Operations and Project Management: Corus Steel Case Study Report

This report examines the operations and project management practices within Corus Steel, a part of TATA Steel. It begins by defining operational and project management, then explores the implementation of operational management principles, including reality, fundamentals, accountability, success, and variance. The report then delves into operational management theories, specifically Six Sigma and Lean principles, evaluating their application within Corus Steel. It presents a continuous improvement plan, analyzing the plan-do-check-act cycle. Furthermore, the report applies the Project Life Cycle (PLC) to a railway infrastructure project in Europe, including initiation, planning, execution, and monitoring phases. The report includes a Gantt chart analysis and concludes with a critical analysis of the PLC methodology used throughout the project, offering insights into its effectiveness.

OPERATIONS AND
PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
PART-1............................................................................................................................................3
LO1..................................................................................................................................................3
P1 Operation management principles and their critical implementation.....................................3
M1 Operation management theories ...........................................................................................4
P2 Continuous improvement plan and critical evaluation of operations management principles
......................................................................................................................................................5
PART-2............................................................................................................................................6
P3 PLC application into the railway infrastructure project in Europe.........................................6
Gantt Chart Analysis....................................................................................................................9
P4 Critical analysis of the PLC methodology used while completing the project.....................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
The operation management is an administration in the particular business activity so that it can
create maximum level of efficiency in various operations of organization. The operational
activities are concern with converting raw material and labour into goods and services in a highly
efficient manner that it can generate maximum profit in organization. Project management is
defined as methods and skills which are used to achieve the project objective. Corus steel is a
part of TATA steel in European market (Shou and et. al., 2020). This report will evaluate the
review the implementation of operation management principles in the Corus organization. The
operation management is done with the model of six sigma methodology and lean principles
models. Further, determine the continuous improvement plan which based on the review.
Application of suitable theories, concept and models which are helping to improve the efficiency
of Corus steel (Khodakova And et. al., 2020).
MAIN BODY
PART-1
LO1
P1 Operation management principles and their critical implementation
The operational management and its principles are administration of those activities which are
they are using the materials and required labour in a way that they can obtain maximum
effectiveness in making use of that (Dubrovskiy and et. al., 2017). The operational management
process involves various materials, technologies and labour for the production work which give
comparative advantage to the company. Operation management have different principles that are
applied by Corus steel manager in its work to improve the efficiency to produce the goods.
Reality
The manager of Corus should focus on the problems which are currently existing in the company
nor on the techniques that are applied for better production. The manager should know that for
improvement of its efficiency there is no specific tool that provide clear solution.
Fundamentals
In this principle the manager of Corus will know the way to comply together all the necessary
fundamentals as the fundamentals of Corus steel is main elements for success of the company.
The fundamentals include efficiency related to task that are performed in the company so that

they can achieve desirable goal (Malosio and et. al., 2017). If the company is doing its
fundamental activity properly than the resources are used efficiently.
Accountability
Operation principle of accountability is to set rules and particular metrics, with the help of this
principle the manager evaluate the objectives that have to be achieved by Corus. The manager of
Corus Steel is regularly monitored the employees that they are following the rules and meeting
their responsibility or not.
Success
The manger of Corus steel should explain to its employees regarding what they used to consider
as successful, so the employees in the company are clear and have their parameters to work with
to achieve group goal collectively. As corus is sub brand of TATA steel, so they have their
particular consideration for success. They are trying to communicate their goal and objectives to
get their success with the people of company (Sreedharan and Sunder M, 2018).
Variance
The variance in the productivity or more than predicted production is encouraged, if the manager
of Corus steel will encourage its worker to use the resource efficiently and effectively than they
are change to improve the organization production efficiency.
M1 Operation management theories
As the operation management is a process to improve the overall efficiency of organization so
the operational management have theories to improve efficiency.
Six Sigma
This approach of operation management leads to improvement of quality of operation
management by eliminating defects and errors and minimizing the required time for performing
management activities which will save the time. The six sigma approach is use effectively in
engineering and manufacturing companies and this approach is helpful in Corus steel as the
company is a manufacturing company (Sartal, Martinez-Senra and Cruz-Machado, 2018). Yet the
approach is value as it can also be used by other sectors companies. The six sigma is generally
takes higher budget to implement but the corus steel is making its use very effectively and
improving the efficiency and production as well. The process is helpful to as it track the record
of adding the values and check for required quality in the products, it is also applied in corus to

improve its supply chain and help to improve the efficiency with customer satisfaction in the
market. The approach can be implemented in different categories within business of Corus steel.
Six sigma will improve the profitability and try to reduce the cost of production in the process.
The process includes define the problem or the part that has to be improved after that corus have
to measure or collect the data after which the analysis process is done of the collected data.
Corus steel have to improve or resolve the problem and then control for the same.
As the approach lead to analysis the business process in every stage which make a large
amount of data and consume lots of time in it as it is comparative complex procedure. The Corus
will improve its quality but it will lead to huge expense for the company. Corus steel is
implementing the approach policy, but they are forgotten the mission statements.
Lean principle
The management is process of optimum utilizing the people, their efforts, resources and energy
of the organization which is used to creating the value to its customers. The lean principle is
continued developing and respect to its customers. Corus steel is using this approach to satisfy
its customer by building value for them. The lean methodology used outside of Corus steel in the
software development. The lean principles have their process to improve the value of its
customers. Firstly the company will identify the available opportunity that the having by the
company than the Corus will plan to improve the process through creative and innovative
thinking (Altmiller, 2020). Further the manager of corus will evaluate the need to implementation
of changes. Then the manager review the changes that are implemented in the corus and how
they will work.
P2 Continuous improvement plan and critical evaluation of operations management principles
The plan is also known as continual improvement plan, the corus can improve its efficiency with
the approach. In this tool the having four steps to assure the total method.
Plan : In this plan the corus will continue plan to improve the product and make effective plan
for the same. Firstly they try to identify the opportunity for the corus in which the company is
lacking behind in the market (Carstensen and Vinter, 2017).
Do : firstly to check the developed plan is efficient the manager try to implement the change in a
small scale by this they will get to know whether the implemented plan is fair to the situation and
effective or not. After implement on a small-scale the plan is implemented widly.

Check: It is stage in which manager of corus ensure that all activities have been performed as
per set standard so that maximum benefits can be enjoyed by company. Manager has make use
of information technology in order to records performance of individual employees so that
corrective action can be taken for achievement of end goals. It has set standard objectives that
company need to achieve during particular year and find alternative method that could be used to
improve the performance of organisation. Therefore, manager through analysing data related to
actual performance of employee's is able to planned better strategies that could be fruitful in
achievement of end goals.
Act: This is last stage of improvement plan in which manager estimated that whether change is
successfully implemented or not. Thus, if it is implemented successfully then it is promoted
wider scope for getting maximum outcome. Manager of Corus by understanding that the change
it brought for making operations effective then it began life cycle again so that company can
enjoy more profitability and market share. It by making use of different approached of operations
management such as lean and six sigma is able to make optimum utilisation of resources and
able to delivered maximum value to customer’s.
PART-2
P3 PLC application into the railway infrastructure project in Europe
A project-life cycle is a process in which a project goes through from when the project
was at the start introduced into the marketplace until it diminishes and finally either succeed or
removed from the market. It is basically a series of activities that are necessary to complete the
project objectives and final targets (Santos , 2020). Projects will be classified on the basis of their
criticality levels and different dimensions but project size never matters in such cases. The life
cycle of project management can be classified into four phases i.e. Initiation phase, Planning
phase, Execution phase and Monitoring, controlling and closing phase. These phases create the
paths that takes the projects from the beginning to the end.
 Initiation Phase
In this phase, one can start its project by defining its objectives, purpose, scope and conveyance
to be produced. In the railway infrastructure project in Europe the project starts with hiring
project team members, setting up the project offices, review the project in detail to attain
approval so that the managers are able to begin with next stage. The key activities of this project
includes identifying planning needs, complete preliminary approvals and notifications regarding

the project, Appointment of project team, conducting initial site assessments and lastly defining
the project. Key deliverables of railway infrastructure project are sketch defining of the project
infrastructure, project team nomination according to individual talent, initial site assessment will
be completed in this phase only, project descriptions will be given by the managers, treatment of
any inappropriate activity determines and at the end the railway safety measures will be taken
into consideration by the top-level managers of the project. After deciding key variables,
managers will take approvals from the rail infrastructure management approvals and make
agreements and SMP. At the end, the council involvement occurs in which land usage
development assessment takes place and appropriate agreements will me made (Galli, 2020).
 Planning Phase
In this stage, project managers will consult with their stakeholders and will access risks for
options. After that assessment of construction methodology takes place and with keeping in mind
these steps the managers will prepare final concept designing of the project. Key deliverables
from this project includes sharing risk workshops which helps in easily getting solutions
regarding project based problems, preparation of preliminary budget estimates, preferred
substitute options, joint construction methodology workshops and training, completion of final
project concept report and at the end with the help of all such activities' business activity code of
conduct developed within this stage. Now the railway stakeholders approve the concept of total
project and provides funding for further working. After this, consultation of transportation of raw
material and asset management occurs. After completing key variables', railway infrastructure
manager shares its consultation and concurrence of overall project takes place. At the end of this
phase, local facility and connectivity planning will be done with the help of council involvement
in the railway infrastructure project (Mabelo, 2017).
 Execution Phase
In this stage, actual work has been characterized on the basis of task planned and taking
corrective measures in order to take corrective measures to get desired outcome. This phase
includes the detailed designing of complete railway infrastructure task and construction of the
project. Key activities in this stage includes resource planning, plan for delivery, construction
and completion of physical work, and at last test and commission according to the work will
takes place. The key deliverable of this particular phase are designing of railway track safety
measures, environmental assessment at the place where the project will be constructed, approved

and completed detailed design because the workers will start the infrastructure on the basis of
designing, coordinated other railway lines, after that completion of physical working will be
done according to the design of the prescribed project. After deliverables, the railway
infrastructure managers decides rail signalling and electrical detailed designing. As the
coordination among the individual lines also important in this project then, the project manager
will take RIM approvals for the same and with the help of joint agency construction
methodology the managers will complete the final construction of railway infrastructure project
(Orgut, 2020).
 Monitoring, Controlling and Closing Phase
The monitoring and controlling process shows the tasks and matrices involved which are
important to ensure that the approved project is completed within projected time frame and with
proper budget which was described by the managers at the time of taking approvals from the
council members so that the project will further proceed with negligible risks. It is basically a
process which is required to be performed by the managers through the project life. To manage
the substitute activities of the project controlling plays vital role and at the end of the project
closing of the project occurs. The key activities of this project stage is post implementation
evaluation and monitoring or reviewing of the project takes place. The variables of this stage are
the ownership has been transferred, completion of operational reviews by the managers and
stakeholders, fund documentation and distribution to relevant agencies and lastly the evaluation
of project management and its outcomes will takes place. Asset handover decision, updation of
safety management plans and final project evaluation will be done with the help of RMS
approvals. Functional testing and evaluation will be done by infrastructure managers in order to
approve the completed project and to attain the stage of closing the project and finally handover
to the preferred authorities of the project. For handover the project the involvement of council
members will also be considered by the project managers.

Gantt Chart Analysis

P4 Critical analysis of the PLC methodology used while completing the project
In the project of railway infrastructure, Agile Methodology has been used. Agile
methodology submit the deliverables in series of stages. It promotes continuous process of
improvement and testing through the life of the project. Development and testing activities run
parallel in this model. With the help of this methodology, the railway infrastructure project
managers were able to divide the tasks into different stages in order to complete the tasks with
accuracy. It requires constant collaboration with the stakeholders to become assure about their
project activities that they are going towards the right direction and the result will be accurate
after the completion of the project (Kermanshachi, 2018). The advantages taken by the managers
of this project are:
— Managers were able to focus on its competitors and was able to take their decisions
accordingly.
— Managers were able to rectify functional requirements of the projects at the time of
development of the project as well.
— One big project like this railway infrastructure project which requires a lot of time to be
completed and consists of a lot of stages while creating the project thus, this methodology
helps in the short divisions of the activities which helps the managers to easily describe
the tasks to their workers.
— Risk factors of this project was minimized with the help of this particular methodology.
— This methodology provides the managers of this project complete flexibility for changes
in any activity at any point of time of the process. Such as in this project the design was
prepared by the architects was not that much appropriate and managers realized this thing
at the time of initiating the project. Then with the help of this methodology, managers
were able to create changes in the designing of the project.
As, all methods have its disadvantages along with its advantages, this methodology also have
some of its drawbacks which was also faced by the managers at the time of completion of
railway infrastructure project in Europe. The disadvantages of this methodology with respect to
this project management are:
 The managers were faced the difficulty in measuring the final cost of the project because
this methodology enables the managers to make constant changes as and when required

so, they were unable to measure the ultimate expenditure of the whole projection of
railway infrastructure.
 As, this technique is highly technical in nature and thus, requires highly skilled
professionals and client-oriented managers in the team, the project become somehow
more expensive with inclusion of such kind of costs.
 Flexibility of this methodology taken as positive aspects but on the contrary note it also
destroys already prepared and developed structure.
 Client was also aware about the options of constant changes at the time of projection so,
due to this the expected time for completing the project was increased and thus, effects
the overall costing and budget of the project.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that by adopting and following various
theories of operations management, any organisation can reach to the level of top position and
reap the benefits that is being offered by these theories and principles of operations management.
In this report we can see how by adopting six sigma and lean manufacturing approaches, Corus
has established itself in the market at the highest position and in fact the benefits of its success
has been enjoyed by its acquirer that is TATA steels. We have learnt from this report that
organisations can reap benefits like effectiveness in achieving goals, efficiency in terms of low
costs and high quality and can gain competitive advantage over its competitors in the market. In
the second scenario of this report, in order to achieve railways project, the Project life cycle
models has been incorporated along with apply agile methodology for managing project right
from initiation till the closure of the project. This methodology helped us in flexibly achieving
the objectives of the project. The methodology and model so adopted has helped us in assigning
task and accountability in order to ensure timely accomplishment of the given project.

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