Operations Management Productivity - Sales and Profits

Question: Discuss about the Operations Management for Productivity, Sales and Profits. Answer: Introduction Operations management is the vital function of the organisation as it facilitates in increasing its productivity, sales and profits. It focuses on managing the controlling and designing of the business operations in order to produce and sell final goods and services to the end customer (Barnes, 2008). This report focuses on the evaluation of the retail cleaning process of Consolidated Property Services. It also entails information related to the current performance of the retail cleaning process of Consolidated Property Services in terms of five performance indicators and areas of improvement. Besides this, it also entails information regarding the suggestions that can be implemented to improve the performance of the retail cleaning process of the company. Overview of the Consolidated Property Services Consolidated Property Services was established in the year 1977 by John Grant in Australia. It mainly engages in providing property services, environmental solutions and cleaning services to different public sectors and across different industries. It provides different services to its customers such as educational facilities, retail cleaning, industrial cleaning, commercial cleaning and special operations. In addition to this, the company has delivered approximately 100 recycling programs since 2010. Along with this, the company also considers establishing and maintaining strong relationships with its customers and employees by fulfilling their needs and goals. In addition to this, it also drives towards the development of operational strategies and new approaches for the purpose of meeting the changing needs of the clients in an effective and efficient manner. The company has also entered into a partnership with Kids Foundation for the purpose of providing support to the burn survi vors and their families in Australia. In addition to this, 87% of the people at management level have joined the company as cleaners (Consolidated, 2016). Overview of Retail Cleaning Process Consolidated Property Services provide cleaning services to industries, retailers and commercial sector due to which, it has large number of retail clients. The company tracks the needs and demands of the retail cleaning sector in order to provide highest quality services to them by working in cooperation with the centre managers. Along with this, under this process, floor maintenance programs are executed and managed by the company by employing labour for 24 hour sites for the purpose of achieving high level of customer satisfaction (Consolidated, 2016). The retail cleaning process of Consolidated Property Services is shown in the following diagram (Lahou, Jacxsens, Verbunt and Uyttendaele, 2015). Learn (Analysis of the situation of the facility): The first and foremost step in the retail cleaning process is to analyse the situation of the facility for which the cleaning services has to be provided. It includes different phases which are follows: Site Visit Identification of facility damage Identification of occupational and health safety risks specific to the site Determination of operational issues Establishment of specific reporting requirements Review of occupational health and safety Analysis of existing workforce and their job roles. Define (Creation of cleaning proposal): It also includes different sub phases which are as follows: Establishment of scope of work Frequency plan for cleaning program Requirements of labour hours for the project Specifications of cleaning equipments and products Recognition of the opportunities related to green clean Development of the measures for overcoming OHS issues Establishment of pricing proposal Assessing supervising and execution program Prepare (Development of cleaning program) Establishment of specified flow of work Clear definition of job roles and responsibilities Preparation of tailored policies related to OHS and hazard management Provision of clear code of conduct policies Preparation of orientation plan Establish formal inspection plan Creation of the inspection process Deliver (commencement of the cleaning program) Recruitment of cleaning staff Provision of training to supervisors Provision of cleaning equipments and cleaner rooms Creation of helpdesk procedures Execution of inspection program Provision of updated information to staff members regarding special clearances Monitor (Assessment and improvement of cleaning program) Measurement of the current performance Carry out audits and visits to site for supervision Organising meetings with staff members Taking feedback from clients on fixed intervals The retail cleaning process of Consolidated Property Services has a significant impact on its overall performance. This process has resulted in improving the health of employees in the organisation due to presence of clean working environment. This has resulted in reducing the employee turnover and absenteeism. Along with this, it also results in reducing the cost associated with the repairs of damaged equipments or products. Presence of clean working environment helps in increasing the morale of the employees and thereby their productivity. This helps in improving the overall operational efficiency of the company. Along with this, increase in the productivity of the employees due to increase in their moral results in increasing their commitment and loyalty towards the business (Nilsson, 2007). This in turn facilitates in providing high quality of cleaning services to its retail customers. This facilitates in increasing the satisfaction level of existing customers and attracting new customers in order to build large customer base. In this manner, there is an increase in the market share of the company. Along with this, adoption and provision of cleaning services to different retail customers has helped in building a brand image of cleanness among them which results in enhancing the professional reputation among customers and positively influence the bottom line of the business. In addition to this, carrying out of cleaning practices helps in increasing the storage space due to elimination of storage of unnecessary items, prevention from occurrence of fire hazards which in turn results in increasing the satisfaction level of employees as a consequence of existence of clean and safe working environment. Along with this, 24x7 customer supports is provided by the company to its retail customers so as to maintain the hygiene, safe and clean retail settings. The company carries out health safety practices in the workplace to keep it clean and safe so as to sustain in the market for long term (Consolidated, 2016). Current Performance of the Process The performance of any organisation is measured in terms of five parameters namely quality, speed, costs, flexibility and dependability. This is because the operations of the business have a major impact on its stakeholders which are classified into five broad categories namely, customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders and society. Nowadays, rapid changes have been taking place in the business environment due to which companies give priority to its customers. Quality: Nowadays, customers have become health conscious due to which they are attracted to the retail settings which are safe, clean and hygienic (Trewin, 2005). In context to this, Consolidated Property Services offer cleaning services to its retail customers. The company provides high quality cleaning services to its customers and adopts different tools and equipments to clean the retail settings in different weather conditions in order to maintain good quality of air inside the retail premises. The company has made huge investments in different cleaning initiatives in order to offer clean, safe and healthy working environment to its employees as well as its customers. This also results in elimination of different risks that can negatively affect the health of its employees. The company has also implemented different quality systems in order to measure the quality of the services rendered to its customers and keeps a record of quality inspection. Besides this, in order to ensure maintenance of high quality, the company has also use different equipments such as colour coded equipment and travelator cleaning. This has resulted in providing high level of services to its customers in order to attain high level of customer satisfaction (Consolidated, 2016). Speed: It is commonly regarded as the speed of response. If the company meet high standard of quality in their services offered to its stakeholders then it can respond to their requests in a quick manner. This results in increase in the customer base of the company. If the company fails to provide error free services to its customers then most of the time will be consumed in rectification of the mistakes related to quality of the service (Lelieveld, Holah and Napper, 2014). In context to this, Consolidated Property Services inspects the quality of the services rendered through quality systems in order to provide tailored cleaning services to its customers which helps in retaining the existing customers and generate revenue from them in large quantity. The company generates huge sales revenue by rendering high quality cleaning services to its retail customers in less time due to presence of trained professional staff and strong partnerships with centre managers. Presence of trained st aff 24x7 helps in providing assistance to customers related to the services rendered to them in order to fulfil their needs in an effective manner. The company is also able to respond to its customers in a quick manner as the quality is maintained to a set standard at each stage of the service station (Consolidated, 2016). Dependability: Dependability refers to delivery of products and services to customers on time. This means that the company requires delivering the goods and services to its customers at agreed time or before the agreed time so that they can consume it and fulfil their needs (Hill and Hill, 2012). Consolidated Property Services manages labour 24 hours a day for the purpose of delivering the customised and high quality services to its customers on time. This is because; if the services are not provided to the customers on time then they will not make repeat purchases. This will affect the business in a negative manner. The company has trained and skilled employees who renders high quality services to its customers in a customised manner on time in order to achieve high rate of customer satisfaction. This has resulted in increasing the profitability of the business (Consolidated, 2016). Cost: Cost is another objective through which the performance of the organisation can be measured. Companies which offers wide variety of products and services to its customers which might result in increasing the cost of the company. Production of greater variety of products and services results in reduced production volume and increased per unit cost. This affects the profits, running cost and price of the product (Anderson, Anderson and Parker, 2013). In context to this, Consolidated Property Services provide customised cleaning services to its retail customers as per their needs and wants which results in increasing the running cost due to the rendering of the service in less volume. This results in increasing the prices of the services and influences the profitability of the company. The costs has also increased as it provides training to its staff so that they can deal with its customers in an effective manner and fulfil their needs and demands to achieve high level of customer satisfaction (Consolidated, 2016). Flexibility: The flexibility objective of the operational performance deals with the adoption of new requirements by the operations department of the company in order to provide products and services to its customers at different quality levels. It is requisite for the company to provide products and services to its customers by bringing different modifications related to design and quality of the services and products. Besides this, it is also requisite for the company to deliver the products and services to customers as per their changing delivering schedules (Greasley, 2007). In relation to this, Consolidated Property Services has adapt to the changing requirements in the cleaning services related to retail sector. It has adopted the changed equipments for the purpose of cleaning during Spring season in order to clean the indoor air of retail premises. This helps in maintaining a high quality of fresh air in the premises in order to provide safe, clean and healthy workplace to its employees. Besides this, the company made investments in research and development for the purpose of innovating new ideas for the purpose of providing clean, safe and healthy work environment to employees (Consolidated, 2016). This in turn helps in increasing the overall productivity and output of the organisation. It develops new approaches and strategies in order to meet the changing needs of customers in order to sustain in the market and boost its sales and profitability. Flexibility in its operations as per the changing needs of the customers helps in attracting more number of customers and creating awareness regarding keeping clean, safe and healthy work environment in different retail premises. Recommendations It is essential for the organisation to improve its operational efficiency and performance as it has a significant and direct impact on the profitability and sustainability of the business. In relation to this, Consolidated Property Services are required to improve its operational performance in the retail cleaning in terms of five performance objectives in order to increase its reach and profitability. It is suggested that the company might outsource a particular operation in the retail cleaning which might help in reducing the cost and increasing its customer base. This in turn results in increasing the profits of the company. Along with this, it is also suggested that the personnel should regularly review the performance of the service rendered to its client on a monthly basis. This results in gaining loyal customers and results in increasing the sales of the company (Setchi, Howlett, Naim and Seinz, 2014). In addition to this, the quality of the service rendered should be checked and maintained at every stage which results in elimination of the cost associated with repairs and reworks. In addition to this, it also reduces the workload of the quality inspection team and saves their time which can be devoted in rectifying the quality issue in emergency situations. This results in increasing the overall productivity of the employees. Elimination of the repairs and reworks and occurrence of the similar mistakes by the employees also helps in increasing the speed of response to new and existing clients. Maintenance of standard quality at every stage of the service helps in elimination of the delay in the delivery of the services to clients as the time has been saved because of prevention of the inspection of the services by the quality inspection team. In addition to this, it also results in requirement of less number of workers and reduces the overall cost of the company (Kossmann, 2006). In this manner the five performance objectives of retail cleaning process in Consolidated Property Services can be improved in order to increase its operational efficiency. Conclusion It can be concluded that Consolidated Property Services provides cleaning services and environmental solutions to different public and private sectors. This report emphasises on the retail cleaning process of Consolidated Property Services. The retail cleaning process comprises of five stages namely learn, define, prepare, deliver and monitor. Besides this, it can also be concluded that the performance of the retail cleaning process is evaluated on the basis of five performance objectives namely flexibility, quality, dependability, speed and cost. This process also affects the overall performance of the organisation in a significant manner as it deals with offering cleaning services to retail clients. References Anderson, M.A., Anderson, E.J. and Parker, G. 2013. Operations Management For Dummies. John Wiley Sons. Barnes, D. 2008. Operations Management: An International Perspective. Cengage Learning EMEA. Consolidated. 2016. About. [Online]. Available at: https://www.consolidated.com.au/#about [Accessed on: 12 August 2016]. Greasley, A. 2007. Operations Management. Sage. Hill, A. and Hill, T. 2012. Operations Management. Palgrave Macmillan. Kossmann, M. 2006. 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