A Detailed Operations Management Report on Singapore Airlines

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Singapore Airlines' operations management. It begins with an introduction to the company and its operational context, followed by a detailed process description that outlines the characteristics of service, dimensions of quality, and the significance of customer interaction. The report then explores the inventory methods employed by Singapore Airlines, including independent and dependent demand, and the application of Just-in-Time inventories. Furthermore, it delves into operations planning and control, highlighting the ASPIRE programme and SAFUG (Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group) initiatives. Customer service and quality are examined, along with recommendations and benefits derived from the airline's operational strategies. The report concludes with a summary of the key findings and provides references to support the analysis. This comprehensive study offers valuable insights into the operational excellence of Singapore Airlines within the competitive airline industry.

Running Head: Operations Management
Singapore Airlines
Operations Management

Operations Management 1
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Process Description.........................................................................................................................3
Characteristics of Service:...........................................................................................................3
Dimensions of Quality Services:..................................................................................................3
Inventory methods...........................................................................................................................5
Independent Demand...................................................................................................................5
Dependent Demand......................................................................................................................5
Just-in-Time Inventories..............................................................................................................6
Operations Planning and Control.....................................................................................................7
ASPIRE Programme....................................................................................................................7
SAFUG (Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group)......................................................................8
Program outline............................................................................................................................9
Customer Service and Quality.........................................................................................................9
Recommendations and Benefits....................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13

Operations Management 2
Introduction
Operations management is a term which consists of two crucial attributes i.e. operations and
management. Operations are the processes which are executed in order to accomplish the tasks in
an appropriate manner. Singapore Airlines is a flag carrier airline company for Singapore and it
is owned by the Singaporean government. Singapore Airlines has appointed the Singaporean girl
with the motive of corporate brand promotion in the international market. The company operates
at international level but their primary served areas are Australia and Asia. The company was
founded in 1972 and from that period, they had developed their effective and positive image in
the international airline industry. Number of operations is carried out within the workplace of
Singapore Airline because number of activities needs to be executed with the motive of
increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization (Singapore Airlines, 2018).
This primary focus of this report will be on the quality management operation of the Singapore
Airlines. This is because organization is a part of service industry and in service based industry;
it is required to adopt certain crucial strategies through which the quality of the services could be
increased through considering the standards and policies described by the management of the
government authorities. Quality management is a crucial aspect for the Singapore Airlines
Limited as this will help them to increase the demand of their services along with this; it will
help them to retain their potential customers. Rendering qualitative services will help the
organization to approach its target audience in an effective manner and it will also help them to
generate opportunities related to expansion in the international airline industry. With the help of
this strategy, organization will also be able to accomplish its tasks in an effective manner along
with gaining competitive advantage (Merkert & Hensher, 2011).

Operations Management 3
Process Description
The quality management process consist of various variables such as determination of services
rendered by the organization, significance of those services for consumers and outcomes
originated for the organization from those services. Apart from this, process description also
includes the design of the quality, dimensions of measuring the quality of the services rendered
by the organization, etc. With the help of these attributes, organization will be able to analyse
relevant strategies through which the ‘Quality Management’ operation of Singapore Airlines
could be executed on the basis of organizational expectations. This process should be executed
by considering the customer’s perceptions because services are designed especially for
customers. Primary objective which should be considered before designing the quality
management process is design of quality under which the characteristics of services will be
included through which the target audience’s requirements could be fulfilled (Lin, 2012).
Following are detailed description of attributes of quality management operation of Singapore
Airlines through which its effectiveness and significance could easily be determined:
Characteristics of Service:
 Intangible in nature;
 Services could be produced and consumed at the same time;
 Customer interaction is huge in consumption of service procedure;
 Repeatedly varies in design (Waterman, 2014).
For instance, Singapore Airlines and Air Asia, both are part of airline industry but their customer
segment varies from each other. Where Air Asia is known for rendering cheap quality air
services to its target audience, at the same time, Singapore Airlines’ customer segment is large as

Operations Management 4
they provide unique services on the basis of customer segment. This has helped the Singapore
Airlines in order to increase their revenues as well as the profitability.
Dimensions of Quality Services:
 Time consumption: This attribute defines that how much the consumer needs to wait
for availing the services. In the scenario of airline services, airline companies should
inform its consumers in relevance with the time taken to reach to the desired destination
and in the informed time, consumer should reach to the destination. This helps the
organization to develop a positive image amongst the consumers (Kassim & Asiah
Abdullah, 2010).
 Completeness: Services taken by the consumers should be rendered by the
organization. Along with this, all those value added services and required attributes
should be provided to the consumers through which the consumer’s expectations could
be fulfilled.
 Courtesy: This is the most crucial attribute of the service quality especially in the
airline services. This includes the treatment of the consumers in the process of availing
the services. For instance, from the stage when consumer books a ticket till he reaches to
the destination, how well he was treated by the employees of organization also describes
the quality of the services. Thus, it is the responsibility of the organization so that all the
processes under quality management could be managed and executed appropriately in
order to attain better results.
 Consistency: While rendering the service, organization’s primary motive should be
acquiring large market share in the industry. Along with this, it is necessary for the

Operations Management 5
organization to maintain the quality of the services rendered by them in accordance with
retention of the consumers (Gorla, Somers & Wong, 2010).
Goh Choon Phong, CEO of Singapore Airlines has adopted certain crucial strategies through
which the Singapore Airlines’ productivity has been increased rapidly. Along with this, it has
been noticed that organization uses assembly line process flow configuration. Assembly line
process is generally used in the automobiles and consumer electronic goods manufacturing
industry. In this process, organization could manufacture the services and products on the basis
of organizational standards, policies and regulations (Heracleous & Wirtz, 2012).
Singapore Airlines had adopted certain strategies through which various services are assembled
in the organizational process in order to accomplish its desired goals. Services rendered in the
flight along with travel are food, beverages, Wi-Fi, customer help in various situations, etc.
Rather, all these services are not a part of organizational basic services but yet these are rendered
to its consumers with the motive of increasing the customer base and to increase their
effectiveness. Assembling various services in order to develop an effective service with the view
to increase the efficiency of the organization is known as assembly line process. This is being
done to analyse the requirement of the target audience, impact of external factors, impact of
competitive strategies, and the like (Singapore Airlines, 2018).
Singapore Airlines has adopted this process for developing an effective image in the customer’s
mind-sets’ along with the motive of fulfilment of consumer’s needs. Consumers play crucial role
in the success and failure of the service based company and Singapore Airline is one of those
companies who rely upon their consumers for attainment of goals and objectives. In order to
improve the effectiveness of their services along with acquiring the market share in the airline

Operations Management 6
industry, organization has implemented the customer feedback strategy. With the help of this
strategy, organization is able to determine the needs and requirements of their target audiences
(Chang, et. al., 2014).
Figure 1: Process Description of Singapore Airlines
Above figure describes the process description of Singapore Airlines. In the first stage,
organizational management focuses over process’ requirements, its requirements, etc. Further,
performer is identified who will be assigned the duty of performing the particular process for
accomplishing organizational objectives and goals. The third stage describes the requirement of
process and the reason of executing the process. After analysing the objective of process, major
steps which will be performed in the process will be classified as per their requirements. Further
stages, describes the significance of the process and the expected outcomes from the execution of
process.

Operations Management 7
Inventory methods
Inventory methods of Singapore Airlines include various steps and methods through which the
raw materials, end inventories and work in progress could easily be managed. Generally, these
methods are used by the production companies but service based companies also uses these
techniques. This technique helps the Singapore Airlines to manage its quality management
operation in an effective manner. For managing the raw materials, work in progress and the end
inventories, Singapore Airlines uses various methods such as dependent demand, independent
demand, just in time inventories, and the like methods (Andersson, et. al., 2010).
Inventory methods are being used for managing the inventory levels. Singapore Airlines
categorised its inventory into two types based on the demand patterns and this helps to create the
requirement for the inventory in order to accomplish its operations (Wild, 2017). In order to
manage the inventories and its subordinates, following types of methods are being used by
Singapore Airlines:
Independent Demand
Independent demand describes when the demand for one item is not dependent on other. In this
procedure, inventories of the organization could easily be managed where the company deals in
various products and services. In terms of Singapore Airlines’ scenario, air transportation
services are not based on the other value added services such as food, beverages, etc. offered in
the flight. Independent items are the finished goods or services which are ready for use and
consumption. Air transportation services provided by Singapore Airlines included in the
independent type of goods. The demands for independent inventories are based on the
customer’s requirements, forecasts and on the basis of historical performance of those

Operations Management 8
inventories. Demand for the products which are not influenced by subordinate services and
products are known as the independent demand for inventories. Company uses this method for
enhancing demand of their services in the target market along with increasing the opportunities
to expand their business in international market (Meyer & Bishop, 2011).
Dependent Demand
The demand for the product or service is dependent upon the other item or service is known as
the dependent demand. Under this type of inventory, raw materials, supporting services and
related products in relation with the finished goods are known as the dependent demand
inventories. Such as demand for the airline services rendered by Singapore Airlines are termed as
independent demand as it is referred to as the mode of transportation and it is a finished product
whose demand does not get affected by the demand of other services or products. Whereas, the
demand of other value added services provided in between the travel time are dependent upon
each other especially over the finished products’ demand will be included in the dependent
demand inventories (Teng, et. al., 2011). Food and beverage, entertainment, etc. services are
provided by airline companies in order to attract the customers, but demand of these services will
only be increased when number of flyers will be increased.
For both the categories, process and management systems differs, thus Singapore Airlines takes
necessary steps to determine the difference amongst both inventory management system.
Finished goods and services of Singapore Airlines are air transportation services and these are
included in the independent inventory’s category and they are managed by the supply chain
management process and by sales order process of the organization and all these terms are based
on sales forecasts. Whereas, raw materials and other manufacturing components to finished

Operations Management 9
goods are related with the Material Resource Planning and Enterprise Resource Planning are
managed through various process such as Just-in-Time inventory management system, etc. These
are termed as the dependent demand inventory system (Lee & Dye, 2012).
According to research, it has been observed that the management of the finished goods is far
difficult in comparison with the management of the raw materials. In the above inventory
management systems, organization’s inventory planners are required to perform their
fundamental duties which are analysing the demand of the services and on the basis of
requirements and the demands, services and products needs to be produced. This helps the
organization to control its costs of the production which also directs the organization towards
sustainable development and growth in the competitive business environment. With the help of
these effective management systems, Singapore Airlines have been ranked on the top position in
terms of managing all these processes in an effective manner. As a result, it is one of the largest
companies in terms of revenues across the global airline industry (Mishra, 2010).
Operations Planning and Control
Planning and control measures in every company plays crucial role in order to increase the
productivity as well as to implement their plans processes and methods for attaining the success
related factors. According to the Singapore Airlines’ planning procedure, it has helped them to
reduce the unnecessary costs and to match up with the expected outcomes. It is necessary for the
staff members to understand the principles, functions in regards to the operation planning and
control. It will uplift the performance of the organization along with increasing the quality of the
services rendered by the Singapore Airlines in relation with their quality standards and policies
(Slack, Brandon-Jones & Johnston, 2013).This will develop positive image for the organization

Operations Management 10
amongst the target audience along with the chances for expanding the business in the
international market will also be increased. Planning procedures of Singapore Airlines majorly
focuses over most fuel efficient routes for establishing new airways in relevance with increasing
organizational efficiency (Olhager, 2013). Following are certain planning procedures adopted by
Singapore Airlines in order to attain their goals and objectives:
Below mentioned programs were planned by the management of Singapore Airlines with the
objective of increasing effectiveness along with meeting up with the internal and external
business environment’s needs. The planning of ASPIRE programme includes certain objectives
like reducing emission; contribute towards the society and towards environment, etc. The
programme’s major objective is to set up an effective image in the global aviation industry with
the help of operating ‘green’ flights. Apart from ASPIRE, SAFUG was also launched with the
same sort of objectives or reducing air pollution. In this programme, the master plan was to
generate fuel using biogas and other resources. After its launching, the idea of using biofuels
proved to be an effective planning and as the result, today biofuels are fulfilling 33% demand of
the overall demand of fuel in aviation industry.
ASPIRE Programme
The fastest growing region in the airline industry is Asia-pacific region and Singapore Airlines
has already established an effective image in that market. In order to expand the international
presence, this initiative has been taken by the Singapore Airlines with the objective to match up
their targets (Australia, 2011).
ASPIRE (The Asia Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions) and this program has been initiated
with the partnership of air navigation service providers attentive towards the environmental

Operations Management 11
stewardship in particular area. The primary objective of this programme is to conduct the ‘green’
flights on daily basis in the particular region described in the ASIRE programme. The motive of
choosing Asia-pacific region and initiating the project of ASPIRE programme has been started
with the objective to gain particular objectives as this is the fastest growing aviation markets
across the globe (Solnet, Kandampully & Kralj, 2010).
Under this initiative, the first flight was operated on 31 January 2010 from Los Angeles to
Singapore via Tokyo. For making this project success, the aviation authorities of United States,
Japan and Singapore worked together in order ensure the ideal air traffic conditions. While
evaluating the success of the operation, it was analysed that the 6% less fuel was utilised in the
‘green’ flight in comparison with a normal flight. Along with the fuel expenditures of 10,686 kg
and 33,769 kg of carbon emissions were saved. This lead this operation towards the success and
further, various other routes were added in this programme with the motive of decreasing the
emission of carbon and other harmful gases as well as to ensure the safety of environmental
conditions. Australian continental, European routes and the like routes were included in the
ASPIRE programme in order to increase its efficiency. This has lead the organization to increase
the quality of its services in the international market and with these initiatives, organization is
being able to develop its effective position in the international aviation industry as the largest
company in terms of revenues. Goodwill of the organization has also been increased with ‘green’
initiatives whose basic motive is ensuring the safe environmental conditions and securing the
natural resources for the future (Cui & Li, 2017).
From the above operation planning and controlling plan of the Singapore Airlines, it can be
evaluated that their strategies in relevance with planning and scheduling methods are effective