The Heathrow Terminal 5 Project - Case Study Example

The paper "The Heathrow Terminal 5 Project" is a wonderful example of a case study on management. UK’s largest airport which is also the world’s busiest international airport, Heathrow, has been operational since 1946. It has been handling 60 million passengers and 1.3 million tons of cargo per annum. In the expansion plan, Terminal 5 which has been under construction will be able to increase both its cargo and passenger handling capacity. It is planned that it will be able to 30 million passengers per year, hence increasing its total number of passengers to an estimation of 90 million passengers per annum.

According to Milmo (2008), Heathrow Terminal 5 is the most multifaceted construction project in Europe with good procurement and Supply Chain Management strategies in place. It is a multidisciplinary project consisting of civil, mechanical, electrical systems, communications, and technology contractors over the entire phase of the project (Milmo 2008). The project is aimed to improve the quality of the operational level at Heathrow Airport Terminal 5.

Introduction

The Heathrow Terminal 5 project is one of the most ambitious expansions of its kind ever undertaken worldwide, one of the biggest single construction projects ever undertaken in Europe and indeed, the world, and at a cost of £4.3 billion, one of the most expensive undertakings ever embarked upon. When the expansion was opened, there were serious problems noted in its baggage handling system which simply collapsed for a multitude of reasons on the very first day that the terminal was opened (Milimo 2008). This was a most inauspicious start for a project that had been in the making for over 20 years and which had and has been hailed as an otherwise most successful despite various bottlenecks, issues, and pitfalls that had to be overcome along the way. A project of this size and scope is bound to have some really major challenges – and that is precisely what BAA, who ran this project had to put up with. There are a lot of ways in which a project of this magnitude can overcome these challenges and we address these in this report which looks at a plan for quality changes that would ensure that this project – and others of its kind – is run in the most efficient manner. Changing management is the process of moving or transitioning individuals, (person), team, and firm to aid at a desired future state.