Continuous Improvement and Operational Management at Unilever

This report delves into the realm of operations and project management, defining operations management (OM) as a crucial administrative and control practice for enhancing business process efficiency and quality. It explores the application of OM principles to optimize resource utilization and maximize profits, emphasizing the transformation and control of resources within operational activities. The report critically reviews the principles of operational management, focusing on functional aspects like inventory, manufacturing, and logistics, using Unilever Plc as a case study to illustrate continuous improvement processes. It analyzes techniques such as Lean methodology, Six Sigma, and control mechanisms for improving functional efficiencies. The report also develops a Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP) for Unilever, addressing issues in product quality, supply chain, and packaging costs. It evaluates the effectiveness of CIP using models like PDCA and Kaizen, justifying CIP strategies by emphasizing waste elimination and efficient resource management. The report concludes by examining the relationship between operations management, Lean, and Six Sigma, highlighting how these approaches can improve processes and manage operations.

Operations and Project
Management

INTRODUCTION
Operation management (OM) is defined as the administrative and control practices for
improving the efficiency and quality aspect of different business processes. These principles aim
at utilising the available resources in a way that optimum profits can be obtained with minimum
consumption or exploration of the resources (Schönsleben, 2016). Instead of prioritising to any
operation this management approach transforms, and control human resources, techniques,
equipment and business assets involved in all operational activities.
The report will evaluate the effectiveness of operation management techniques and how
they can influence the process of continuous improvement within organisations. It will also
discuss the continuous improvement process from operational perspective by using a case
example of Unilever Plc. The organisation is one of the leading consumer good industry with its
head quarter in UK and is providing services in international markets as well. The document will
also provide a critical evaluation of the project life cycle and associated characteristics.
TASK 1
a) Critical review of principles of operational management (POM) (P1)
The OM principles mainly focus on all associated functional aspects of the business.
These principles regulate the various operations of Unilever such as its inventory functions,
manufacturing, operational planning, logistic, distribution and management of operations
(Principles of Operations Managemnt, 2019). The OM principles based on each of these
functional units aims to enhance productivity so that the functional errors can be minimized, and
quality services can be provided to the customers. For instance, Unilever supply its products in
various countries.
Thus, the lack of ineffective supply chain will affect its commitment towards on time
delivery of goods. In order to avoid such issues, the implementation of POM in logistic will
assure that all goods are distributed and supply in systematic manner. In the same manner the
complex business operations can influence the overall performance of business in negative way.
Unilever deals in vast range of consumer goods (Slack and Brandon-Jones, 2018). Thus, without
any planning framework it is quite challenging and confusing to manage service standards of
each and every type of product. However, this problem can be resolved by implementing OM in
planning process from every level of operations.
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The key success method of OM principles is that it monitors each aspect of the operations
and then improvements are added to them. For example, the packaging, manufacturing process
or billing process may involve errors which must be eliminated so that accuracy of operations is
not affected. However, if Unilever does not have any structure for implementation of OM then
such operational inaccuracies cannot be identified, and it will be directly reflected to
stakeholders. It is not only important from the perspective of stakeholders, but lack of OM
principles will also cause additional burden in terms of resource wastage and unnecessary losses.
Though implementing OM within company will also require planning and resources but it is
essential for the growth of the business. The organisation can use following techniques to
improve its functional efficiencies.
Lean methodology: One of the most effective OM strategies for improving the operational
quality is the Lean technology which aims at reducing every type of waste. The waste can be in
terms of resources or the efforts which does not give any contribution in the efficiency or
growth. The CIP strategies aim at identifying all such areas in which waste can be minimized by
using more advanced methodologies (Ambrose, 2016). For instance, the TQM approach will
help to avoid errors or quality defects in the products at every stage of production or processing
before delivering product to end user.
Six sigma:
This operational management technique aims at improving the operational quality by
eliminating the causes of defects. The key focus of this strategic concept is to reduce operational
cost, time and complexity of the process and to enhance the customer satisfaction. It uses the
comparison of six standard deviations from the desired quality of the business attributes so that
organisation can analyse the area of improvement. The implementation of this strategy to various
business processes can promote overall accuracy and efficiency.
Control mechanism:
In order to achieve the goals in a predefined way control mechanism is essential so that
different business perspectives can be accomplished effectively. The organisation can apply
control mechanism in three ways namely preventive control, corrective and detective control.
The preventive control approach helps organisation to avoid the operational errors so that
wastage can be reduced. The detective control mechanisms detects the operational areas which
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need improvements and which are not performing well. Contrary to these methods the corrective
control methods are essential to apply the suitable strategies which can make processes more cost
effective and qualitative.
b) Continuous improvement plan (CIP) (P2)
The CIP will help organisation to analyse its current operational issues to identify eh
suitable solution for the given issue (Crowe, 2017). Based on above discussed issues in
operational context following CIP for Unilever can be developed as follows:
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT PLAN
Operational area to
be focused
Associated
issues
related to
operational
efficiency
Analysis of
factors
causing
issues
Improvement
action
Time
frame
Measurement
of success
Unilever is currently
facing issues in
following activities.
 Assuring
quality of
products.
 Supply
products on
long
distribution
network
without any
damage or
loss to
product
It has been
observed
that quality
of products
is not
satisfactory
and
production
team is not
considering
the
suggestions
from quality
control
team.
Though
In some
departments
such as
inventory
there are
excessive
resources
which are
not used
properly and
thus it leads
wastage. On
the other
hand,
different
operational
The
organisation
can control
and regulate
the usage of
every
resource so
that waste
can be
controlled.
By using the
motivation all
staff
members
must be
encouraged
Unilever
can
achieve
the
desired
outcomes
within
one year.
The success
of this plan
can be
measured by
number of
methods. For
instance,
Unilever can
use its sales
analysis and
compare them
with past
records.
Similarly, it
can also
conduct an
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quality
 Undesired
expenses due
to wastage of
excess
inventory
 High
packaging
costs
 Lack of
innovative
practices
team
members are
highly
skilled and
are regularly
working to
improve
quality but
there are no
significance
evidences of
innovative
practices as
compare to
other
competitive
organisation.
teams are
not
concerned
about the
proper
management
of resources.
As a result,
in each of
the
functional
department
there is lack
of
coordination
which
prevents
Unilever to
achieve the
operational
excellence.
The lack of
technical
and
advanced
methods is
also one of
the causes to
degrade
quality. For
instance,
to give
innovative
ideas and to
identify the
activities
which are
causing
waste. For
instance,
instead of
using email if
documents
are
unnecessarily
maintained
on paper then
along with
the cost it is
also causing
burden on
employees.
Thus, new
systems can
be employed
for
improvement.
Similarly, the
supply chain
must also be
improved so
that quality
audit team
which can
give ranking
and
monitoring to
the
improvements
made.
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Unilever can
employ new
eco-friendly
or reusable
packing
methods for
lowering its
packaging
expenses.
issues can be
resolved.
C) Evaluating effectiveness of CIP (M2)
There are several models and concepts which can be used for analysing the effectiveness
of the improvement plan.
Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCAS): The CIP will enable Unilever to execute every
operational activity with this approach so that failure risks will be reduced. It will also help
organisation to manage its resources and time for successful accomplishment of its operational
activities.
Kaizen: This approach assures that organisation is making every possible small change
which can improve the performance and efficiency of the company. From the improvement
strategies discussed in CIP the basic idea behind Kaizen can be achieved. This fact itself
indicates that the suggested improvement plan will not only enhance the operational efficiency
but will also bring innovations.
Further the implementation of these methods along with six sigma and control mechanism will
reduce the resource wastage by minimizing the functional errors. The use of six sigma method
aims at reducing functional cost while control mechanism will not only reduce the error
probabilities but will also find alternative ways through which processes can be made more
beneficial. On the other hand the Kaizen principle can help organisation to explore every
possible improvement strategies which can help to achieve operational excellence. Thus, it can
be concluded that by following the CIP Unilever will be able to make its practices more effective
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and innovative. It will help organisation to sustain its quality as well as to deliver the services as
per the needs of market demands.
TASK 2
a) Justification of CIP strategies (D1)
By implementing the OM concepts within infrastructure Unilever can assure the
continuous development and growth. Based on above discussed aspects of CIP strategies, a
strategy of the organisation is to eliminate waste by controlling manufacturing and production by
making effective use of human resource which includes:
 The organisation must assure that each staff member is familiar with their roles and
duties and have required skills so that they can understand the inventory needs of
company (Wild, 2017). The regular monitoring of inventory and resource management
corresponding to future goals will help Unilever to reduce the over expensed in inventory
function and thus profitability will be increased.
 The organisation must seek help from its expertise human assets for developing effective
plans as per the needs of business and marketing trends. It will help Unilever to execute
operations with better approach.
 Manufacturing, distribution and supply processes of the organisation must be conducted
with due care. Thus, Unilever must identify the techniques. For instance, Lean and Sigma
technique can bring the higher level of operational accuracy.
 Company must also identify the more effective and advance methods for enhancing the
quality of its warehousing, storage and transportation methods (Ljevoa, Vukomanovićb
and Rustempašićc, 2017). It will not only provide better consumer experience but can
also reduce the operational cost.
 Without adding the quality management techniques to the CIP, it will be hard to achieve
the future goals of organisation. Unilever must develop specific teams and strategies for
managing projects, quality control and product development methods.
B) Operation management in relation with Lean and Six Sigma (M1)
Six Sigma and Lean are most widely used approaches used by business organisations to
improve their processes and managing operations.
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Six sigma: With this methodology Unilever can identify the factor which is causing
defect in operations. Thus, for enhancing improvement these defects are eliminated after
analysing their cause (Hartini and Ciptomulyono, 2015). For instance, strict commitment from
upper management authorities can guide employees to assure the desired quality levels in the
processes. Similarly adopting the manufacturing processes which have less variability can make
process more cost effective and defects can also be recognised. Six sigma can also help in
improving the business processes of the organisation by eliminating errors in manufacturing and
development. Unilever with the help of six sigma can keep their defects up to the maximum limit
of 3.4 per million opportunities and Unilever can focus on achieving measurable and quantifiable
financial returns.
Lean principles:
The understanding of the values and needs of customers can enhance the profitability of
Unilever. By establishing specific goals to meet the needs of customers more customized
services can be delivered to cons.umers (Qi and et.al., 2017). It helps organisation to retain
customers for long term. Another Lean principle of reducing inventory waste and work in
process assets helps organisation to manage its resources effectively so that operational cost can
be decrease as well as innovative practices can be encouraged.
The application of lean and six sigma is vital for achieving the OM goals of Unilever.
TASK 3
a) Applying project life cycle (PLC) (P3)
Project life cycle is broken down in to four phases that are followed by project managers
while moving to the different stages of project completion (What is project life cycle, 2019).
XYZ can use PLC of Waterfall model which is a based on the sequential events. Project life
cycle is important for any service organisation and it is a standard process through which the
teams achieve success in the project. Fur stages of Heathrow Terminal 3 integrated Baggage
facility is as:
 Stage 1-The conceptualization phase
 Stage 2-The planning phase
 Stage 3-The execution phase
 Stage 4-The termination phase
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Figure 1: Project life cycle
[Source: Helleno, de Moraes and Simon, 2017]
The conceptualization phase: It is also referred as initiation phase where the project of
T3IB has been conceptualized and is the starting point of the project. This project T3IB has
started by Heathrow for improving its baggage handling system in the world. This project will
make the baggage handling system of Heathrow more automated and effective which will
increase the efficiency of an organisation (Helleno, de Moraes and Simon, 2017). Integrated
baggage system will help improving Heathrow’s baggage system, with the help of this system
Heathrow would be able to detect the bag jams, tracking the bags of the customers more easily,
counting the bags etc. This system has also got automatic tag reader which reads the tags on the
luggage provide by different airlines at terminal 3. So, this project is important for Heathrow
Airport which will improve its baggage handling process.
The planning phase: As Heathrow has given OK to launch the project T3IB then a set of
plans are outlined in order to achieve goals established initially (Cherrafi and et.al., 2016). A
project plan is a written document which helps in keeping project in track with the help of its
Heathrow can identify goals, scope and deadlines of the project. It is also used a project guide
and control. A plan for a project is defined below:
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Task Mode Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecesso
rs
Auto
Scheduled
conducting customer
research 2 days Mon 1/28/19 Tue 1/29/19
Auto
Scheduled
designing the concept of
project 3 days Wed 1/30/19 Fri 2/1/19 1
Auto
Scheduled developing budget 1 day Mon 2/4/19 Mon 2/4/19 1,2
Auto
Scheduled
designing and testing of
integrated baggage
system
10 days Tue 2/5/19 Mon 2/18/19 2,3
Auto
Scheduled
notifying suppliers for
further requirements 3 days Tue 2/19/19 Thu 2/21/19 4
Auto
Scheduled
implementing and
launching of integrated
baggage system
6 days Fri 2/22/19 Fri 3/1/19 4,5
Figure 2: Network diagram
For starting up a project Heathrow conducts a customer’s research for determining the
needs of the customers and how to assist them in a better way. After conducting a research
engineers of Heathrow will design the concept of the project according to the needs of the
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customers (Robinson, 2017). Finance team of Heathrow will develop a total budget for the entire
project. After budgeting is done engineers will design and test the integrated baggage system.
During the project if there is a further requirement for the completion of the project, suppliers
will be notified. When everything is done properly project will be implemented and launched.
The execution phase: This is the stage when Heathrow works for the project and
required tools and resources are used and transformed to achieve the goal.
Illustration 1: Work structure
In this stage work structure of the project is framed our and are broken down into small
tasks. Entire work structure of the project is shown in the above figure. Every stage of the project
is sub-divided in to small jobs in order to improve the efficiency of a project and the project
becomes easy to control through different sub-stages (Spring, Mason and McCaffrey, 2017).
The termination phase: It is also called as project closure in which Heathrow closes it
project on its completion. It is the time when the entire project is completed and is successfully
implemented it results in the closure of a projects. In the termination phase personnel and tools
are reassigned to new duties.
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