Operations Management

Prof. Stuart Chambers
Required Core Course
Fall - 1 credit
 
Operations management is about how we all produce goods and services to satisfy our customers.  All organisations have external customers; but every manager, no matter in which function, has "internal" customers to satisfy by producing internal goods or (more likely) services.  Therefore all managers are, to some extent, operations managers.

This course will introduce you to many of the basic concepts, principles, and techniques of OM, but in so doing, will reveal a wider view of the role of operations than is normally portrayed in conventional teaching of the subject. From the very first session, we will highlight the ways that organisations can compete through the strengths of their operations. Indeed, the last twenty years have witnessed companies entering and quickly dominating global markets, often largely by deploying superior operations capabilities. They have been able to deliver consistently better quality and service at lower prices, whilst innovating faster and more frequently than their rivals. They have not just been a little better; they have sometimes literally ‘changed the rules of the game´, and have surpassed what many thought were the boundaries of possibility. The issues raised by these revolutionaries are critical and equally relevant for manufacturing and service businesses, as well as for not-for-profit organisations.

This course should actually change the way you look at any organisation. Restaurants, hospitals, banks, leisure facilities, shops, airlines, distribution services, government agencies or consultancies; they can all be reviewed and improved using OM analysis tools. This can, in turn, help you appreciate just how much competitiveness depends on the way that the operations are designed and managed. To use more formal business school jargon, this course will…

"…sensitise you to the strategic power of operations and the opportunities for creating sustainable competitive advantage through effective operations"   

The following topics will be discussed:

  • Introduction to OM; and its strategic potential
  • Design activities and responsibilities in operations management
  • Process design: layout and flow
  • Planning and control: capacity and demand management
  • Planning and control: inventory and MRP / ERP
  • Quality management: TQM, SPC, Six Sigma
  • Operations improvement: Just-in-Time (JIT) and Lean
  • Operations improvement: Kaizen and BPR