Lean or Agile Principles in Ryanair’s Operations

Lean or Agile Principles in Ryanair’s Operations This section of the report analyses to what extent lean or agile principles in Ryanairs operations have been applied, adhered to and how these principles have contributed to the companys successful performance. Lean Operations According to Womack and Jones (2003), a company serves its customers for a certain purpose and fulfils a specific customer need. This is achieved through single processes which are in turn carried out by people the companys employees. The idea of lean operations derives from the notion that all these individual processes within a companys operations need to create value for the customer. If, however, a single process cannot be identified to add additional value, then, under a lean operations principle, this process can be considered as wasteful and should be cut out of operations. (Sutherland and Bennett, 2008; Womack and Jones, 2003) Since a lean operations process aims to remove unnecessary and no value-adding activities, it has been argued by Aitken, Christopher and Towill (2002) that the lean operations principle might be more suitable for products and services with rather constant demand and a low degree in variation. Mason-Jones, Naylor and Towill (2000) go even one step further and argue that the lean principle should primarily be applied for commodity products or services. Ryanair and the Lean Operations Principle With the above definitions in mind, a clear line to Ryanairs operations can be drawn.The company has shaped the European air-travel market and has largely contributed to the fact that air travel has been viewed more as a commodity service in recent years. Especially at Ryanair, air travel is viewed as a means of transportation, bringing their customers from point A to point B without any additional service offerings almost purely a commodity service. (Strategic Direction, 2004) With its low-cost model and its definition of air travel as a commodity service in mind, Ryanair has deliberately been striving to remove all activities from their operations which do not add customer value in the light of this definition; such activities have been described as wasteful by Sutherland and Bennett (2008) and have been grouped into seven distinct categories. Based upon these different categories, an analysis of Ryanairs lean operations model follows: In terms of Ryanairs business model, overproduction can be seen as any additional service offerings other than pure transportation. Ryanair succeeded in making its customers only demand for the pure transportation service from the company. It rigorously cuts out passenger service; food, drinks as well as baggage serviceare only available at extra cost while multi-class airplanes and inflight entertainment have been eliminated completely. (Strategic Direction 2004; Strategic Direction, 2006) Delay/Waitingis time that is lost between two activities that do add value (Sutherland and Bennett, 2008). In order to remove waste resulting from waiting, Ryanair tries to keep an airplanes time on ground, that is its turnaround time, as short as possible. This is achieved by exclusively serving smaller, secondary airports with lower traffic. In addition, minimal catering activities need to be performed and baggage handling is simplified because there is no through checking to other flights. (McCormick, 2010; Strategic Direction, 2006) Transportation/Conveyanceactivities can be sustained valuable by applying point-to-point operations in contrast to hub and spoke operations applied by many large national carriers. This system reinforces Ryanairs commitment to bring its passengers from A to B and not to intervene in their possible onward journeys. (McCormick, 2010; Strategic Direction, 2004) Motionat Ryanair can be seen as unnecessary steps in the middle of an operating process; the company removed such a step by means of disintermediation in its ticket-selling process. At the beginning, flights were sold over the phone whiletoday the company almost exclusively sells its flights through its homepage, hence avoiding the involvement oftravel agencies completely. (McCormick, 2010; Strategic Direction, 2004) Inventories are greatly reduced and more easily controlled by only using one aircraft type, the Boeing 737-800. Through such fleet standardisation, spare parts for maintenance can be acquired in bulk and used throughout the entire fleet (Strategic Direction, 2004). Furthermore, staff utilisation can be increased since all employees are able to operate on the entire fleet, increasing flexibility in operations.(Human Resource Management International Digest, 2007; McCormick, 2010) Ryanair reduces wasted space by using its capacity on each flight efficiently. By selling seats for different prices, varying according to season, time of the day and time of booking the company strives to minimise the number of lost capacity in terms of empty seats (Human Resource Management International Digest, 2007). Furthermore, at the airport, Ryanairs check-in areas are reduced to a minimum since a large part of check-in can be performed over the internet by the customer. Despite their late popularity, self-service check-in machines are not used by Ryanair since they consume additional space and represent one additional unnecessary step in the companys operations. (McCormick, 2010) Finally, the concept of reducingerrors in Ryanairs operations can be interpreted in two ways. Firstly, employee utilisation in the company is very high. Employees are responsible for carrying out a variety of different tasks; flight attendants not only sell refreshments on board, they are also required to assist in the cleaning and baggage handling process when necessary. This allows the company for more control over a variety of processes because employee involvement is higher. (McCormick, 2010) Secondly, processes that are not core to the company are outsourced and performed by specialists like check-in or baggage handling services. Using their expertise reduces the risk of errors and keeps the number of employees within the company low. (McCormick, 2010 This analysis shows that Ryanair clearly puts a lean operations strategy at the heart of its processes, resulting in doing more with less (Aitken, Christopher and Towill, 2002, p.61) to achieve its goal for customers. A Limitation to the Lean Approach As the preceding discussion shows, Ryanair has succeeded in converting their service offer to a commodity applying a lean approach and exploiting its benefits. However, it has been argued by Polito and Watson (2006) that a lean approach might get to its limits as soon as customer demand is increasing since not enough resources are available in order to meet changing demand. In the case of Ryanair a standardised fleet might represent such a limit. If demand on a certain route increases sharply, Ryanair might find it difficult to react instantly with increased capacity; as larger aircrafts are not available, a simple aircraft change for a given flight in order to increase capacity is not possible. Instead, an additional flight on the given route might be considered which involves negotiating extra landing rights (Johnson, Scholes and Whittington, 2005). Agility and Ryanair A Conclusion The previous example shows that Ryanair, with its high degree of leanness in process operations, might find it difficult to react to sudden, unforeseen changes in the environment instantly; such reactions require a company to be agile and have certain resources at hand that can be considered wasteful in a lean approach (Mason-Jones, Naylor and Towill, 2000). Agility is associated with higher flexibility and responsiveness to market changes (Aitken, Christopher and Towill, 2002) but as long as Ryanair is able to defend its concept of selling its service as a commodity, where flying is solely about transportation and highly valued by its customers, there might be no need for the company to incorporate aspects of agility into its lean operations processes.

Pegasus Airlines Essay

Please read the case on page 36-37 and answer the following questions: Question 1: Give examples of the needs, wants and demands that Pegasus customers demonstrate, differentiating these 3 concepts. What are the implications of each for Pegasus’ practices? (10 points) ————————————————- ————————————————- Examples of needs: Pegasus’ customers need diversification. examples of wants: Customers are willing to improve the airline company and reflect their opinions, mostly by the website â€Å"Pegasus listens to you†. examples of demands: low-cost flights, choice between many destinations , good quality services, and discounts and other benefits for the customers. The implications of each for Pegasus’ practices are based on the orientation on customers. So, they want to satisfy their customers and meet their expectations. ————————————————- Question 2: Describe in detail all the facets of Pegasus’ product. What is being exchanged in a Pegasus transaction? (10 points) ————————————————- ————————————————- Pegasus sells customers a product, a ticket for a flight. Since it is a low-cost airline company, the tickets are not very expensive and compared to other airline companies the tickets are cheap. But Pegasus is not a company with low quality service like most other low-cost airline companies, they in fact focus on satisfying their customers. So besides the flight they give the customers all kind of discounts and benefits. For example they have: a credit loyalty card to reduce insurance rate, have a refund strategy for when departure is delayed, give away free tickets for winners of events on  social networks. Also the company really meets the customers’ expectations and the company improves itself by listening to the customers’ voice. ————————————————- ————————————————- Question 3: Which of the 5 marketing management concepts best applies to Pegasus? (5 points) ————————————————- ————————————————- Pegasus wants to satisfy the customer as much as possible when they choose Pegasus airline by all kinds of discounts and benefits. This is a good example of the marketing concept, where the idea is that the organizational goal is to deliver the desired satisfaction better than competitors by adapting your product/service to the needs and wants of the customer. So that means they definitely apply best to the marketing concept. ————————————————- ————————————————- Question 4: What value does Pegasus create for its customers? (10 points) ————————————————- The most important value is that Pegasus has a great price-quality ratio. That is basically the main reason why they are so popular in Turkey and the neighbour countries, if Pegasus holds on to that strategy they seriously could be more successful. Other values that Pegasus gives their customers is that, Pegasus insures successful service through safety, training and is devoted employees, it employs creative communication with customers, it offers great destinations and easy access to international hubs and it uses efficient management techniques, delivering low prices with a high-quality service experience. ————————————————- Question 5: Is Pegasus likely to continue being successful in building customer relationships? Why or why not? (5 points) ————————————————- The relatively good relationship between Pegasus and its customers, will highly likely be continued. ————————————————-  Because the economy of Turkey is currently stable, especially compared with the European countries and the United states. Which basically means that they could keep continue with their strategy. Moreover Pegasus created a Twitter and Facebook account several years ago. With which they keep close touch with their customers. Social media has been a great hype lately. Since the early 2000s social media became a great way to communicate with friends, relatives and even colleagues . Soon enough companies found out that social media is good way to make commercials. Pegasus automatically focuses on the youth as their target group. This is a target group that has been increasingly integrating social media such as Facebook and Twitter into their daily life. The y outh of today is the customer of tomorrow! That is the main reason that we think that the relatively good relationship between Pegasus and its customers will be continued in the future. ————————————————-

The Lost Secret of English 10 Persuasive Essay Topics

The Lost Secret of English 10 Persuasive Essay Topics There are just a few things that define whether an essay you're working on is going to be a good one. Remember you can make funny argumentative essays if you do a few things. It's important to understand that essay topics are just basic ideas that leave you pondering a notion that might be a huge deal to another person. The simplest approach to opt for a persuasive essay topic is to talk about a present issue. Normally, having three significant arguments to show your point is sufficient for a convincing paper. These points illustrate how to compose a persuasive essay step-by-step. If you can select the matter by yourself, it's possible to develop the issue of interest! Even should you not own a topic for persuasive essay then it doesn't matter, our writers can help the entire process, from starting to end, and will have the ability to acquire your work done in time, however urgent the deadline might be. Good persuasive essay topics must be persuasive. Persuasive essays share a whole lot of resemblance with argumentative essays. All things considered, you can observe that writing a persuasive essay isn't a brain surgery. All persuasive essays are like argumentative essays. Year round school isn't a good idea. Let's say you feel that Mexican-American relations need to be improved. For instance, if you're writing about the subject about elite athletes, you could argue that Michael J ordan is an elite athlete due to the skills he has. The school day ought to be shorter. College professors see that students are well-trained and inspired to compose essays when asked to achieve that. Language ought never to be permitted to change. Students ought to be permitted to pray in school. Students with good attendance has to be rewarded. Doing this, you'll certainly find your ideal essay title easily and faster. Still, you ought to make your topic more specific. Qualities of an excellent persuasive essay topic The topic needs to be specific. You have to settle on a persuasive essay topic that permits you to present the very best possible case. English 10 Persuasive Essay Topics Explained Expectations are exponentially greater. Students need to be careful about posting on social networking. Weave in your perspective to produce your essay unique. Every argumentative essay ought to have an opposing view which can help you to prove you're right. New Ideas Into English 10 Persuasive Essay Topics Never Before Revealed Schools should not have a thing to do with ads. Remember your essay shouldn't be a string of jokes, it's a narrative it ought to have a start, middle and the end. Many Americans watch lots of reality TV shows. You may find there's a compelling argument for learning another language after all! Persuasive essays are a fantastic method to encourage the reader to check at a particular topic in a different light. Our qualified academic experts will help you to find an ideal persuasive essay topic according to all of your requirements and compose a custom-tailored model answer. You may trust us to give expert aid for many of your academic writing needs. The principal use of humor is to convince the audience by means of your overview. You ought to keep in mind that a number of topics might not be funny for a specific audience and some might be hilarious. When you're permitted to write about whatever you want, never rely on somebody's thoughts about this issue you like as a pivotal criterion for your choice. A student ought to keep in contact with the hottest trends and know which persuasive essay topics are related to sound convincing in regards to defending personal opinions. Top English 10 Persuasive Essay Topics Choices If you don't find out how to begin your speech, you can come across samples on our site that could help you. The help here comes in various categories. To help students just like you find debatable topics, we've gathered a wide variety of ideas on various subjects and academic levels. When designed for a speech, topics you make will grow to be truly capturing when you stick to the tips above.

Buddhism and Hinduism in America Essay - 907 Words

Buddhism and Hinduism in America The Unites States is home to the most diverse spectrum of religions in the world. There are representations of nearly every religion in the world. There are three basic ways religions arrive in the US: import, export, and baggage. Buddhism and Hinduism are two Asian religions that have made it across the Pacific Ocean and now exist along side many others in America. ISKCON, a form of Hinduism, and Zen, a form of Buddhism, are two such groups. All Indian movements have always had a charismatic leader associated with them. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was no different. Born Abhay Charan De 1896-1977 was the founder and spiritual master of ISKCON, International Society of Krishna Consciousness.†¦show more content†¦Temples have altars and many statues or depictions of Krishna in which one can perform puja to Krishna. Mantras are also performed several times daily. These mantras are usually very simple like, â€Å"Hare Krishna, Hare Rama.† Like other forms of Hinduism, ISKCON holds the Vedas and the Bhagavad Gita historically true, but does not follow traditional Indian ways. Devotees of Krishna believe that he lives in a paradisal world and with enough love and devotion for Krishna they can break free from the karmic cycle and enter into this paradise. ISKCON beliefs are derived from the Chaitanya Krishnaite sect, which was started by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He is believed to have been an incarnation of Radha and Krishna. He taught that with enough love for Krishna, one could burn away from karma to achieve moksha. ISKCON and Chaitanya Krishnaitism differs from other Vishnuite groups, because they do not hold Vishnu as there God, but just one of his incarnations. Moundsville, West Virginia is home to many ISKCON members. These people live and work on communal farms. The spiritual master leads ISKCON members through every detail of their lives. They have definitive schedules in which they follow daily. These schedules are either divided into time spent working on the farms or missionizing, and performing puja or chanting a mantra to Krishna. Although dating is not allowed members may be married, but the master always arranges them. Sex is for procreationShow MoreRelatedDifferences and Similarities of Ancient Religions of India1042 Words   |  5 PagesHinduism, Buddhism and Jainism gained importance and popularity during a time of great religious exploration. While these religions have some similarities, they also have some distinct differences. The key to all three of these is enlightment. Let’s look at some other similarities between them. Buddhism and Jainism, originated and developed individually in the same geographical area of India with neither believing in the existence of God, but they do recognize a higher human form. 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