Operations and Service Management Case Study

Introduction of Operations and Service Management Case Study

Operations and service management refers to the administration of the business practices in order to develop high level of productivity in the organisations. This is highly involved in managing everyday activities related to business in a way that is effective and boosts profit margins. Alban Shipping has been selected for this report which is UK-based transport business. The company is known for their prompt and safe shipping of antique items and fine art with consistent deliveries in United Kingdom. This report will explain about the operation management practice or procedure using by the Alban Shipping in their business to successfully ship the products. This report will critically analyse the practice of operation management which provide support to the efficiency of the company. Furthermore, this report will discuss about the technologies related to industry 4.0 can be used by the company in their operational process along with the connection of supporting functions with operational management practice.

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Main Body

Identification and explanation of operation management practice

Operation management refers to the procedure of formulating, planning, performing and managing the production of production and services as well as handling supply chain network, quality control and inventory (Helmold, 2022). Operations management plays a valuable role in the business through making sure that resources of the company are utilised efficiently to accomplish set goals and objectives. Alban Shipping, a transport company, operating in UK was founded in 1990 and head office of this company is located in Luton, Bedfordshire (Alban Shipping, 2024). The firm has an excellent operation management and pays high attention on how business manufacture products and services while fulfilling the client’s demands as well as expectations. Supply chain management in Alban shipping is a fundamental operational management practice which holds the most important role in the success of the firm. The supply chain procedure of the firm includes procurement of raw materials, manufacturing and supply of fine art and antique products. Alban Shipping sources raw materials from suppliers which tend to make more focus on quality. The company source the best materials from selected group of suppliers for manufacturing packaging box so that they can transport antique items safely to the destinations. Production procedure is accurately handled by Alban shipping to make sure the manufacturing of high quality packaging.

• Resource-based view – RBV is the supply chain management related theory which sees the resources as major elements to superior performance of business. Resource-based view is highly beneficial for the corporations to get the competitive advantage in the market. This theory holds that companies must look inside the firm to identify the sources related to competitive advantage rather than considering the competitive environment for it (Khanra et al, 2022). According to this theory, it is easier to explore the external opportunities by utilising the existing resources in a new manner instead of attempting to obtain new competence for each different opportunity. Alban Shipping can adopt and implement this theory in the business to gain competitive advantage. The firm can utilise the available resources to their maximum potential in order to preserve and sustain competitive advantage. RBV facilitates the company in fostering a deep understanding about unique resources and abilities of the company.
• Quality control – Alban Shipping and suppliers work with each other which helps in detecting the quality related issues earlier. Through complying with the major principles and implementing different quality control techniques, the transport company accomplish operational excellence and improve the satisfaction of the clients (Choi et al, 2022).
• Shipping optimisation – The logistic costs have increased significantly which highly impacts the small and medium businesses in all over the United Kingdom. Minimising the number of distinct delivery channels and using logistics experts reduces the distribution costs. It facilitates the company to maintain the cash flow as well as profit margins.
• Reduced inventory and overhead cost – An effective supply chain network decreases the requirement to sustain inventory. This in turn leads reduction in the overhead costs related with storage as well as security. Alban Shipping also identifies their ideal inventory level so that they can reduce the overhead and inventory costs.
• Better visibility – Alban Shipping keep in constant touch with their suppliers through using the mobile applications and conferencing platforms. The company uses the tracking software to track the movement of the shipment. The company gets real-time data metrics which allow them to take benefits of opportunities (American Express Company, 2024).

Analysis of the operation management practice of organisation

Alban Shipping is UK’s approved shippers that transport the antiques and art products anywhere in the United Kingdom. The company got excellence in shipping the unusual items throughout the country. The firm performs the everyday collections from local auction houses within the United Kingdom and Ireland. Alban Shipping has own team of skilful and talented packers to ensure their products are managed with utmost of care. The shipping firm is extremely experienced in managing the documentation to make sure the smooth delivery. Alban Shipping utilises high quality materials for their wooden shipping cases, bases and crates (Wamba and Queiroz, 2020). The company is able to produce kiln-dried and heat treated timber boxes because of good quality raw material which are supplied by the excellent group of suppliers. Supply chain management is crucial part of the Alban Shipping without this operation management practice, the company cannot transport the products on time. Supply chain management highly contributes in business success because they coordinate the transportation of goods from origin to destination. Suppliers also handle the fragile items in excellent way which helps to increase the trust of the customers towards the Alban Shipping.

Stakeholder theory – It is the organisational management theory which accounts for various areas impacted from business bodies such as; workers, suppliers, investors and local communities. According to the views of Freeman (2023), stakeholder is the perception which describes how corporations consider the interest of people or groups. This theory pays attention on values, goals, objectives, ethics and morals while stressing social responsibility instead of profit. According to stakeholder theory, the organisation should focus on making good relationship with their internal and external stakeholders such as; employees, investors, customers, shareholders, community and many others. Alban Shipping has adopted and applied the stakeholder theory while operating the business activities. Through managing strong relationship with their suppliers, the company enhance its business performance as well as longevity.

There are numerous ways in which supply chain management of Alban Shipping supports the business goals and objectives:

• Quality control – The quality control system of supply chain management is wonderful. The suppliers supervise the every procedure with greater level of quality control. In this approach, it enables the Alban Shipping to fulfil the expectations of the clients. The firm emphasises on quality of packaging so that they can pack and transport the puppets, sculptures and many more items.
• Flexibility – The supply chain of the firm has capability to adjust the production levels in easy way. They also adapt and react to any kind of changes quickly at the same time reducing the challenges and risks within the procedure and assist the company to achieve its goals (Lee et al, 2022).
• Customer satisfaction – Supply chain management helps to increase the consumer satisfaction by delivering the goods with utmost care. Precise order billing, on-time delivery and arrival of products in good condition are crucial to the success of shipment. Supply chain coordinates all activities to provide greater satisfaction to the customers.
• Financial performance – Due to robust supply chain network, Alban Shipping can get ability to attract the potential investors towards the company. Zekhnini et al, (2021) entailed in their study that it helps the company to expand their business operations and make business more profitable.
• Maintain reputation – Because of timely deliver the goods with good care, the firm can maintain its reputation among customers. It can help the business to attract more customers and increase sales.

Technology used in supply chain management

Nowadays, most of the business sector including transport sector are investing in the digital technology to improve effectiveness of the organisation. Alban Shipping embedded the advanced technology associated with the industry 4.0 in numerous ways. For instance – Alban Shipping uses the tracking tools to track the movement of the system. Tracking tools are highly helpful for the Alban Shipping. It helps in boosting the productivity through streamlining the operations. Tracking tools makes the work of the company easier and helps to deliver consignments on time. By tracking tools, the firm track the location of the vans and goods in real-time by using GPS different tracking methods. It provides real time insights regarding shipment so that the company can know where their goods at all time. The utilisation of tracking tools is also helpful for the Alban Shipping in minimising the risk of mislabelling. Digitalised labelling like RFID tags and barcodes includes information for tracking product during its lifecycle (Tan and Sidhu, 2022). It facilitates to find out faulty products and promises its authenticity and it stops the risk related o mislabelling. Alban Shipping always makes sure that each good delivers to the final customer or destination safely.

In line with the industry 4.0, the company uses the tracking tools but they could also invest in other technology related to supply chain management. Alban shipping can invest in IoT (Internet of Things) which can help to enhance the manufacturing functions and manufacturing asset management. IoT technology could be also helpful for the company in monitoring of freight as well as fleet management. Advance tracking tools and analytics can alert the supply chain workers to save freight which might spoil because of bad travelling conditions and equipment malfunction. Alban Shipping can also implement the black chain technology which makes sure that transactions are recorded, authorised and encrypted (Park and Li, 2021). This technology replaces the slow and manual procedure and provides strength to traceability. It can offer security as well as transparency for Alban Shipping that significantly reduces fraud cases and threats. It can also offer scalable solution to monitor services and enhance the information flow among distributors and clients, therefore making sure satisfaction of customers.

Risks related to technology

Technology also involves the several risks and it is the most crucial for the Alban Shipping to focus on these risks before implementing technology. Utilising internet o control business activities can produce cyber security risks and affect the production and shipping procedure. The physical convenience of IoT devices can increase the threat of illegal access to confidential data, tampering and theft. Several IoT tools have default passwords and these passwords are usually weak which may increase the risk of hacking. Block chain technology should also assessed for range of cyber security challenges like privacy of users, safety of private keys which helps in securing the access to digital tools and endpoint protection (Lee et al, 2022). If hacker gets the access to block chain then they can easily manipulate the business related data and information and block transactions. In addition to this, it also includes issues pertaining to the lack of transparency which can make it complex to validate the accurateness of the data and information on block chain.

Link of supporting functions with operations management

Supporting functions refer to the aspects that provide support to the business and indirectly contribute to the key organisational goals. Basically, supporting functions are not directly associated with the management of goods and services but offers help to the core activities allowing them to execute the strategies and conduct activities. There are several supporting functions which are linked to the supply chain management given below:

• Human resource management – Human resource holds a valuable place in the supply chain. From hiring & training of the workers to risk management and technical solutions, human resource managers make sure that companies have the appropriate people with knowledge and abilities they require to succeed. This supporting function makes sure that firm has trained and skilled suppliers. Human resource team manages the relationship among the suppliers, distributors, producers and customers (Stahl and et al, 2020). They make sure that suppliers are responsible & reliable and provide raw materials ethically and on time. HRM of Alban Shipping also manages the logistics as well as transportation procedures and offering outstanding customer services. HR experts also provide salary and other benefits to their suppliers.
• Procurement – Procurement refers to the procedure of sourcing, buying, obtaining and supervising all products and services which are required to operate the business efficiently. It involves all things from raw elements for manufacturing to technical tools to office supplies. An effective procurement procedure allow the Alban Shipping to source better quality materials and elements essential for producing boxes and cases for product packaging (Wamba and Queiroz, 2020). Procurement highly concentrates on getting goods and other facilities from external sources excellently on the other hand supply chain involves wider scope, observing flow of products, information and capital throughout the supply chain. Procurement stresses on input band supply chain emphasises on output and transport. Both functions are primary associates with suppliers and aim to make sure the raw materials bought are available with accurate quantity, quantity, time and place.
• Production planning – The production function makes sure that manufacturing services are upgraded for maximum output along with the efficiency. Production department is also valuable function of Alban Shipping and it indirectly connected with the supply chain. The supply chain starts with the sourcing of components and raw materials after that producer utilises the materials to develop packaging product. The company packs the antique, art and other items in boxes as well as cases and then suppliers delivered product to the final destination. Production team handles the production strategies and control the procedure like deploying jobs, allocating resources and monitoring improvements (Usuga Cadavid et al, 2020). It helps in enhancing the effectiveness of the operations and thereby facilitates the waste management. Production team also contributes in achieving the business goals by ensuring improved packaging products on time.
• Logistics – Logistics refers to the procedure of shipping and storing raw materials, completed products, inventory and many other resources. This is the important part of the supply chain network which makes sure the timely delivery of goods to the final destination. This in turn recognized as highly valuable for the enhancement of consumer satisfaction. Basically, logistics team transports the final good among customers and clients. It guarantees robust transportation systems between suppliers and customers and contributes to reduce cost through reducing transportation costs. Furthermore, Alban Shipping utilises its logistics team to ship the final goods among clients and destinations by air, sea and road transportation modes. The firm deliver the large and heavy goods with safety to meet the demand of the clients.

Conclusion

As per above report, it can be concluded that supply chain management is one of the major operational management practice of the Alban Shipping which is transport company of the UK. The company has strong relationship with their supply chain management and continuously focuses on maintaining relationship with them because they know that without suppliers they cannot proceed their work. The company does not ship products from third party in fact they have own drivers and transport so that they can shipping items timely across the United Kingdom. Supply chain management facilitates the Alban Shipping reducing inventory costs, increasing customer satisfaction and improving reputation in the marketplace. This report has identified that there are several functions such as; human resource, procurement, production and logistics that indirectly supports the supply chain management.

References

Books and Journals

• Choi, T.M., Kumar, S., Yue, X. and Chan, H.L., 2022. Disruptive technologies and operations management in the Industry 4.0 era and beyond.;Production and Operations Management,;31(1), pp.9-31.
• Freeman, R.E., 2023. The politics of stakeholder theory: Some future directions. In;R. Edward Freeman’s Selected Works on Stakeholder Theory and Business Ethics;(pp. 119-132). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
• Helmold, M., 2022. Performance Management in Operations Management. In;Strategic Performance Management: Achieving Long-term Competitive Advantage through Performance Excellence;(pp. 57-70). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
• Khanra, S., Kaur, P., Joseph, R.P., Malik, A. and Dhir, A., 2022. A resource‐based view of green innovation as a strategic firm resource: Present status and future directions.;Business Strategy and the Environment,;31(4), pp.1395-1413.
• Lee, K., Romzi, P., Hanaysha, J., Alzoubi, H. and Alshurideh, M., 2022. Investigating the impact of benefits and challenges of IOT adoption on supply chain performance and organizational performance: An empirical study in Malaysia.;Uncertain Supply Chain Management,;10(2), pp.537-550.
• Park, A. and Li, H., 2021. The effect of blockchain technology on supply chain sustainability performances.;Sustainability,;13(4), p.1726.
• Stahl, G.K., Brewster, C.J., Collings, D.G. and Hajro, A., 2020. Enhancing the role of human resource management in corporate sustainability and social responsibility: A multi-stakeholder, multidimensional approach to HRM.;Human resource management review,;30(3), p.100708.
• Tan, W.C. and Sidhu, M.S., 2022. Review of RFID and IoT integration in supply chain management.;Operations Research Perspectives,;9, p.100229.
• Usuga Cadavid, J.P., Lamouri, S., Grabot, B., Pellerin, R. and Fortin, A., 2020. Machine learning applied in production planning and control: a state-of-the-art in the era of industry 4.0.;Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing,;31, pp.1531-1558.
• Wamba, S.F. and Queiroz, M.M., 2020. Blockchain in the operations and supply chain management: Benefits, challenges and future research opportunities.;International Journal of Information Management,;52, p.102064.
• Zekhnini, K., Cherrafi, A., Bouhaddou, I., Benghabrit, Y. and Garza-Reyes, J.A., 2021. Supply chain management 4.0: a literature review and research framework.;Benchmarking: An International Journal,;28(2), pp.465-501.

Online

• Alban Shipping, 2024. Specialist Packing for the Antique Industry. [Online] < https://albanshipping.co.uk/ > Accessed Date - 16/09/2024.
• American Express Company, 2024. 8 Benefits of Supply Chain Management. [Online] < https://www.americanexpress.com/en-gb/business/trends-and-insights/articles/benefits-of-supply-chain-management/ > Accessed Date - 16/09/2024.

Author Bio

Jazmine McCullough   4 years | MBA

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