Briefly describe the terms operations management and supply chain
The term operations management relates to the management of systems or processes that create goods and/or provide services. These processes involve the planning, coordination, and execution of all activities within an organization that create goods and se
Identify the 3 major functional areas of a business organizations and briefly describe how they interrelate
The three primary functions are operations, finance, and marketing.
Operations is concerned with the creation of goods and services
Finance is concerned with provision of funds necessary for operation
Marketing is concerned with promoting and/or selling g
Describe the operations function and the nature of the operations manager's job
The operations function consists of all activities that are related directly to producing goods or providing services. It is the core of most business organizations because it is responsible for the creation of an organization's goods or services. Its ess
List 5 important differences between goods production and service operations
Among the important differences between manufacturing and service operations are:
a. The nature and consumption of output.
b. Uniformity of input.
c. Labor content of jobs.
d. Uniformity of output.
e. Measurement of productivity.
Briefly discuss each of these terms related to the historical evolution of operations management
a. Industrial Revolution
b. Scientific Management
c. Interchangeable parts
d. Division of Labor
a. The Industrial Revolution began in the 1770s in England, and spread to the rest of Europe and to the U.S. in the late eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century. A number of inventions such as the steam engine, the spinning Jenny, and the powe
Why are services important?
Why is manufacturing important?
What are non-manufactured goods
The service sector now accounts for more than 70 percent of jobs in the U.S. and that figure continues to increase.
Manufacturing is important in that it supplies a large proportion of exports and many service jobs are dependent on manufacturing because t
Why is the degree of customization an important consideration in process planning?
Degree of customization has important implications throughout a business organization. Generally, higher degrees of customization involve more complexity in terms of production or service, involve different forms of layout (arrangement of the workplace),
Describe each of these systems:
Craft production
Mass production
Lean production
Craft production: involves producing high variety of customized goods, low volume output with skilled workers, and utilizing general-purpose equipment. The main advantage is the flexibility to produce a wide variety of outputs providing many choices for t
Why might some workers prefer not to work in a lean production environment
Workers may not like to work in a lean production environment because there are fewer opportunities for employee advancement, more worker stress due to higher levels of responsibility and greater variability and expansion of job requirements.
Discuss the importance of each of the following
a. Matching supply and demand
b. Managing a supply chain
a. Matching supply and demand is an important objective for every business organization. Undersupply can result in dissatisfied customers, potential loss of business, and opportunity costs. Oversupply can potentially result in additional cost to store the
List and briefly explain the four basic sources of variation, and explain why it is important for managers to be able to effectively deal with variation.
There are four basic sources of variation:
1. The variety of goods or services being offered: The greater the variety of goods and
services, the greater the variation in production or service requirements.
2. Structural variation in demand, such as trends
Why do people do things that are unethical?
The reasons for doing unethical things vary from person to person and from one situation to another. Some of the possible reasons are listed below:
a. The decision-maker cannot recognize his or her action as unethical because of a lack of morals or unders
Explain the term "Value - Added
Value added is defined as the difference between the cost of inputs before the transformation process and the value or the price of output after the transformation process. In a manufacturing process as the inputs are transformed to outputs, value is adde
What are trade-offs? Why is it careful consideration of trade-offs important in decision making?
When we decide to take an action there are usually consequences of that action and advantages and disadvantages of taking that action. In other words, before we make a decision, we must weigh the pros and cons of that decision. Trade-offs involve weighing
Why is it important for the various functional areas of a business organization to collaborate?
It is important for the various functional areas to collaborate because collaboration will lead to improved communication among the departments (functions) that in turn will improve the performance of the firm. Collaboration will reduce the chance of sub-
In what general ways does technology have an impact on operations management decision making ?
Product and service technology allows a company to develop new products faster. Process technology enables a company to improve methods, procedures, and equipment used to produce goods and to provide services. Information technology enables companies to p
Many organizations offer a combination of goods and services to their customers. As you learned in this chapter, there are some key differences between production of goods and delivery of services. What are the implications of these differences relative t
1. There are many implications due to the differences between service and manufacturing operations. For example, in a service firm, because the degree of customer contact is high, we have to make sure that employees are better trained in customer service
Why is it important to match supply and demand? If a manager believes that supply and demand will not be equal, what actions could the manager take to increase the probability of achieving a match?
That would depend on whether supply was too large or too small. If there is over capacity, try to increase demand through advertising and/or price reductions. If output (goods) can be stored, and future demand is expected to be higher, store excess output
One way that organizations compete is through technological innovation. However, there can be downsides for both the organization and the consumer. Explain.
Innovations might be product or service related, or process related. These typically
involve added cost and time for training and possibly new equipment or equipment changes, and potential changes for the supply chain (e.g., new suppliers, new delivery re