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Part One
Introduction
Source: Rex Features
the deepest and the largest of its kind in the world with
90 km of baggage belts handling around 15,000 items
per hour, with 800 RFID (see Chapter 8) read/write
stations for 100% accurate tracking. Also like T5 it
handles about 30 million passengers a year.
But one difference between the two terminals was
that Dubai’s T3 could observe and learn lessons from
the botched opening of Heathrow’s Terminal 5. Paul
Griffiths, the former head of London’s Gatwick Airport,
who is now Dubai Airport’s chief executive, insisted that
his own new terminal should not be publicly shamed
in the same way. ‘There was a lot of arrogance and
hubris around the opening of T5, with all the . . . publicity
that BA generated’, Mr Griffiths says. ‘The first rule of
customer service is under-promise and over-deliver
because that way you get their loyalty. BA was telling
people that they were getting a glimpse of the future with
T5, which created expectation and increased the chances
of disappointment. Having watched the development of
T5, it was clear that we had to make sure that everyone
was on-message. We just had to bang heads together
so that people realized what was at stake. We knew the
world would be watching and waiting after T5 to see
whether T3 was the next big terminal fiasco. We worked
very hard to make sure that didn’t happen.’
Paul Griffiths was also convinced that Terminal 3
should undergo a phased programme with flights added
progressively, rather than a ‘big bang’ approach where
the terminal opened for business on one day. ‘We
exhaustively tested the terminal systems throughout the
summer . . . We continue to make sure we’re putting
large loads on it, week by week, improving reliability.
We put a few flights in bit by bit, in waves rather than
a big bang.’ Prior to the opening he also said that Dubai
Airports would never reveal a single opening date for its
new Terminal 3 until all pre-opening test programmes
had been completed. ‘T3 opened so quietly’, said one
journalist, ‘that passengers would have known that
the terminal was new only if they had touched the
still-drying paint.’
Operations performance is vital for any organization
Operations management
is a ‘make or break’
activity
It is no exaggeration to view operations management as being able to either ‘make or break’
any business. This is not just because the operations function is large and, in most businesses,
represents the bulk of its assets and the majority of its people, but because the operations
function gives the ability to compete by providing the ability to respond to customers and
by developing the capabilities that will keep it ahead of its competitors in the future. For
example, operations management principles and the performance of its operations function
proved hugely important in the Heathrow T5 and Dubai T3 launches. It was a basic failure
to understand the importance of operations processes that (temporarily) damaged British
Airways’ reputation. It was Dubai’s attention to detail and thorough operational preparation
that avoided similar problems. Figure 2.2 illustrates just some of the positive and the negative
effects that operations management can have.
Operations management
can significantly affect
profitability
How operations can affect profits
The way operations management performs its activities can have a very significant effect
on a business. Look at how it can influence the profitability of a company. Consider two
information technology (IT) support companies. Both design, supply, install and maintain
IT systems for business clients. Table 2.1 shows the effect that good operations management
could have on a business’s performance.
Company A believes that the way it produces and delivers its services can be used for
long-term competitive advantage. Company B, by contrast, does not seem to be thinking
about how its operations can be managed creatively in order to add value for its customers