Aramex Operations Management Free Essay Example

| | | | | | | | College of Business Administration MGT 308: Operations Management Title of Project: Aramex Operations Management (Logistics) Done by: Student ID | Name| Section: 51 Submitted to: Matloub Hussain Due Date: December 11th, 2011 College of Business Administration MGT 308: Operations Management Title of Project: Aramex Operations Management (Logistics) Done by: Student ID | Name| Section: 51 Submitted to: Matloub Hussain Due Date: December 11th, 2011 Table of Contents: 1. 0 Abstract…………………………………………………………………………2 2. 0 Introduction…………………………………………………………… ……. …. 3 2. Company Choice………………………………………………………. 3 2. 2 Problem Statement…………………………………………… ………… 3 2. 3 Literature Review……………………………………………………… 4 3. 0 Brief History……………………………………………………………………5 4. 0 Results/Discussions…………………………………………………………….. 6 5. 0 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………… 9 6. 0 References…………………………………………………………………….. 10 1. 0 Abstract This project discusses the operations strategy of Aramex and talks about its delivery processes.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the operations at Aramex and relate what we have learned in class to what the company is doing at its business.

The project will discuss several key concepts that relate to the logistics industry and supply chain management. The outline of the project will be as follows; first, an introduction to what the project is about, then description about the problem Aramex faces in its services and some literature review to demonstrate some of the management concepts that will be discussed.

Second, a brief history about the company is introduced along with some facts and figures relating to the company.

Third, results section will elaborate more on the strategy and operations method applied in the company along with some graphical representation for better understanding. Finally, the conclusion will be discussed summarizing what was done in the project, the main findings, and recommendation for future improvements for the company if any exist. 2. 0 Introduction The company that is chosen is Aramex, a Middle Eastern delivery company that offers several services and has been growing rapidly among the rival industry of logistics.

It is important to learn more about this company and explore its operations strategy. . 1Company Choice We have chosen this company basically for the reason that Aramex has been expanding globally, it offers several excellent services on a high scale in comparison to its rivals. It is the largest dominant logistics company in the Middle East that has established a successful image about logistics and transportation solutions. It has maintained its financial and competitive position in the market against all other issues that have been emerging the past few years, and it has continued to grow to reach different parts of the world.

Throughout the operations of Aramex in UAE and globally we will be able understand the real world application of the operation management key concepts. 2. 2 Problem Statement Aramex provides transportation solutions and global logistics. However, Aramex’s performance in the UAE means customer satisfaction is not as prevalent in the UAE as it is in other countries. Various online discussion forums show that many customers are not satisfied with the delivery time of inbound and outbound packages, which is a problem that must be corrected in order for Aramex to stay competitive.

The lead time between a package being sent and it arriving at its destination differs between countries. More specifically, a package delivered in the UAE takes a lot longer to arrive than one coming from the UK or US, therefore these needs to be rectified. 2. 3 Literature Review Logistics is the process of transforming and properly storing the products (and sometimes services) from the organization to the final customer (IWLA, 2009). Smooth and effective logistics increase customer’s loyalty and satisfaction, providing it the wrong way can cost the organization to lose customers, money and reputation.

Increasing number of problems and requirements are facing the logistics in general, adding to the increasing demands and needs of customers and organizations, which makes it impossible for the developing departments at the logistics to be satisfied, that makes them always fully occupied (IWLA, 2009). Nowadays logistics development is focusing on the integration with customers and customer’s need, so they used the concept of market orientation to reach the point of customer’s satisfaction and trust (Heines, 2000).

Logistic cycle can be noticed in all big organizations, and not only in logistics companies. It emphasize in the relationship between the various activities in the organization and integrating them together, for example: the selection process of the products is related to and based on the customer’s needs, and management decisions about this; on the other hand, will affect the storage, handling, and procurement, which are the 2nd and third activities in the cycle. The logistic cycle consists of: 1- Logistic Management information system LMIS”, the most important element of the cycle. It helps managers and administrators to collect information about all the activities in the transportation system and analyze them to be able to coordinate future tactics and actions (USAID, 2009). 2- Quality monitoring, which help in delivering the goods and products to the final customer at the best condition, preventing any damage from occurring, this will cut the extra costs of preparing or altering the damages products (USAID, 2009). – Policies and adaptabilities, this should exist in the logistics environment and culture. The transportation method should apply to the policies and regulations of all the country, legal liabilities are very expensive and could bring so many unnecessary troubles for the organizations. Beside the transportation methods should be adaptable to the environmental changes to prevent the huge costs of changing the systems and machines (USAID, 2009). Those activities at the cycle where put to increase and excellence the customer’s service and overall satisfaction. 3. Brief History Aramex was established in 1982 as a business operator in express work. It became the first Middle Eastern company to offer its shares on NASDAQ stock exchange market in January 1997 (Aramex, 2011). Since June 2005 Aramex has traded its shares on Dubai Financial Market (DFM) as an Arab International Logistics company (Aramex) under the name of ARMX. Aramex is operating now in 310 countries all over the world with 8600 employees who work hard to provide people excellent quality work and who always look forward to satisfy customers (Aramex, 2011).

Aramex has established a global network by joining the Global Distribution Alliance (GDA) that is an organization that groups all the logistics companies all over the world that are offering services of express delivery and logistics as Aramex. Aramex offers a chain of different transportation ways such as; express delivery, freight forwarding, logistics, warehousing, information management systems, e-business solutions, and online shopping services (Aramax, 2011). One of their famous and successful online shopping services is shop and ship. om this feature has enhanced the presence of the Aramex domestically and globally, further information will be elaborated through the coming parts. Its mission is to be one of the most recognized logistics company around the world whereas for its purpose is to ease the communication around the world on international and global basis (Aramex, 2011). 4. 0 Results/Discussions This section of the project mainly elaborates more on how Aramex is operating in the country, what systems does it actually use, and how does it apply it on real world.

Since our main problem was that Aramex is not performing excellent work or service to its customers within the UAE as it performs abroad. Further, this part will demonstrate how Aramex actually operate. First, the JIT strategy is not applied much within the UAE by Aramex however it does apply when it comes to packages being shipped toward UAE or forward internationally. Just in time (JIT) is an operations management strategy where organizations apply to minimize waste by getting goods only when they are processed through an order (Jacobs, Chase, & Aqilano, 2009).

Nowadays, a lot of corporations are adopting this strategy and have been gaining since a lot of benefits with low percentage of waste which enhanced their business. One service Aramex offers as mentioned above is the “Shop and Ship”, it is a service that is offered by Aramex to be able to ease the transportation of international packages. It is a facility that is mainly about receiving shipments based on the customer’s online shopping process that this shipment will be delivered through Aramex. It is a very successful tactic to capture customer’s attention; Aramex is the only logistics company within the UAE who actually provide this service.

It is an advantage to the people who are interested in online shopping and are living in UAE; where Aramex has excelled in this service throughout the past few years. This service send out items from USA and UK, and recently items from China has also been arranged to be received to customers worldwide. The role of JIT strategy is depicted when the customer actually places his order on the website, Aramex operations officers will be informed of the procedure and will arrange the shipment to the UAE.

A diagram below will describe the process of “Shop & Ship” service to make it clearer. Retrieved from http://www. shopandship. com/ship/how-does-it-work. aspx First, you need to create an account on the shopandship. com to be able to receive your packages. Customer first will have to approve the agreement shipment form posted as a step one in the process to clarify all the terms and the conditions imposed by Aramex. Second, filling up an online form is done where Aramex will need to keep in records all customers’ personal information including credit card details.

Third, as the system processes your submitted data, the system will contact the customer to confirm a quote; which is like a code that customer should know all the time. Fourth, a customer services representative will contact the customer to confirm all the procedure done online and to agree on the rate of shipment as well as the delivery information and delivery date. The customer can check the status of his delivery on Aramex website portal service that is provided on its website by entering the order number into the required fields.

Fifth, as the order is already placed in the customer shopping website account automatically information about the delivery points or hubs either in USA, UK, or China will appear to confirm delivery location of the package abroad. That is when Aramex receives the package there and will afterwards start processing its shipment towards the UAE. Furthermore, a confirmation email will be sent to the customer as Aramex receives the package from abroad to inform customers about the shipment next destination to the UAE.

Sixth, and finally the shipment will be landing in UAE and Aramex will be arranging its delivery as to the customer’s location as a part of door-to-door service it provides, hopefully to receive the package on the specified date which is normally the case. This was the JIT application of Aramex service in regards to its famous online service. 5. 0 Conclusion In conclusion, Aramex is a successful international logistics company. Operations management is imperative to the success of this company, especially considering the nature of the business.

It became evident that Aramex’s performance in the UAE was having an adverse effect on customer satisfaction. To counteract this problem, a number of strategies could be employed. Firstly, the Just-in-time strategy applied to shop and ship should be used when dealing with shipments being delivered to the UAE, or from the UAE internationally. The lead time of deliveries differs between packages coming from international countries, and those delivered within the UAE, therefore, JIT should be more stringently enforced within the UAE ranches of Aramex, as it is in international branches. The use of JIT in Aramex’s “Shop and Ship” service makes the online service very successful. In order to improve its performance, we would make a number of recommendations to Aramex; firstly, employees should be trained in order to improve the customer service level. Many complaints focused on the fact that customer service representatives were unhelpful or unknowledgeable, so this should be rectified by providing employees with training on how to deal with customers.

Secondly, as mentioned before, JIT should be implemented to reduce delivery times of packages within the UAE. 6. 0 References Aramex. (2011). About Aramex. Retrieved December 5, 2011, from Aramex: http://www. aramex. com/aboutus/default. aspx Ghiani, G. & Musmanno, L. R. (2004). Introduction to Logistics Systems Planning & Control. Retrieved December 8, 2011, from http://media. wiley. com/product_data/excerpt/77/04708491/0470849177. pdf Heines, R. A. (2000). Market Orientation: Toward an Integrated Framework. Retrieved from University of South Carolina Aiken, on December 9, 2011 fromwww. msreview. org/articles/heiens01-2000. pdf IWLA. (2009). Industry Background. Retrieved December 9, 2011, from International Warehhouse Logistics Association: http://www. iwla. com/why/industry. aspx USAID, Deliver Project. Task Order 1. (2009). Logistics System Assessment Tool (LSAT). Arlington, Virginia: Author. Retrieved from http://deliver. jsi. com/dlvr_content/resources/allpubs/guidelines/LSAT. doc Jacobs, F. R. , Chase, R. B. , & Aquilano, N. J. (2009). Operations And Supply Management (12th edition). NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.