Choose one of the following operational problems: poor quality products or services long lines or waiting times too much or too little inventory

Analyze a specific company’s operational problem and develop a recommendation for effectively dealing with that problem. The operational problem may be something you observed or it can be an issue you experienced as a customer or employee. The company’s operational problem must be a real-world current issue that has not yet been resolved.

Choose one of the following operational problems:

poor quality products or services
long lines or waiting times
too much or too little inventory
inefficient practices or processes

Overview of how to identify an operational pproblem

This is a complex subject and has many interdependent factors but the answers to these questions should get you thinking about the potential opportunity to be capitalised on. This is by no means a ‘comprehensive checklist’ or a ‘how to guide’ but it is a great starting point to help quickly ascertain if there is hidden opportunity in your operation to be further investigated.

When you examine your key operational metrics, how does the operational dashboard look? Are call volumes, grade of service and complaints all strong and well within SLA? Tick. Do you have a team of internal change agents and BPR people working on a number of projects? Tick. And is your operations director happy that there are no issues or challenges requiring urgent attention? Tick. 

Now dig a little deeper…

Are you targeting the right metrics?
Does reporting actually reflect the service that your customers are receiving?
Are your change teams actually delivering measurable improvements?
Are outstanding audit points increasing?
Are your metrics green or red – have they been like this for some time?

Now take a glimpse into the future…

Market conditions will get tougher as competition intensifies.
New and existing players will take away market share.
An evolving regulatory environment will enforce changes to well-functioning processes, creating additional work volume altering your cost model and reducing margins.