Operations Management

The time between ordering a good or service and receiving it.

Lead Time

The ability of an organization to respond quickly to demands or opportunities.

AGILITY

A standard of behavior that guides how one should act in various situations.

ETHICS

Systems that use minimal amounts of resources to produce high volume of high-quality goods with some variety.

LEAN SYSTEMS

The use of electronic technology to facilitate business transactions.

E-BUSINESS

The difference between the cost of inputs and the value or price of outputs.

VALUE ADDED

Parts of the operations function that supply operations with parts and materials, perform work on products, and/or provide services.

INTERNAL PARTS

Providers of raw materials, parts, equipment, supplies, and/or other resources.

EXTERNAL PARTS

The necessity of accurate forecasts for the success of daily activities in business organizations.

FORECAST ACCURACY

A system concerned with providing management with the information needed to effectively manage operations.

MIS (Management Information System)

Consumer to business transactions.

E-COMMERCE

The greater the variety, the greater the variation in production or service requirements.

VARIETY OF GOODS AND SERVICES

Predictable variations, including trends and seasonal changes, important for capacity planning.

STRUCTURAL VARIATION IN DEMAND

Natural variability present in all processes and demand, generally not influenced by managers.

RANDOM VARIATION

Variations caused by defective inputs or incorrect methods that can be reduced or eliminated through corrective action.

ASSIGNABLE VARIATION

Physical items produced by business organizations.

GOODS

The function responsible for producing goods or providing services offered by the organization.

OPERATIONS

The function responsible for securing financial resources and allocating them throughout the organization.

FINANCE

Responsible for producing products and/or delivering services, requiring support from other organizational areas.

OPERATIONAL FUNCTION

The impact of recession and slow recovery on business decisions, including cautious investment.

ECONOMIC CONDITIONS

Issues in operations management related to product design and supplier oversight.

QUALITY PROBLEMS

Protecting against hacker intrusions.

CYBER SECURITY

Activities that provide a combination of time, location, form, and psychological value.

SERVICES

Equals should be evaluated by the same standards, such as equal pay for equal work.

FAIRNESS PRINCIPLE

Actions should contribute to the common good of the community.

COMMON GOOD PRINCIPLE

Actions should align with ideal virtues like honesty and integrity.

VIRTUE PRINCIPLE

Actions should respect and protect the moral rights of others.

RIGHT PRINCIPLE

The good done by an action should outweigh any harm it causes.

UTILITARIAN PRINCIPLE

Refers to materials, workmanship, design, and service.

QUALITY

The ability to respond to changes.

FLEXIBILITY

Involves coordinating internal and external operations for timely and cost-effective delivery.

SERVICE

A competitive advantage achieved by quickly bringing new and improved products to market.

QUICK RESPONSE

An abstraction of reality; a simplified representation of something.

MODEL

Problem-solving methods that seek mathematically optimal solutions to managerial problems.

QUANTITATIVE APPROACHES

Discovery and development of new products and services by researchers and engineers.

PRODUCT AND SERVICE TECHNOLOGY

Methods, procedures, and equipment used to produce goods and provide services.

PROCESS TECHNOLOGY

Loyalty and understanding of wants and needs are important for businesses.

CONSUMER

A forecasting method involving a small group of upper-level managers.

EXECUTIVE OPINION

Information gathered from sales staff about consumer plans and preferences.

SALESFORCE STORE OPINION

Issues related to the design of consumer products, including safety and liability.

HUMAN FACTOR

Consideration of cultural differences in product design for global operations.

CULTURAL FACTOR

Skills, abilities, and dedication of managers and workers.

PERSONNEL OR HUMAN RESOURCE

The management of communication between an organization and the public.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Responsible for ensuring compliance with laws and regulations.

LEGAL DEPARTMENT

Resources needed for financial record-keeping and reporting.

ACCOUNTING SUPPLIES

Abstract representations with less resemblance to physical reality.

SCHEMATIC MODELS

Highly abstract models that do not resemble real-life counterparts.

MATHEMATICAL MODELS

Models that closely resemble their real-life counterparts.

PHYSICAL MODEL