The Models, Tools, and Techniques Related to Operational Failure - Essay Example

Operation management Introduction Operational failures are experienced within all kind of industries, where the consequences range from mild inconvenience to severe catastrophes. According to Tucker (2007), operational failures can include errors and disruptions that arise while processing material, information and equipments. Halstrick and Long (2009) explained that operational failure can stem from various factors such as, inadequate maintenance of equipments, repair and their inspection as well as coordination issues among management, consumers and staff. Operation and production failures has adverse impact on the product and services offerings as well as productivity of employees as these distract them from activities that require value addition, weakens process discipline and often cause direct harm to employees and consumers (Tucker, 2004). Apart from non-financial impact, operational failure also causes financial loss by way of lowering productivity and organisational reputation (Frei, et al., 1999). Voluntary incident reporting system is considered as one of the appropriate methods of stimulating problem solving in the situations of operational failure as it highlights actual and potential scope of failure as well as provides supervisors and managers with sufficient information that may prove helpful in improving the organisational work systems (Hogan, et al., 2008; Adler-Milstein, Singer and Toffel, 2009). According to few authors, incident reporting systems insist that organisational focus should be on prevention and mitigation of the operational failures, instead of personal disagreements and blame games when an issue occurs. In principle, the incident reporting system enables an organisation to learn from its past experiences (Burns and Sinfield, 2012). Identifying operational failure Operational failure identification is very important for every industry. In this context, the role of incident analysis technique is profound. Although an incident that occurs for the first time cannot be avoided, incident analysis can interpret the causes behind the same and subsequently develop improvement programs and corrective measures in order to address the flaws and weaknesses identified. The aim of incident analysis is to minimize various common as well as systematic problems. There are certain steps in the incident analysis process that are mentioned below: Analysis of incident reports The main purpose of analysing incident report is to generate a list of the repetitive (common) operational failures, determine root causes of the same and elucidate common manifestations. These three aspects collectively present a generalised structure of the problem. In this process, a study chart is drawn, where the work flow diagram is developed illustrating various event sequences, resources involved, relevant conditions and the incident. Alongside, activities that had taken place before, during and after the incident are also considered. Identifying common operations failures Common operational failures are determined by combining various failures related to each incident. However, the technique mainly focuses on common issues, rather than specific ones. Thus, every problem is evaluated thoroughly to determine and relate to a common reason of failure. Determining common root causes The reasons of failures are critically assessed to understand and list their root causes. The main purpose is to determine ways of mitigating these root causes in order to avoid repeated occurrence of a particular issue. Identifying common manifestations Once the common failure and root causes are recognised, it is important to summarize the findings so as to develop specific recommendations for recuperating the operation process. The findings are able to point out various operations that are failing. Yet, for identifying manifestations of the root causes, individual incident reports must be analysed (Cottrell, 2010; 2011; Slack, 2011). Tools and techniques to improve operational efficiency Operational failures have a major impact on productivity and quality related to the product and services offered. As a result, organisations employ various techniques and strategies to avoid operational failure and improve process quality. These tools and techniques include ISO 9001, Six Sigma and total quality management (Greasley, 2013). ISO 9001: ISO 9001 is one of the most well-known quality standards set by International Standards Organisation, which is implemented by approximately 175 countries worldwide. It mainly aims at ascertaining that organisations undertake sufficient measures to upkeep quality standards in their products and services. It also ensures that along with enhancement of consumer satisfaction, progressive improvement is attained in respect of business operations and overall performance (Adler-Milstein, Singer and Toffel, 2009). Six Sigma: Six sigma is considered as the ultimate approach to process and quality improvement. Six Sigma identifies and removes various causes of defects so that variability in the operational processes can be minimised. Initially, the term and concept was implemented in the manufacturing industry. However, with growing complexity in processes and operational failure, six sigma is presently implemented in service industries as well. Since the focus of Six Sigma is on product quality, it makes sure that any error, such as, time delay, operational delay and production gap, is eliminated significantly (Adler-Milstein, Singer and Toffel, 2009). Total quality management (TQM): TQM is a management philosophy that has a holistic approach towards work process, resources and output. It not only focuses on quality of the output, but also on the input and operational process. Maintaining overall quality of the total process ensures that failures, breakdowns and other flaws are dealt with efficiently. With proper implementation of TQM, every task is well-coordinated to produce output that meets or exceeds the consumers’ expectations. In most organisations, TQM is a strategic approach that prevents as well as manages the future scope of operational failure through tools such as, Kaizen and Process Mapping (Ramsay, Maier and Price, 2010; Gallagher, 2010; Cameron, 2009). Methods of avoiding operational failure Operational failure has been observed to be mainly related to equipments and various kinds of hardware. Hence, unlike TQM that primarily focuses on quality, the hardware problems are mostly managed through Total Productive Maintenance (TPM). TPM is a comprehensive program associated with maintenance of all the non-living tangible resources of an organisation. These resources not only include plant equipment such as, tools and machineries, but also devices and tangible technologies used in the service industry. In recent years, maintenance has become one of the vital part of organisational activities and contributes significantly (even though indirectly) towards profit creation. The main purpose of incorporating TPM in the organisational activities is to minimise and avoid resource wastage, eliminate compromise on quality, reduce production time and minimise defect rate (Gallagher, 2010). Under the total productive maintenance approach, the various types of maintenance can be described as follows: Reactive maintenance Reactive maintenance is triggered when an equipment undergo breakdown and prior to that, no maintenance measures are undertaken unless its originally designed life cycle is completed. In principle, reactive maintenance is defined as the technique where individuals repair equipment only when it fails. Reactive maintenance is useful when the given equipment does not have any significant role in an operational process or when its failure would not cause heavy loss. The main advantages of reactive maintenance are it is cost efficiency and lesser need for resources. The relative cost is low because there is no pre-planning or pre-allocation of resources involved. However, the major disadvantages are production delay due to unplanned breakdown and increased cost for immediate repair or replacement (Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2010). Preventive maintenance Preventive maintenance involves undertaking routine activities such as, cleaning, lubrication, inspection, oiling and tightening for increasing equipment longevity and maintaining their healthy condition. Regular maintenance helps in delaying deterioration of equipment quality. The main advantages of preventive maintenance are cost advantage where equipments are highly capital intensive, production efficiency, energy conservation, increased life of equipment and reduced degree of operational failure. It has been observed that preventive maintenance is more cost effective than reactive maintenance. Nonetheless, it is not the most optimum program as the probability of sudden breakdown due to other reasons is not completely eliminated. Also, it is labour intensive and time consuming (Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2010). Predictive maintenance Predictive maintenance can be defined as a measurement that can detect and forecast the scope of process failure by observing performance of individual equipment. Once an issue is detected, predictive maintenance ensures that the problem is controlled or managed before any significant problem occurs. Predictive maintenance is mildly different from preventive maintenance as the former take measures based on certain calculations, while the latter is conducted based on anticipation. The main advantages of predictive maintenance are increased operational life of equipment, reduced downtime and production delay, energy conservation, better productivity and quality and high degree of workplace safety. The only disadvantage is that it is cost intensive (Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2010). Reliability Centred Maintenance Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) is defined as a process that ascertains the maintenance requirement of any equipment based on its operating capabilities. It is a very specifically designed program and more advanced than any other maintenance program that has been discussed so far. The RCM system considers that different operational processes and equipments have dissimilar shelf life and utility rate. According to the RCM process, different equipments and processes require varying maintenance treatment as per its probability of failure. The maintenance system is highly optimised and efficient, but is heavily cost intensive and involves significant start-up cost, training and necessary technologies (Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2010). Reference list Adler-Milstein, J., Singer, S. J. and Toffel, M. W., 2009. Operational Failures and Problem Solving: An Empirical Study of Incident Reporting (No. 10-017). Harvard: Harvard Business School. Burns, T. and Sinfield, S., 2012. Essential study skills: the complete guide to success at university. CA: Sage publications. Cameron, S., 2009. The business students handbook: skills for study and employment (5th edition). New Jersey: FT Prentice Hall. Cottrell, S., 2010. Skills for Success: The Personal Development Planning Handbook (2nd edition). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Cottrell, S., 2011. Critical thinking skills: developing effective analysis and argument (2nd edition). Basingstoke: Palgrave study skills. Frei, F. X., Kalakota, R., Leone, A. J. and Marx, L. M., 1999. Process variation as a determinant of bank performance: Evidence from the retail banking study. Management Science, 45(9), pp. 1210–1220. Gallagher, K., 2010. Skills development for business and management students. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Greasley, A., 2013. Operations Management. Chichester: Wiley. Halstrick, V. and Long, D., 2009. Lessons learned — Lack of preventive maintenance and incorrect installation can lead to failures and shutdowns. Loss Prevention Bulletin 206, pp. 6–9. Hogan, H., S., Olsen, S., Scobie, E., Chapman, R., Sachs, M., McKee, C. and Vincent, R., 2008. What can we learn about patient safety from information sources within an acute hospital: A step on the ladder of integrated risk management? Quality and Safety in Health Care, 17(3), pp. 209–215. Ramsay, P., Maier, P. and Price, G., 2010. Study skills for business and management Students. Harlow: Pearson Education. Slack, N., 2011. Essential of Operations Management. Harlow: Pearson. Slack, N., Chambers, S. and Johnston, R., 2010. Operations management. Pearson Education. Harlow: Pearson. Tucker, A. L., 2004. The impact of operational failures on hospital nurses and their patients. Journal of Operations Management, 22(2), pp. 151–169. Tucker, A. L., 2007. An empirical study of system improvement by frontline employees in hospital units. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 9(4), pp. 492–505. Read More