OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

Operations Management

Operations Management

1.0 INTRODUCTION

 The company I have chosen to look at is Primark, in this report I shall be looking into the operations management. Followed by the inputs, transformations and outputs to the company. Then discussing capacity management in terms of what it means and how it affects Primark's organisation.  In this report I shall expect to analyse the operations management according to Primark business, and additionally how it could possibly improve.

 As an employee of Primark, I am aware of how it operates internally, and hope to express this information into my report.  My main sources of information regarding Primark, is primary data, as I was able to have a detailed discussion with the store manager of Primark, Mr Costello. Furthermore, I have also obtained secondary information from, the Internet and books.

  

2.0 OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

 Finance, marketing and operations are three major functions of business, in this report I will only be focusing on the operations management aspects of my chosen business Primark. Operations management helps us understand the flow of production, by breaking down the stages, and hence identifies any causes of concern, anomalies or areas of improvement. According to Schonberger & Knod, there is no clear definition of OM, however if you break down the word, you can begin to understand what OM means. Operation can mean a number of things, but I perceive operations as the breaking down of functions.  Whereas, management is “a social process, which consists of planning, control, coordination and motivation,” as mentioned in Cole G A (2000). Combining these two meaning, you can clearly identify what operation management is concerned with. Operations management can be found everywhere, as shown in Fig 1.

 

2.1 PRIMARK

 Primark was first established in Dublin, under the name of Pennies, which, situates itself amongst the retail market in the service sector.  Trading in over 125 stores, and currently taking over little woods stores, additionally opening up another 65 stores this year.  Primark currently targets the under 35's, with there up to date fashion conscience clothing lines, at low cost prices encompassing the brand mark “Look Good, Pay Less”. On average each item in store is around £3-4, which compared to other retail stores is exceptionally good value for money. Primark has expanded into many departments including, ladies, men's, children's lingerie, nightwear, footwear and home ware. This means it comprises a large threshold population, attracting a high volume of customers. Unlike other stores, Primark has a considerably large selection of lines, and stock constantly changes to meet demand, acting as a high street warehouse. 

 

 

3.0 MANAGING PROCESS

 Operations management is all about managing process. According to Naughton S (2002) OM is the set of activities creating goods or services through transforming inputs into outputs.  The model as in Fig 2 can help explain an operating system at any level as mentioned in Wild R (2002) It looks at The Inputs which then becomes processed to form output.  Analysing this model helps increase efficiency within an organisation, as it looks at the ...