Friday, May 20, 2011

CHAPTER 8: Operations Management and Supply Chain

Define the term operations management


Operations management describes all the activities mangers do to help companies in the manufacturing of goods and services. Operations management (OM) is the management of systems or processes that convert or transform resources (including human resources) into goods and services. Operations management is responsible for managing the core processes used to manufacture goods and produce services.


Explain operations management’s role in business
OM is responsible for managing the core processes used to manufacture goods and produce service
  • Forecasting
  • Capacity planning 
  • Scheduling 
  • Maning inventory 
  • Assuring quality 
  • Motivating and training employees
  • Locating facilities 


Describe the correlation between operations management and information technology
Managers can use IT to heavily influence OM decisions including productivity, costs, flexibility, quality, and customer satisfaction. 


One of the greatest benefits of IT on OM is in making operational decisions as operations management exerts considerable influence over the degree to which the goals and objectives of the organisation are realised. Most OM decisions involve many possible alternatives that can have varying impacts on revenues and expenses. OM information systems are critical for managers to be able to make well-informed decisions.
Explain supply chain management and its role in a business
Supply Chain Management involves the management of information flows between and among stages in a supply chain to maximise total supply chain effectiveness and profitability 



List and describe the five components of a typical supply chain


A supply chain is a network of organizations and facilities that transforms raw materials into products delivered to customers.


The components of a typical supply chain include:


Plan:
A company must have a plan for managing all the resources that go towards meeting customer demand for products and services. A big piece of planning is developing a set of metrics to monitor the supply chain so that it is efficient, costs less and delivers high quality and value to customers 


Source:
Companies must carefully choose reliable suppliers that will deliver goods and services required for making products. Companies must also develop a set of pricing, delivery, and payment processes with suppliers and create metrics for monitoring and improving the relationships 


Make:
Companies manufacture the products or services. This can include scheduling the activities necessary for the production, testing, packaging, and preparing for delivery. 


Deliver/ Logistics:
The set of processes that plans for and controls the efficient and effective transportation and storage of supplies from suppliers to customers. 
During this step, companies must be able to receive orders from customers, fulfil the orders via a network of warehouses, pick transportation companies to deliver the products and implement a billing and invoicing system to facilitate payments


Return:
Companies must create a network for receiving defective and excess products and support customers who have problems with delivered products. 

Define the relationship between information technology and the supply chain


STRATEGIC IMPACT 


Planning and control supply chain integration 
Examples: supply chain planning, collaborative product development, integrated demand and supply management 


Information Integration 
Examples: inventory visibility, performance metrics, event monitoring, business intelligence, scorecards, dashboards


Business process integration 
Examples: collaborative logistics, commerce websites, vendor-managed inventory, private exchanges 


OPERATIONAL IMPACT 


All these integrations move through the plan, source, make, deliver and return processes. 

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