BA328 Operations Management & Facility Design (Chapters 1–6)

Vocabulary flashcards covering core concepts, mathematical models, layout types, and design strategies across operations management, value chains, and work design.

Operations Management

The science and art of ensuring that goods and services are created and delivered successfully to customers.

Durable Good

A physical product that does not quickly wear out and typically lasts at least 3 years.

Non-Durable Good

A physical product that is no longer used once it is used, or lasts for less than 3 years.

Moments of Truth

Any episodes, transactions, or experiences in which a customer comes into contact with any aspect of the delivery system, however remote, and thereby has an opportunity to form an impression.

Service Management

An approach that integrates marketing, human resources, and operations functions to plan, create, and deliver goods and services, and their associated service encounters.

Customer Benefit Package (CBP)

A clearly defined set of tangible and intangible features that the customer recognizes, pays for, uses, or experiences.

Variant

A customer benefit package (CBP) feature that departs from the standard CBP and is normally location or firm specific.

Value Chain

A network of facilities and processes that describes the flow of materials, finished goods, services, information, and financial transactions from suppliers, through the facilities and processes that create goods and services, and those that deliver them to the customer.

Supply Chain

The portion of the value chain that focuses primarily on the physical movement of goods and materials, and supporting flows of information and financial transactions through the supply, production, and distribution processes.

Distribution Centers (DC)

Warehouses that act as intermediaries between factories and customers, shipping directly to customers or to retail stores where products are made available to customers.

Competitive Advantage

A firm's ability to achieve market and financial superiority over its competitors.

Order Qualifiers

Basic customer expectations that are generally considered the minimum performance level required to stay in business.

Order Winners

Goods and services features and performance characteristics that differentiate one customer benefit package (CBP) from another and win the customer's business.

Search Attributes

Aspects or characteristics of a good or service that a customer can determine prior to purchasing.

Experience Attributes

Aspects or characteristics of a good or service that can be discerned only after purchase or during consumption or use.

Credence Attributes

Any aspect of a good or service that the customer must believe in but cannot personally evaluate even after purchase and consumption.

Mass Customization

Being able to make whatever goods and services the customers want, at any volume, at any time, for anybody, and for a global organization, from any place in the world.

Core Competencies

The strengths and capabilities that are unique to a specific organization.

Operations Design Choices

The decisions management must make as to what type of process structure is best suited to produce goods or create services.

Infrastructure

The non-process features and capabilities of an organization supporting operations strategy.

Computer-Integrated Manufacturing Systems (CIMSs)

The union of hardware, software, database management, and communications to automate and control production activities, from planning and design to manufacturing and distribution.

Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMSs)

Systems consisting of two or more computer-controlled machines or robots linked by automated handling devices.

Quality Function Deployment (QFD)

An approach to guide the design, creation, and marketing of goods and services by integrating the voice of the customer into all decisions.

Taguchi Loss Function

A mathematical relationship represented by $L(x) = k(x - T)^2$, where $L(x)$ is the monetary value of the loss, $x$ is the actual value, $k$ is a constant, and $T$ is the desired target.

Reliability

The probability that a manufactured good, piece of equipment, or system performs its intended function for a stated period of time under specified operating conditions.

Design for Manufacturability (DFM)

The process of designing a product for efficient production at the highest level of quality.

Servicescape

The physical evidence and environment that a customer might use to form an impression of the service-delivery system.

Empowerment

Giving people the authority to make decisions based on what they feel is right.

Service Recovery

The process of correcting a service upset and satisfying the customer.

Projects

Large-scale, customized initiatives that consist of many smaller tasks and activities that must be coordinated and completed to finish on time and within budget.

Job Shop Processes

Processes organized around particular types of general-purpose equipment that are flexible and capable of customizing work for individual customers.

Flow Shop Processes

Processes organized around a fixed sequence of activities and process steps, such as an assembly line, to produce a limited variety of similar goods or services.

Continuous Flow Processes

Processes that create highly standardized goods or services, usually around the clock in very high volumes.

Customer-Routed Services

Services that offer customers broad freedom to select the pathways that are best suited for their immediate needs and wants from many possible pathways through the service delivery system.

Provider-Routed Services

Services that constrain customers to follow a very small number of possible and predefined pathways through the service system.

Forecasting

predict the future demand for raw materials,finished goods and services

Utilization

The fraction of time a workstation or individual is busy over the long run, calculated as $\text{Utilization} = \frac{\text{Resources Used}}{\text{Resources Available}}$ for equipment or $\text{Utilization} = \frac{\text{Demand Rate}}{\text{Service Rate} \times \text{Number of Servers}}$ for human resources.

Product Layout

A facility arrangement based on the sequence of operations that is performed during the manufacturing of a good or delivery of a service.

Process Layout

A facility layout consisting of a functional grouping of equipment or activities that do similar work.

Cellular Layout

A layout design based on self-contained groups of equipment (cells) needed for producing a particular set of goods or services, rather than functional characteristics.

Fixed-Position Layout

A facility layout that consolidates the resources necessary to manufacture a good or deliver a service, such as people, materials, and equipment, in one physical location.

Flow-Blocking Delay

A delay that occurs when a work center completes a unit but cannot release it because the in-process storage at the next stage is full.

Lack-of-Work Delay (Starving)

A delay that occurs whenever one stage completes work and no units from the previous stage are awaiting processing.

Assembly-Line Balancing

A technique to group tasks among workstations so that each workstation has, in the ideal case, the same amount of work.

Cycle Time (CT)

The interval between successive outputs coming off the assembly line, formulated as $CT = \frac{A}{R}$, where $A$ is available time and $R$ is demand forecast.

Job Enlargement

The horizontal expansion of a job to give the worker more variety, although not necessarily more responsibility.

Job Enrichment

The vertical expansion of job duties to give the worker more responsibility.

Ergonomics

The discipline concerned with improving productivity and safety by designing workplaces, equipment, instruments, computers, and workstations that take into account the physical capabilities of people.

Hard technology

refers to equipment and devices that perform a variety of tasks in the creation and delivery of goods and services

Soft technology

The application of the internet, computer software, and information systems to provide data, information, and analysis to facilitate the creation and delivery of goods and services.

competitive priorities

represent the strategic emphasis that a firm places on certain performance measures and operational capabilities within a value chain

nanotechnology

involves the manipulation of matter on atomic,molecular, and supramolecular

prototype testing

is the process by which a model is constructed to test the products performance under actual operation conditions as well as consumer reactions to the prototype

tolerance

range of permissible variation

Other words of custom

make to order

custom (make to order)

generally