Operations Management | Programs | Overview

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

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Operation management and its related concepts
The aims of operations management (OM) is to manage processes involved and
associated to the production and distribution of services or products. Hence, it includes a set
of activities comprising of formation of product, production, distribution and reverse
logistics. The operation function under operation management converse of inputs and
outputs, however, this requires various strategic decisions. Here comes the productivity
which signifies to be the ratio of outputs (goods and services) divided by one or more inputs
(labour, capital). In operation management, the main objective is to improve this ratio of
outputs to inputs as with improvement in productivity, efficiency will automatically be
improved. Evaluating of productivity is one of the best ways to assess ability of the nation to
offer a greater standard of living for its population. In relation with companies, productivity
also becomes one of the key concern as higher productivity is important to survive in a
competitive environment. Operations management also deal with other functional areas of the
enterprise where one is human resource management.
In relation with human resource management, it is determined as the selection and
training of the individual, labour relations, contract negotiations, salary and wage handling
and safeguarding the safety and health of employees. No plant manager anyplace can ignore
the role of its competent human resource in running an efficient operation. In simple words,
the human resource function comprises of operations approaches like constant improvement
and total quality and this mainly relies upon human inputs. Human resource division and
production management have to collaboratively work in order to raise efficiency in
operational areas of the business enterprise. The main objective of production and operation
management is to produce quality goods and services and presently with rising competitive
scenario, every firm aim to make the consumer satisfy with offering high quality products or
services (Jacobs, Chase & Lummus, 2014). Quality begins with the product design such as
usage of adequate material, choosing the appropriate manufacturing route and it is usually
also used in relation to end use of the product.
Many organisation also seeking to improve operational efficiency through lean
manufacturing and capacity utilization. The process of manufacturing capacity is the highest
level of output possible and the capacity analysis is built on the knwoledge of gap which may
present amid the possible capacity and definite output. Furthermore, capacity modelling helps

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facilitate operate to efficiently realize their peak potential. However, one operation reaches to
its long term production planning and forecasting of demand, then it is the time to build a
plan for total capacity. On the other hand, the lean concept in operations determines
industrial, manufacturing or service operation which works with little or no kind of waste and
therefore, building operations much efficient while only including value adding paces from
the initiation to end. With increasing competition, organisations are realizing the significance
of sustaining competitive advantage and this can effective attained if the firm focus on
elimination of waste resources as well as improves quality and consumer satisfaction
(Thome, Scavarda & Scavarda, 2016).
In the theoretical framework of operation management, supply chain also integrates to
various functions covering both manufacturing and servicing industries and comprising of
sourcing, material management, operations planning, logistics, retail, distribution, demand
forecasting and many more. It also further connect various decision areas such as checking of
resources, scheduling changes, assigning duties and responsibilities, training and preparation
and so forth. Considering inventory area, diverse markets bring out different challenges when
it comes to stock however all required to strategize and plan for effective control and it
accordingly influences how an organisation maintains its inventory. Managing operations to
set of scales of inventory in an effort to fulfil the customer demand, defencing against
shortages of supply and deferments in deliveries and levelling production needs and
decreasing peak period capability requirements. The maintenance aspect in operation
management deals with managing people and machines and processes. Operation
management shows the ways in which a firm can keep its resources reliable and stable with
facilitating effective maintenance under the practices.
From OM perspectives, there are various different models useful from both
manufacturing and service areas. For instance, waiting line models include three parts i.e.
arrivals or inputs to the system, queue discipline and the service facility. Most waiting line
issues are centred on the question of discovering the ideal service level that a firm should
offer. The cost of service and the cost of waiting are known to be two costs that must be
required to balance in the waiting line system. Considering all, it can be said that operation
management is significant for enterprise to manage their daily aspects including all these
aspects while effectively exploiting resources and streamlining input and output. The
operation manage manages all the processes and doing so, they ensure that company is

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achieving their strategic aims proactively and it presents them a competitive edge over their
rivals.

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References
Jacobs, F. R., Chase, R. B., & Lummus, R. R. (2014). Operations and supply chain
management (pp. 533-535). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Thome, A. M. T., Scavarda, L. F., & Scavarda, A. J. (2016). Conducting systematic literature
review in operations management. Production Planning & Control, 27(5), 408-420.