Operations Management: Layout Planning, Work System Processes, and Inventory Management

OPERATIONS
MANAGEMENT

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
operations scheduling techniques have been used to formulate a plan when organising work...3
Clearly explain how knowledge of layout planning and work system processes within a
business organisation have been applied.....................................................................................5
The importance of inventory management policies for controlling production costs.................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Operations management is basically defined as that process included in business practices
so that organization can have engaged in achieving highest level of efficiency. It is a process
which assists company in converting raw materials into finished goods and services so that profit
is been maximized easily in company. Work system process can be defined as those phase that
can be described as operations and maintenance. Layout planning is deciding on the best
physical arrangement of all resources that consume space within a facility. This system brings
out changes in implementation process. It assists firm in achieving their ultimate goals and
objectives. Present report will lay emphasis on IKEA. It is the European multination group which
is engaged in selling out furniture, kitchen appliances and home accessories. Company has been
world’s largest furniture retailers since year 2008. Report will lay emphasis on operations layout
planning, work system processes and inventory management policies.
MAIN BODY
Operations scheduling techniques have been used to formulate a plan when organising work
Operations scheduling techniques can be used by organization in order to establish both
the timing and use of resources within an organization. It is basically linked with making proper
utilization of resources and it also includes scheduling of activities related to human resource and
receipt of material.
First come first serve: This approach can be used by organizations when they only have
a single item to produce. This can assist firm in doing proper scheduling of material and
equipment’s. In this scheduling procedure fully rely on what kind of product or service is ordered
by consumer (Parpia and Singh, G., DecisionGPS, 2016). So making use of first come first serve
approach is most suitable in this condition. If company is engaged in producing different
products with different time and deadlines, this process can be less effective and can make
consumer unsatisfied. It can decrease efficiency of organization and they will be unable to
achieve their goals and objectives. This can be managed by making use FIFO queue. This
process is being rarely used in modern operating system as it is really time consuming and
hectic. This scheduling method is non pre-emptive, that is, the process will run until it finishes.
Company when making use of this method can become ineffective and may not be able to
achieve their objectives. It makes firm more unproductive which can also reduce turnover. It can
also increase their cost and expenditure.

Shortest processing time: It is another most significant method if scheduling and is also
favoured. In order to make product scheduling in shortest processing time approach which
prioritise jobs that take the least amount of time to complete. It is one of the fastest method as it
assists company in taking less time. Also it helps firm in recovering from time when machine of
firm is being switching between jobs (Dillon, Oliveira and Abbasi, 2017). It is one of the easiest
method to have alternative machine between difficult and easy pieces. In this company can be
engaged in finding out the minimum time that is been required for completion. It helps firm in
analysing the total amount of time and number of operations so that resources can be utilised
effectively. The shortest processing time can assist company in producing the product and
earliest. This can help organization in satisfying the customer wants and needs at earliest
possible. Shortest processing time is one of the easiest algorithm which can be followed by
company. It also makes firm aware about the slack time remaining with them which is really
necessary for their growth.
Earliest due date: It is purely based on ordering the production jobs based on the
deadlines. This can be used by company in producing the furniture’s and kitchen appliances at
earliest possible in order to retain consumers and create their loyalty. In this working on the
product lines by keeping in mind the deadlines dates can be effective when organization with
machines possessing single jobs and when deadlines are spaced out. If the firm is involved in
producing only one type of product and services than this method is really appropriate for them.
It is purely based on real time operating systems so that it become easier for company to mark
process on queue priority (McNamara and et.al., 2019). However, earliest due date system also
has some disadvantage, in this system and machines can get overloaded if company is engaged in
producing the items as earliest as possible. Efficiency of machine can be reduced in this process.
It has been analysed that low priority conditions will make company miss deadlines. So it is
advice to organization that they must be engaged in making the goods and services at highest
priority.
Slack time remaining: This concept of operation scheduling is fully based on
mathematical equation. In this time is been subtract which it will take to make the product from
the time it is due (Sayed, Kamath and Sharma, 2018). Like for example if company has a product
that which requires time of five days to make and the due date is six days, it is required and
essential for company to make that product which only requires one day to make but the due date