Operational Management Issues for Services - Mapping a Service Operation - Essay Example

Operational Management Issues for Services - Mapping a Service Operation Operational Management Issues for Services - Mapping a Service Operation Turnaround in aircraft particularly refers to the process of loading, unloading repairing and examining the aircraft within an allotted time period. Moreover, it includes different activities which must be performed in order to ensure safe and secure flight experience. The pilot, cabin crew, tower heads, front and back office personnel and the security in charge officers are the major participants of aircraft turnaround processes. In this paper I am required to analyze the aircraft turnaround being the internal consultant of Hardjet Company. Flow-Diagram of the Typical Turnaround Operational Process Following is a typical turnaround operational process of an aircraft (Barnett, 2008): ACTIVITY SECTIONS ACTIVITIES TIME FOR EXTRA ACTIVITIES POSITIONING THE EQUIPMENT CRITICAL PATH TOTAL TIME IN MINUTES Shutdown Engine/Chocks On 0.4 10 Providing services to the passengers Adjust passenger bridge and open the door 0.3 6 Move passengers out of the plane 4.2 12 Cabin services 11.3 13 Forward gallery services 6.1 2.0 18 Aft gallery services 1.5 0.5 7 Board passengers 10.3 24 Remove the passenger bridge and close the door 0.6 14 Handling the cargo baggage Forward compartment unloading 3.4 8 Mid compartment unloading 2.0 10.3 14 Aft compartment unloading 2.0 3.7 8 Forward compartment loading 9.0 23 Mid compartment loading 2.7 5.6 24 Aft compartment loading 3.0 11.9 25 Servicing the airplane Airplane fuelling 6.9 4.0 17 Lavatory services 2.0 1.2 13 Portable water services 2.0 1.2 6 Chocks off and pushback the plane 0.9 0.2 26 Aircraft Turnaround Process Investigation Report: Hardjet Company Key Issues Following are the key issues identified during the aircraft turnaround. This critical investigation requires immediate attention in order to increase aircraft security and also to facilitate passengers up to the maximum extent. Responsibilities of the Pilot: During the aircraft landing/chock on and take off the pilot is supposed to ensure all the equipments while making necessary confirmations. On the other hand he should inform the tower management regarding the take-off and landing condition, for instance, atmospheric pressure etc. However, if this job is done by the cabin crew then still the pilot must ensure whether or not the tower heads know about their required activities to be performed. The time allocation for pilot’s aircraft investigation activities is missing. Since he is the one who makes the final decision of taking off the airplane therefore he must be given enough time to check the aircraft while also communicating the required information to the crew members. Office people and Tower heads: The job descriptions of office people, tower heads and cabin crew are missing. For instance, they are needed to record the entire turnaround procedure while calculating time and delays. The tower heads are supposed to check flight timings, scheduling of other aircrafts, traffic signals, air plane queuing etc. Research indicates that most flights are delayed due to lack of traffic control (WU, 2003, p.314). Therefore, the role of back-office people becomes even more substantial as they need to ensure the presences of all boarding passengers, cabin crew and related staff members. Furthermore, they have to check their identities and baggage. Technical issues: The cabin service activities are missing which constitute of engineering checks, technical checks, airfreight cargo, information verifications etc. The time for overall turnaround process must be reduced in order to increase efficiency, aircraft performance (Thorne, 2007, p.11) and also to remove time delays. The activity graph is also missing from the turnaround operational process which should be formulated so as to gain confirmatory regarding the transition periods (Aircraft Turnaround – From Landing to Take-off, 2014). Information about weather conditions are supposed to be included while on the other hand there should be a description about airport, landing surface, water and electric supply. Details about emergency landing, fire explosion, earth quake or any other natural disaster are also required to be addressed. Issues which might arise due to missing cabin crew members and the boarding passengers must have an action plan. The job activities of all the ground personnel must be predefined with respect to the scenario of ground handling (Vicente, 2010, p.3) including the back-up plan for all the unavailable resources. Equipment: Issues have been identified regarding change of equipment, for instance, the passenger bridge. This is generally known as ECH or Equipment Change which requires extensive facilitation so as to prevent damages. The stairs, wheelchairs and all other supporting equipments must be available to the passengers without any delay. The designed schedule for the availability of aircrafts on minimum notice is missing from turnaround process while the sequence of different landing and taking off planes is also omitted. There is no description for the missing slot, for instance, if an aircraft is late for landing then which other plane will use its assigned slot. Moreover, which slot will be given to the late aircraft when it reaches the airport? This subsequently causes disturbance in the scheduling of cabin crew (Fricke, 2009, p.3). Rationale for the Identified Issues All of the above issues regarding the responsibilities of Pilot, job activities of office and tower personnel, problems of cabin crew and passengers and the overall technicalities of equipments are required to be investigated in further detail. This is important so as to increase the efficiency, effectiveness and performance of the airline. Investigating the equipment and job activities of cabin crew will help the management in reducing critical path, waiting lines and the total time for turnaround process. This will subsequently impact the scheduling of flights while on the other hand management will recognize additional issues related to the functionality of aircraft or the performance of office members. Recording and analyzing the land, weather and other external conditions will facilitate in reducing the chances of accidents, passenger mishaps and technical damages. Efficiently dealing with the tower heads will help the pilot in making right decisions at the right time whereas he will also be able to take off the flight without any delay. These identified issues are so crucial that they might damage the corporate image of Hardjet while also destroying its financial position and shareholder relations. Hence they should be further investigated and solved immediately. References Aircraft Turnaround – From Landing to Take-off 2014, BBC, UK, viewed 7 February 2014, Barnett, T 2008, ‘Improving ramp / terminal operations for Shorter turn­times’ Boeing Aeromagazine, no.4, pp.21-23. Fricke, H & Schultz, M 2009, ‘Delays Impact onto Turnaround Performance’ USA/Europe Air Traffic Management Research and Development Seminar, pp. 1-10. Thorne, A, Barrett, D & McFarlane, D 2007, ‘Impact of RFID on Aircraft Turnaround Processes’ Aerospace iD, pp.1-17. Vicente, SS 2010, ‘Ground Handling Simulation with CAST’ Hamburg University of Applied Science, pp.1-84. WU, CL & Caves, RE 2003, ‘Flight Schedule Punctuality Control and Management: A Stochastic Approach’ Transportation Planning and Technology, Vol.26, no.4, pp.313–330. Read More