles in which constant
efforts are made to make process successful. Therefore Asda should follow each step
with efficiency so that company can easily expand its business operations in Sri Lanka.
6. Build a continuous improvement plan after reviewing and critique of operation management
principles.
Continuous improvement plan: It refers to combination of activities which are designed
in order to develop as well as improve products, services and process of an organization by
conducting review, action and measurement (Morris, Pinto and Söderlund, 2012). By adopting
this a firm able to create appropriate products as well as services for its potential customers that
help in attainment of goal and objective. In respect of ASDA they develop continuous
improvement plan which will help them in expanding their business at Sri Lanka in effective
way. For this they are adopting PDCA model which is explain below:-
Plan Do Check Act
Train employees Through this
employees of ADSA
able to conduct their
work in effective
manner that leads to
attainment of goal and
objective. For this
respective company
For this they may hire
or arrange training
program for employees
through which they
able to conduct their
work in proper manner
for attracting market
by adopting effective
Through this
respective company
able to expand ability
of employees that help
them in accomplishing
work and attaining
target in effective
manner.
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will use reality
principles of
operational
management.
promotional activities.
After sales services It is one of the
important factor which
is essential for a firm
because through it
they able to attract
more customers as
well as they also able
to retain them for a
long time duration. In
respect of this
operational
management
principles which is
adopted is
accountability.
In order to check
effectiveness of after
sales services this
company can develop
standard which help
them in comparing
their actual
performance and
standard performance
(Morris, 2013). This
will help them in
providing effective
customers services.
By adopting this
ASDA able to analysis
situation and take
corrective actions
accordingly which
help in providing
effective customers
services after sales.
7. By using continuous improvement principles and recommend to improve the operations
functions
In an organization continuous improvement principles helps in attaining goal because
through it company able to develop proper strategies and plan which leads to attainment of goal
target. In respect to this it can be recommended to ASDA to that they must measurement
principles so that they can measure performance of employees and compare it with benchmarks
which they develop (Brown and Bessant, 2013). Along with this, it can also be recommended
that company also need to adopt accountability principles according to which they need to
delegate authority to all employees because by it they feel connected as well as conduct work in
effective manner.
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INTRODUCTION
For an organisational conducting operations and project management in essential because
through it they able to conduct their work in effective manner that leads to attainment of goal as
well as objective (Drohomeretski, Gouvea and Garbuio, 2014). Organization on which respective
assignment is based on Thermotec Plastics Ltd. Which is established in year 1968. They
generally manufacture various size of Vacuum Forming as well as assemblies in ABS,
Polypropylene, polycarbonate, HDPE and many more (Thermotecplastics, 2016). Products
developed by respective company are rigid, sustainable and conventional. Topics covered in this
report are description of project life cycle and its effectiveness of every stage.
MAIN BODY
1. An overview of the case study
Case Study: Thermotec Plastics Ltd. Management are developing objective which they
want to attain in up coming year. Those target are they want to reduce movement of employees
form office premises at the time of lunch because it is developing issues to local area peoples.
Along with this they are also want to encourage their employees for developing healthy life style
as well as they also want to reduce absenteeism of staffs. So in order to attain this objective they
adopt project life cycle analysis. That help them in conducting they work in effective manner
which leads to attainment of target properly.
2. A description of PLC and explanation of each stage
Project Life Cycle defined as a procedure which have four stages which are adopted by
project manger of a firm in order to attain its objective and accomplishment of project in
effective manner. In respect of Thermotec Plastics Ltd they adopt respective cycle so that they
can attain their objective in effective way, explanation of these stages are mention below:-
 Project initiation: At this stage manager of a company get an idea or they find issues
which is occurred at a workplace. For this they conduct evaluation as well as analysis of
workplace situation (Han, Saba and Peña, 2014). In respect of Thermotec Plastics Ltd,
their manager will conduct analysis of workplace condition so that they able to identify
whether they need to conduct improvement. Through this they find out that they need to
develop safety situation for staffs, along with this they also need to reduce movement of
employees at lunch time.
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 Project planning: At this stage manager of a firm will conduct planning so that they able
to attain their objective in effective and appropriate manner. For conducting planning
they will analysis situation and then develop plans which help them in attainment of
objective in effective way. In respect of Thermotec Plastics Ltd their manager will
evaluate objective so that they can develop strategies as well as plans which help them in
attaining objective which leads to employees motivation and effective working condition.
 Project Execution: According to this stage manager of a firm will execute plan which
they develop for attaining goal as well as objective. In respect of Thermotec Plastics Ltd
their manager execute the plan which they develop for attaining their objective which
they develop (Wong and Wong, 2014). For which construct huge cafeteria where
employees can do their lunch as well as they also develop training related to safety and
healthy leaving which motivate employees. They also execute some activities and rules in
order to reduce absenteeism at respective work place.
 Project closure: It is a last stage of project life cycle at which company member get
disperse after completion of project. Along with this staffs get new work or task to
conduct with new objective which help company in gaining profitability as well as
maintaining effective working situation.
3. How each stage of PLC applies to project by supporting documents.
In order to adopt Project life cycle an organisation required to analysis various documents
that leads to attainment of goal effectively. PLC is consist of four stages which contain its own
objective which help company in fulfilling their objective in effective way. Below some of the
major documents are mentioned which help Thermotec Plastics Ltd. Management in attaining
their objective and enhance their profitability ratio and market shares.
Business case:
It refers to systematic document which contain all necessary information in order to attain
goal (Kavadias, 2014). Through this company able to provide all necessary information to their
customers and employees.
Executive summary:
Thermotec Plastics Ltd. adopt and conduct project life cycle in order to attain their
objective in effective manner. Their objectives are that they want to cut down movement of staffs
form office site during lunch time because through it there is occurrence of issues to local area
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peoples. Along with this another objective is to encourage their employees for developing
healthy life style as well as they also want to reduce absenteeism of staffs. Through this they able
to motivate their employees and encourage them to conduct their work in effective way.
Goal:
The main goal of Thermotec Plastics Ltd. Is to motivate their employees so that they
conduct their work in effective manner which leads to attainment of target in effective way.
Solution:
Solution develop by respective company in order to attain their goal and objective is that
they will construct a new large cafeteria so that employees contain their lunch at particular place
(Morris, Pinto and Söderlund, 2012). Along with this they are also providing training to staffs so
that they conduct their work with full safety.
Cost and Execution time:
Cost incurred in conducting respective project or attaining objective is approx $ 3,750.
Time required to accomplish this project is near by 1 year.
Project plan:
Through this an organization able to evaluate whole factors which are required in order to
attain firm's goal as well as objectives.
Scope:
The scope of this project is that they able to motivate their employees which leads to
attainment of goal in effective manner.
Risk:
Risk which is incurred or faced by Thermotec Plastics Ltd during conducting this project
are budget get exceed, employees not properly coordinating and many more.
Resources:
It is one of the major factor which is required by every company when they are
conducting any project or plan (Krajewski, Ritzman and Malhotra, 2013). In respect of
Thermotec Plastics Ltd resources which are required by them are finance as well as skilled
labour.
Cost benefit analysis:
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It refers to chain of activities which help an organization in analysing situation and then
developing decision according to it in proper way. In respect of respective company they adopt
cost as well as expenditure in order to accomplish their goal and target effectively.
Work break down structure:
It refers by an organisation in which they divide they divide their whole task of activities
into small sections. Through this they able to conduct their work in effective manners. In respect
of Thermotec Plastics Ltd they adopt Work break down structure so that their employees conduct
their work in proper way.
Gantt chart:
This is adopted by a firm because through it they able to conduct various things such as
planning, coordinating, monitoring and so on in effective as well as systematic way which leads
to attainment of goal in effective way (Harrison and Lock, 2017).
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CONCLUSION
By analysing above points it can be summarised that for every organisation management
of operations and project is necessary because through it they able to attain their goal as well as
target. For this an organization can adopt effective organisation management principles that help
in conducting work in proper way. By this they also able to identify company's capabilities
which will help in attainment of target as well as they can also adopt various theories such as
lean principles. This is so because by it they able to attain their objective in effective manner.
After this they can also able to develop continuous improvement plan which help in identifying
plans and objective in attaining goal. A company can also adopt project life cycle for developing
essential plan that will help in attaining of target.
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