operations

role of operations management

•   strategic role of operations management – cost leadership, good/service differentiation

•   goods and/or services in different industries

•   interdependence with other key business functions

  influences

•   globalisation, technology, quality expectations, cost-based competition, government policies, legal regulation, environmental sustainability

•   corporate social responsibility

  • –  the difference between legal compliance and ethical responsibility

  • –  environmental sustainability and social responsibility

    operations processes

•   inputs

  • –  transformed resources (materials, information, customers)

  • –  transforming resources (human resources, facilities)

•   transformation processes

  • –  the influence of volume, variety, variation in demand and visibility (customer contact)

  • –  sequencing and scheduling – Gantt charts, critical path analysis

  • –  technology, task design and process layout

  • –  monitoring, control and improvement

•   outputs

– customer service

– warranties

operations strategies

•   performance objectives – quality, speed, dependability, flexibility, customisation, cost

•   new product or service design and development

•   supply chain management – logistics, e-commerce, global sourcing

•   outsourcing – advantages and disadvantages

•   technology – leading edge, established

•   inventory management – advantages and disadvantages of holding stock, LIFO

  (last-in-first-out), FIFO (first-in-first-out), JIT (just-in-time)

•   quality management

  – control
  – assurance
  – improvement

•   overcoming resistance to change – financial costs, purchasing new equipment, redundancy payments, retraining, reorganising plant layout, inertia

•   global factors – global sourcing, economies of scale, scanning and learning, research and development