MAN220: Report on Sustainable Practices and Operational Management

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of sustainable practices and operational management within the context of LSG SKY CHEFS, an airline catering company. It begins with an overview of the business, covering production, services, sales and marketing, human resources, and communication and technology. A critical analysis of operational management and sustainable practices is performed, referencing the Treaty of Waitangi and its impact on the company's operations, particularly concerning the Maori community. The report identifies challenges faced by LSG SKY CHEFS, including financial crises and reduced demand, and proposes solution strategies, such as internal actions and the adoption of lean and effective procedures. The impact of sustainable solutions, including the use of six sigma and corporate social responsibility, is critically reflected upon. The report highlights how the company can leverage these strategies to improve its services and products while enhancing consumer experiences and addressing the needs of the Maori community. The report also examines the application of the DMAIC process to improve communication and employee motivation, especially during peak seasons.

Running head: SUSTAIBLE PRACTICES AND OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT
SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES AND OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES AND OPEARTIONAL MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Overview of the business.................................................................................................................2
Production....................................................................................................................................2
Services........................................................................................................................................3
Sales and Marketing....................................................................................................................3
Human Resources........................................................................................................................4
Communication and Technology.................................................................................................5
Critical analysis of operational management and sustainable entity...............................................5
Challenges faced in operations management sustainable practices.................................................6
Solution strategy for resolving those issues.....................................................................................7
Critical reflection of the impact of sustainable solutions................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
Reference.......................................................................................................................................10

2SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES AND OPEARTIONAL MANAGEMENT
Introduction
Sustainability and Operations Management is focused on the sustainable feature of
operations management (Ahmed, 2020). The main focus of this is that it makes the operations
management more sustainable. It also maintains the efficiency of the services. Operations
management is a procedure that helps to maintain efficiency as well as the effectiveness of a
business.
This report discusses the overview of the business of the LSG SKY CHEFS having a
special focus on operations management as well as sustainable practices of the business (Alam &
Majumdar, 2011). LSG SKY CHEFS provides lounge catering, hospitality, airline consulting
and many others. They also provide bespoke food solutions to their airlines companies. LSG
SKY CHEF is an expert in the airlines catering industry. They have seventy five years
experience in flight catering (Atasu et al., 2020). They are very experienced to fulfill the
consumer expectations and concerns. This company is very popular in train and airlines catering
services. Services of the company exceed their consumers expectations ("LSG Sky Chefs New
Zealand Ltd. - LSG Sky Chefs", 2020). In this report, a critical analysis of the operation, as well
as sustainable practices, is performed with the help of the guide of the Treaty of Waitangi. In this
report, two challenges faced by the company are highlighted elaborately. The sustainable
solution helps to analyse and reflect these challenges are also discussed (Keskinocak & Savva,
2020). In this report, critical reflection is also performed for describing the impact of the
sustainable solution.

3SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES AND OPEARTIONAL MANAGEMENT
Overview of the business
Production
LSG SKY CHEFS offers end to end train and airlines catering services ("LSG
Group | Expert Brands", 2020). The main reason behind the quality standards is the
Global Quality System of the company (Atasu et al., 2020). LSG Sky Chefs partners with
more than three hundred Airlines Company worldwide across 214 airports. At present,
they are operating almost 210 customer service centers in almost fifty-one countries.
They can produce 591 million meals every year (Francisco & Junior & Sant’Anna, 2020).
They have a global production network. It helps them to provide high-quality services to
their potential consumers. Passenger services are changing in continuous manner. It gives
them a new operational landscape that is suitable for modern needs and gives their
potential consumers the expected flexibility as well as efficiency.
In Auckland, they have 11600 square meter building and it has a 2,500 square
meter production area (Brodback, Guenster & Pouget, 2020). They have five hundred and
fifty employees producing 17,000 meals and 7000 fresh foods every day. These are
mainly for the consumers of various international airlines such as Air New Zealand,
Emirates, LAN Airlines, Korean Air and many others ("LSG Sky Chefs opens Auckland
facility | LSG Sky Chefs", 2020).
They applied the six sigma process to meet the consumer’s requirements
regarding the production. At first, they identify the problems regarding the production
and then perform proper analysis with the help of cause effect relationship. Then they try

4SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES AND OPEARTIONAL MANAGEMENT
to improve the procedure so that the problem is reduced and productions meet the
consumer’s need. After that controlling the process so that problem is not done.
Services
LSG SKY CHEFS has been providing catering services to Air New Zealand since
1987. This company is the first choice in catering services among the airlines' industry.
At present, they provide catering services to domestic airports and some major hubs
around the world. In 2012, LSG SKY CHEFS signed a long-term agreement and Design
and Build Agreement for providing some new facility to their client companies
(Colicchia, Grant & Joradon, 2020). It will have state-of-art technology that will allow
the organisation to implement lean and effective procedures. This will provide some
benefits to their client companies.
Chief Executive Officer of LSG SKY CHEFSWalter Gehl says that they will
adopt some latest technologies which will help them to provide quality services and
products to their potential clients. It will help them to get a sustainable competitive edge
in airlines catering ("LSG Sky Chefs opens Auckland facility | LSG Sky Chefs", 2020).
Sales and Marketing
They announce that they manage the sales and marketing with the help of an
exclusive strategy is called “Retail in Motion”. It helps to provide solutions regarding the
buy-o-board of the company (Gupta, Modgil & Gunasekaran, 2020). It also focuses on
the new product development. It offers a robust IT platform for managing many
important activities. This IT solution helps to provide all types of in-flight sales activities
which includes entire sales life cycle from new-products and supply. The main focus of

5SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES AND OPEARTIONAL MANAGEMENT
this activity is to focus on increasing the retail activities via Enterprise Resource
Planning. It is integrated with world class IT infrastructure called vector. ("LSG Sky
Chefs opens Auckland facility | LSG Sky Chefs", 2020).
Human Resources
A recent study performed by AFL-CIO mentions that, LSG SKY CHEFS has
remained a viable employer in the region of United States. They recruit twelve thousand
employees from United States. It is very important to point out that “right to law” does
not impact the strategic decisions. The facility locations of the company are based on the
requirements of the consumers. LSG SKY CHEFS Auckland provides affordable wages
to their employees. Wage structure is as follows:
 $15.75 60 minutes;
 $126.00 for a 8-hour day
 $630.00 for a 40-hour week
 1,260.00 for a 80-hour fortnight
Employees of this company can ask their employer to pay in cash for up to one
week of their minimum entitlement to the annual holidays every year. For getting
holidays, employees need to write a formal letter to their boss. Every employee of the
LSG SKY CHEF gets annual sick leave in every month. They are also getting sick leave
in every year.
Designations of several staffs of the company are as follows:
 Chillers Manager
 Bond store manager

6SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES AND OPEARTIONAL MANAGEMENT
 Kitchen manager
Communication and Technology
For performing the effective communication the LSG SKY CHEFS uses english
language. Staffs are well-trained to perform communication with their consumers (Gupta,
Modgil & Gunasekaran, 2020).
In their facilities in Auckland, LSG SKY CHEFS uses state-of-the-art technology
such as low temperature for washing the dishes, temperature controlled food-processing
areas, installations of LED light and orange waste recycling ("LSG Sky Chefs opens
Auckland facility | LSG Sky Chefs", 2020). It gives efficient as well as environment
friendly procedure for the operations. Consumption of energy is significantly reduced.
Critical analysis of operational management and sustainable entity
In this particular case, the chosen strategies of operational management and sustainable
entity are Environmental sustainability as well as Organisational sustainability in operations
management. According to Wright (2019), the organisational sustainability of the LSG SKY
CHEFS increases their opportunity and decreases their negative impact on their core operations
have on the environment. It is crucial for the long-term sustainability of the organisation. They
can provide some secure environments for operating their business (Jackson & Healthwatch,
2020). In this particular case, the partnership strategy of the Treaty of Waitangi is involved. It
helps the company to work together with the Maori community. As per Armitage et al. (2020), it
helps the LSG SKY CHEFS to develop various strategies for Maori health gain and exact health
as well as disability services. As per Mikahere-Hall et al. (2020), the participation of the Maori

7SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES AND OPEARTIONAL MANAGEMENT
involves all the disability sector of the LSG SKY CHEFS and it includes in decision making,
planning as well as delivery.
According to Kasemsap (2020), work change of business process redesign helps the LSG
SKY CHEFS to provide a dramatic improvement in their work culture. They perform lots of
changes in the human resources. The main intention is to provide the Maori Community.
Managers of the company are willing to modify continuous organisational changes to make the
best fit for the Maori community. Managers are very much proactive for anticipating many
events as well as initiation of the modifications for providing better services to the Maori
Community. Also the mangers are reactive responding to event adapting the modifications and
tempering the consequences of modifications for Maori Community.
According to Dowmen & Jaeger (2020), with the help of DMAIC of six sigma
approaches, staff scheduling can be done. In this company, for every flight entered, a certain
number of trucks and loaders are also available. It is totally depends on the various factors such
as type of aircraft and configuration. With the help of DMAIC process they enhance their
communication with the consumer. It helps the company to provide active workflow. As a result
of that it enhances their business process. Due to unpredictable events, the originally planned
schedule is viewing some constant changes and as a result of that alternative solutions have to be
developed. DMAIC approach of six sigma approaches helps develop their services and products
so that they can enhance the consumer experiences as well as Maori community. It is executed
by six sigma green belts and six sigma black belts which give proper services to consumer as
well as Maori Community. Another problem that can be solved by the six sigma approach is to
motivate the employees. During the peak season, there is workload and tight schedule to all the
employees ("Challenges of an Operations Manager | LSG Sky Chefs", 2020). For doing the

8SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES AND OPEARTIONAL MANAGEMENT
urgent task, company needs to provide motivation to the employees. With the help of six sigma
process, company can motivate employees and demands best possible performance from every
individual. It is a very tricky task. But with the help of six sigma approach, the company can
resolve this matter.
According to Brodback, Guenster & Pouget (2020), Corporate Social Responsibility is
treated as the self-regulating business model which helps LSG SKY CHEFS to become socially
accountable such as Maori Community so that they can gain more popularity in the Maori
Community.
Challenges faced in operations management sustainable practices
 Financial crisis
In 2008, the consolidated revenue of the LSG SKY CHEFS reduced by three
percent to 2,325 million EUR. It happened due to foreign exchange rates as well as
modifications of various consolidated companies. Due to the higher prices of the food
items and increased in the pressure on the margins affected the operational result. It was
thirty percent lesser than in 2007 (Llerena et al., 2020). The amount of revenue was 70
million EUR. It was the second-best operational result in the history of LSG SKY
CHEFS. The management of the company mainly focused on the sustainable success of
the company.
As stated above the CEO of the company has mentioned the solution in his
declaration given above.
 Reducing demand for airlines catering

9SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES AND OPEARTIONAL MANAGEMENT
LSG SKY CHEFS faces considerable challenges because of the drastic reduction
in the demand for airline catering. It is caused by decreasing the number of passengers.
The airline catering industry is confronted with the consumer’s request for a massive
decrease in service levels and expenditures (López et al., 2020). Airlines passengers
expect some quality as well as hygienic foods for them. It has been seen that many airline
industries are not able to provide those. It hampers the popularity of the airline catering
company. It is hampering the business of the LSG SKY CHEFS.
Solution strategy for resolving those issues
As per my knowledge, for resolving the financial crisis (such as decrease in the foreign
exchange rates and modifications in the group of consolidated companies), the Chief Executive
Officer of the LSG SKY CHEFS said that they prepared themselves for the financial crisis with
the help of some internal actions. They adopted many strategies for resolving this financial crisis.
These are as follows:
 Identification of the issues
 Creation of budget
 Setting of financial priorities
 Addressing the issue
 Development of proper plan and tracking progress.
This strategy is almost similar to the business process redesign concept. With the help of
this strategy, the company was able to achieve sustainable success (Modgil, Gupta & Bhushan,
2020). According to me, sustainable success is related to organisational sustainability.

10SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES AND OPEARTIONAL MANAGEMENT
For resolving the challenge faced by the LSG SKY CHEFS provides special training ton
their staffs for giving quality food as well as catering services to the consumers. They provide
appropriate quality standards from the simple items to the high end offerings of the foods and
services. It helps them to increase in the variety of the products. It has a direct consequence of
the global societal migration. It helps the life of the consumer very easy and they can save a huge
amount of time. They try their label best to provide quality of foods according to the expectation
of various culture and their expectations. It helps the company to provide transparent procedure
for production, appropriate packaging, providing good quality services and many more.
Critical reflection on the impact of sustainable solutions
As per my knowledge, the short term goals adopted by the company helped the company
to tackle its financial crisis efficiently. In my opinion, as number Maori and other communities
were involved with this company, the business of the company was expanded on a larger basis.
As the financial condition of the Maori community was not good so that reducing the price of the
food helped the company to gain lots of Maori consumers (Shareef et al., 2020). They also
provided some hygienic foods to their potential consumers. It is self determined as the Maori
principle named “Ranagtiratanga”. The company makes agreements with other companies which
is related to the “Whanaungatang”. They take prior approval from Auckland Council to open
some offices which is related to the “Reuemi”. Company keeps raport with their suppliers for
more than three years. It is related to “Partnership” principle. It is included in the P’s of Maori.
In my opinion, for quality services, appropriate training to the staffs of food and
beverages are very important. LSG SKY CHEFS is trying to provide high quality training
regarding their food delivery services (Ahmed, 2020). As discussed above they are trying their

11SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES AND OPEARTIONAL MANAGEMENT
best to provide quality food delivery services to the consumers, so that they can reach to the
highest consumers satisfaction.
Conclusion
Operations management and sustainability practices help to top develop some business
management tools and concepts and implement them to a larger context of a particular business.
It helps to focus the LSG SKY CHEF Company to focus on the triple bottom line as well as life
cycle management. It needs some sophisticated procedures for adding some non-financial and
sustainable performance measures with the help of some traditional reporting within the
company. The main challenge to the sustainability within the company is to extract some values
from the sustainability reporting without any strategic purposes. It helps the company to provide
a constructive guide and modifies its business operations. But it is very costly to obtain those
strategic purposes. It provides a small amount of benefit to the company, society or the
surroundings. It helps the LSG SKY CHEFS to perform continuous improvement which
provides the company an opportunity to learn, adopts and constantly improves their business
procedures. It can give the company some competitive advantages by dealing with the modifying
environments that the business is constantly facing. It helps the company to detect the risks
associated with their business. It also provides an alert to the management of the LSG SKY
CHEFS regarding the latest trends as well as the latest markets of that particular business. There
is a significant need for the resources for implementing the operations as well as sustainable
practices. There are many theories are available for implementing operations management. In
this report, business process redesign and six sigma approaches are discussed for resolving the
challenges faced by the LSG SKY CHEFS. These two strategies are most important for resolving
organisational challenges.