Operations Management
Operations management is the process of administrating the business practices to create the highest level of efficiency possible within an organization. It is concerned with converting raw materials and labor into finshed goods and services as efficiently as possible to maximize the profit of an organization.
Some of the illustrative examples of OM are as follows:
Scope of Operations Mnagement
Operations Management concern with the conversion of inputs into outputs, using physical resources, so as to provide the desired utilities to the customer while meeting the other organizational objectives of effectiveness, efficiency and adoptability.Following are the jobs and activities, which are listed under Production and Operations Management functions:
- Location of facilities
- Plant layouts and Material Handling
- Product Design
- Process Design
- Production Planning and Control
- Quality Control
- Materials Management
- Maintenance Management
Business Problems and Solutions
Examples of Business Problems and Solutions
| Problem | Tool |
|---|---|
| Goals not balanced | Balanced Scorecard |
| Goals not aligned and deployed | Policy Deployment-Hoshin Kanri |
| Too much firefighting in daily management | Daily work Management system/Managing and Checking points/Matured QMS |
| Poor Discipline/unorganized workplace | 5S+ Safety |
| Poor Standardization | Quality Management System PDCA and SDCA Cycle |
| Root Cause known | Kaizen/Just Do it |
| Waste and Bottlenecks | Lean/TOC |
| Stability and Equipment failures | TPM |
| Variation and Root Cause not known | 6 Sigma DMAIC |
| Simple problem root cause unknown | 5 Why analysis |
| Time constraint | PDCA and Project Management |
| Design – Product and process | DFSS |
| Total Employee Involvement | QCC and Q7 Tools |
| Planning and prioritization | M7 Tools |