In a more modern look operations management has grew and become a dedicated service in its own right as organisations now employ individuals to develop, implement and complete operations management as a specific role.
From the next page I will appraise the role of operations management in a manufacturing & retail environment.
The Role of Operations Management in both Manufacturing & Retail:
The role of ‘Operations Management’ is a collection of successful systems for operations in any organisation. In order for operations to be effective and efficient, the systems must also be effective and efficient.
Operations management has a structure to comprehend that is a major understanding of the needs and requirement of operations management. This includes a framework which consists of:
Michael Porter (1985) the strategic inventor of the ‘Porter Value Chain’ constructed a chain effect understanding that every business should implement for logical understanding and awareness of its inputs and outputs as a business. He separated the business functions into primary and secondary methods, primary being dedicated to the product or service and secondary being supportive methods to aid the primary. (Please view Appendix 1)
Porters (Michael Porter 1985) Value Chain (VC). From Appendix 1 the model suggests, that no matter how many operational units that are involved in the process of generating customer value; these primary activities can be conceptualised into five generic stages. The five primary stages are inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and service. These primary stages are supported by the firms’ infrastructure, human resource management, technology development, and purchasing and procurement. The stages within the VC should not be seen in isolation but looked at in a wider context and include the interactions between stages not just within the processes. The relationship between sales, operations and procurement for instance can determine how much stock is to be carried and therefore reflected in cost of inventory held.
Operations as systems implement the needs and practice of systems within an organisation. These systems must be understood with a thought of how the system operates its inputs and its control methods and/or output required. Systems are often described as closed or open systems or relatively closed or open systems. Closed systems have no inputs, no interactions within its environment and no output. Open systems are known as unpredictable inputs with free interactions with its environment that has a varied output as it is known to change. Relatively closed or open systems are known as controlled systems with predicted inputs that are controlled within its environment having a predictable output.
The transformation process is a system to note for understanding of the systems and their need to be present as in basic terms; an input will be transformed into an output and is commonly known as the black-box of operation systems.
The 6 Ps of operation are more commonly known as the operation mix. The origin of the 6 Ps is unclear yet Professor Keith Lockyer of Bradford Management Centre (1988) developed an early version to apply a logical thought process to the implementation of operations. In operations management we can apply this mix to new or revised operations for reference. The 6 Ps are: Product/Service, Process, Place, Programs, Procedures & People.
- Dimensions of Competitiveness
Dimensions of competiveness looks at performance objectives that enable operations-based advantage availability. These dimensions dedicate a focus to include: Price, Quality, Delivery, Speed, Design and flexibility and offer a competitive analysis for operations management purposes.
- Order Winners, Order Qualifiers & the Kano Model
Order winners and order qualifiers where distinguished and identified by Operations strategist and author Terry Hill who introduced the terms qualifier and order winner (1989).
According to the Kano Model (developed by Dr Noriaki Kano in the 1980s), a product or service can have three types of attribute (or property). For example, the Kano model (Please view Appendix 2) the model shows how the individual features of a product or service contribute to customer needs/requirements.
- Product Life Cycle (PLC) & Volume Variety Matrix & Product Process Matrix
The product life cycle can also be referred to the total product/service process and can raise awareness of operations implications it can be carried to a depth as deep as an Failure, Mode & Effective Analysis (FMEA) with volume variety & product process understandings of its critical path and systems such as materials planning requirements (MRP) and just in time (JIT) for operations and an overview of the products management.
Quality and productivity should be classed as a team that constantly help aid and deliver each other. Operations management relies greatly on the quality and productivity of its products and services as an organisation and also to help aid the global sourcing effects of many organisations.
Universal Principles are present that apply to operations management. Schonberger and Knod (1994) developed a list of these principles with intentions of making a huge difference to operations management.
These frameworks act a logical thought system when considering operations management and are implemented to systems that may be tailored to the organisations sector, size, capabilities & requirements to aid operations management. They are commonly known to be part of ‘Business Systems’ or ‘Quality Systems’ in many organisations yet it should be noted that Sales, Marketing, Purchasing, Logistics, Production, Quality, Operations and Finance frameworks and systems are part of operations management.
The Systems:
- Product Planning & Positioning
Including product strategies, product planning concepts & product life cycles.
Including operations and facility strategies, capacity management strategies, facilities & layout principles within a facility.
- Managing Demand & Supply of Materials
Including demand management, MRP, independent demand & inventory control.
Including project management, critical path methods, PERT (planning technique), project resources, activity-on-node (AON) techniques & Line of Balance Techniques.
Including an understanding of quality, total quality management (TQM), seven tools of quality, statistical process control (SPC), improvement techniques & reliability and maintenance.
- Productivity, Methods & Measurements
Including workforce management perspectives, productivity, job design, problem solving & work measurement.
Including definitions and concepts & scheduling systems.
Including history of time, just in time (JIT) operations, lean operations, time-based competitiveness & suppliers and purchasing.
These Systems are operational by a number of systems within the systems for that are defined by the bullet points for operation management purposes:
It is Operations Management to ensure total operations of the organisations are efficient used effectively for monitoring, updating and collating information as a usable output for the organisations operations.
Operations Management is not only connected with frameworks and systems as operations management have many challenges they must be aware of and account for as they could have a major impact on modern organisations in the manufacturing and service industries. Some of these challenges are:
- Developments in Strategic Management Policies
With the business process reengineering (BPR) in mind this method proves to be effective and a business may spend much of its resources in developing the BPR.
- Global Sourcing/Competition:
People have been saying for at least 10 years that the manufacturing and service industry is declining throughout Britain. How could this be? As manufacturing and service industries are needed more and more as other organisations expand and the population continues to rise. There is a demand but as organisations strive to keep their costs down more and more organisations are withdrawing their manufacturing and service requirements from British industries and applying their contracts with the more cost effective countries at a lesser price. Some of these countries include European countries such as Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, etc, Far Eastern countries such as China, Japan, Malaysia, India, etc, and South American countries such as Mexico, Argentina, etc.
These countries offer labour and materials at a lower price than British industries can compete with. Also many of the systems stated earlier are becoming effective working tools and aids in these countries raising the bar on competitive standards with the British industries. China, India and Japan are becoming notable countries that highly threaten the British Industries future as they can offer the same standards and systems required for contract work which rivals the British Standards.
- Total Quality Management Principles and Certification Quality
Quality certification is a necessarily for much of the supply chain world whether it be manufacturing or service. The certifications help aid us in global sourcing matters and improve operations management by defining a use of a standard system.
Employee empowerment is growing and finding may departments and individuals are taking operations management into their own hands.
Conclusion:
In conclusion to the information although between the manufacturing and retail sectors systems may differ there are areas to note for the role of operations management in both manufacturing & retail sectors:
Role notes of Operations Management:
Work Management:
- Applies appropriate processes and systems to maintain effective work management and achieve objectives
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Achieves personal and leads team objectives
Quality:
- Has appropriate understanding of quality management practices, implements appropriate practices and is concerned to maintain and improve standards.
- Develops and implements new procedures in response to changing demands
- Positive feedback from staff, peers and senior managers
Planning & Development:
- Contributes appropriately to the strategic planning and development of the Manufacturing Operations/Service Operations
- Positive feedback from manufacturing, services, staff & customers with which the person interacts
- Engages in and contributes fully to manufacturing/service discussion
- Production of appropriate written and numerical material which contributes to planning process
Projects & Deadlines:
- Understands and applies the concepts of effective project and deadline management
- Successful implementation of projects to meet deadlines
Health & Safety Performance:
- Recognises and accepts responsibility for the health and safety of team members
- Contributes to the development and implementation of health and safety standards
- Manages and monitors health and safety performance
Bibliography:
Operations Management – An Active Learning Approach.
Authors: John Bicheno & Brian B. R. Elliott.
Series Editor: Martin Gibson.
Supplied by DeMontfort University for distance learning.
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
The model shows how the individual features of a product or service contribute to customer satisfaction in Diagram 2:
