4/21/2014

Operations ManagementThe Art of Managing Efficiency Spot on by Hemant Chandran | SBS Admissions

Operations ManagementThe Art of Managing

Efficiency Spot on by Hemant Chandran
18 Friday Jan 2013
POS TED BY LUCYREYNOLDS

IN

PROGRAMME, S TUDENT BLOG

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Tags
aviation, BAA, Dr Jillian MacBryde, Dr Peter Flett, Edinburgh Airport, Edrington Group, Famous
Grouse Whisky, MBA blog, Operations Management, Strathclyde Business School, Student Blog,
University of Strathclyde
MBA student Hemant Chandran tells us about the recent OM module:
Operations Management (OM) was a module that most of us were looking forward to. Many of us
wanted to specialise in it, several excited about the first lecture. Allaying our ungrounded fears, and
to our compete surprise; Dr. Peter Flett made his inaugural lecture on OM extremely interesting and
thought-provoking. His discourse on Yield Management and Operations Strategy was so very
insightful. What makes organisations such as Wal-mart, Fedex and Dell great examples of growth
and efficiency? It is chiefly their operations management and their logistics-strategy that leave the
best of their rivals behind in their specialist trade. How better to learn this than putting theory to
practice?
That indeed was what we did! First, we visited The Edrington Group (the legendary makers of
Famous Grouse whisky). Mr. David Donaldson (Director of Supply Chain Management) gave us a
splendid presentation on the firms operations and supply-chain management strategy while
guiding us patiently on the plant tour. For the second onsite tour, Dr. Jillian MacBryde and our
cohort picked the Edinburgh Airport. Our idea was to see for ourselves the complex operations
management that underpins our safe and comfortable journey, whenever we take a routine flight.
The Edinburgh Airport is owned by the Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) a multinational
private equity firm head-quartered in New York City. Recently, in 2011, BAA (which itself has
undergone a rebranding in October 2012) decided to sell the airport. The employees at the airport
see a positive outlook after the change of guard and GIP taking control of the operations.
Now, the airport staffs. They were a real picture of what we call grace under pressure. They were
kind enough to conduct us through the areas such as the Security Check, the waiting lounge and
baggage sorting in order to show us how complex and meticulous the operations of an airport are/
have to be round the clock each day, not to speak, of course, of the enormous volumes of human
traffic and cargo it must safely deal with. All conveyor belts are automated and sort thousands of
bags/cargo every hour with an impressive efficiency of 99.8% after 5 levels of screening.

Later in the day, we were taken to the air-site operations atop a tall building with marvellous

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4/21/2014

Operations ManagementThe Art of Managing Efficiency Spot on by Hemant Chandran | SBS Admissions

Later in the day, we were taken to the air-site operations atop a tall building with marvellous
gadgets which ensure the safety of the runway and marshalling aircrafts. Last but not the least: we
were introduced to the fire-fighting department, its crew and technologies, at the airport. The
trainers and the crew were diligently conducting the fire safety drill while we were listening to the
Fire Marshal with rapt attention.
The module on OM thus instilled in us a great lesson: there is nothing to match the case-study
method of learning theory that is closely aligned with its practical application. We were able to
relate theory to practice when the airport authorities were talking about the process design,
performance management and quality control systems in place. All in all, a great learning
experience! I am sure we have all enjoyed and cherished the pleasurable learning experiences of the
whisky and the Edinburgh airport tour as much as I have. I wish there were more and more of
hands-on and foot-fall on floors of business activities following lectures and seminars.

About lucyreynolds
I am the Admissions Officer, for the Strathclyde Business School MBA and Postgraduate
programmes, along with my colleague Suzanne Stevenson. Our team manages recruitment for the
SBS MBA, all routes, including Full-time, Part-time, Flexible Learning and at our Offshore Centres.
View all posts by lucyreynolds

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