Service Operations Management - Fly Emirates Company - Case Study Example

Service Operations Management: Travelling Service Name Course Name and Code Instructor’s Name Date Introduction Globalization of markets together with operations have intensified pressure on productive management of services and manufacturing enterprises. Services have become the centre stage of the today’s global economies. However, it is essential to note that, manufacturing also plays a significant role in the national economies as well as being an essential factor for the survival of service organizations. This report wholly discusses globalized service operations and management; in essence using the Fly Emirates as one of the global service providers in the global air travel industry. For this matter the report discusses the major services offered by Fly Emirates, the operational structure of the company, strategic and operational challenges faced by different managers of services and how these issues are solved, and more importantly, the consumer perception of the services offered by Fly Emirates Company. Major Services of the Company Fly Emirates is one of the ten best global flyers offering flight services to the global market (Johnston and Clark 103). The company is renowned of its excellent and exceptional service provision to its customers. In this regard, this section discusses services provided by this flight company to its esteemed customers. Cabin This global carrier offers three cabin services including first class, business class, and economy class; these cabin services are discussed independently below: First Class: the company offers three types of first class services including the full suit with doors, Flat bed also known as ‘Skycruiser’ seat, and Sleeper seats. The full suit provides complete privacy fully equipped with closing doors, a min bar, a coat rack as well storage. Similarly, this suit is incorporated with ICE system on a 23” LCD screen; the seat is convertible in that it can be converted into a two-meter flat bed. The Skycruiser has seats, which can be extended to flat beds using the integrated passenger seat control coupled with ICE system on a 19” screen. These category also may include a personal - mini-bar. The sleeper seating services feature a pitch of 72” and 86” which can be manipulated to lie nearly flat using the integrated passenger seat control. Business Class: this service has seats with a 60” pitch that can be reclined to 79” long together with angled lie-flat beds. Other essential services here are, messaging functions, winged headrest with six way movement, privacy petition, two reading lights as well as an overhead light per seat, in seat power supply, RCA socket for laptop connection, more than 600 channels for entertainment on ICE that is shown on a 17” wide TV screen. Some aircrafts have reclining sleeper seats. Similarly, the business class passengers have and onboard bar that is easily accessible at the rear of the aircraft Economy Class: this service offers a 31”-32” seat pitch with a standard seat width. Accordingly, this cabin has seats with feature adjustable headsets, 600-1000 channel ICE in-flight entertainment as well as in-seat laptop power outlet that are integrated with laptop recharging facilities. In-flight entertainment Fly Emirates provide personal in-flight entertainment system with seat-back screens. The above discussed cabin services are all integrated with in-flight entertainment system that provide three types of entertainment systems including, ice, ice digital wide screen, and emirates TV and radio. These entertainment systems also offer passengers with video and audio entertainments as well as video games. Ground services Emirates airline allow passengers to check-in between 2 – 48 hours before the flight departure, which can be done over the counter or at the lounge within the airport (Emirates, 2013). Similarly, there are many self-service kiosks at Dubai international Airport and at various stations of the Dubai metro. Lounges Emirate airline provide passengers of first and second-class cabins together with Skyward Gold and Silver members access to the Emirates lounge. For instance, the airline has 32 lounges in 28 cities across the world. Chauffeur drive The business and first class passengers can access and make use of complementary chauffeur-driven airport transfers in selected cities. Operational structure of the organization Emirates airline mainly deal with flight operations, in this regard the operational structure of the company is primarily tasked with ensuring smooth and efficient flight operations. Following this understanding, the emirates flight operations department manages various aspects of operational facets within the emirate group. The major responsibilities of this department are to ensure passenger and aircraft safety, efficient operation of the emirates aircrafts, and above all, make sure that their operations meet all legal requirements in the airline industry. In a snapshot, the operational structure of fly Emirates involves training and scheduling of flight deck crews thus ensuring that all licensing, regulatory requirements are met, and that they can execute excellent quality operation in a safe, efficient and customer friendly atmosphere. In the same line of discussion, specially trained operational staff within this operations department executes vital roles in the recruitment of Flight Deck Crew. Additionally, the navigation and technical staff are tasked with effective surveying of new routes and ensuring the availability of all navigation, performance as well as other necessary operational data to the flight crew in order to guarantee safe air and ground operations. Similarly, investigating, monitoring, and disseminating information with regard to all accidents, incidents together with other occurrences involving Emirates’ are handled within this function. The emirates flights operations department is made up of sections including Flight Operations Training, Flight Training Facility, Emirates Network Operations and Logistics, Flight Operations Performance, Flight Operations Support, and Flight Training Facility. Tactical and Strategic Challenges Operations management is a key aspect that is concerned with production, inventory and delivery of goods and services; this function enables companies to achieve their objectives and long-term goals through professional acquisition and utilization of resources. For instance, the acquisition, development, and utilization of resources that an organization needs in order to deliver goods and services to their customers are the main aspect of operations management. The organizational resources controlled by this entity are people, money, machines, and buildings used in service production. The strategic challenges that fly emirates operational managers are faced with include: Planning for gaining long-term benefits in the global airline industry: in this essence, the operation managers determining and deciding to new destinations in their flight schedules. Determining the location for the new company facilities. The company has solved this strategic challenge by using the Executive Support System (ESS) to help senior managers make strategic decisions. This system ensures profit planning which sets a profit target for the coming period. For instance, purchasing new aircrafts will automatically benefit the company in the long run (Hollins and Shinkins 88). Similarly, the company uses the facilities location system, which aids managers in accessing external information in order to decide on where to locate new facilities. Accordingly, this system helps in gathering, analysing, as well as summarizing the key internal and external information used by the company. The tactical challenges faced by emirates operations managers are: How emirates operations should be aligned to its strategies; for instance, determining air ticket prices, offering seasonal promotion in order to attract more customers, and determining the optimal booking policy for multiple fare classes. In order to tackle the above tactical challenges the company has a management information system (MIS) and Decision-Support system (DSS) that are very instrumental in the company’s operations (Parker 73). The MIS is mainly concerned with the company internal resources of information by fully relying on data from the transaction processing systems, summarizes into a series of management reports. Similarly, the Budgeting System is another essential system that is used in preparing short-term budgets. Accordingly, the company has a pricing analysis system which vital in determining air ticket prices and promotions. The DSS is significantly used in helping management to make decisions in situations with uncertainties about the possible results of those decisions. For instance, the DSS is vital in gathering information together with analysing the options as well as alternatives. The example of this is the Compensation analysis system. Consumer Perspective Fly Emirates Airline is regarded as the most caring sophisticated airline company with exceptional airline and customer services. The customers from the world over have lauded the state of the art first class suite with shower spas, the flat beds in business class, as well as the custom lighting in economy class cabins together with Wi-Fi services throughout the aircraft. In the same line of thinking, the flight services offered by the company are unique and leave a lasting experience on the customers who always keep on coming back for more. The ICE, in-flight entertainment, video games, video and audio channels, and information communication are some of the rare services provided by this company. The ground and flight deck crews are always welcoming and friendly and given the fact that they come from different countries across the globe, they offer superb customer service. Conclusion Fly Emirates Airline is one of the best airline companies globally, the airline offer three cabin services including first class, business class and economy class. Other service products provided by the company are in-flight entertainment, chauffeur-drive, and lounge (Wright and Race 48). The strategic challenges faced by this company are maintaining the profitability of the company in the end. On the other hand, the tactical challenges of emirates airline are defining how the long-term strategies of the company should be met. The airline is embraced by all customers mainly because of the superb services offered by the company. Works Cited Emirates. (2013). Home. Available at http://www.emirates.com/CA/English/index.aspx Hollins Bill, and Shinkins Sadie. Managing Service Operations: Design and Implementation. London: Sage, 2006. Print. Johnston Robert, and Clark Graham. Service Operations Management: Improving Service Delivery. New York: Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 2008. Print. Parker, David. Service Operations Management: The Total Experience. London: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012. Print. Wright Nevan, and Race Peter. The Management of Service Operations. London: Cengage Learning EMEA, 2004. Print. Read More