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Operations Management in London Zoo and The Fitzwilliam Museum

Fang Yuan

Introduction
This paper illustrates the processes and layout in both the London Zoo and the Fitzwilliam Museum. For a better understanding of the specific operation terms in the two organizations, this thesis, by using relevant academic theories, tries to explore the similarities and differences between them, and displays a further realistic meaning on the process and layout under the business background.

The Fitzwilliam Museum


Founded in 1816, the Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiques museum of the University of Cambridge, which receives around 300,000 visitors annually. The museum has five departments: Antiquities; Applied Arts; Coins and Medals; Manuscripts and Printed Books; and Paintings, Drawings and Prints. The admission is free, which offers a great opportunity for people to know the history and culture around the world. The following part will explain in details the operation conditions of this museum.

processes and layout


According to Nigel Slack, Process should be designed so they can create all products and services which the operation is likely to introduce (Slack et al., 2004, Pg 97). Process design is so vital that all factors should be taken into an overall consideration, and the Fitzwilliam Museum is no exception. As a typical service industry, the museum designs its operating process to best display the art value as well as to achieve an enjoyable and relaxing tour for the visitors. There are mainly three types of processes in service operations: the professional advice, the mass services and the service shops. Although in reality there is no clearly boundary between process types, and the categories of service are likewise blurred (Slack et al., 2004, Pg 119), its not hard to figure out that this museum primarily takes the mass services type to
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design its whole process. In the Fitzwilliam Museum, visitors can go around to see the masterpieces of painting from the fourteenth century to the present day, ranging from the Egyptian antiques to the illuminated Cyprus manuscripts. The whole process involves limited contact time and little customization. Normally, visitors come in from the main entrance, and get the brochures from the front-office staff from the enquiry desk. Then the spectators are free to the exhibitions within this museum. There are in total three floors in this museum, and on each floor the spectators usually go through the same process: entering, watching and leaving from one room to another. Each floor has more than three professional staff responsible for looking after the exhibits and providing advice or giving introductions to the visitors. Nevertheless, the visitors usually go around and see the displays themselves, and the professional staff are rarely questioned about the details of the museum or the arts. Consequently, there is a relatively low level of customer contact except for the front reception work. For many people the issues of layout and flow are the most important within the general area design in operations management. This is because the way facilities are positioned relative to each other has an important effect on many aspects of operations<http://wps.pearsoned.co.uk/ema_uk_he_slack_opsman_4/17/4472/11449 18.cw/index.html>.

References
Operations Management, http://wps.pearsoned.co.uk/ema_uk_he_slack_opsman_4/17/4472/1144918.cw/index. html, [Accessed 30/10/10]. Slack, N., Chambers, S. and Johnston, R., 2004, Operations Management, 4th Edition, FT / Prentice Hall.

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