Woolworths Supermarkets: Operations Performance Analysis Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Woolworths Supermarkets' operations management. It begins with an executive summary, followed by an introduction that highlights the company's background and the report's objectives. The main body delves into Woolworths' operational performance objectives, scrutinizing product and service designs, and discussing process design and improvements. The report examines the company's business layout, location, and information flow. It also provides recommendations for managing operations, evaluating supply chain management strategies, and identifying resources required for strategy execution. The report concludes with a summary of the findings and includes references to support the analysis. The report covers various aspects of the business, including how they define corporate strategy, the speed of operations, quality of products, variation in cost, flexibility, and dependability. The product design section details the analysis, concept, and synthesis stages, whereas the process design and improvement section discusses the phases of brainstorming, charter creation, current state process mapping, data sheet creation and evaluation, future process plan, and implementation plan. The layout analysis covers factors like future expansion, flow of movement, safety, and flow of communication within the organization.

MANAGING OPERATIONS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This study summarized the Operational Performance Objective of Woolworths
Supermarkets which has helped them in improving the performance of the business. After that
report has summarized the product design and the process design and improvement of the
organization. Woolworth supermarket bring the change department wise in which change is first
brought in the small part and on the basis of the performance it has been brought to all
organization.

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
Q1 Explain the operations performance objectives of the operations and the contribution........4
of the operations to company performance..................................................................................4
Q 2 Scrutinize its product or service designs...............................................................................5
Q 3 Discuss its process design and improvements......................................................................6
Determine the comparable business design, position and flow of information...........................7
RECOMMENDATIONS.................................................................................................................9
Alternative Managing operations strategy...................................................................................9
Evaluating the improvement from supply chain management strategy.....................................10
Resources required for execution of strategy.............................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Managing operation is concerned with managing an entire production system which is the
process that converts inputs into outputs. Woolworths Supermarkets is an Australian
supermarket/grocery store chain owned by Woolworths Group. Founded in 1924. This report
highlights the objective of the performance objective. After that report highlights the product
service design of the organization and the process design and improvement of the organization.
Report goes on to highlights the corresponding business layout, location and flow of information.
Further this report highlights the suggestion of managing operation and evaluation of same
suggestion. In the end report explains the resource require for successful implementation of the
strategy.
MAIN BODY
Organizational Background
Woolworths Supermarkets is an Australian supermarket/grocery store chain owned by
Woolworths Group. Founded in the year 1924, 5 December. Woolworths Supermarkets is the
biggest supermarket in Australia with the total market share of 80 percent. Woolworths
Supermarkets mostly specialized in selling grocery product i.e. vegetables, fruit, meat, packaged
foods, etc. Woolworths Supermarkets is located at 995 location all over the Australia (Chaston,
2017). Headquartered of the company is based in Bella vista, Australia. There are 1,15,000
employees who used to work for the organization and the revenue of the company in the year
2018 was 5,672.6 crores AUD. Woolworths Supermarkets has sell their product with help of
both local stores and also with the help of the online web store. CEO of the organization is Brad
Banducci and the managing director of the organization is Claire Peters. Wwbsite of the
company is
www.woolworths.com.au
Q1 Explain the operations performance objectives of the operations and the contribution
of the operations to company performance
Operational Performance Objective
Operational performance objective is the area of the performance management that company try
to improve with the main motive of achieving the organizational goal. Generally, Woolworth

supermarket used to define the corporate strategy at first place and on the basis of that
operational objective are defined by the Woolworth supermarket. Some operational objective are
as follows:
Objective of speed: This is the objective in which Woolworth supermarket sees the
speed of the operation in the organization. They look at how fast company can deliver its product
to the customer for the purpose of generating sales. This objective looks at the concern of the
company about the time taken to produce one or more product of the company.
Quality of a Product: This is the second objective in which Woolworth supermarket
looks to produce the product and measure the same in such a way that how much it is able to
satisfy the need of the customer in the market (Donald and Donald, 2019). This objective of the
company looks at reliability, durability and function of the company which helps the company in
improving the customer relation which eventually helps the company in improving the
performance.
Variation in cost: This is the another objective in which Woolworth supermarket looks
at the variation which occurs in the unit cost of the product with the change in the factor such as
volume and variety of product. This contributes very heavily in success of the business as
organization is able to understand the demand of the product as products with greater variety
tend to sport lower volumes and higher unit costs and vice versa (Heizer, Render and Munson,
2017). Ultimately, this affects the price of the product.
Flexibility in operation: This objective looks at how quick the operation line of the
Woolworth supermarket is able to adopt the change in the operation. This has helped the
business in improving the efficiency as business was already having the idea of the change
beforehand.
Dependability of operation: This objective of the Woolworth supermarket looks at how
dependable is company to deliver the product to the customer on the desired price and cost. This
helps the business in looking current situation of work in the organization on the basis of that
organization used to take different step to improve the same.
Q 2 Scrutinize its product or service designs
Product Design

Product design is the process of creating new product for the purpose of selling the same in the
market. Woolworth supermarket uses simple process of designing the product of the
organization. The process starts with Analysis, then goes on to the concept and ends at Synthesis.
Analysis: This is the stage where the designer in the organization choose the problem
which is faced in the consumer in the market and on the basis of that they try to find out the
solution of same problem. After finding the solution of the problem all the research team in the
organization used to research about the best way through which the customer can be served in
the face of the product.
Concept: This is the stage where condition of the problem becomes objective and
restraints on the situation parameter are set up by the designer within which the new design of
the product should be constructed.
Synthesis: This is the stage where the real work is performed in the process of the product
design. There are four sub stage in which the work is done in this stage. At the first stage
designer used to thought about the different idea and evaluate them. In the second stage the
designer used to narrow down the idea into few which can be the best suitable (Turkulainen and
et.al., 2015). At the third stage prototypes of the product is built by the designer and plan
outlined in the previous step is realized and the product starts to become an actual object and in
the last step product is tested and the improvement are done if some require to improve the
quality of product.
Q 3 Discuss its process design and improvements
Process Design
Process Design is the process of choosing and sequencing the unit of the desired physical
or chemical transformation of material. Process design and improvement process in is performs
in the Six phases in the organization.
Brainstorm Session: At the starting stage new ideas are generated by the business. The
main objective is to produce as many ideas as possible to evaluate process. This idea helps the
organization in setting as a benchmark on the basis of which the process is tested.
Charter Creator: It is the second stage in which charter is created which describes the
scope, process boundaries, objective and resource needed to complete the project. This document
used to describe the process which need to be evaluated and improved in an organization and
also it describes the problem which is faced due to that process.

Current State Process Map: It is the third stage in which a map is created by the
Woolworth supermarket which describes all the step of the process, and responsibility for all the
step and time taken to complete each task in the organization.
Create data sheet and Evaluation: It is the next step in which data sheet is created by
the organization and after that evaluation sheet is created to test value added and non-value
added task (Turkulainen and et.al., 2015). This stage helps the organization in understanding the
importance of each step and helps them to understand the change needed in process.
Future Process plan: It is the fifth stage of the process design and improvement in
which Woolworth supermarket used to make the plan of future process implementing the change
which is required in the process to improve the process.
Implementation Plan: It is the last stage in which the management of the Woolworth
supermarket make a plan in the organization to implement the future process in the organization.
Generally, Woolworth supermarket bring the change department wise in which change is first
brought in the small part and on the basis of the performance it has been brought to all
organization.
Determine the comparable business design, position and flow of information
Business layout of Woolworths meets the requirement of the employees and increases
the effectiveness in process of production. The main objective of business layout is to ensure
smooth flow of information, work and material through system. In Woolworth there are four
types of business layout that are product layout which focuses processing of equipment and
maintain the standards of product, process layout is arrangements of products in sequence, fixed
position layout mainly focuses on keeping the location and parts of tools fixed to support the
employee convenience for tools and equipment, combination layout is used as the moulded
version according to the requirement of the Woolworth is it does not involve any investment
(O’Grady and Davies, 2017).
Factors that determine the business layout in Woolworth are ease for future expansion
that is the structure of organisation should enable it to easily adopt the changes and adjust to
meet the requirement of dynamic environment. Another factor is flow of movement that is the
business operation of Woolworth is that it run smoothly as recognition of smooth flow of
process is important. Next factor of business layout is safety that is the company should fulfil
health administration and occupational safety guidelines and legal restrictions. Next business

layout is flow of communication in organisation which helps to know the needs of member and
they can give suggestion to the managers. The facility of communication helps the organisation
to work effectively by communicating to different vendors and customers (Heizer, Render and
Munson, 2017). The communication provides the support for smooth functioning of business
operations.
Location of Woolworths in Australia is as supermarkets store chain. The company has
captured over 80 percent of Australian market. The company is specialised for selling products
like meat, packed foods, vegetables fruits as groceries items and others products are beauty and
health products, magazines, household products, etc. The company has established its root in
markets and has developed many subsidiary of the company. Woolworth company operates its
business in UK, Australian market and New Zealand.
Flow of information in Woolworths company is by following hierarchical model. As in
this models the employee is being grouped and have one supervisor. The grouping is based on
different factors that are
Function: According to function the grouping of employees are done as finance, HR,
administration and technical group.
Geography: In this the grouping of employees are done on the basis of their regions.
Products: The grouping is done on the basis of multiples products and services that are
offered by the organisation.
Company also follow flat organisational structure as in this many levels in structure are
being eliminated which enhance the company to take quick decision and independently. The well
productive employee helps the organisation to grow faster and improves the decision making
process in the company. As the organisational structure is mostly suitable for small companies
because it works transparently (Coughlan and et.al., 2016). Woolworth company uses both
hierarchical and flat organisation structure for smooth flow of information within the
organisation.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Alternative Managing operations strategy
It is essential for an organization to implement the appropriate operations management
strategy in order become effective in a specific segment of operations. This can help Woolworths
in effectively executing the processes of justified segment. Woolworths is a retail chain
organization which have many chains around Australia, it is necessary to develop a supply chain
management strategy for providing its products at the necessary place and at the correct time.
Supply chain management can be described as a network of facilities and distribution options
which works for improving the operations of the company. It is essential for Woolworths to
manage it is supply chain in order to provide a competitive advantage in the market. There are
eight main components of a supply chain management which includes planning, information,
source, inventory, production, location, transportation and return of foods. These elements can
help Woolworths in supplying their products in order to make it available to maximum number
of customers (Basu, 2017).
Plan includes a framework through which company is going to manage the supply chain.
This guides the supply chain and provide effective flow of products and services. Secondly,
source includes the selection of appropriate supplier, this play a significant role in supplying the
goods in the most significant manner. An effective supplier can fulfil the demands of all the
stores of Woolworths in Australia which can help in providing its products to maximum number
of people in the country. This results in increasing the productivity of the organization. After the
sourcing, the make element is being executed in the supply chain management, this includes
ensuring of activities that are needed for production, packaging, testing and preparation for the
delivery.
Deliver is the second last aspect in supply chain management which comprises all those
factors that are being managed by the company in order to fulfil the needs of retail chain stores.
This ensures the delivery of products to the stores of the company. This part is also known as
logistics part of supply chain management, it majorly includes coordination of receipts of the
orders, picking of carriers for getting the products to the customers and lastly, developing a
network of warehouses. Lastly, the element which helps in preventing the losses in retail chains
are return. Most of the retail chain companies are involved in movement of goods if they are not
being so effective in the market. The retail stores inform to the headquarters about the dead stock

in the stores or the stock which is to be dead. The company ensures that this is being place to that
places where the products are being required more at the marketplace.
Evaluating the improvement from supply chain management strategy
Woolworths is a retail chain organization with a huge number of its supermarkets in
Australia. Supply chain management in operations management can help the company in
managing its supply with effectively decreasing its expenses by a significant management of
supply chains. Supply chain can help the company in increasing the speed of getting a product
from the production to the market.
Supply chain can improve the cost inefficiencies of the company by providing a way for
the business to give a competitive advantage without lowering the prices through providing
required goods of the customers at the right place and at the necessary time. Supply chain
management is important for the company as it provides number of services which are discussed
as follows:
 Boosts Customers service: The main purpose of a business is to earn profit by providing
customer satisfaction. Customers expects products to be delivered to them on time
whenever required. Supply chain management helps in managing all these tasks which
provides maximum level of customer satisfaction.
 Reduces operating costs: An effective management of supply chain can lead to decrease
the cost of production and purchasing of raw material. If the raw material required is
being purchased at the one time and all the goods which are to be delivered on the same
route are being delivered by the suppliers, expenses and costs of products and purchasing
will significantly decrease.
 Improves financial position: There are several supply chain managers are being
appointed in huge organization who ensures the process of supply. They are being valued
as they manage and control supply chains which reduces supply chain costs.
Appointment of supply chain managers can lead to drastic increase in profits of
Woolworths (Basu, 2017).
Hence, management of supply chain in Woolworths can increase the efficiency and
effectiveness of operations in the organization by increasing the customer satisfaction by quickly
providing goods to the customer which leads to maximum level of satisfaction by the customer.

Resources required for execution of strategy
There are several resources which are being managed by supply chain manager in order
to provide an effective management of supplying goods and services to the customers. The
resources which are required for managing an effective supply chain are discussed as follows:
 Human Resource: In order to manage all the operations of a supply chain there are
several requirements of human resources. Firstly, labours are required for shifting the
products from one place to another. Secondly, driver will be required for transporting the
goods from production factory to retail stores. Lastly, for managing the same, a supply
chain management team will be required who will ensure all the process of the supplies.
 Logistics: In order to transport the goods from manufacturing units to the retail stores,
there will be requirement of some logistics which may include road transport. This
consist of trucks or lorries, tractors and many vehicles related to transportation. It is
essential for the company to make available all the necessary resources for the
transportation in order to prevent any delivery in products and services to customers.
 Financial Resources: In order to hire some logistics and human resources, financial
resources will be required. Company needs to create appropriate budget according to
execution of supply chain strategy that it doesn't effect the financial position of the
company (Bateman and Radnor, 2017).
CONCLUSION
After going through the above report it has been summarized that there are five type of the
operational objective of Woolworth supermarket. After that it has been summarized that 3 stage
process is used by the organization in product design which is Analysis, concept and Synthesis
and six phase process which stats with brain storming and ends at implication plan is used in
process design and improvements. Further this report summarized that significant management
of supply chains strategy will be the best suitable for the organization to improve the operation of
work in the organization with the help of the analysis of that strategy.

REFERENCES
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