Operations Management

Operations

Part of a business organization responsible for producing goods/services.

Goods

Physical items produced by business organizations.

Services

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

Operations Management

Management of systems or processes that create goods/services.

Supply Chain

Sequence of organizations, including facilities, functions, and activities, that are involved in producing and delivering a product/service.

Supply Chain Management

Management of sequence of internal and external facilities, functions, and activities that are involved in producing and delivering a product/service.

Value-added

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

Lead time

Time between ordering a good or service and receiving it.

Process

One or more actions that transform inputs into outputs.

Upper-management Processes

Govern the operation of the entire organization.

Operational Processes

Core processes that make up the value stream.

Supporting Processes

Support the core processes.

Process Variation

Variation in the process of producing goods and services.

Models

Abstraction of reality or simplified representation of something.

Analytics

Collections, analysis, and presentation of data using stats, math, and computers for use in decision making.

Descriptive analytics

Summarizing data.

System

Set of interrelated parts that work together.

Pareto Phenomenon

A few factors account for a high percentage of the occurrence of some events.

Craft production

System in which highly skilled workers use simple, flexible tools to produce small quantities of customized goods.

Mass production

System in which low-skilled workers use specialized machinery to produce high volumes of standardized goods.

Interchangeable Parts

Parts of a product made to such precision that they do not have to be custom fitted.

Division of Labor

The breaking up of a production process into small tasks, so that each worker performs a small portion of the overall job.

E-business

Use of electronic technology to facilitate business transactions.

E-commerce

Consumer-to-business transactions.

Technology

Application of scientific discoveries to the development and improvement of products and services and operations processes.

Six Sigma

Process for reducing costs, improving quality, and increasing customer satisfaction.

Agility

The ability of an organization to respond to demands or opportunities in a quality manner.

Lean Systems

System that uses minimal amounts of resources to produce a high volume of high-quality goods with some variety.

Sustainability

Using resources in ways that do not harm ecological systems that support human existence.

Utilitarian Principle

Good done by an action or inaction should outweigh any harm it may cause.

Rights Principle

Actions should respect and protect the moral rights of others.

Fairness Principle

Equals should be held to or evaluated by the same standards.

Common Good Principle

Actions should contribute to the common good of the community.

Virtue Principle

Actions should be consistent with certain ideal virtues.

Ethical Framework

Sequence of steps intended to guide thinking and subsequent decision or action.

Outsourcing

Buying goods or services instead of producing in-house.

Supply Chain Integration

Strategic coordination of business functions within a business organization and throughout its supply chain for the purpose of integrating supply and demand management.

Procurement

Process of purchasing products and services for an organization.

Logistics

Movement of goods, services, cash, and information in a supply chain.

Demand Chain

Distribution portion of the value chain.

Inventory Management

Managing inventory levels to balance supply and demand.

Reverse logistics

Process of transporting returned items.

Gatekeeping

Screening returned goods to prevent incorrect acceptance of goods.

Closed-loop supply chain

Manufacturer controls both forward and reverse shipment.

Cross-docking

Technique where goods arriving at a warehouse from a supplier are unloaded from the supplier’s truck and loaded onto outbound trucks.

Delayed differentiation

Production of standard components and subassemblies, which are held until late in the process to add differentiating features.

Disintermediation

Reducing one or more steps in a supply chain by cutting out one or more intermediaries.