Operations Management has become a necessary subject in business management studies as this provides essential tools for the smooth, efficient and effective business operations which in turn leads to higher productivity and profits. Irrespective of the size of the enterprise operations management techniques are widely practiced with varying degrees of perfection in manufacturing industries,projects and construction,service organizations like hospitals,medicare, travel & tourism, education, banking etc.
The operation managers help to achieve the organizations overall goals within the framework of the corporate strategy. The operations management system consists of five basic elements:
- input
- transformation subsystem
- output
- control subsystem
- feedback.
Let us take two examples of an oil refinery in the manufacturing sector and a truck transport delivery service in the service sector to illustrate these elements.
In an oil refinery the inputs are crude oil, labour and processing plants and the output is petroleum products like gasoline, diesel etc.The transformation process consists of heating, mixing and distillation; feedback is production rates,expenses; and the control elements are plant managers, accountants, supervisors etc.
In the example of a truck transport delivery service the inputs are trucks and facilities and output is delivered goods.The transformation is the picking up & transportation of goods.The feedback mis cost per mile,truck utilization rates etc and the control is the terminal manager, supervisor etc
Typical concepts used to measure the success of the operation manager include productivity, efficiency and effectiveness.
The activities in the orbit of operation management are detailed in the subsequent articles
