The Olympic Organization: the Logistics and Transport Segment of the Olympics - Case Study Example

? Formative Assignment A case study: Worlds’ biggest logistics company Executive Summary Operation management has been described in many quarters as the most important aspect in any organisation this can be further supported by Lawson (2007) who explains, “Operation strategy holds the key to competitive advantage in many organisations..” Therefore it is on this angle that the paper will be looking at the significance of the operational management in Olympics and how the issues affect the successful holding of this mega event. Further more the logistics needed during the preparation of the event is tackled with evidence of which company can offer the best logistics in terms of speed, delivery and also with the environmental perspective in mind. For the case study UPS has been used to show how the company can work in combination with the Olympic to deliver the logistics and packages needed during the Olympics. The company itself will be analysed with the way they conduct their services under the operation strategy and the basis of their service delivery. When it comes to the delivery of the equipments also the Olympic panels will be looking at the environmental impact of the company providing the logistics. TABLE OF CONTENT 1.0 Introduction The main purpose of this plan is to look at the specific operational management issues that Olympics had. Furthermore the operational management issues will be analyzed and so will the solutions that UPS provided during the solving of the said issues. UPS being one of the global logistics service providers will also be discussed. In addition the strategy that UPS uses when it comes to logistics especially during the Olympics are of core importance to this paper and the plan the UPS had for Olympics to help sort out the operational management issues. During the Olympic there are environmental concerns and therefore it will be imperative to discuss about the impact of the environment in relation to UPS and its services during the Olympics. This paper is mainly formative therefore the concepts will not be analyzed to the very lowest level instead it will concentrate in highlighting the important perspectives of each concept concerning Olympic and UPS services. 1.1 Plan The approach uses in the analysis of this paper is split into different categories. This is done in order to look at some of the aspects individually and thus it will be easier to understand the concepts individually thereafter the concept will be linked to the topic in question and this will enhance the analysis being easy and simple. This will mostly be tackled in the first question and after that the next perspective which is UPS will be looked at as a whole then linked with its activities during the Olympics. The theories and arguments will be supported by evidence from books both physical and e-books where possible in cases where the sources need to be quoted. The paragraphs will be split in order to talk about each idea individually for simplicity and clarity. 2.0 Operational Management Operational Management is a major component of management that is mostly concentrates on overseeing, designing and also controlling the procedure when it comes to production and also the scheming and redesigning business processes in the productions of goods and services. Operational management involves mostly the responsibility of ensuring that business operations are efficient in terms of utilizing few resources that are needed and maximizing effectiveness in relation to attaining the customer requirements. Operational management will also be referred in the same breath as its involvement with managing the steps that will adapt to the inputs like labor and materials and match them with the output in the sense of goods or service. Operational management can also be referred to as Operation strategy. According to Jones and Robinson (2012), operation strategy is usually a plan for managing operations over the long term basis in order to achieve business goals and thus achieve competitive advantage. Their definition of operation strategy is further supported by Slack et al. (2009 & 2010) who say “… the decisions which shape the long-term capabilities of the company’s operations and their contribution to overall strategy through the on-going reconciliation of market requirements and operations resources …” The Olympics always is a hectic session to plan as they belong to a larger group of mega-events. With this in mind once the Olympic is held, it is an opportunity for the host city and other cities or nations together with their economies to enhance and promote their individual development schedules. Some of the operational management issues that are experienced at the Olympics include timely delivery of most of the projects. The time factor is greatly influenced by the complexity of the delivery system and mechanism used by the committees in relation to Olympics. The time factor is also influenced by the effectiveness of co-ordination between the management and the employees as the more organised and co-operative they are; the faster the projects and facilities to be used by the Olympians will be completed. Most of the equipments will have to be in place especially to enhance practice sessions before going to the main venue. This shows that when it comes to supply of goods and services to augment Olympics it was very prudent as the timely delivery of facilities greatly depended on the supply chain in terms of labour to help in the construction and renovation of facilities. During the bidding time and also the hosting time, so many events can happen between that period and one of the major operational management issues will have to be inflation. Inflation can affect the estimated budget of the Olympic as most of the unpredictable factors can drive in pushing the price of the materials higher. Materials and equipments used in the Olympics is also one vital component in the operational management at the Olympics. Since Olympics are held in different cities every single time, there is need for the correct materials and equipments to be used during the event to be sourced from the manufacturers across the world. This will require the services of a courier who is capable of handling large quantities of equipments and deliver them on time without any glitches. One such solution to the delivery and transporting of the equipment is the UPS. UPS will be a great example of a company that provide logistic and transport services to a large number of clients worldwide. 2.1 4 V’s The company itself has more than a million business transaction every single day worldwide. With the kind of transaction UPS has, it is safe to assume that the company manages work very smoothly, comprehensively more so in relation to operations. One common feature of the UPS is that it is capable of adapting itself within the highly rated changing world of operations environment especially when it comes to the technology development. When it comes to operational strategy in UPS it is sub-sectored into four categories of strategic planning and implementation in the organization. This means that the company thinks in the lines of: Volume, Variety, Variation and Visibility. By volume it ensures that UPS can be the sole logistics provider during the Olympics as it is capable of delivering a large number of items required in the construction of the venues and also the kits that would be used by the athletes and participants. Variety under the UPS strategy means that they can handle a diverse myriad of logistical problems from the materials required in the construction to the sports kit that will be used during the Olympics. As part of the operation strategy, UPS has applied the latest and varied technologies and innovation in the logistics industry to gain mileage in comparison to other players in the logistics and transport industries This is quite evident when the UPS is contracted as the logistics service provider meaning that apart from parcel service the company can offer more from their portfolios. The services that UPS provides in the Olympics have to be delivered to the specific venues requested by the contractor and therefore the work requires high visibility. 2.2 Quality According to Tan & Mathews (2009): “By focusing on the development of operations within an organization it becomes possible for the organization to effectively develop and define the value it creates for the end user to meet their needs in a way that the other organizations are unable to do. .” This means that the basis of operation strategy is mainly to provide an edge on the market and at the same time to provide the customer who is the mainstay of the organization with a satisfaction of the products that the company sells or provides as in the case of UPS, delivery of package. This is what draws the Olympics to contract UPS because of their quality. 3.0 Lean and Agile Thinking Each of the marketing operation strategy that uses the concept of Lean or Agile thinking will notice that each of the concepts is inter-related therefore one is overlapping the other. 3.1 Lean Thinking According to the Lean Research Center, the overview on Lean thinking and lean production it is that; “An operational strategy oriented toward achieving the shortest possible cycle time by eliminating waste. It is derived to increase the value-added work by eliminating waste and reducing incidental work by decreasing the time between a customer order and shipment.” Lean Thinking enables UPS to provide quality, cost and dependability on their services by combining the three important factors together. It relies on large volumes and standard processes and on this UPS which has a global presence is able to deliver especially as an Olympics logistics and transport service provider. 3.1.1 Lean Thinking Principles According to the Lean Research Center, the Lean Thinking follows five principles in which the company has to specify what creates the value from the customers perspective is the first consideration UPS always has in mind, thereafter the company can identify all the steps across the whole value stream in the delivery of the services. Also the company has to make sure the steps made have actions which will create the value flow of the service they are offering. Lastly on the principles, UPS has ensured that over the period of time they are offering the delivery of package services that they are perfect in every day to day there is transaction of business in return it has enabled the removal of successive layers of waste. 3.2 Agile Thinking Definition When it comes to agile thinking, different perspectives are brought forward including agility meaning delivering value to customers, being ready for change, valuing human knowledge and skills, and forming virtual partnership between the company in this case UPS and the clients who is the Olympic (Goldman et al, 1995).According to Van Hoek et al (2001) their description of agility is that it is all a bout the customer responsiveness and mastering market turbulence and this will require specific capabilities on top of those that can be achieved using Lean Thinking. 3.2.1 Agile Thinking Strategy Agile manufacturing also delivers speed, cost and dependability. It mostly relies on postponement strategy. With this in mind UPS puts the agile thinking into focus as mostly as with any other market, it requires low-volume, and high quality and the services tailored to suit each customer. Agile products and services have a short life cycle and development time furthermore under agile thinking, UPS provision of services expected the product lead times to be very short thus necessitating the aspect of needing the product or service as frequent as possible while at the same time the UPS coming up with new innovative and brilliant concepts. As a conclusion Maskell (2001) says that everything keeps changing and is always unpredictable. 4.0 Environmental Efficiencies Every little aspect counts therefore when transporting the parcels the company tries to reduce the amount of carbon emission and also encourages the Olympic panel to ship parcels that are carbon friendly and if the event is over the materials can be recycled and be used in another avenue. That way no material will go to waste. Also when it comes to the venue and services required they encourage the use of products that will utilize the immediate surrounding and environment like the solar and also ensuring that whatever product that has been shipped is used to the maximum to reduce the wastage. Furthermore the company in conjunction with the Olympic can organize educative forums that will teach the local on the importance of protecting the environment. 5.0 Conclusion In conclusion, the Olympic organization cannot only do the work on its own to make the event successful instead major parties will be involved in ensuring the event runs smoothly. One of the major companies that will be used will be the UPS in relation to the logistics and transport segment of the Olympics. This will only be viable after the operation strategy of UPS has been thoroughly checked and validated. The marketing strategy and the business history of UPS in relation to the clients is what will be the selling point for the company that will enable it to land the contract on the provision of logistical services also since the Olympic is a mega- event, it will be great if the costs is kept at the minimum in order for the budget to be not over estimated as this will mean slow progress of other projects concerning the Olympics. Therefore the costs and the speed of which the UPS will deliver the services will have to be on the lean and agile thinking perspective of the company. Since it is the 21st Century, the environmental impact of the services provided will be quite important as well through the neutral carbon shipping and the Olympic maintaining a clean and efficient environment. 6.0 References Goldman, S.L., Nagel, R.N., Preiss, K., (1995). Agile Competitors and Virtual Organizations: Strategies for Enriching the Customer. Van Nostr and Reinhold, NewYork. International Journal, Vol. 6, No. 1,pp. 5-11 Jones, P and Robinson, P. (2012) Operations Management. (1st ed) Oxford University Press  Lean Research Center. (2007). Web. Viewed 9 Dec. 2012 Lowson, H. Robert. , (2007). Strategic Operations Management: The new competitive advantage. Routledge. UK. Maskell, B. (2001)." The age of agile manufacturing", Supply Chain Management: An International Journal. Vol 6, No. 1, pp. 5-11. Slack, N., Chambers, S. & Johnston, R. (2010) Operations Management. (6th ed.) FT Prentice Hall.  Slack, N., Chambers, S., Johnston, R. & Betts, A. (2009) Operations and Process Management. (2nd ed.) FT Prentice Hall.  Tan, K. H., & Matthews, R. (2009). Operations strategy in action: a guide to the theory and practice of implementation. Cheltenham, UK, Edward Elgar. Van Hoek, R.I., Harrison, A., Christopher, M., ( 2001). Measuring agile capabilities in the supply chain. International Journal of Operations and Production Management 21 (1–2), 126–147 Read More