Operational Management and Project Life Cycle Analysis for XYZ Company

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Operations and Project Management
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Activity 1....................................................................................................................................4
Activity 2....................................................................................................................................8
Activity 3..................................................................................................................................11
Activity 4..................................................................................................................................17
Conclusion and Recommendations..........................................................................................18
Reference List..........................................................................................................................19
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Introduction
Operational management is the process of managing the operations and functions of the
company to produce goods in the company. It is an useful method to increase the
production of the company in an effective way. In the study below the management,
research of company XYZ will be discussed. The company is going to launch large screen
television in the market. The market scenario and the competitions faced by the company will
be focused. The principles of the operation management in the company xyz will be analysed
by different methods of operational management such as six sigma and lean approach
method. The effects of these methods of operational management on the organisation will
also be scrutinised. The improvement plan that the company can adopt is going to be
discussed in this report with the help of kaizen method. The effectiveness of the project life
cycle will be analysed critically.
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Activity 1
Critically evaluate the appropriate theories and concepts such as, six sigma
methodology and lean principles in given organisation XYZ
Operational management is the process of managing the operations and functions of the
company to produce goods and services. It is an effective method to increase the
production of the company. It focuses on the managing criteria of the organisational
system. Operational management includes organising the task, planning of the work,
controlling the activities and coordinating with the workers to enhance its productivity
(Gibson and Parkman, 2018). The two approaches of operational management:
Six Sigma: It is the strategy of operational management system, which focuses on
enhancing the Quality of the methods used for production. This method aims at
eliminating the delusion and variation while production process. The important factor for
any product is its Quality. It plays a vital role in maintaining the reputation of the
company. The Quality of the products needs to be ensured for better enhancement of the
company’s production. Any negligence in the products quality can lead to failure of the
product in the market. Six Sigma method is effective way to analyse any error in the
production of the company XYZ. This method ensures that the Quality of the product
needs to be improved by producing brilliant Quality of the products of the same brand.
There are several levels maintained with proper implementation of Six Sigma method by
an organisation. Black and green belts are provided to the employees of the company
who uses this effective method for production. It helps in eradicating any fallacy in the
manufacturing process. There are two approaches of six-sigma method DMAIC and
DMADV. The method of DMAIC is used for uplifting the production process of the
company. It involves in defining, measuring the process, analysing it and improving it.
DMADV is method for designing the process of production in particular for providing
customers satisfaction also validating the performance of the design used.
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Figure 1: Image of six sigma
(Source: Antony et al., 2016)
The company XYZ can use the method of Six Sigma for its production process to
produce better Quality of goods. This method ensures better Quality by removing any
errors of production also cut down the variation in production.
Lean method: This method is used by the company to provide satisfaction to the
customers by producing improved products, which creates value to the customers. This
method focuses on reducing waste while production of the goods and its aim is to
generate improved Quality of the product. It uses effective and innovative methods to
reduce waste in the production process. The company to enhance its production without
producing any waste applies this method. This feature leads to attain high revenue to the
company. The lean methodology involves five-principle they are:
 Identifying value from customer’s side: The producer of the company develops
the value or price of the product and the customers explain or adopt it. Therefore,
the company need to know the values required by the customers for the product.
The value should be such that it should analyse the willingness of the customers
to be able to pay it. The company XYZ needs to understand the suited value,
which the customers will pay.
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 Mapping the stream of values: In this process the mapping of products and raw
materials used for making the goods are analysed, to keep track of the waste
generated in the production process (Kurdve et al., 2015). This method identifies
the type of wastes generated and tries to rectify it. This method will be effective
for the production process of company XYZ as it will be able to know the waste it
is generating.
 Creating flow: This is regarded to create flow to the production process. In this
process the deduction of barriers and threats are analysed along with creating the
methods to rectify this barriers. This flow is necessary for elimination of waste in
the production of company XYZ. In addition, the flow of smooth delivery of the
product, creating multi skilled labour force by providing training is also examined
for reducing waste and enhancing production.
 Establishing pull system: This process ensures the deduction of product
inventory in the company. One of the wastes to the company is the inventory
goods it needs to be made in use (Jones and Womack, 2016). This is an effective
method to pull the goods in inventory. The company XYZ to cut down its
inventory products and have a smooth flow of work done in the company can use
this method.
 Pursuing perfection: This method is applied after the analysing and identifying
the waste management system. It ensures the perfection of work in improved
manner to deliver the products. This method ensures better Quality of the
products of company, which it can use effectively.
Figure 2: Five principles of Lean methodology
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(Source: Antony et al., 2015)
The method of six sigma and lean method are analysed above. The lean method is the
effective method that can be used by the company XYZ. This factor focuses on the waste
management system and maintaining flow in the market. it also ensures the Quality of
the production by maintaining perfection. In addition, it focuses on reducing the
inventory of the company. This method can enhance the total output of the company
XYZ to greater extend by cutting down cost of waste of production.
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Activity 2
Apply the concept of continuous improvement in an operational context
Operations management is considered as the process of managing the operations that are
conducted by the businesses. The management of operations is necessary for the growth and
development of the business. This will help the company to allocate resources and tasks
among the employees and the activities that are needed to be completed to achieve the goals
of the organisation. In this activity, the various principles of operations management have
been explained in context of the business operations of the company XYZ. Various operations
management theories have been explained along with its advantages and disadvantages with
its negativities and how they could be resolved.
Operational Management Principles
The operational management principles that can be applied by the electronics company XYZ
to bring forth continuous improvement are described below. These principles are based on the
works of Randall Schaeffer. It is required by XYZ to plan the continuous improvement
strategies and apply them to check their validity in a set period. When it brings forth
improved operations, the strategies will then be applied in a larger scale to reap more
rewards.
 Assessing realistic needs: Every operation has specific needs and requirements that
are required to be provided and realised by the company. The issue that many
companies face while conducting operations management is that they tend to focus
solely on the tools and methodologies that they have applied in their management
process. The managers often disregard the requirements of the operation and focus
more on the results that can be achieved by conducting operations management.
Realising the needs of the operations will make it easier for the management of XYZ
to focus their management activities to achieve desired outcomes (Alves and Alves,
2015).
 Resource Planning: Resource planning is required to be done by the organisation in
order to understand the needs of the operations based on the resources required. In
this context, the first principle of assessing the realistic needs of the operations will be
significant for measuring the resource needs of the operations. The raw materials
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required by XYZ, their financial budgeting, and work force planning form the crux of
resource planning.
 Change for improvement: The advancements that have been made in the field of
technology have allowed the business to explore newer avenues and operation
processes that will allow the organisation to induce change in their operations and
make it better by developing targeted facets of the entire process. XYZ should not be
hesitant of change, but should consider it with an open mind.
 Accountability: It is necessary for the management to make the employees and
themselves be held accountable for their actions. This will make the employees more
focused on their activities so that they can ensure that no errors are done in their part.
This will make the employees more productive in their work and will result in
providing high quality output and products being developed (Singh and Singh, 2015).
Operational Management Theories
Along with the aforementioned principles of operations management, various theories can be
applied as well, which is described below.
 Kaizen Theory: According to his theory, the company can implement necessary
structural and cultural changes in the organisation to affect the operations conducted
in a positive manner. By following the Kaizen model, XYZ can make necessary
changes in their organisational structure to make the operations easier, along with
implementing rules and regulations in the employee management to make them
adhere to certain policies so that the necessary results can be achieved. However,
application of this theory in management is a slow process, as the management needs
to analyse the requirements of the business operations that can make it better, along
with in the organisation, which is a time consuming process itself (Chanda, 2017).
Changes in the structure like removal of middle layers of management, along with
lowering the operational costs of the company will bring forth continuous
improvement in the business operations.
 Total Quality Management: In this management theory, the quality of the operations
conducted by the employees is taken in consideration to determine the output and
results that are achievable by the company. The various elements of the organisation
involved in the production of the company – the suppliers, quality of resources,
employee productivity and more can be improved to make the overall quality of the
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operations better. For example, XYZ can motivate the employees to work harder and
provide incentives, so that the work done by them can improve as well due to their
increased satisfaction and productivity. However, focusing on the improvement of
only one aspect will not be enough for the organisation to bring forth noticeable
improvement (Jiménez-Jiménez et al., 2015).
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Activity 3
Apply the Project Life Cycle (PLC) to a given context
In order to conduct business operations, the firm has to go through many stages of the
Project Life Cycle (PLC) to launch a new product in the market.
Business Case
1. Executive Summary
In this report, the business case of XYZ has been detailed, with the inclusions of the
aims and objectives of the company, their financial performance, human resources
available, stakeholders involved, and the risk assessment of their new business project of
launching a new large screen television in a new and unexplored market of the company.
2. Project Background
XYZ is planning to enter into the market of Huge Screen Television (minimum 58 inches) for
parks and stadiums. It aims to satisfy the needs of the customers and provide the best quality
television with good picture quality and sound.
3. Aims and Objectives
The aims and objectives of the company are:
 To understand the needs and requirements of the customers in terms of television
 To manufacture television having the best picture quality and audibility
 To identify the issues that XYZ may face while manufacturing television and resolve
them
4. Financial Requirements
The financial requirements of the firm for this project are explained in the table below.
Activities Tim
e
Cost per
day (£)
Total Cost
(£)
Conduct market research to find out the needs and
requirements of the customers
30 300 9000
Design the television 5 400 2000
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CAD (Computer-aided design) 15 500 7500
CAM (Computer-aided manufacturing) 15 450 6750
Test the prototype of the television 10 400 4000
Manufacture the television 30 600 18000
Take feedback and test the product 10 200 2000
Develop the product by improving its features 15 200 3000
Marketing and promotion 60 300 18000
TOTAL £ 70,250
Table 1: Financial Requirements of XYZ
(Source: Created by the Learner)
5. Stakeholders
The stakeholders that are involved in this project are the various suppliers of the raw
materials, the employees of the firm, the investors in the firm, and the target customers
that bathe product will be sold to in the market of the UK, along with the government of
the country.
6. Risk Assessment
Since the product that is being launched into the market is a technological in nature, it is
important for the firm to provide safety to the employees so that they are not harmed in
any way during the production process (Slovic et al., 2016).
7. Strengths and Weaknesses
The strength of this project lies in the fact that it provides new grounds for the business
to expand and introduce new products.. However, the market for large sized television
screens for stadiums is very small.
8. Project Scope
The scope of this project involves the research and development of a new wide screen
television that will soon be launched into the market, which is previously unexplored by
the business XYZ. Research will be done on the customer market, along with prototype
testing of the products and product improvements based on the feedback received.
Project Plan
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