Figure 1. Cherwell District Council’s Service Plan 2003/2004
3.0 Operations Manager’s Task
The operations function of the ESD is to provide the services that the department can deliver. It concerns the transformation process that involves taking inputs and converting them into outputs together with the various support functions closely associated with this basic task (figure 2).
Operations managers therefore need to keep control of the inputs and processes that together provide the services that ensures sustainable growth and improvement in service delivery. It is essential for those activities responsible for the provision of goods and services to be well managed as these tasks are critical for the ESD to remain competitive.
Hope & Muhlemann (1997) suggest that there are five areas of responsibility for the operations managers. These include product, process, programmes, plant and people. For the ESD it is a challenge to be able to manage the available facilities, to meet current requirements within the cost constraints laid down, and in the longer term, it involves the design or extension of facilities in so far as they affect the operating systems (see figure 3).
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Product. Product design and specification for the ESD include inspection procedures, prosecution procedures, inspection aid memoirs, post inspection report forms etc.
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Process. Inspections are carried out in batches both in time (monthly) and space (district areas) according to set inspection criteria.
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Programmes. Inspections are prioritised according to the risk businesses pose to the public/employees-categorised by a risk rating system laid down in statute.
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Plant. Equipment used during inspections include calibrated thermometers, torches, cameras and a database to record and categorise businesses according to their risk rating.
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People. Only qualified/competent staff are selected and recruited. Staff are also regularly appraised and offered refresher training. People are the most critical factor in the success of the department.
Figure 3. Five areas of responsibility for the operations manager (adapted from Hope & Muhlemann, 1997)
Operations managers therefore must not only be able to understand the tasks in hand, they must also be able to understand the whole, take it apart, fix the parts required and put it back together again if they are to manage the tasks efficiently an effectively.
4.0 The Operations Process
There are five classic types of operations processes - project, jobbing, batch, mass and continuous. The operations of the ESD can be said to follow a batch process. The department provides a standard service, which is repeated without any significant changes. Businesses due for an inspection are printed of the computer system on a monthly basis and are inspected to a set format. Inspection protocols are written in accordance with government guidelines and dictate the exact manner in which businesses are inspected and assessed even down to the introduction by the officer and his statement of the reason for his visit (see figure 4).
To identify the strength/weaknesses for the current services provided by the ESD it would be beneficial to look at the overall strategies for the department relating to inspection procedures. Table 1 highlights some of these issues. Its evident the department is strong at offering services in other languages/formats through a disability awareness officer, translated materials are also available in different languages and there are officers in the council who can be called upon to assist with Bengali, Punjabi, French speaking businesses. The section also has well documented procedures on inspecting premises, taking evidence and investigating accidents/complaints. The department’s weaknesses include poor/diminishing budget, inadequate number of staff or staff not fully trained for the jobs they need to do and outdated equipment including a premises database that needs updating and a filing system that matches the database.
Understanding the market is crucial to the success of any business. One way of assessing the market is to look at order-qualifiers and order-winners (Hill, 2000). Qualifiers get the product/service into a market place and keep it there. They do not themselves win orders. Order-winners on the other hand will help gain advantage over similar services offered by competitors (e.g. outside private consultants). In short qualifiers match customer needs (as do competitors) and order-winners provide a service at a level better than any competitors. Table 2 details some of these factors for ESD.
Figure 5 below also summarises some of the factors associated with operations management for inspection of businesses. Some of the factors are also discussed in detail later in the report.
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Strategy. Inspect all businesses within the minimum frequency set by government guidelines.
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Output planning. Inspect high risk premises as priority within budget and available resources.
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Capacity planning. Spreading inspections over the 12 month period taking into account people’s holidays, seasonal trade, budget and internal/external audits.
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Transformation system design. Equipping staff with the knowledge/skills to carry out the inspections. Provide protocols, up to date information of the law and businesses.
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Inventory management. Deciding on the staffing level required, types and number of equipment required, type and level of outside expertise required and the level of support required from the FSA/HSE.
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Materials requirement planning. Deciding on the amount and time to order materials (CDC operates a just in time policy).
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Supply chain management. Organising activities from receiving the dates for inspecting businesses to carrying out the inspections for speed, efficiency and quality.
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Quality Management. Performance management through Performance Related Pay (PRP) appraisals, post inspection audits and accompanied visits.
Figure 5 Factors associated with operations management for inspection of businesses.
5.0 Performance Objectives
Figure 6 below assess the competitive advantage of the ESD’s approach to inspecting businesses using Slack’s 5 performance objectives (Slack et al. 2001).
On the whole the ESD is able to deliver a reasonable service within reasonable time scales. The nature of the work prevents visits by appointment and some time is wasted when businesses are found to be closed at times of visits or the owner is not available. Targets have dropped with increasing number of businesses coming into the area with no increase in budget or the staffing to inspect them. It is also difficult to balance a cost effective inspection programme with quality, dependability and flexibility with reducing resources. Figure 7 below demonstrates some of the problems encountered when trying to deliver a quality service with budget restrictions.
6.0 Quality Management
Quality is a difficult topic to monitor as it can be very subjective and rely on personal judgement.
However the ESD have set standards/specifications such as inspection protocols, post inspection forms/letters and data base entries that are used to measure quality. Understanding reasons for failure of systems also help maintain quality. Figure 8 details some of the reasons for failure that can arise in the inspection programme.
7.0 The Cost of Quality
The cost of quality include prevention costs, appraisal costs, internal failure costs and external failure costs (figure 9).
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Prevention costs. Cost of producing quality inspection procedures. Cost of IiP. Cost of Charter Mark Award. Cost of the premises database/filing system. Indemnity Insurance cost
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Appraisal costs. Monitoring costs. PRP appraisal costs. Cost of audits, surveys and accompanied visits.
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Internal failure costs. IT system crashes. Cost of poor filing/record keeping. Poor staff training/retention.
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External failure costs. Poor assessment of inspection results. Compensation claims against malpractice. Revisit costs. Cost of losing prosecution cases. Cost of withdrawal of Notices.
Figure 9. The cost of quality for inspection of businesses.
To safeguard against any losses the ESD has documented procedures for premises inspection, gathering evidence and instigating prosecutions. Officers are also indemnified against their actions if taken in good faith. This is also supported by Charter Mark and IiP and PRP appraisals.
The department also participates in the County wide Liaison meetings between the 5 district authorities to benchmark and carryout standardisation exercises. In addition to this the 5 authorities recently underwent an inter-authority audit to check on each other’s performance management. The FSA/HSE also randomly audit authorities to check inspections are carried out in accordance with codes of practices/guidelines.
8.0 Resource Management and Planning
Capacity management is an essential part of operations management. The objective is to match the level of capacity to the level of demand both in terms of quantity and capability. Planning and managing capacity requires balancing uncertainties, time-scale, looking at alternatives and executing the objectives. Capacity management ensures resources are of good quality and in the appropriate quantity at the right time and at a reasonable cost.
The ESD’s resource management includes staffing (ensuring the right staff are recruited, trained and developed), equipment (the right tools for the job) and the budget (adequate resources). Planning is important both on the short term (annual service plans) and on the long term (3 yearly council’s community plan). Accurate information is crucial which will affect forecasting demand. Figure 10 details the ESD’s capacity planning.
9.0 Conclusion
Operations management is about managing the resources that directly affect CDC’s service delivery. Resources consist of people, materials, technology and information to mention a few. These resources are put through a series of processes to deliver CDC’s services. Operations management therefore manages inputs (resources) through a transformation process to deliver outputs (service delivery – inspection of businesses).
Generally CDC is managing to inspect the high risk businesses within the council’s area within reasonable time scales. However with diminishing resources (staff and budget) and increases in the number of new businesses it is becoming more and more difficult to keep up with the demand.
The process of operations management demonstrates that with diminishing resources there is a greater need to prioritise to ensure a quality service delivery. Staff will require refresher training in the new areas that they now will have to cover. Work procedures will have to be updated to include up to date legislation and information on the businesses to be inspected to save staff looking it up. The premises database will have to be monitored closely and updated to ensure the details held are accurate.
With cutbacks every year it is getting more and more harder to keep up with demand. Creativity and innovation will have to play a bigger role if continuous improvement is to be maintained under best value/compulsory performance assessment or additional means of resourcing will have to be sought or targets will have to be reduced.
10.0 Recommendations
Bibliography
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Hutchins, D. (1999). Just in Time (2nd Ed.). Gower.
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