CHAPTER 1
Introduction to
Operations Management
Dr. Engr. Rashid A. Chowdhury
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Learning objectives
• After completing this chapter, you should be able to:
• Define the term operations management
• Identify the three major functional areas of organizations and
describe how they interrelate
• Compare and contrast service and manufacturing operations
• Describe the operations function and the nature of the
operations manager’s job
• Differentiate between design and operation of production
systems
• Describe the key aspects of operations management decision
making
• Briefly describe the historical evolution of operations
management
• Identify current trends in business that impact operations
management
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(I) Operations Management
• What is operations?
– The part of a business organization that is responsible
for producing goods or services
• How can we define Operations Management?
– The management of systems or processes
that create goods and/or provide services
• Operations Management affects:
– Companies’ ability to compete
– Nation’s ability to compete internationally
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Basic Functions of the Business
Organization
Organization
Finance
Operations
Marketing
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The Transformation Process
(Value – Added Process)
Value-Added
Inputs
Outputs
Transformation/
Conversion
Process
•Land
•Labor
•Capital
•Information
•Goods
•Services
Feedback
Feedback
Control
Feedback
Feedback = measurements taken at various points in the transformation process
Control = The comparison of feedback against previously established
standards to determine if corrective action is needed.
The operations function involves the
conversion of inputs into outputs
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Goods-service Continuum
Products are typically neither purely service- or purely goodsbased.
Goods
Services
Surgery, Teaching
Songwriting, Software Development
Computer Repair, Restaurant Meal
Home Remodeling, Retail Sales
Automobile Assembly, Steelmaking
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Example: Hospital
Inputs
Doctors, nurses
Hospital
Medical supplies
Equipment
Laboratories
Processing
Outputs
Examination
Surgery
Monitoring
Medication
Therapy
Treated
patients
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Manufacturing vs. Service?
Manufacturing and Service Organizations differ clearly because
manufacturing is goods-oriented and service is act-oriented.
Goods
Services
Tangible
Act-Oriented
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Production of Goods vs. Delivery of
Services
• Production of goods – tangible output
• Delivery of services – an act
• Service job categories
Government
– Wholesale/retail
– Financial services
– Healthcare
– Personal services
– Business services
– Education
–
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Key Differences
1. Customer contact
2. Uniformity of input
3. Labor content of jobs
4. Uniformity of output
5. Measurement of productivity
6. Production and delivery
7. Quality assurance
8. Amount of inventory
9. Evaluation of work
10. Ability to patent design
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Goods vs Service
Characteristic
Customer contact
Uniformity of input
Labor content
Uniformity of output
Output
Measurement of productivity
Goods
Service
Low
High
High
Low
Low
High
High
Low
Tangible
Intangible
Easy
Difficult
High
Low
Opportunity to correct problems
Inventory
Evaluation
Much
Little
Easier
Difficult
Patentable
Usually
Not usual
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Managing Services is Challenging
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Jobs in services are often less structured than in
manufacturing
Customer contact is generally much higher in services
compared to manufacturing
In many services, worker skill levels are low compared to
those of manufacturing employees
Services are adding many new workers in low-skill, entrylevel positions
Employee turnover is high in services, especially in low-skill
jobs
Input variability tends to be higher in many service
environments than in manufacturing
Service performance can be adversely affected by many
factors outside of the manager’s control (e.g., employee and
customer attitudes)
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U.S. Manufacturing vs. Service
Employment
• Insert Figure 1.7
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Figure 1.4b
Singapore Manufacturing vs. Service Employment
90
Services
80
Manufacturing
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
97
98
99
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
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(II) Scope of Operations Management
The scope of operations management ranges across
the organization.
The operations function includes many interrelated
activities such as:
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–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Forecasting
Capacity planning
Scheduling
Managing inventories
Assuring quality
Motivating employees
Deciding where to locate facilities
And more . . .
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Types of Operations
Table 1.4
Operations
Examples
Goods Producing
Farming, mining, construction
,
manufacturing, power generation
Storage/Transportation Warehousing, trucking, mail
service, moving, taxis, buses,
hotels, airlines
Exchange
Retailing, wholesaling, financial
advising, renting or leasing
Entertainment
Films, radio and television,
concerts, recording
Communication
Newspapers, radio and TV
newscasts, telephone, satellites
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Role of the Operations Manager
The Operations Function consists of all activities directly
related to producing goods or providing services.
A primary function of the operations manager is to guide the
system by decision making.
– System Design Decisions
– System Operation Decisions
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System Design Decisions
• System Design
– Capacity
– Facility location
– Facility layout
– Product and service planning
– Acquisition and placement of equipment
• These are typically strategic decisions that require
• long-term commitment of resources
• Determine parameters of system operation
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System Operation Decisions
• System Operation
– Management of personnel
– Inventory management and control
– Scheduling
– Project management
– Quality assurance
• Operations managers spend more time on system
operation decision than any other decision area
• They still have a vital stake in system design
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(III) Key Decisions of
Operations Managers
• Most operations decisions involve many alternatives that can
have quite different impacts on costs or profits
• Typical operations decisions include:
– What: What resources are needed, and in what amounts?
– When: When will each resource be needed? When
should the work be scheduled? When should materials
and other supplies be ordered?
– Where: Where will the work be done?
– How: How will he product or service be designed? How
will the work be done? How will resources be allocated?
– Who: Who will do the work?
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Operations Management Decision Making
• Models
• Quantitative approaches
• Performance metrics
• Analysis of trade-offs
• Systems approach
• Establishing priorities
• Ethics
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General Approach to Decision Making
• A) Modeling is a key tool used by all decision
makers
– Model - an abstraction of reality; a simplification of
something.
– Common features of models:
• They are simplifications of real-life phenomena
• They omit unimportant details of the real-life systems
they mimic so that attention can be focused on the most
important aspects of the real-life system
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Models
• Types of Models:
– Physical Models
• Look like their real-life counterparts
– Schematic Models
• Look less like their real-life counterparts than
physical models
– Mathematical Models
• Do not look at all like their real-life counterparts
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Understanding Models
• Keys to successfully using a model in decision
making
– What is its purpose?
– How is it used to generate results?
– How are the results interpreted and used?
– What are the model’s assumptions and limitations?
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Benefits of Models
• Models are generally easier to use and less expensive than
dealing with the real system
• Require users to organize and sometimes quantify
information
• Increase understanding of the problem
• Enable managers to analyze “What if?” questions
• Serve as a consistent tool for evaluation and provide a
standardized format for analyzing a problem
• Enable users to bring the power of mathematics to bear on a
problem.
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Limitations of Models
• Quantitative information may be emphasized at
the expense of qualitative information
• Models may be incorrectly applied and the
results misinterpreted
– This is a real risk with the widespread availability of
sophisticated, computerized models are placed in the
hands of uninformed users.
• The use of models does not guarantee good
decisions.
• Nonqualified users may not comprehend the
rules on how to use the model
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B) Quantitative Methods
• A decision making approach that frequently
seeks to obtain a mathematically optimal
solution
– Linear programming
– Queuing techniques
– Inventory models
– Project models
– Forecasting techniques
– Statistical models
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C) Metrics and Trade - Offs
• Performance Metrics
– All managers use metrics to manage and control
operations:
– Profits, costs, productivity and forecast accuracy.
• Analysis of Trade – Offs
– A trade off is giving up one thing in return for
something else.
– Carrying more inventory (an expense) in order to
achieve a greater level of customer service.
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D) Systems Approach
• System - a set of interrelated parts that must work together
– The business organization is a system composed of
subsystems
• marketing subsystem
• operations subsystem
• finance subsystem
• The systems approach
– Emphasizes interrelationships among subsystems
– Main theme is that the whole is greater than the sum of its
parts
– The output and objectives of the organization take
precedence over those of any one subsystem
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E) Establishing Priorities
• In nearly all cases, certain issues or items are more
important than others
• Recognizing this allows managers to focus their
attention to those efforts that will do the most good
– Pareto Phenomenon - a few factors account for a high
percentage of occurrence of some event(s)
• 80–20 Rule: 80% of problems are caused by 20% of the
activities.
• The critical few factors should receive the highest priority
• This is a concept that is appropriately applied to all areas and
levels of management
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F) Ethical Issues in Operations
• Ethical issues arise in
many aspects of
operations management:
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•
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•
•
•
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Financial statements
Worker safety
Product safety
Quality
The environment
The community
Hiring and firing workers
Closing facilities
Workers rights
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(IV) Historical Evolution of OM
• Industrial Revolution
• Scientific Management
–
–
–
Mass production
Interchangeable parts
Division of labor
• Human Relations Movement
• Decision Models and Management Science
• Influence of Japanese Manufacturers
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A) Industrial Revolution (1770s)
• Pre-Industrial Revolution
– Craft production - System in which highly skilled workers
use simple, flexible tools to produce small quantities of
customized goods
• Some key elements of the industrial revolution
– Began in England in the 1770s
– Division of labor - Adam Smith, 1776
– Application of the “rotative” steam engine, 1780s
– Cotton Gin and Interchangeable parts - Eli Whitney, 1792
• Management theory and practice did not advance appreciably
during this period
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B) Scientific Management (1911)
• Movement was led by efficiency engineer, Frederick
Winslow Taylor
– Believed in a “science of management” based on
observation, measurement, analysis and improvement of
work methods, and economic incentives
– Management is responsible for planning, carefully
selecting and training workers, finding the best way to
perform each job, achieving cooperate between
management and workers, and separating management
activities from work activities
– Emphasis was on maximizing output
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Scientific Management - contributors
• Frank Gilbreth - father of motion studies
• Henry Gantt - developed the Gantt chart scheduling
system and recognized the value of non-monetary
rewards for motivating employees
• Harrington Emerson - applied Taylor’s ideas to
organization structure
• Henry Ford - employed scientific management
techniques to his factories
• Moving assembly line
• Mass production
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C) Human Relations Movement (1920–60)
• The human relations movement emphasized the
importance of the human element in job design
– Lillian Gilbreth
– Elton Mayo – Hawthorne studies on worker motivation, 1930
– Abraham Maslow – motivation theory, 1940s; hierarchy of
needs, 1954
– Frederick Hertzberg – Two Factor Theory, 1959
– Douglas McGregor – Theory X and Theory Y, 1960s
– William Ouchi – Theory Z, 1981
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D) Decision Models & Management
Science (1915, 1960 – 70s)
• F.W. Harris – mathematical model for inventory
management, 1915
• Dodge, Romig, and Shewart – statistical procedures
for sampling and quality control, 1930s
• Tippett – statistical sampling theory, 1935
• Operations Research (OR) Groups – OR applications
in warfare
• George Dantzig – linear programming, 1947
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E) Influence of Japanese Manufacturers
• Refined and developed management practices that
increased productivity
– Credited with fueling the “quality revolution
– Just-in-Time production
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(V) Key Trends and Issues in Business
• Internet, E-Business & E-Commerce
• Management of Technology
• Globalization
• Management of Supply Chains
• Outsourcing
• Agility
• Ethical Behavior
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Simple Product Supply Chain
Figure 1.7
Suppliers’
Suppliers
Direct
Suppliers
Producer
Distributor
Final
Consumer
Supply Chain: A sequence of activities and
organizations involved in producing and delivering
a good or service
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Elements of Supply Chain Management
• Customers – what products/services do customers want
• Forecasting – predicting timing and volume of customer
demand
• Design – incorporating customer wants, manufacturability, and
time to market
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•
•
•
Capacity planning – matching supply and demand
Processing – controlling quality, scheduling work
Inventory – meeting demand requirements while managing costs
Purchasing – evaluating potential suppliers, supporting the
needs of operations on purchased goods and services
• Suppliers – monitoring supplier quality, on-time delivery, and
flexibility; maintaining supplier relations
• Location – determining the location of facilities
• Logistics – deciding how to best move information and materials
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