Operations Management at RAC: Executive Summary and Service Analysis

This report provides an executive summary and analysis of the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) operations. It begins with an introduction to RAC, its subsidiaries, and its historical context, highlighting its evolution from the Royal Automobile Club. The report then delves into RAC's current operational strategies, focusing on smart motorways and the company's collaboration with Highways England to monitor and manage traffic incidents. A process map illustrates the key steps in RAC's operational process, from surveillance and incident detection to roadside assistance and vehicle repair. The report identifies factors contributing to poor customer service, such as outdated technology, untrained staff, and delayed assistance, proposing a redesigned product and service concept to address these issues. RAC's diverse service offerings, including roadside assistance, insurance, and business-related services, are comprehensively outlined. The conclusion emphasizes RAC's longevity and ongoing expansion into new service areas, highlighting the importance of effective operations management. The report also includes references to relevant books, journals, and online resources to support the analysis.

OPERATIONS
MANAGEMENT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In this project, there will be a complete assessment of the functions and operations of the Royal
Automobile Club as a mechanical servicing firm and their services provided to the customers.
The project will also portray other services in which the company is emerging to come in front.
The operating style of the RAC avails the customers a panel of services at a vast level of
comfort. The company has been operating with the approach of reaching the customer to help
him instead of making him come to a place where the services are available. The company has
been providing a wide variety of insurance and other business and travel related services.

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
Task..................................................................................................................................................4
Current operational strategy of RAC Motoring..........................................................................4
Process map.................................................................................................................................5
Factors involved in poor customer service..................................................................................6
Redesigned product/service concept-package-process...............................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
RAC is a company of automotive services in Britain. The company have their
headquarter in Walsall, West Midlands. They are popular for their roadside assistance and
general insurance services. The company consists of several subsidiaries including RAC
Motoring Services Ltd, RAC Insurance Ltd and RAC Financial Services Ltd. RAC has been
emerging as the Associate section of the Royal Automobile Club that was founded at the edge of
20th century and the company was incorporated in the name of RAC Motoring Services Ltd in
1978 (Barratt, Choi and Li, 2011). the company was later sold to Lex Service Plc by the
members of the Royal Automobile club in 1999.
Task
Current operational strategy of RAC Motoring
Managed motorways, nowadays known as Smart motorways are becoming very common
in United Kingdom. The motorway capacity and the congestion cut through the entrance of
variable speed limits and the hard shoulder use as a running lane mostly during busy hours. All
these are well maintained with the design of the all new smart motorways with no more such
issues on roads of UK now. Dynamic smart motorways for hard shoulders have been in use for
some time and is proving to be significantly safer than motorways that are conventional with the
hard shoulder and the three lanes. Highways England are authorized for the monitoring and
surveillance of the issues on highway such as variable speed limits that could slow down the
traffic during busy periods. In such situations, easy to reach Emergency Refuge Areas are
utilized to approach when users break down or maybe involved in an incident when on the
running lane and the hard shoulder is been used.
Therefore, RAC are on call with the Highways England for the monitoring of accidents
and rates of casualties closely on the parts of the smart motorways where all the running-lanes
are in use and is considered to reconfigure these and other planned sections of the all-running-
lane motorway (Brown, Bessant and Lamming, 2013). A majority of 53% of the motorists in UK
have a thought that the information display boards are useful while 50% believe it to be accurate.
Almost 69% of the driver in UK says that they are seeing more roadworks in present days than in
the previous years. Highways England is facing a stiff challenge in ensuring the drivers to

understand why the broader networks of road are improving in the better transport connectivities
between the major cities (Hill and Hill, 2012). So, the RAC calls on Highways England and all
the organizations have been arguing for the major investment in the strategic network.
Process map
A process map is a visual form of illustration where the steps and activities involved in a
procedure is portrayed. Process maps are created for better understanding of the process and for
the generation of ideas regarding the improvement of the process.
As in every organization, RAC Motoring Services Ltd also consist of a operational
process which is the major revenue making process amongst all the RAC subsidiaries
(Subramanian and Ramanathan, 2012). So, these are the steps involved in the procedure of the
main operational process of RAC motoring services:
Surveillance on call
with
Highways England
Vehicles facing break down
And other mechanical
problems
Instantly fixes if the
issue is minor
Hard shoulder issues at all-
running-lane
And smart motorways
Assistance patrol is
sent to the spot
Tows to the authorized
garage
If it is a major issue

Surveillance on call with Highways England: RAC is always on call with the
Highways England monitoring the smart and managed motorways via the CCTV cameras. The
vehicles are being carefully monitored whether they are facing any issues on the roads as like
accidents and breakdowns. If something like that are been noticed on the roads the RAC
assistance patrol in the locality is immediately alerted so that they could reach the spot of
incident and get the motorist's issue fixed, somehow.
Hard shoulder issues on the smart motorways: Hard shoulders are hardened strips
fixed alongside the motorways in case of stopping in an emergency. Sometimes the vehicles
faces issues after the emergency being lessened with the support of the hard shoulders on the
roadsides (Karlsson, 2016).
Breakdown and other mechanical issues: At points in winter and hard weather, the
engine and other parts of a motor vehicle may face issues of breakdown due to snow on the roads
covering portions to be aware of. Is case of such incidents also, the roadside assistance patrol is
alerted.
Assistance Patrol sent to the spot: In the cases as defined above are monitored through
the CCTV cameras on the road, the roadside assistance patrol are alerted to reach the spot for
instant support and assistance.
Fixing of Issues: The issues are thoroughly checked by the mechanical experts of RAC's
roadside assistance patrol and then fixed on the spot if the problem is minor. Or else the vehicle
may be towed to the nearby RAC authorized garage safely for fixing the issues which are major.
Factors involved in poor customer service
In case of RAC in the industry of motoring services may have faced the issue of
unsatisfied customers if they the following factors:
Outdated technology: The most seriously taken advantage in the field of motor services
is the technological advancement. As the generation is moving ahead with such a speed, the
company has to have a grip on the latest technologies that would serve the customers in getting
their motor vehicles fixed faster and for a longer period of time (Krajewski, Ritzman and
Malhotra, 2013). The lack of technological advancement may lead to service that would cause
dissatisfaction of the customers. It is necessary to be updated with the latest technology in market
in order to keep the customers happy with the services.

Untrained Staff: Staff with no professional training and education seems to disappoint
the customers. They neither have the technical knowledge nor the practical knowledge of
handling the appliances of mechanical fixing except how to simply use it. The staffs who are not
trained and educated may misbehave with the customers and tend to cause physical losses to the
vehicles they bring for service. Educated and trained mechanics and other non technical staff are
a must to be recruited instead of untrained but low cost human resources.
Delayed Assistance: As the service RAC popular for is roadside motor assistance, the
service seeks speed. This service is something that must be immediately available to the
customers who have been facing mechanical issues in their vehicles due to accident or
breakdowns. In such situations, where the customers may be already frustrated due to physical
loss to their vehicle and loss of time, the delay in service,i.e., the delay in arrival of the roadside
assistance patrol may put them more in tension (Lewis and Brown, 2012). The services must be
availed to the customers immediately without much of a delay.
Redesigned product/service concept-package-process
RAC not only provide the on road services for customers. The company has been serving
the customers with mechanical issues in their vehicles on the road or any part of UK. The facility
of roadside assistance patrol are around every nook and corner of the nation providing support
when a vehicle faces a break down issue, or even a hard shoulder issue on the smart motorways.
They provide insurance services for all kind of vehicles like car, van, bike and even caravan.
RAC also provide the services of home loan, travel home loan, driver and learner driver
insurance, personal accident care and insurance, and many more kind of insurance services.
Other than the services of roadside mechanical assistance and wide range of insurance
services, RAC also provides a variety of business integrated services. The company avails a wide
variety of like business breakdown cover, public liability insurance, risk and accident
management services, truck warranty, fuel cards, truck breakdown covers, and large corporate
and outsourcing services.
RAC also provides facilities of online shopping of stuff related to motor vehicles and
appliances related to it. Some of the things they avail on their online shopping options are car
battery, dash cams, torches and warning lights, car parts, books & gifts, workshop tools, first aid
kits and many more stuff (Peng and Lai, 2012). They also provide online services of maps and
route planner for trips anywhere inside the United Kingdom. They even provide traffic news

from all around the state of UK. RAC has not only been redesigning the services they already
providing but they have been introducing new sets of different services for the customers.
CONCLUSION
Royal Automobile Club has been under existence from 1978 and their presence till the
current time is a fact of appreciation. The company has been providing services to the motorists
in UK from the turn of twentieth century (Slack, 2015). The RAC have been reaching the
customers whose vehicles have been facing mechanical issues on the roads of UK. They are
already leading the industry in which they established the enterprise but they are also emerging
to rise in other fields like online shopping and other services related to automotive and travelling.
This would have been impossible with a perfect blend of strategies in operations management.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Barratt, M., Choi, T.Y. and Li, M., 2011. Qualitative case studies in operations management:
Trends, research outcomes, and future research implications. Journal of Operations
Management. 29(4). pp.329-342.
Brown, S., Bessant, J.R. and Lamming, R., 2013. Strategic operations management. Routledge.
Galindo, G. and Batta, R., 2013. Review of recent developments in OR/MS research in disaster
operations management. European Journal of Operational Research. 230(2). pp.201-211.
Hill, A. and Hill, T., 2012. Operations management. Palgrave Macmillan.
Karlsson, C. ed., 2016. Research Methods for Operations Management. Routledge.
Krajewski, L.J., Ritzman, L.P. and Malhotra, M.K., 2013. Operations management: Processes
and supply chains (Vol. 1). New York: Pearson.
Lewis, M.A. and Brown, A.D., 2012. How different is professional service operations
management?. Journal of Operations Management. 30(1). pp.1-11.
Peng, D.X. and Lai, F., 2012. Using partial least squares in operations management research: A
practical guideline and summary of past research. Journal of Operations Management.
30(6). pp.467-480.
Slack, N., 2015. Operations strategy. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Subramanian, N. and Ramanathan, R., 2012. A review of applications of Analytic Hierarchy
Process in operations management. International Journal of Production Economics.
138(2). pp.215-241.
Online
RAC Report on Motoring. 2015. [Online]. Available Through: <www.rac.co.uk/pdfs/report-on-
motoring/rac-rom-2015>. [Accessed on 18 April 2017]