SYSTEMS AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

Maersk Line- World's Largest Shipping Company

Maersk Line- World's Largest Shipping Company

Introduction

Maersk Line is one of the largest shipping corporations of the world with over five hundred vessels. It is estimated that they have around twenty five thousand employees in the year 2012 and are growing steadily. The company globalized by acquiring different companies and outsourced between 2001 till 2006. This was a period of strong growth of the company when they invested heavily in the capacity of their vessel. It was in the year 2008, when financial markets had hit many of the sectors of business that the company was challenged by competition in price (beyondphilosophy.com, 2012).This caused a significant decrease in the profits and the leadership of the company decided to initiate an experience for its customers that make it stand out from others in the industry (beyondphilosophy.com, 2012).

Discussion

Operations Framework

Maersk Line is in the shipping business for a long period of time and is active in defining the future of the industry they want to be part of (Morten, 2011). Their operations framework will revolve around five main factors such as to provide safe and healthy environment, to diversify industry's energy needs with greater resource efficiency, to promote fair governance at corporate and industry levels and to be able to innovate around operational activities.

Strategy

The sustainability progress report of Maersk for 2010 showed extra ordinary results and profitability for the company.Although, the transport of container markets was slow, the freight rates had returned to a normal level. According to the management, this acceleration is also due the transformation of the company by the strategy being followed. The current strategy of Maersk is to be more responsive to the needs of the customers and is better prepared to face the challenges of the future (Sustainability Report,2010).The core elements of the strategy include, filling the vessel with profitable cargo, providing the most reliable product demanded by their customers, fast and responsive service which is close to the customer and to reduce complex systems and cost (Maersk.com, 2008).This turnaround of their strategy has provided them with the best results and sustainable development. With this strategy in place for the years 2010-2015, they are currently working to integrate this sustainability in the corporate setup and overall decision making.

Operations

Maersk line is a division of Moller-Maersk Group which operates in over thirty countries (Sustainability Report, 2011). The sustainability of the company depends on the on the overall integration of their operations, functional areas and performance management. The global supply chain takes immense amounts of efforts on their side rather than focusing solely on the in-house activities and operations. They have a unique position in their supply chain management amongst some of the leading companies of the world (Sustainability Report, 2011).

The port facilities change according to the changes in port and vessel type. The small and efficient port stays a major advantage for the container transport business. There are specialized terminals and containers for the storage and shipment of ...