Logistics and operations mgt The WritePass Journal

Logistics and operations mgt 1. INTRODUCTION Logistics and operations mgt ). Speed: According to Slack et al (2001), speed refers the ability to accomplish the task quickly in responding customer demands. From budget airline perspective, speed is concerned with reducing time of reservation and luggage handling. Also, turnaround time of aircraft and its maintenance considered as two most important speed factors in airline industry. Ryanair is currently looking to improve it services in terms of speed by taking advantage from the advanced technology like internet. In order make reservation system speedy, Ryanair converted its host reservations system to a new system so-called ‘Flight Speed’ (Ryanair strategy, n.d.). Dependability/reliability: In most cases, dependability refers to the ability to deliver products/service on time according to the promises made to the customers. In the airline industry, this refers to on-time flights without major delays with the reliability of luggage service. According to the statistics of 2011, Ryanair is the leading budget airline in UK in terms of reliability of being on schedule and less than one missed bags per 1000 passengers (Ryanair Annual report, 2011). Flexibility: Slack et al (2007) states that flexibility means additional options to customers in terms of volume, delivery, and range of products and services. In a budget airline, customers usually get basic products and services in return of ordinary fare but they can get a variety of additional products and services by paying extra money. In case of Ryanair, flexibility refers to the diversification of additional services as well as the capacity to consider substitutes for numerous service industries such as maintenance agreements and outsourced functions (Ryanair annual report, 2011). Cost: According to Shingo (1988), the traditional cost model consists of maximising the profit by reducing cost of the operations. Nowadays, the most crucial factor for a budget airline is to run their operations against increasing fuel prices. Unlike other low cost airlines, Ryanair is committed to absorb the fluctuations of fuel prices without imposing them on customers. This policy resulted in first annual loss for Ryanair in 2009 when the fuel prices were very high (BBC news, 2009). Figure 2 in appendix II is showing how these operational objectives affect the internal and external operations of the budget airline in terms of obtaining competitive advantage. Similarly, table 2 in appendix I is demonstrating how budget airlines can achieve operations excellence in improving competitiveness by applying different techniques. 3.1 Four V’s of Operations Management Slack et al (2007) introduced 4v’s operational model to describe and organise the management operations. The four V’s are volume, variety, variation, and visibility. According to them, it is important to understand how different operations are positioned on the 4V model. Figure 3 in appendix II is representing 4V model against operational objectives of a budget airline.    REFERENCES Agus, A., (2002). TQM as a focus for improving overall service performance and customer satisfaction: an empirical study on a public service sector in Malaysia. Total Quality Management, 15 (56), pp. 615 – 628 Allen, J. E., (2004). Assisted Living Administration: The Knowledge Base, 2nd edition, Springer Publishing Company Anthony, J. and Preece, D., (2001). Understanding, managing, and implementing quality: frameworks, techniques, and cases, Routledge BBC News, (2009). Ryanair reports first annual loss, [online]. Available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8078349.stm [Accessed: 08 May 2012] Belbin, R. M., (1993). Team roles at work, Butterworth-Heinemann Bergman, B. and Klefsjo, B., (1994). 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