A Detailed Analysis of Tesco's Operations and Processes in Walkden, UK

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Tesco's operations and processes, specifically focusing on the Walkden store. It begins with an introduction to Tesco, highlighting its global presence and the services offered at the Walkden branch, including a café, pharmacy, and mobile shop. The report then delves into Tesco's quality management practices, emphasizing the importance of total quality management (TQM), customer satisfaction, and the use of tools like customer surveys. It also examines the store's functional layout, designed for customer convenience, and its approach to capacity management, including the use of online platforms to meet customer demand. The report also covers inventory management, detailing how Tesco manages perishable goods and utilizes data analytics and supply chain optimization to maintain optimal stock levels. Finally, the report discusses Tesco's lean management techniques, focusing on cost reduction, waste minimization, and performance improvement. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings regarding Tesco's operational strategies and their effectiveness.

Analysing the Process and
Operations of Tesco

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Quality Management...................................................................................................................3
Layout plan and type...................................................................................................................4
Capacity management at Tesco...................................................................................................5
Inventory management of Tesco.................................................................................................6
Lean management of Tesco.........................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
The report is focused on Tesco store operations and process located in Walkden. Tesco is a
multinational retailer of grocery and merchandise products. The company was established in
1919 by Jack Cohen with its origin in England, UK. It is also the third largest retailer in the
world in terms of gross revenue. The store of Tesco at Walkden have a café, pharmacy, mobile
shop and various apparels. The store at Walkden also provides Wifi facilities and recycling
services. The following report will discuss the operational activities and various procedures
carried out in the company, it will also describe the quality management procedure of the
company and what kind or layout they followed in their outlets. The waste, capacity and
inventory management techniques and practise will also be explained in the report.
Quality Management
Quality management is one of the major concepts to be maintained in Tesco store of
Walkden on priority basis. It not only deals with guaranteeing the overall and premium product
and service quality but it will also explain about the different methods through which business
can be conducted and operated. The branch at Walkden handles efficiently and they are great at
managing people and operating functions and activities of the industry in order to attain higher
customer satisfaction. Accomplishing effective and full-fledged customer satisfaction hold a
leading importance for this branch. In the establishment they have put lot emphasis on the total
quality management i.e. TQM and it is related to, doing the things which is ethically correct and
doing it right at the very first time. The customers of Walkden branch can be from both the
environment they can be internal as well as external (Fernandes and et. al., 2017). They
explained it in a pretty innovative way that, when Tesco purchase their supplies from the traders
than Tesco is in the role of a customer and when they sell these purchased products then they
come in role of serving or providing their consumers. The following tools are used by Tesco to
ensure TQM such as customer need analysis by conducting customer survey and through
interactions. This branch of Tesco is very efficient in management of its quality and to handle
that they have followed various different concept which are as following:
Prevention: The branch at Walkden keep an eye on their total manufacturing and production
process and monitor each production lot minutely because they believe in producing the best

quality product without any defect, so there is no room for finding and excluding the defected
items.
Zero defects: The branch’s main objective is to accomplish perfection in manufacturing products
and if they are producing and commodity which is complex and need precision than they make
sure that there should be very less chances of occurrence of any defect in the end result (Li and
et. al., 2018).
Getting things right at first: The Walkden branch believes in better not producing the product
instead of producing irrelevant and no-functional product with very low quality as they
emphasize on providing only premium and best quality product to their customers.
Quality involves everyone: Establishment not only particular about the quality of their product
and services and they do not only focus on their manufacturing procedure, but they aims at
maintain high class quality in every corner of their store. That is in each and every section of the
branch from low level to high level employees and every single activity of theirs. Such as human
resource activities, customer relation and services, operations and finance and marketing
department as well.
Continuous improvement: The branch always focus on the ways to improve their services,
although they are excelling in this field but still, they keep on looking for better opportunities
and ways that how they can acquire expertise in this area (Khan. and et.al.,2019). To achieve that
they applied lean management technique.
Involvement of employees: They involve their workers in the quality improvement process by
collecting their feedbacks, suggestions and issues and analyses those minutely and take essential
actions towards resolving the issues and by taking into considerations the ideas and suggestions
of their workers at Walkden branch which makes them so successful and effective.

Figure 1Total Quality Management of Tesco
Source: Total quality management, 2020
Introducing and applying quality management standards in this large branch is not an
easy task because their main importance is their customer retention and satisfaction (van
Kemenade and Hardjono, 2019). As Walkden branch values their employees as same as their
customers so they tend to involve them into the production process as they are responsible for the
manufacturing and which is a very important aspect which brings profit and productivity in the
organization but that will create a problematic situation for the top-level management as the mid-
level superiors will feel annoyed as they feel unimportant in the whole scenario.
Layout plan and type
There are mainly four basic layouts of operations. These are categorised in fixed position,
cell, product and process layouts. All of the four have their distinct functions and purposes. The
fixed position layout refers to the moving of possessions to the product and consumer. The
second one that is functional layout is equipped with various equipment and resources which are
been gathered together in accordance with the similarity in their functions. The product layouts
are those which are arranged according to the flow of production and supply. The cell layout is
somewhat in resemblance with the functional layout but the only dissimilarity between them is
there is differentiation in their process (Jacobs, 2017).

The branch of Tesco has accepted the functional layout. All the products are properly
stacked and arranged according to the resemblance and significance in their functionality. This
layout is selected for providing ease and convenience to the customers. In retail outlets and stores
there are different sections (Zawidzki, 2016). They have segregated clothing, consumables food
items, electronic products into different sections so that it become easy for customers to find and
access to the products as per their requirements and it is less time consuming.
Before making the decision regarding the layout, it is the utmost importance to first
determine the targeted customers. Tesco has divided their consumers into two groups: external and
internal customers. Internal customers are those which are within the company. This perception of
set apart internal customers is a part of company’s philosophy which believe in treating different
operations as distinct units and the external consumers are those who buys and make purchase at
Walkden outlets (Kotaru, 2016). Finally, it is been analysed that the layout of outlets will be
designed in an efficient way that it facilitates even relationship with the different departments.
Figure 2Layout plan of Tesco Walkden
Source: Walkden Town Manchester, Tesco. 2020

Figure 3Layout plan of TescoWalkden
Source: Walkden Town Manchester site plan, Tesco. 2020
Capacity management at Tesco
Capacity management is the way by which this particular branch at Walkden can produce
maximum output with the available resources in a given period of time. There are two obstacles
in capacity management which is time and the capacity. As there have been an advancement in
technology therefore capacity can be managed more effectively and efficiently. This branch
faces certain obstacles while managing their capacity such as store layout, size etc. it aims to
satisfy customer demand by following a process of planning, analysing and optimizing capacity
at reasonable cost. It balancing the demand and the capacity of the store (Armony, Chan. and
Zhu, 2018). Walkden branch of Tesco can manage their capacity by either expanding their
product segments and attracting customers covered in that area and can also go for online
platforms but the company has a large and mature customer segment which needs to be
managed. In era of advanced technology the company is aiming to operate through online mode

for managing their capacity and focusing less on opening physical retail stores (Santoro. and
et.al., 2019).
There are various ways in which Walkden branch can improve its capacity management by:
Promoting the development of capacity processes, developing a capacity plan, then executing the
developed capacity plan and holding reviews for the plan and update it if there is requirement
and also provide report for the same.
Inventory management of Tesco
Inventory management is the process by which Walkden branch of Tesco manages its
inventory by ordering, storing and selling the right stock, at the right place, right time, right cost.
There manages inventory related to perishable goods such as vegetables, meat and other food
items.
For managing the inventory at the branch they need to deliver cost effective and targeted
inventory reset programme and the company also uses big data analytics to target their inventory
management through improves supply chain management.
The branch also uses a particular software developed to determine their inventory levels and their
customers shopping patterns through undertaking various R&D. The software program
determines the regional weather reports for past 5 years and it determines the inventory sold by
the branch this branch in UK. Their new supply chain optimization program helped the branch to
manage the inventories effectively and efficiently and also helps the company to save large
amount of money (Singh. and Verma,2018).
Walkden branch of tesco also uses analytics to track the buying patterns of the customers which
helps them to know the amount of inventory they have to maintain at a point of time. This data
analytics helps this branch to track effectiveness of each sale and offer which the store floats at a
particular period in the market and helps to know which offers works better.
The company also uses automated data collection software to analyse their supply chain. Tesco
keeps track record of their flow of inventory from procurement of raw material till the goods are
available at the market.
The main aim of this branch is to manage inventory to ensure regular supply of stocks through
supply chain, to eliminate duplication of stocks previously ordered. Also to avoid the problem of
overstocking and understocking at the stores inventory management is done. Due to natural
calamities there may be loss of stock therefore to avoid such loss and wastage inventory is

managed. To enhance the cash flow and optimizing storage cost the branch does inventory
management (Song, van Houtum. and Van Mieghem, 2020). The branch manages their inventory
by following certain steps which are:
Firstly determining the loopholes or the gap between available and demanded inventory.
The second thing they does is demand forecasting and analysing their spending pattern. The
branch then evaluates the cost of warehousing, transportation and other costs.
Then they determine the areas and extent to which the process can be automated and then
examining the suppliers strategy for change.
Walkden branch of Tesco then classify their products into different categories and objectives of
each inventory is managed and tracked. Areas of improvement must be prioritize as some as
some may require restoration and some may be resolves immediately (Muller 2019).
Now lastly opinions and advises are taken from consultants and experts and then the suitable
inventory management policy is framed by the managers at the branch. And in the times of
Covid-19 there have been uncertainties in demand and supply of the goods therefore managing
inventory effectively and efficiently is necessary to reduce the cost and avoid wastage.
All the practices and software helps the branch to forecast demand and to stock adequate
amount of product avoiding overstocking and understocking which also helps in reducing costs.
Inventory management at Tesco helps them in becoming environmental friendly by reducing the
wastage, cutting costs and saving energy etc.
Lean management of Tesco
Lean management is the process by which the Tesco store at Walkden improves their
processes by reducing the cost with the aim to improve performance and minimize the wastage
and maximise the value of products and services. As there are lot of uncertainties due to Covid-
19 that can impact the process and operations of the branch therefore it is the high time for them

to indulge in lean management as it will help the this branch to reduce or eliminate the activities
that does not add value to the process.
Lean management is done by the company to
enhance their effectiveness and efficiencies. It aims
at reducing the type of waste which are non-value
adding in terms of defects, overproduction,
transportation, extra processing etc. Tesco Walkden
manages their lean by removing the wastage and
aims to add value in each of its processes and
operations.
For lean management this branch
concentrated on innovating in supply
chain operations in terms of continuous
replenishment based on checkout
counters and primary distribution cross
dock distribution and also using of
single vehicle to serve different stores.
By undertaking lean management the
branch established better relationship
with both the customers and suppliers.
To manage their lean Walkden branch also
adopted the e-procurement programme Tesco
also introduced primary distribution process
for making their transportation efficient.
CONCLUSION
The above report examined the in depth and detailed study of Tesco’s store at Walkden
operations and functionalities. The quality management techniques such as zero defects, getting
The branch at Walkden undertakes
Lean management to cut cost and
satisfy customers’ needs and wants
(Bertagnolli 2018).

things right at first, continuous improvement and their influence on the overall productivity,
profit and growth of the organisation was evaluated. There are basically four types of layout
which are fixed position, cell, product and process layouts all of the four have their distinct
functions and purposes. The stores layout and design of the branch is functional layout as all the
products are properly stacked and arranged according to the resemblance and significance in
their functionality. This layout is selected for providing ease and convenience to the customers
and the organisation opted for functional layout and its direct impact on the customer’s
satisfaction and convenience is analysed. Further in the report the lean management along with
inventory control of the branch in relation with capacity management were scrutinised
thoroughly. The capacity management of Walkden branch includes promoting the development
of capacity processes, developing a capacity plan, then executing the developed capacity plan
and holding reviews for the plan and update it if there is requirement and also provide report for
the same and for lean management of this branch concentrated on innovating in supply chain
operations in terms of continuous replenishment based on checkout counters and primary
distribution, cross dock distribution and also using of single vehicle to serve different stores.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Bertagnolli, F., 2018. Lean management. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
Fernandes, A.C and et. al., 2017. Supply chain management and quality management
integration. International Journal of quality & reliability management.
Jacobs, M., SANDERLING MANAGEMENT Ltd, 2017. Dynamic promotional layout
management and distribution rules. U.S. Patent 9,639,866.
Kotaru, V.K., 2016. Layout Management. In Material Design implementation with
AngularJS (pp. 29-40). Apress, Berkeley, CA.
Li, D and et. al., 2018. Impact of quality management on green innovation. Journal of cleaner
production. 170. pp.462-470.
Muller, M., 2019. Essentials of inventory management. HarperCollins Leadership.
Santoro, G. and et.al., 2019. Big data for business management in the retail
industry. Management Decision.
van Kemenade, E. and Hardjono, T.W., 2019. Twenty-first century total quality management:
the emergence paradigm. The TQM Journal.
Khan, S.A. and et.al.,2019. Application of continuous improvement techniques to improve
organization performance. International Journal of Lean Six Sigma.
Armony, M., Chan, C.W. and Zhu, B., 2018. Critical care capacity management: Understanding
the role of a step down unit. Production and Operations Management. 27(5). pp.859-
883.
Song, J.S., van Houtum, G.J. and Van Mieghem, J.A., 2020. Capacity and inventory
management: Review, trends, and projections. Manufacturing & Service Operations
Management. 22(1). pp.36-46.
Zawidzki, M., 2016. Architectural Functional Layout Optimization in a Coarse Grid. In Discrete
Optimization in Architecture (pp. 3-34). Springer, Singapore.
Online
TQM (Intro, Tesco, Benefit). 2020 [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.scribd.com/presentation/231662022/MAF635-TQM-Intro-Tesco-
Benefit>
Walkden Town Centre Manchester, Tesco Site Layout plan. 2020 [Online]. Available
through :<https://www.thederwentgroup.com/portfolio/retail-leisure/walkden-town-centre/>
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