Operations and Project Management: Project Life Cycle Analysis

This project report delves into the core principles of operations and project management, exploring their practical applications within an organizational context. The report begins by critiquing the implementation of operations management principles, including Six Sigma and Lean manufacturing, within Samworth Brothers, a food manufacturing company. It then progresses to the development and analysis of a continuous improvement plan, emphasizing the Shewhart Cycle and the application of relevant theories to enhance efficiency. The project further examines project life cycles (PLC), using a case study to evaluate project methodologies, tools, and leadership. The analysis includes a critical review of the PLC's effectiveness, differentiating between large and small-scale projects. The report concludes with an evaluation of the PLC through theoretical and practical exploration, offering valuable insights into effective management strategies for improved organizational performance.

Operations and Project
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
PROJECT 1......................................................................................................................................4
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................4
P1 Critique and review implementation of operations management principles within an
organisational context.................................................................................................................4
M1 Analysis of implementation of operation management in relation to six sigma and lean....6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
P2 Prepare a continuous improvement plan on the basis of review of operations management
principles.....................................................................................................................................7
M2 Analyse the effectiveness of a continuous improvement plan.............................................8
D1 Apply appropriate theories, concepts and/or models to justify strategies of a continuous
improvement plan for achieving improved efficiency................................................................9
PROJECT 2......................................................................................................................................9
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
Case Study.......................................................................................................................................9
Project life cycle with the support of documentation that helps to complete the project...........9
M3 Analyse the rationale for the project methodologies, tools and leadership within the PLC.
...................................................................................................................................................11
P4 Review and critique the effectiveness of the PLC in application to the chosen project using
appropriate theories, concepts and models................................................................................11
M4 Critically analyse how the use of appropriate theories, concepts and models in the PLC
will differentiate between large and small-scale projects.........................................................12
D2 Critically evaluate the PLC through a practical and theoretical exploration of its
effectiveness..............................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................12
REFERNCES:................................................................................................................................14
Books and Journals:..................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Activities in which a company can engage on a daily basis are known as operation. Every
organisation performs some activities in the organisation so that they can provide something to
their customers. Their success and growth depends on the quality of activities that they perform
in the organisation. It is very important for organisation that their operations should be properly
managed so that they can achieve their goals and objectives. They perform activities in order to
generate profits and revenues (Bottani and et. al., 2019). Activities include manufacturing,
accounting, marketing, etc. all these activities are done on daily basis. It is very important for
organisation that these functions should be perform in an appropriate way so that they can run
their business very well. In this context, Samworth Brothers is the firm that deals in
manufacturing of food products in which it include production of chilled and ambient foods. This
firm is undertake to complete the project one. They serve their food product in their own label
so that their firms' name recognition get rise day by day. This report covers the theories and
practice of operation management in order to accomplish the organisational goals.
MAIN BODY
PROJECT 1
TASK 1
P1 Critique and review implementation of operations management principles within an
organisational context.
Operation is the daily activity that perform by a company and it should be manage
properly so that organisation can achieve their goals and objectives. Samworth Brothers
manufacturing chilled and ambient foods product so this activity they perform on the daily basis
which should be managed (Maqueira Marín and et. al., 2017). For a manufacturing company
their regular activities is to convert raw material into finished goods. For performing this
operation, they need to make sure that there operation process is in a smooth path so that no issue
can occur. It is very crucial for organisation that they use operation management techniques in
order to accomplish their goals and objectives. Operation management is concerned with
planning, organising and supervising all functions that are performed during the process of
conversion of raw material into finished one's. It administered business practice so that they can

reduce the overall cost and maximize their profits. Operation management is performed by
operation manager of Samworth Brothers in which they should be applied in order to achieve
their desired goals. Some principles are mentioned below:
 It is very important for operation manager that they should be focus on problems because
they are not a single technique that provide solution (El Demerdash, 2017). So that's why
they need not to focus on techniques, they should firstly analyse problems in order to find
the solution.
 Operation manager of Samworth Brothers must know about their basic fundamentals
because it is the key of growth and success.
 They always make sure that their employees morale should be enhanced so that they get
higher efficiency and productivity.
Apart from above principles it is recommended to the organisation that they should use
some theories which gives idea to the organisation so that they can understand the importance of
operation management. There are some theories of operation management given below:
Six Sigma
Six sigma is the tool or method that helps Samworth Brothers to improve capacity and
capabilities of business process. With the help of six sigma, it increase overall performance of
employees in order to reduce the defects in their products (Carvalho, Sampaio and Rebentisch,
2019). They do this because they want to increase their profits. It is very important for
organisation that they should perform activities in such a way so that they reduce the extra cost.
It is very important for organisation that they should take an corrective action in order to
generate more and more profits. In this process they are also give focus on increasing their
morale so that they can give their best and higher efficiency.

Six sigma focuses on reduction of variations that occur in the process of converting raw
materials into finished goods. It is very crucial for organisation that they increase the employees'
performance with the help of morale.
Lean & Agile Manufacturing
It is a very effective approach in which Samworth Brothers focuses on decreasing of cost
so that they can meet the customers demands with affordable prices. The main purpose of this
approach is to reduce the overall cost wisely so that they can promptly shift the demand curve of
customers. It can be possible when Samworth Brothers efficiently purchase their raw materials
so that they can reduce the cost of production (Zhao and et. al., 2020). They also use effective
methods of delivering their products such as technology so that it will manage all activities.
Samworth Brothers gains agility when they use technology so that all data system related to
marketing, design, sales and production. Lean and agile both are different but if organisation can
use both techniques then they can achieve their goals easily. Lean is concerned with reduction of
cost, whereas agile is more concerned with use of resources very intelligently so that desired
result can easily achieve them.
M1 Analysis of implementation of operation management in relation to six sigma and lean.
It is analysed that lean and six sigma both are very useful for organisation as they can
achieve their goals efficiently and effectively. It is necessary for organisation that they should
implement them in an appropriate manner so that their effect gives the same result that they are

expected. With the use of lean and six sigma operation process becomes so smoothly and it takes
less time as compare to previous one.
TASK 2
P2 Prepare a continuous improvement plan on the basis of review of operations management
principles.
It is very important for organisation that they should take a step in order to continuous
improvement in operations of organisation. There are many benefits if Samworth Brothers
focuses on continuous improvement in the process of conversion of raw into finished one. It is
identified that they produce chilled and ambient foods which needs a process but it is very
necessary for them that all machinery should be good at that time so that process will not stop. It
is analysed that for that purpose they need to make a continuous improvement plan (Yanfeng,
2019). In their plan, they are focusing on continuous improving all the equipments and process.
With help of continuous improvement process employees are enable to perform their duty very
well so that company can achieve their goals and objectives. Continuous improvement process
has certain steps that comes under in Shewhart Cycle. It includes Act, Plan, Do, Study in an
appropriate way. Continuous improvement process helps in providing a common methodology
and language so that every member of organisation can understand them easily. It should be
always make sure that it is linked with organisation' goals and objectives. It has six steps that are
mentioned below:
Identification of improvement opportunity
It is the first step in which Samworth Brothers needs to find out the opportunity in which
they can make some changes or modification so that they can achieve their desired goals. In this

step, they need to find out the factors in which company think that it needs some improvement so
that they will give bets results (Mangla and et. al., 2019). Moreover to this, they need to select
the best process for improvement that can be done with the help of evaluation of process and
select a problem.
Analyse
It is the next step in which Samworth Brothers identify the actual cause of arising
problem in the operation process. They actually find the root cause of that process. For example,
it is identify that company produces many more defective products then they should be identify
that why it occurs. They find that machinery is the root cause of defective products.
Take Action
After analysis of finding the root cause now it is a turn of organisation that they should
take necessary corrective actions so that they can make the solutions (Gill, 2017). For that
purpose Samworth Brothers make a plan that they implement in an appropriate way so that they
can give solution.
Study Results
Now it is the situation in which they are studying the actions that they previously taken in
the last step. It is very important for organisation that they should know the actions that are taken
by them in order to solve their problem (GERGİN and et. al., 2017). They should be confirm that
their actions are linked with their objectives and targets.
Standardize Solution
It is the step in which they are making sure that employees' performance should be
maintained so that improvement process become effective. Samworth Brothers concerned with
the improved level of performance because they want to be maintain them in their organisation.
Plan for future
Last but not least step in which company should make sure that they make plan for
remaining problems (Manna, Goswami and Chattopadhyay, 2017). And they also set some
targets for members of organisation so that they can perform accordingly.
M2 Analyse the effectiveness of a continuous improvement plan.
It is analysed that CIP gives a benefit to the organisation as they can achieve their goals
easily. It is essential for organisation that they should take a action for making the process

effective. CIP can become more effective with the help of Shewhart Cycle. This cycle gives a
structure for the implementation of CIP.
D1 Apply appropriate theories, concepts and/or models to justify strategies of a continuous
improvement plan for achieving improved efficiency.
CIP become more effective if organisation use some important models, concepts or
theories. With the help of Shewhart Cycle they can achieve their goals with great efficiency. It is
recommended to the organisation that they can also use some more other strategies so that they
can achieve improved efficiency (Sowoidnich, 2019). It is suggested that company should make
their plan with flexibility so that if any uncertain things happened then it will be modified.
PROJECT 2
TASK 3
Case Study
Project life cycle with the support of documentation that helps to complete the project.
It is the case study of an organisation which is large in size as it has 1250 employees that
based in Midlands. This organisation has many office and factory that has some projects which
have some objectives (ZOTA, 2017). It should be accomplished with the use of appropriate
tools. It is very important for organisation that they should perform actions in order to
accomplish their business objectives.
Objective of business
 To reduce the movement of staff in order to reduce congestions issues in local areas.
 To develop a healthy life style of staff and reduce absenteeism as it is the part of CSR.
It is identified that the project that are undertaken is to be complete on time. It can be
possible only when they follow project life cycle and take a review of ongoing project. It assist
them to give the real position if their project. Project life cycle is very necessary to accomplish
this goals as it gives ideas to the organisation. Project life cycle gives a position of ongoing
project that can be understand with their stages. A brief discussion of different stages of project
life cycle:
Project initiation

It is the first stage in which organisation need to understand the objectives and goals so
that every person can act accordingly. It is very important for company that they should take
action as per the objectives and goals. There are some important things that should be considered
in this stage which are mentioned below:
 Outlining all project risk so that they can make plans accordingly. It is very important for
organisation that they have all knowledge of possibility of risks (Lee and et. al., 2019).
 They also establish project scope in which they decide that the project deadlines,
available resources, etc.
 They also make sure that organisation make a project proposal in which they include all
things according to the expectation.
Project planning
It is the stage in which organisation need to translate proposal into actionable task which
requires a roadmap. Company make a plan so that they can accomplish the desired goals which
includes short term as well as long term goals. For achievement of desired goals they required
some documentation so that they can understand that. It is very important for organisation that
they should make a business case that gives a written justification that why this project is
undertaken for completing them. It can be more understand with the help of business case of
Bowmer and Kirkland. Business case is very beneficial as it includes cost, benefits, risk
alternative options, etc. A brief business case is given below which shows the project highlights:
Business Case
Executive summary Bowmer and Kirkland is the organisation that perform construction
services. They have to make many projects so that they can grow their
business in order to achieve their mission and vision (Salem, Kieffer and
Mancini, 2018). It is the company that builds many important projects
such as St George's Park National Football Centre in Staffordshire
which was completed in 2012.
Business
description/mission
statement
Their main vision is to become the leader of construction businesses.
They can accomplish their vision with the help of short term goals and
long term goals. They are focusing on reduction of staff movement and
reduce absenteeism with the help of making a healthy life style of their

employees.
Product or service They provide construction services to the customer with their innovative
skills and design architecture.
Marketing strategy They used marketing mix as a tool so that they can formulate best
marketing strategy so that they can promote their services in the market.
Competitors
analysis
Competitors analysis is very important for organisation because if they
find that competition is high then it become a very difficult situation for
organisation that how they can deal with them. It is found that they have
less competition in this business because it requires lot of money to
establish this business.
Operations overview Their operations are smooth which assist them to complete the task
within time. It is very important for organization that they should make
their operations effective so that they can formulate nice projects.
Financial plan In their project, finance plays a major role as it requires at a very high
range for accomplishment of projects. They have to allocate a pool of
money so that they can purchase lands and make a building, they
arrange money from their bank loans, borrowings, etc.
Project execution
It is the stage in which organisation need to execute the project as per the appropriate
strategy so that they can achieve their desired goals. It is crucial for company that they execute
the project as they planned which assist them to accomplish the goals.
Project closure
It is the stage in which company need to close the project within deadline so that they can
make profits. Every project has certain deadlines and within that they should complete that.
M3 Analyse the rationale for the project methodologies, tools and leadership within the PLC.
It is analysed that the objective of project is to reduce the staff movements so that it will
not create any disturbance. This objective can be accomplish with the help of PLC. PLC makes

the process easy and help them to achieve the goals. Business case is the documentation in which
all things are mentioned which assist them to accomplishment of goals and objectives.
P4 Review and critique the effectiveness of the PLC in application to the chosen project using
appropriate theories, concepts and models.
PLC should be effective if organisation want that result which they are expected from
one. For effectiveness of project life cycle, it needs a model that helps them to effectively
achieve their goal. Critical path analysis is very helpful model as it analyse the path so that
every pros and cons can understand to analyse the real position. This model is selected when
project activities entered into a network diagram (Shiver and Eitel, 2017). It shows the project
time so that performer get alert. In simple terms, when team takes longer time as expected one
then critical path analysis model helps them to alert that they are taking long time. It also helps
them to identify the issues which increases the time and strategies so that issues can be
overcome. It is very important for organisation that they use this model because it gives many
benefits that are mentioned below:
 It shows the project in a graphical view so that every member can easily understand that.
 It really beneficial as it assist in saving time and reduction in timeliness.
 It really assist in comparison with planned with actual one (Chan and et. al., 2017).
 It helps to identify the priority tasks so that they can easily manage.
Effectiveness of PLC decide the success and growth of business. It is very important for
organisation that they should apply all important tools so in order to effective project.
M4 Critically analyse how the use of appropriate theories, concepts and models in the PLC will
differentiate between large and small-scale projects.
It is analysed that appropriate models helps in PLC for determining large and small scale
projects. It is very important for organisation that they should about their small and long term
goals so that they can priorities them accordingly. For that purpose models becomes very helpful
such as Critical Path Analysis.
D2 Critically evaluate the PLC through a practical and theoretical exploration of its
effectiveness.
Effectiveness of PLC is very important as it assist in achievement of organisational goals
and objectives. Effectiveness can be enhanced with the help of Critical Path Analysis. It is the

model that assist in increasing efficiency and effectiveness. An organisation an achieve
efficiency in their PLC with the use of this model.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded that operations is a daily activity that perform by an organisation in order
to accomplish their goals and objectives. It is very important organisation that they should make
their operations effective. It can be become effective with the use of operation management.
Operation management is necessary to implement in the company which manages all operations.
It reduces cost and boosting morale of employees. It also cover PLC which gives the brief
discussion of stages in project.