London Heathrow

Introduction

Heathrow is known as London Heathrow. It is major international airport in London, UK. It was originated in 1929 as a small airfield. There have already 4 terminals in it. And then they built terminal 5. Terminal 5 is one of the most technologically advanced airport terminals in the world. During the first five days, BA (British Airways) misplaced more than 23,000 bags, cancelled 500 flights. Staff had not been trained properly and their car parks were too full on the day of opening. And staff security systems were delayed and construction was not completely finished before the opening day (Virji, et.

al, 2010).

Operation Management Analysis

Operation Management

According to Nigel Slack, Operation Management is the activity of managing the resources which are devoted to the creation and delivery of services and products. It is one of the core functions of any business, although it may not be called operations management in some industries (Slack, 2013).

A general model of operations management

Input resources such as materials, information, customers, facilities and staff are analyzed and evaluated with operation management model (direct, design, deliver and develop).

And then, we can get results as output products and services and it is value-added for customers (Slack, Brandon-Jones and Johnston, 2013).

Operations principle

There are four broad categories in operations management activities. They are directing the general strategy of the operation, designing products, services and operation process, planning and controlling delivery and developing performance (Slack, Brandon-Jones and Johnston, 2013)

Directing

Firstly, I want to choose a top-down perspective strategy because they ran immediately their operation process with employees without training.

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So, they had problems. And then, I also want to choose market requirements perspective strategy. They are globalization. So, they need the largest airport to comfort transportation problem for people.

Designing

In terminal 5 project, firstly, according to quality, they did not have appropriate resources, were not error-free processing. In addition, they had many recycling processes and much effort were wasted in process. Secondly, according to speed, in the beginning day, they expanded throughput time. Besides customers waited in airport for a long time. Thirdly, according to dependability, process design was not on-time deliveries of products and services. Fourthly, according to flexibility, they did not change effortlessly between processing situations. And they spent high cost and service change for customers. They did not have plan B. So, they did not pass unexpected events. Finally, related to cost, process happened waste, in-process delays and in-process errors (Slack, Brandon-Jones and Johnston, 2013).

The process mapping

Outsourcing processes of T5 project (success and failures)

Success

Heathrow could join with Vanderlande Industries. Vanderlande Industries designed and installed the largest system in Europe. They have full experience. And then Terminal 5 project included not only the terminal but also shipping, a rail station and a new transit system. They used a state-of –the –art facility. In construction part, 80-85% of the project were complete on time at the time only 60% of the construction project were finished. And then, this terminal also contained 96 self-service kiosks. So, they used self-service for customers. In addition, Airport-technology.com describes that this terminal was planned to handle up to 70,000 bags a day. They too connected this terminal with the advanced technology system.

Failures

Firstly, although they could join with Vanderlande Industries, they had any problem in communication. They had some information gap between them. So, they fail in the process. In addition, there were IT problems. Jim Fitzpatrick reported that on it first day in operation, Terminal 5’s customized baggage system was affected by some matters. And then, in spite of using a state-of-the-art facility, staffs were not familiar with this system and they would not trains employees. They must immediately work in workplace. Therefore, employees faced difficulties and the operation system was not effective. They built the rest constructions only for six weeks. So, they did not finish the buildings before deadline because of short period. A passenger told the BBC that “They did not test luggage with the belt system on the last week. So. Computer cannot cope many bags going through.” In addition, another problem is car parking problem. They did not have a wide car parking area. BBC reported that terminal staffs had trouble new parking spaces (Krigsman, 2008).

TQM

ASQ organization described that total quality management (TQM) is a management approach to long-term success through customer satisfaction. In TQM, every member of an organization take part in order to develop products, services, and processes of their work (www.asq.org.com).

In inspection stage, Heathrow terminal 5 project should be run with a less number of customers at first opening week. At that time, if there were any problem, they would prevent their system. And then in quality control stage, they did not determine exactly information and data. Since the beginning time, if they recognized systematically with a few passengers, they would not abash and would not face trouble. In first two stage, they did not operate well their processes. So, they did not reach quality insurance stage. In addition, they did not connect between supplier and customers well. They did not comfort with these three facts so that they did not match TQM function.

TQM means all cost of quality are considered:

Prevention cost

Staffs were not familiar with their operation system. They were not trained correctly. And then they did not pretest luggage with baggage system. There was not enough car parking area for customers. They were always full in car parking. In terminal’s storage facility, the not received bags were manually sent to customers. And then they did not finish the construction before deadline. There was no exact collection of flight data. Staff security system was delay.

Appraisal cost

In Heathrow terminal 5, they used the advanced technology system. But they were not familiar with this system. They did not train with it correctly. Although they also utilized automatic system, they did not collect exact information data what to apply this system. Thus, they ran their process with manual sort. And then, in terminal 5, they gave self-services to customers. There were operated with these self-service systems in check-in section and baggage drop section. It involved 96 self-service kiosks.

Internal failure cost

For having problems, they reworked their process and operation systems. And then they operated their functions with manual instead of auto system. Due to the errors, many bags were unrecognized by the system. So, they missed flight and they had to re-booked on new flights. They happened time waste and wasted money in the process. They spent much time in this wrong process. So, customers lasted for several days while waiting to receive their baggage. In addition, they gave to customers for some indemnity because their process was not recognized.

External failure cost

In terminal 5 project, customers did not satisfy and they did not get good image at that time because of these error processes. They expended many time and much money for their customers. They had loss of customer goodwill.

Developing

Operations management is important in the project because operation managers are adjudged not only how they meet their enduring tasks of producing products and services to acceptable levels of quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and cost, but also on how they improve the performance of the operations purpose overall (Slack, Brandon-Jones and Johnston, 2013).

Radical or Breakthrough change

By using breakthrough change, they also increased investments. And also, they are rarely and expensive. So, they spent many costs. In addition, there were a gap between planned breakthrough change improvements and actual improvement.

Project Management

Project management involves planning and organization of a company’s resources to move a specific task, event, or duty towards completion (Labarre,2019).

Stakeholder management

Stakeholder management is the process that helps the individuals who involve in the project to achieve the stated goal by forming, managing and maintaining the constructive relationships (BusinessDictionary.com, 2019).

Success of stakeholder management

Heathrow terminal 5 could be the partnership with Vanderlande Industries of the Netherlands which is the largest airport in the world. Vanderlande industries are the high competitive industries for it. These are also the advantages for it. This company have enough experience and they can manage well.

Failures of stakeholder management

Firstly, they did not well communicate between suppliers and customers. In other hand, they did not train staffs. So, staffs did not have enough skills for this projects. They worked immediately in workplace when they started to enter job. So, the project was failure. And then the constructors did not completely finish the buildings until the opening day of T5. And then some employers did not take responsibilities and they did not solve the problems. They remitted these problems to other departments. In addition, members did not share information and data that are related to this project. So, they happened lack of up to date information inside workplace. Due to the fact that they failed in the process. And then they were not well-being in communication with partners. Therefore, they did not know how to do in the project more effectively.

Risk Management

Will Kenton states that “In the financial world, risk management is the process of identification, analysis and acceptance or mitigation of uncertainty in investment decisions” (Kenton,2018).

There are three aspects of risk in Heathrow T5 project. They are uncertainty, loss and time.

Firstly, they must prepare for these risks. But they did not arrange for these related facts. So, they failed their project. Due to the fact that they did not get good result.

And then they should analysis their risk. Firstly, they should ask themselves questions what risks match with them. They happened trouble due to wrong baggage system. They did not arrange for this. In T5 project, another risk is that IT problem. They stumbled IT problem because computer cannot cope baggage. They also did not have training time for employees. And then the security system was too delay. The capacity of servers was also lack at that time. Because of these facts, as consequences, they ran their process with manual sorting, and they also wasted many time and many cost for the problems. And they must rebook new fights for customers and they paid damages to their customers for their errors.

According to the following facts, they should prepare solutions for these problems. Firstly, all members of an organization together solve the problems if there were any problem. And then they should share their knowledge and advice to their partners. In addition, they must understand other culture and adapt another value and belief. They must keep standardized factors or rules in the organization not to happen cultural commitment. They also must have third party between them.

Do it

In terminal 5 project, management section can lead how to do staffs in the workplace. And managers told to their employees to do their jobs well and systematically. They can solve the problems in their work because they have enough experience and they are skillful. They should train their employees and senior employers should share juniors experience in workplace. Therefore, their employees may be skillful and have much knowledge and information.

Quality Management Strategy

Firstly, they should keep to stable their quality. They will plan to emendate the reorganized structure and system. And then, they will test their baggage system, security system and other systems. If there were no any problem, they will control their product, quality and service. They resign over their failure processes and their errors. In addition, they give quality insurance to their customers. They also provide their process with technology and they train their employees and use up to date applications in the process to give fast and good quality services. They report the customer for traffic problem till customers satisfy.

Conclusion

Review the lessons learnt from T5 project

By learning Heathrow Terminal 5 project, we can see how to solve their problems. And then, we got much knowledge from it. We understood that operation system is so important and they also faced IT problem. We knew that they had problems because they did not prepare risk management for their project. So, risk management is also important for the project. And then employees were not familiar a-state-of-the-art facility. And then we saw loading staff could not sign on to the baggage-reconciliation system. Therefore, they faced trouble. Employees need enough training and practice. We knew that Heathrow Terminal 5 was opening delays. They also took risk because they focused on-time on-budget. So, we can know many information and data related to Heathrow Terminal 5 by analyzing this case study.

Operational knowledge gained from Terminal 5 Project

By analyzing Heathrow Terminal 5 Project, we can know how much important operation management section in a project. And then TQM tool is essential in the process. If they do not measure their project with TQM tool, the following errors that I described will be occurred and they will happen many damages. When the process is being match with TQM tool, their operation process is completely over and success. I knew that Operation Management is an important role of a project. And then it is also essential for a business. If there is not good quality of operation process, the whole task will not run and systems will breakdown.

Reference

1. BusinessDictionary.com. (2019). What is stakeholder management? definition and meaning. [online] Available at: [Accessed 26 Mar. 2019].
2. Maylor, H. (2010). Project management. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall.
3. Slack, N., Brandon-Jones, A. and Johnston, R. (2013). Operations management. 7th ed. Edinburgh Gate: Pearson Education Limited.
4. Campaignlive.co.uk. (2019). Media: Things we like. [online] Available at: [Accessed 26 Mar. 2019].
5. Kenton,W. (2018). Risk Management. [ online] Available at: [Accessed 9 Apr: 2019].
6. Krigsman,M. (2008). IT failure at Heathrow T5: What really happened. [online] Available at: [Accessed 9 Apr: 2019]
7. Labarre,O. (2019). Project Management. [online] Available at: [Accessed 9 Apr: 2019]
8. Virji,F. et.al. (n.d). Heathrow Terminal 5 Case Study. [online] Available at: [Accessed 9 Apr: 2019]