MNO3701 STUDY NOTES

MNO3701 STUDYChapter 1 Operations management What is operations management? • Operations management is the activity of managing the resources which are devoted to the production and delivery of products and services. It is one of the core functions of any business, although it may not be called operations management in some industries. The span of responsibility varies between companies, but will usually overlap with the other functions. • Operations management is concerned with managing processes. And all processes have internal customers and suppliers. But all management functions manage processes. Therefore, operations management has relevance for all managers. what are the similarities between all operations? • All operations can be modelled as input–transformation–output processes. They all have inputs of transforming resources, which are usually divided into ‘facilities’ and ‘staff’, and transformed resources, which are some mixture of materials, information and customers. • Few operations produce only products or only services. Most produce some mixture of tangible goods or products and less tangible services. • All operations are part of a larger supply network which, through the individual contributions of each operation, satisfies end customer requirements. • All operations are made up of processes that form a network of internal customer–supplier relationships within the operation. • End-to-end business processes that satisfy customer needs often cut across functionally based processes. How are operations different from each other? / • Operations differ in terms of the volume of their outputs, the vari NOTES