Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management

Vocabulary study flashcards based on the Chapter 9 Production and Operations Management study guide.

Production

The creation of finished goods and services using the factors of production: land, labor, capital, entrepreneurship, and knowledge.

Production Management

The management activities that help firms create goods.

Operations Management

A specialized area in management that converts or transforms resources (including human resources) into goods and services.

Service Economy

An economy in which more economic activity and employment are devoted to the production of services rather than the manufacture of goods.

Form Utility

The value added to materials by producers through the creation of finished goods and services.

Process Manufacturing

The part of the production process that physically or chemically changes materials.

Assembly Process

The part of the production process that puts together components to create a finished product.

Continuous Process

A production process in which long production runs turn out finished goods over time without interruption.

Intermittent Process

A production process in which production runs are short and machines are changed frequently to produce different products.

Computer-Aided Design (CAD)

The use of computers in the design of products.

Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM)

The use of computers in the manufacturing of products.

Computer-Integrated Manufacturing (CIM)

The software and hardware integration of computer-aided design (CAD) with computer-aided manufacturing (CAM).

Flexible Manufacturing

Designing machines to do multiple tasks so that they can produce a variety of products and quickly respond to changes in demand.

Lean Manufacturing

The production of goods using less of everything compared to mass production, with the primary goal of eliminating waste and increasing efficiency.

Mass Customization

Tailoring products to meet the specific needs of individual customers on a large scale.

Facility Location

The process of selecting a geographic site for a company's business operations.

Telecommuting

Working from home or another remote location via computer and telecommunications, influencing organizational decisions on facility size and location.

Facility Layout

The physical arrangement of resources, including people and machinery, within the production process.

Assembly Line Layout

A facility layout where workers and equipment execute sequential steps along a fixed line to assemble a product.

Modular Layout

A facility layout in which teams of workers produce more complex units or modules of the final product.

Fixed-Position Layout

A facility layout in which workers and equipment go directly to the work site rather than having the product move along an assembly line.

Process Layout

A facility layout in which similar equipment and functions are grouped together to serve products that undergo varied routing.

Materials Requirement Planning (MRP)

A computer-based operations management system that uses sales forecasts to ensure that needed parts and materials are available at the right time and place.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

A computer application that enables multiple departments or partner firms to manage all operations using a single, integrated enterprise-wide database.

Purchasing

The functional department within an organization that locates quality material resources, selects suitable suppliers, and negotiates prices.

Just-in-Time (JIT) Inventory Control

An inventory management method in which minimal stock is kept on-site and materials arrive exactly when needed on the production line.

Quality

Consistently producing what the customer wants while reducing errors before and after delivery to the customer.

Six Sigma Quality

A quality control benchmark and methodology that sets a target of no more than $3.4$ defects per million opportunities.

Statistical Quality Control (SQC)

The process managers use to continually monitor all phases of the production process to assure quality is built into the product from the start.

ISO 9001

The international standard developed by the International Organization for Standardization that outlines best practices for quality management and quality assurance.

ISO 14001

The international standard developed by the International Organization for Standardization that outlines best practices for environmental management.

PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique)

A project management tool used to analyze tasks, estimate the time required for each, and determine the minimum time needed to complete an entire project.

Critical Path

The sequence of tasks in a PERT chart that takes the longest total time to complete, which determines the overall project completion timeline.

Gantt Chart

A bar chart used by production managers to display project tasks against a calendar and track each task's current stage of completion.