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Adil holds a managerial position at an organization that manufactures railway wagons and is looking to increase production and revenue by 50% over the next five years. Adil and his team are tasked with creating a plan that includes marketing, sales and operations goals. He understands that the operations section of the plan will involve several components, including manufacturing, procurement, warehousing and transportation.
Adil has a clear strategy for the operational planning segment. He entrusts Shalini with opening up two more production lines at the company’s Chennai facility to increase production. He puts Harsh on building a new factory at Ranipet, Tamil Nadu, with a total capacity of making 50 passenger cars every month to support production increases over the next five years. Saba is given the responsibility of diversifying the supply chain to ensure all materials are procured from no less than three vendors. Roshan is tasked with increasing warehouse space to accommodate supplies and product output from the new production lines. Finally, Heena is entrusted with expanding transportation partnerships to fulfill the goal of increasing shipping volumes.
Owing to Adil’s meticulous operational planning and his team’s efficient execution, the firm is able to increase its production and revenue according to its goals significantly.
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What Is Operational Planning?
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Examples Of Operational Planning In Management
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Benefits Of Operational Planning
What Is Operational Planning?
Before we delve any deeper into the subject, it’s important to understand the meaning of operational planning and what it involves. Operational planning is a method a department or team uses to take the company’s strategic plan and turn it into a detailed map broken up into various components. This map, called the operational plan, documents the team’s exact steps within specified time periods to reach each goal. Such a plan is made with a focus on the future to outline budget allocations, departmental activities and targets for the next year to three years. The operational planning meaning becomes clearer when we understand that the operations segment is but one component of a larger strategic plan. Adil was well aware of this as he has years’ worth of experience in operational planning in management.
In operational planning, it’s essential to record each team member’s responsibilities for the fiscal year in detail. How detailed the plan is will depend upon the projected timeline for goal completion and how fast the team works. For businesses that need to hit their targets quickly, the plan should be designed for a six-month timeline. For long-term goals, operational planning should be done for the whole fiscal year.
Now that we’ve covered the meaning of operational planning, let’s look at some examples of operational planning in management and what they entail.
Examples Of Operational Planning In Management
Organizations can’t function without operations. Let’s explore some examples of operational planning which many companies are incorporating into their business models.
Production Planning
This type of operational planning in management is geared towards mapping a business’s output. Here the focus is primarily on using labor and capital intelligently to make products that can be sold profitably. Take, for instance, a frozen yogurt manufacturer that creates 10 different flavors within just one facility. Operational planning here will involve organizing supplies and streamlining production lines, work shifts and warehouse space to maintain manageable overhead costs.
Capability Planning
Operational planning is required to identify the purpose of a business and then create a roadmap for building on its capabilities. For example, a private taxi company evaluating its own business capabilities will devise a plan to maintain its fleet better and upgrade operations to enhance the safety of women passengers.
Sales Planning
Operational planning is crucial for matching sales targets with production capabilities. For instance, if a makeup brand wants to run a promotional campaign that could grow sales by 150%, only tight operational planning will be able to determine whether the company’s factories can boost production to such a degree.
Going over a few key examples of operational planning in management would be helpful to examine how the process actually helps. Let’s look at a few benefits of operational planning.
Benefits Of Operational Planning
Without operational planning in management, businesses would run inefficiently and incur losses. Planned operations are a company’s lifeblood. Here are some key benefits of operational planning.
Provides Clarity
Among other things, operational planning ensures everyone on the team has a clear idea about the work to be done on a monthly, weekly and even daily basis. This helps maintain focus and increase efficiency.
Provides A Roadmap
Achieving long-term goals becomes much easier with operational planning. Productivity increases when team members have a detailed plan to follow; this also helps maintain accountability.
Reduces Delay
With a clearly charted-out path, employees know how much ground they have to cover by the end of each day. This helps them manage their time better and stay on schedule, thereby producing quality and timely work.
Good operational planning benefits organizations greatly. Harappa’s Rise In An Organization program is designed to help ambitious professionals become ace planners of operations. Under the guidance of a stellar faculty that takes you through 17 in-depth lessons, you’ll learn to inspire trust, lead with influence and become a reliable team player who gets things done. With the help of frameworks such as The Trust Equation and The Flywheel Effect, you’ll develop skills that equip you to manage projects expertly, adapt to situations instinctively and foster trust.
The Rise In An Organization pathway is the ticket to masterfully influencing decisions and outcomes and facing challenges head-on!
