The Operations Management Training Program

The course on Operations Management and the Organization is part of the Operations Management Training Program which includes a number of eight sections also presented as individual courses for your convenience.

After completing this topic, you should be able to match key functional areas of operations with the type of decisions they are typically involved in

Use this to review details about the eight key decision-making areas for operations managers.

The Science of Better Learning

It may not always be obvious, but the operations function in organizations plays a role in your everyday activities. Recall the things you might have done today since waking up: getting dressed, eating breakfast, listening to the radio or watching television, driving to work, or perhaps telephoning someone.

The range of activities of an operations manager is much broader than you might imagine. Operations managers are not only found in factories but in most types of organizations. The scope of what operations management covers can be grasped by considering the wide range of decisions operations managers have to make.

Operations Management Key Functions

After completing this topic, you should be able to identify key differences between service and manufacturing organizations.

If you think about it, what organizations produce can be divided into two categories. They may offer tangible products, such as car batteries, or they may offer intangible services, such as assistance with a technical problem from a help line.

In the past, managing service operations and managing manufacturing operations have been considered opposites. But in modern economies, manufacturing and services seem to be interdependent and overlapping.

Operations in Service and Manufacturing Organizations

After completing this topic, you should be able to match each phase of the process used to formulate organizational strategy with actions typically performed at that phase

Use this to review details about the four phases of the strategy formulation process.

Organizations can't succeed in the present economic climate without having a clear strategy to increase competitiveness. But what is meant by strategy? Strategy is a term originally used in the military to refer to plans to outmaneuver an opposing army. Today, strategy refers to a plan designed to achieve an objective.

It's possible to visualize formulating a strategy as a four-phase process. The first phase is called analysis of external factors, the second is analysis of internal factors, the third is strategy planning, and the fourth is implementation of strategy. Each phase is characterized by actions typically undertaken by strategists during that phase.

Both manufacturing and service organizations face similar competitive challenges, and it's essential in both cases that the operations strategy is aligned with the overall organizational strategy.

Service firms face similar challenges to those faced by manufacturing firms in terms of increased competitiveness, but they also face some unique challenges. These challenges may be grouped under four headings: efficiency, effectiveness, capacity, and quality.

Organizational and Operations Strategy

After completing this topic, you should be able to categorize different types of transformation

Operations will vary from organization to organization. For example, there will be very different activities associated with a retail outlet and a hospital. But whatever the organization, the operations function designs, plans, directs, and improves all the activities that transform resources into goods or services.

Whether a transformation involves raw materials, people, or information, it can be categorized as one of four types. These four categories are manufacturing, transport, supply, and service transformations.

Use this activity to identify transformations in your organization.

The Transformation Model

The course on Operations Management and the Organization is part of the Operations Management Training Program which includes a number of eight sections also presented as individual courses for your convenience.

Course project (optional)

The course on Operations Management and the Organization is part of the Operations Management Training Program which includes a number of eight sections also presented as individual courses for your convenience.

Product and service management provides support for a company's products or services. This management function also conceives and executes strategies for these outputs to ensure that they are successful.

Use this to review the four stages of the product life cycle and the actions that should occur at each stage.

Think of a product or service that your organization provides. Now think about the recurring activities that manage and support that product or service.

These activities are known as product and service management. Your company might not classify these activities under the product and service management umbrella, but every organization carries out this management practice.

Understanding the product life cycle is a crucial step in formulating a successful product strategy. Operations management is responsible for the majority of the stages in the life cycle, with marketing handling the remainder.

But it's essential that for each stage of the product life cycle, both operations and marketing are aligned and communicate in an effective manner with each other. This relationship is extremely important – it can determine whether a product strategy is successful or not.

The Product and Service Life Cycle

Developing new products and services is a vital activity for companies to remain competitive. Significant resources are allocated to this area, and several approaches have been formulated to develop new products.

Some of these approaches are basic and less strategic in their purpose and execution than others. These approaches are typically used by new or inexperienced companies. Other, more strategic approaches are used by large, experienced companies and involve detailed planning and research.

Use this to prepare a business case for a product concept.

There is a simple business truism: a product or service company is only as strong as the products or services it provides. This is why companies invest so much money and time in developing new products.

The success or failure of a product can have serious implications for a company, which is why the company will make every effort to choose the correct approach to develop a new product or service.

Now that various methods for developing new products have been explored, it's time to focus on the most widely accepted one – the New Product Development, or NPD, method. It's a market-led approach to product design and development, and forms part of a company's critically important innovation function.

The first best practice in NPD is supplier involvement, which encourages suppliers to play an integrated role in product development. The second is cross-functional teams, which involves the creation of product development teams consisting of key people in various functional areas.

The third is concurrent engineering and process integration where tasks are run in parallel to reduce manufacturing costs. The final best practice is strategic management of development projects, which integrate new products into the company's current portfolio.

New Products and Services Development

Managing existing and mature products and services requires a different approach than managing the NPD process. There are three strategies for doing this: maintenance, revitalization, and rationalization.

Maintenance approaches deal with both core and secondary products, and usually require very little oversight. The three maintenance approaches are to stay the course, reduce the scope, and defend your market share.

Use this to remind you of the strategies and approaches for managing existing and mature products and services.

The new product development, or NPD, process deals with the management of new products and services, and the associated challenges, solutions, and pitfalls.

But when it comes to existing and mature products, some very different, and sometimes challenging, managerial strategies are required. The three types of strategies are maintenance, revitalization, and rationalization, and each has a number of approaches that can be applied.

The second type of strategy for managing existing and mature products is revitalization. This requires lots of planning and supervision, and is the most commonly used strategy when managing existing and mature products.

Its purpose is to revitalize the sales of products that should be performing strongly but, for various reasons, have instead started to falter and decline. There are three revitalization approaches: make changes to your product that add value; reposition your product; and extend the customer base.

Rationalization is the third strategy for managing existing and mature products, and it should be applied to all product lines. Rationalization seeks to keep the product lines operating in a lean and efficient manner, while also ensuring that they properly align with the long term goals the company has set for them.

The rationalization process begins with an examination of a product or a product portfolio. The purpose is to identify where beneficial opportunities can be achieved and wasteful processes pruned.

Managing Existing and Mature Products and Services

Course project (optional)

In this course, the complexities, differences, and nuances of product and service management, are presented in a deliberately scaled-back manner for instructional and training purposes.

The  course on Supply Chain Management is part of the Operations Management Training Program which includes a number of eight sections also presented as individual courses for your convenience.

Carefully managing the supply chain enables companies to efficiently meet their customers' demands. A supply chain comprises the suppliers of raw materials, the factory, the warehouse, the store, and the consumer.

Has a sudden increase in demand for products or services ever left your organization unable to meet customer orders? Most companies experience this problem now and then. However, there are ways to prevent it.

Use this to review the four characteristics of supply chain management in service organizations.

Effective supply chain management can have a positive ripple effect through all areas of business, from procurement of raw material to delivery of products and services to customers. It also enables companies to meet customers' individual needs efficiently and effectively.

The Supply Chain

Effective supply chain management is the result of a combination of choices involving a number of underlying variables or drivers. Decisions affecting any of these drivers have an impact on the supply chain, its effectiveness, and its alignment with the company's overall goals.

Supply chain management is as important to the service industry as it is to the manufacturing industry. However, the service industry faces different challenges and presents different characteristics from the manufacturing industry.

The effectiveness of your production and delivery processes depends on the efficiency, quality, and structure of your supply chain. An effective supply chain can reduce your costs and help you streamline your business processes.

Supply Chain Management

Supply chain strategy provides the course of action throughout an organization's supply chain. Lean production eliminates the unnecessary steps of a process in order to improve efficiency and cost management. Agile is based on the principles of postponement and mass customization and allows companies the ability to deal with market volatility.

If you want to meet the volatile demands of the market with quality products and a timely delivery, it's important that you develop a strong supply chain strategy.

When determining the appropriate strategy for supply chain management, it's important to keep in mind. Implementing a rigid system to handle fluctuating demand will do more harm than good to a company. Companies must be able to re-evaluate their strategies in response to changing market demand.

Use this to review the four options for determining the appropriate supply chain strategy.

Supply Chain Strategies

Performance measurement can be used to discover the weak points within a company. In doing so, the company will be able to correct mistakes and prevent future mistakes. Companies can use a number of different methods to measure performance, such as the SCOR model.

Use this to measure your company's current supply chain performance.

If you want the operation of your supply chain to be successful, it's not enough to simply select the correct strategy. Analysis of your supply chain's functions is essential to current and future success.

Suppose you want to identify what areas of your organizations' supply chain can be improved. You first need to understand the various methods you can use to measure the performance of your supply chain. You can use various kinds of measurement to analyze performance.

Measuring Supply Chain Performance

Course project (optional)

The  course on Supply Chain Management is part of the Operations Management Training Program which includes a number of eight sections also presented as individual courses for your convenience.

After completing this topic, you should be able to

• match types of inventory with their description

• identify key characteristics and challenges of inventory management in service organizations

• match inventory valuation methods with their descriptions

• classify examples of inventory costs as being procurement, holding, or stock-out costs

• calculate the economic order quantity and the reorder point in a given inventory management

• scenario identify key characteristics of ABC analysis, MRP, ERP, and JIT

Inventory includes a company's raw materials, work in progress, and finished goods. It can be categorized as safety stock, seasonal stock, and in transit stock. An effective inventory management policy enables a company to reduce costs and waste, and align its supplies with customer demand.

Inventory enables you to produce goods for sale or provide a service. In a manufacturing business, it comprises the goods you have for sale, and the raw materials needed to make those goods. In a service business, it comprises the supplies and materials needed to provide the service. Because inventory is such an essential component of your business, you must manage it correctly.

Different organizations require different types of inventory. For example, a call center doesn't have the same inventory as a car factory. Additionally, inventory within an organization can be broken down into different categories. It might be categorized according to what it is, or it might be categorized according to its function.

Understanding Inventory Management

Inventory management is primarily applied in the manufacturing sector. However, the services sector also needs inventory in order to meet its goals, and this inventory must also be managed effectively. Managing inventory in a service organization brings with it a number of unique challenges.

Companies must know the value of their inventory in order to calculate the cost of goods sold. You can use four methods to value inventory: FIFO, LIFO, average cost, and specific cost.

Use this to identify the different types of inventory costs.

Companies must know the value of their inventory. This enables them to calculate the cost of the goods that they've sold. They can then compare the cost of goods sold with the sales revenue from those goods. And then they calculate whether their company has made a profit or loss.

Inventory valuation is important because it enables a company to work out its cost of goods sold. It also provides an ending inventory figure for the company's balance sheet. However, it's not enough to know only the value of its inventory. It must know how much it costs to buy and hold that inventory. When the company knows the inventory costs, it's better able to take steps to keep these costs under control.

The Value and Cost of Inventory

As inventory is used up, you have to reorder supplies in order to meet customer demand. Effective inventory management involves knowing the right quantity of supplies to order at the right time.

One of the major challenges for any company is making sure that it has enough inventory in storage to meet customer demand. As inventory is used up, the company has to order more supplies. However, if it orders too many supplies, it will end up with excess inventory costs. The company must have an effective inventory management strategy in place in order to ensure the inventory life-cycle runs smoothly.

To manage your inventory, you must always know how many supplies you need to order so that you can continue to satisfy customers. You'll also want to ensure that the cost of procuring and holding this inventory is kept to a minimum. Knowing the right levels to order requires experience and a thorough understanding of customer demand. You may sometimes have to rely on instinct. However, you can also try to calculate the levels mathematically.

Knowing how much inventory to order is one major goal of inventory management. Another goal is knowing when to order it. If you don't order new supplies on time, you may find yourself unable to meet customer orders. However, if you order new supplies too soon, you may end up with too much inventory in storage. This then increases your holding costs. So you need to know the optimal time to reorder.

Inventory and Economic Order Quantity

Inventory management tools enable inventory managers to ensure that inventory supplies are aligned with real production needs and customer demands.

Use this to review the different types of inventory management tools.

Inventory management uses a number of tools in order to ensure that there are enough supplies available for a company to conduct business. These tools enable the company to make sure it has the raw materials necessary to build its products.

Customer demand isn't always predictable. As customer demand changes, inventory requirements also change. The second inventory management tool is material requirements planning, or MRP. It enables you to ensure that you have all the necessary supplies to meet your production needs. By listing the materials needed to create your products, you can take steps to get those materials to your production line when you need them.

MRP and MRP II are still used by some companies. However, they've been made largely obsolete by the development of the third inventory management tool, enterprise resource planning, or ERP. The ERP tool goes beyond simple material planning and aims to integrate inventory management with other organizational management strategies. This helps to improve communication between supply chain efforts and other internal and external operations.

Use this activity to calculate the EOQ and ROP in your organization.

MRP and ERP are push systems. They're based on predicted customer demand, rather than actual demand. Supplies are ordered based on long-term production schedules, and then pushed into the system in order to meet the schedule. The fourth inventory management tool is just-in-time, or JIT. It's a pull system. Supplies aren't ordered until there's a definite customer demand for the products. It aims to keep inventory at a minimum by working closely with customers and suppliers.

Inventory Management Tools

Course Project (optional)

The  course on Inventory Management is part of the Operations Management Training Program which includes a number of eight sections also presented as individual courses for your convenience.

How can a business cope with changes in demand for its goods or services? If demand falls below supply, the storage of unsold products will cost money, or staff and equipment will be idle.

After completing this topic, you should be able to match customer demand trends with the patterns that illustrate them

Demand is a key factor in business, but it's not always constant. Suppose you manage operations at a company that distributes sun protection products to a broad geographic area, but half of that area has a shorter season of sunny weather. Ordering a constant supply of sun protection products will result in an oversupply in the winter months.

As an operations manager, it's your job to match supply with demand and fine-tune operations in order to optimize the use of resources. So it's important that you understand and forecast demand accurately. But how?

The Characteristics of Demand

After completing this topic, you should be able to identify the major demand forecasting variables, recognize key concepts related to various demand forecasting models and methods and sequence the stages in the demand forecasting process.

To be able to fine-tune your production, you need to be able to forecast demand for your products. You can't rely on pure guesswork or chance. You must have more accurate methods for forecasting future demand.

When it comes to demand forecasting, there are four major variables that need to be taken into account: demand, supply, product characteristics, and the competitive environment.

Creating a demand forecast is a six-stage process. The stages are to establish the purpose of the forecast; select the items to be forecasted; determine the time horizon of the forecast; select the forecasting model; gather the data and make the forecast; and validate the results.

Now that you've learned about the six stages of the demand forecasting process, there is one stage that requires a bit more discussion. Stage four is to select a forecasting model. But when it comes time to do that, what models are available? And how do you decide between them?

Now that you've been introduced to the basic categories of demand forecasting methods, more can be said about some specific ones. Recall that the qualitative methods are expert opinion polls, Delphi technique, and consumer surveys, and that the quantitative methods are Time Series techniques and causal models.

Forecasting Demand

Use this to review details of the six stages of the demand forecasting process.

After completing this topic, you should be able to recognize the characteristics of strategies used to manage capacity

There are limits to capacity. A machine has a maximum output per hour, a truck has a maximum load, and a hotel has a certain number of rooms and employees.

Capacity management is about matching supply and demand. There are three kinds of capacity management strategies that organizations use to manage fluctuations in demand and supply: Level strategies, Chase Demand strategies, and Demand Management strategies.

An alternative to Level capacity management strategies is Chase Demand. Organizations that use Chase Demand strategies adjust their production to reflect fluctuations in actual demand.

Use this to review the characteristics of the three substrategies of the Chase Demand capacity management strategy.

Instead of passively anticipating or responding to the market, an alternative is to actively try to influence demand. Demand Management strategies try to smooth out the high and low ends of the demand curve by managing customer demand.

Use this to compare your company's capacity management strategy with the strategies discussed in this topic.

Managing Capacity

Course Project (optional)

This course addresses the basics of demand forecasting and capacity management

This course presents basic concepts about scheduling in both manufacturing and service organizations. It walks you through the main objectives, benefits, and levels of scheduling.

After completing this topic, you should be able to identify the main objectives of scheduling identify the key areas with which each level of scheduling is concerned.

Use this to review the three different levels of scheduling and their respective areas of concern.

Scheduling brings order to what would otherwise be a chaotic situation. Designing and sticking to a schedule is an everyday activity for most people. A family has to stick to a tight schedule to ensure that the day runs smoothly. They have to know what time to get up, who will prepare breakfast, and who will see the children off to school.

There are three levels of operations planning: long term, medium term, and short term. The decisions that are made at the medium and short term levels are of a tactical nature and are ultimately influenced by strategic decisions made at the long term level of scheduling. Scheduling must be recognized and assessed at all levels. It should then be refined and sub-categorized.

Operations Planning and Scheduling

After completing this topic, you should be able to identify the main challenges of scheduling of staff in a service environment and calculate the minimum number of employees needed daily and weekly in a given service related scenario

Use this to remind you of the two formulas for calculating the minimum number of employees required for each day and each week.

There are differences between services and products. Typically, a service can include customer service or support, whereas a product is a tangible object such as a laptop or a DVD player. But the difference between a service and a product also extends to the scheduling of services and the scheduling of product manufacturing.

Scheduling work shifts is a very important function for any service company or organization. After all, if there aren't enough employees to deal with demand, waiting lines can form and customers can become dissatisfied. And if there are too many employees assigned to a shift when there's a drop off in demand, then the company loses money.

Use this activity to describe the scheduling of employees in your own organization.

Scheduling Staff in a Service Environment

After completing this topic, you should be able to match approaches to loading work centers with their characteristics and sequence jobs using a variety of sequencing rules.

Use this learning aid to correctly identify the schedule that represents the Shortest Processing Time sequence.

For any task to run smoothly, whether it's delivering a service or manufacturing a product, the work needs to be allocated and properly timetabled. Loading and sequencing are critical activities in scheduling. Loading deals with how jobs are assigned to resources, while sequencing determines the order in which they are carried out.

Loading and Sequencing

Use this to identify the correct sequencing rules.

Loading assigns jobs while sequencing contributes to determining the order and prioritization of jobs or work in a work center. Schedulers create sequencing schedules as a way to minimize waiting or idle time, minimize total production time, and ensure delivery commitments. There are several basic sequencing rules that you should keep in mind.

Use this to calculate the CR for each of the jobs.

Use this to identify the correct sequencing rules.

Use this to identify the correct sequencing rules.

Use to calculate the CR for each of the jobs.

Course Project (optional)

This course presents basic concepts about scheduling in both manufacturing and service organizations. It walks you through the main objectives, benefits, and levels of scheduling.

Quality is an essential ingredient for any successful company. A company with quality products and services takes the time to get to know its customers and their expectations.

After completing this topic, you should be able to identify the key differences between quality in manufacturing and service operations.

Differences in Quality between Manufacturing and Service Operations

All companies aim to produce quality goods or provide a quality service. To achieve this, they must ensure that the pursuit of quality is an integral part of all their processes. But what exactly is quality? It's a complex concept.

To produce quality goods or services, companies must ensure that the pursuit of quality is an integral part of all their processes.

In the past, quality was mainly associated with the manufacturing industry. A company would be judged on the quality of its end products. However, quality now plays an increasingly important role in the service industry as well.

After completing this topic, you should be able to match quality performance objectives with indicators that are normally used as their measure.

Measurement of Quality Performance

Use this to measure quality performance in your organization using performance indicators.

In order to deliver quality products and services, organizations have to make quality part of everything they do. Using quality management processes and techniques at every stage of operations ensures the pursuit of quality is an ongoing objective for everyone.

Quality indicators enable a company to measure its performance. These indicators include the number of flaws in the products, the number of delayed deliveries, and the number of customer complaints. By measuring these, the company can then see whether it's meeting its quality objectives.

After completing this topic, you should be able to identify quality management principles

Use this to review the eight quality management principles.

Principles of Quality Management

Whether you work in the manufacturing or services sector, your customers expect you to deliver quality all the time. Failing to meet customers' quality expectations can seriously damage your company's bottom line and its reputation.

Any quality management strategy must be customer-focused. The primary aim of a quality management strategy is to satisfy customers by meeting their quality expectations.

After completing this topic, you should be able to match phases of the transformation model with quality management activities that are typically carried out at each phase.

Use this to review the quality tools used at each stage of the transformation model.

Quality Management Transformation Model

All companies aim to deliver quality goods and services. However, the way they achieve this varies from organization to organization.

Companies usually implement different quality tools at different stages in operations. Knowing which tools to use at which stage is essential for any quality management strategy.

The second phase in the transformation model is the Processing phase. In this phase, companies can try to make their production processes more efficient and effective.

The third phase in the transformation model is the Output phase. Quality management in this phase requires companies to check the quality of finished goods and services. Using quality control methods, companies can evaluate their products before they're made available to customers. The two tools used in this phase are inspection and sampling.

One of the key aims of quality management is to ensure customer satisfaction. Companies that don't meet customers' quality expectations are unlikely to survive.

A quality management strategy might focus on improving the quality of a particular product or service. This strategy might be a direct reaction to customer complaints.

Course Project (optional)

Quality is an essential ingredient for any successful company. A company with quality products and services takes the time to get to know its customers and their expectations.

The  course on Facilities Planning and Management is part of the Operations Management Training Program which includes a number of eight sections also presented as individual courses for your convenie

After completing this topic, you should be able to recognize examples of internal and external customers of facilities management and identify the definition of churn.

When you hear the term "facilities management," you probably think of building maintenance tasks related to power, lighting, and heating systems. But facilities management goes beyond maintenance operations.

It also encompasses architectural and engineering services, space management, and associated financial planning. Nowadays facilities managers must also be very conscious of energy efficiency and health and safety issues.

As noted, facilities managers are responsible for maintenance operations, architectural and design services, space management, and financial planning for facilities. In order to carry out these responsibilities effectively, they need to consider and respond appropriately to the needs and expectations of their different clients. These clients can be divided into two categories: those internal to the organization, and those external to the organization.

ou've been introduced to the scope and importance of facilities management. Now consider what drives its activities – "churn." Churn is the turnover of people, their office spaces, and assets at a facility.

Churn rate is the number of people and corresponding office spaces that have changed within a year, divided by total number of offices occupied. It's the number of occupant moves within a facility as a percentage of the total number of offices occupied during a given year.

Introduction to Facilities Management

After completing this topic, you should be able to match types of organizations with their typical facilities management style and sequence the process to develop a strategic plan for facilities management.

Use this to review details of the five steps in developing a facilities management strategic plan.

Facilities management doesn't operate in isolation. It's an integral part of the overall management of an organization. As such, it needs to have a strategic direction that's aligned with the organization's overall strategy.

Not only that, but the facilities management style reflects the type of organization involved. The approach will be influenced by whether the organization has one or more locations, whether it's large or small, and whether it's public or private.

To manage facilities efficiently and effectively, robust strategies must be developed. A facilities management plan is needed, and it should flow from the organization's mission, goals, objectives, and strategic plan. Using the organizational strategic plan is helpful because it enables facilities management to establish clear parameters for facilities actions.

Strategic Considerations for Facilities Management

After completing this topic, you should be able to identify the most common factors to consider when deciding the location for a facility and recognize examples of Fixed Position, Process-oriented, and Production-oriented layouts.

Facilities Location and Layout

Use this to identify the layout in your work environment.

Few decisions are as important for any manufacturing or service organization as deciding on a location for the business. Organizations are concerned with selecting sites that will best help them meet their long-term goals. Also, since many costs are affected by location decisions, the efficiency and effectiveness of the production process as a whole are dependent on location.

Once the location and site for the new facility have been decided, the next important decision is about layout. Layout decisions will affect the cost of producing products and delivering services in the future and so must be carefully planned in line with the goals of the facility.

After completing this topic, you should be able to identify the major factors influencing general area location and particular site location planning decisions in service organizations and identify the key environmental factors that should be kept in consideration when planning layout in services environment

Use this to review the main factors influencing site location decisions in service organizations.

Facilities management is an important, wide-ranging challenge for any organization. But it has a distinctive emphasis in service organizations. In manufacturing industries, the key decisions are operational ones about how large the required facility should be and how it should be arranged according to production requirements.

But in service organizations, facilities management decisions must involve human resource management and marketing decisions as well as strictly operational ones. That's because the impact on the customer is central.

As has been noted, customer impact is critical to facilities management in service organizations. The main reason is that customers often receive services in person. Another reason is that service products are intangible, which makes customer perceptions of quality more decisive.

While all this is vital for service location decisions, it's even more vital for layout planning. Service layout planning must never lose sight of the high degree of contact between customers and employees.

Facilities Management for Service Organizations

The  course on Facilities Planning and Management is part of the Operations Management Training Program which includes a number of eight sections also presented as individual courses for your convenie

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