Operations Management and Productivity
Operations management can be defined as a set of organizational processes which are utilizing organizational resources in an efficient and effective way in order to create a productive outcome which will maximize organizational profits. The main purpose of operational management is to control organizational costs over revenue in order to make higher profits. The responsibility of the operations manager is to fulfil customer requirements by purchasing the suitable resources and producing the goods and services. Operations management includes ten critical decisions which are what the designs of the goods and services are, how to manage the quality of the goods and services, what the process and capacity design is, what the location strategy is, what the layout strategy is, how to manage the supply chain, how to manage inventory, scheduling and finally maintenance. When designing a product or service the first and foremost thing to do is to gather new ideas and concepts from various reliable sources. Then each of those ideas should be evaluated whether they are feasible or not. At the same time the product development team should evaluate and identify the ideas and concepts which can cater to the target customer group as well. After selecting one or more production ideas, the design and engineering team should specify how the product works and the special functions of the good(s) or service(s). The next step is to decide what resources are required to manufacture the selected good(s) or service(s). Then the product design should be evaluated again whether the specified product can fulfil the requirements of the customers or not and necessary actions should be made. After evaluating, testing the product is a must before going to the mass production process. By conducting sample testing the product development team can identify positive and negative feedback from the customers and take necessary actions if needed. Finally, the product should be introduced to the market and promoted to encourage purchases. Even after introducing the product to the market the quality of the product should be maintained at an equal level in order to satisfy customers. To ensure the quality of the goods and services the production team can implement a quality management system which will provide recognition to the products as well. It is important to implement a quality management system not only for the products but also for the entire production team in order to maintain the quality constantly. Finally, conducting market research and market tests is compulsory in order to identify customer feedback and the latest market trends. Designing the capacity of the production is another important factor since the target group of customers depends on the production capacity. Therefore, it is a must to identify the capacity of the products or the services which can be produced during a specific period of time. If not there can be an excess capacity where the actual production is less than the capacity which will increase the cost or a situation where the actual production should be more than the capacity in order to cater to the target customer group. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate what kind of capacity is needed, how much capacity is needed and finally, when it will be needed. Further, under operations management another important aspect is the location strategy. The reason is that the convenience of the location will have a positive impact on customers, suppliers, employees while reducing operational costs which are transportation costs, materials costs etc. When initiating a location strategy, the operations management team should consider facilities, feasibility, logistics, labor, community and sites, trade zones, political risks, government regulation, environmental regulation and finally incentives.
References
This article "Operations Management and Productivity" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Operations Management and Productivity. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
