Assignment

on
Principles of Operations Management
















Operations Management & Its Principles:
Operations Management is an area of business concerned with the production of
goods and services involving responsibility of ensuring that business operations
are efficient in terms of using as little resources as needed and effective to meet
customer requirements. It is concerned with managing the process converting
inputs into outputs. Operations management is an area
of management concerned with overseeing, designing, and controlling the
process of production and redesigning business operations in the production
of goods or services. It involves the responsibility of ensuring
that business operations are efficient in terms of using as few resources as
needed, and effective in terms of meeting customer requirements. It is
concerned with managing the process that converts inputs (in the forms of raw
materials, labor, and energy) into outputs (in the form of goods and/or services).
The relationship of operations management to senior management in
commercial contexts can be compared to the relationship of line officers to
highest-level senior officers in military science. The highest-level officers shape
the strategy and revise it over time, while the line officers
make tactical decisions in support of carrying out the strategy. In business as in
military affairs, the boundaries between levels are not always distinct; tactical
information dynamically informs strategy, and individual people often move
between roles over time.
Some principles of operations management include:
Layout Decision
Production Planning and
Control
Work Measurement
Work Simplification Inventory Management
Quality Management
Layout Decision:
As a manager facility layout decisions will help me to minimize production
delays, use the available are for the operations effectively and efficiently, better
quality control, reduction in wastage of raw materials and better supervision.
Based on the requirements I can chose from either product layout, process
layout, fixed layout, cellular or hybrid layouts.

Production Planning and Control:
I can use the production planning and control principle in order to co-ordinate
various production functions in a planned manner to efficiently utilize the plant
facilities, proper check on the performance of the labour and machines. It can
help to save cost, uninterrupted production and better capacity utilization.
Production planning can be done by estimating, routing, scheduling and
loading; whereas, control can be exercised by dispatching, expediting and
inspection.

Work Measurement:
Work measurement can help to find how long a job takes to complete, amount
of physical and mental work in terms of work units can be specified. It can help
in reducing ineffective time and set standard time to carry out the work. Work
measurement can be done with the help of time study, synthesis, PMTS or work
sampling.

Work Simplification:
Work simplification helps to break down a complex job in smaller and simpler
parts so as to complete the task effectively. It can help to use tools and
equipment efficiently, create a conducive working environment, work areas
should be within normal reach and execute fewest movements as possible.
We can either change the body position, movements or change the tools and
equipments or change the production sequence.

Inventory Management:
Inventory management can help us to keep the stocks in such a manner so that
there is neither overstocking nor under-stocking. Overstocking will affect the
production process, obsolete the materials or under-stocking will lead to
limitation in the work by affecting the production process. Thus various
inventory management techniques such as Just-in-Time, ABC analysis, Supply
chain management or EOQ model. Using these techniques we can maintain and
efficiently manage the inventory so that the production and operation carry on
without any hindrance.

Quality Management:
It can help to control, assure and improve the quality by not only focusing on
the product quality but also the means to achieve it. Control charts, SQC,
acceptance sampling, TQM, quality circle, Taguchi philosophy, etc can be used
to manage the quality and implementing these techniques to achieve the same.

By using the above mentioned principles we can help in managing the
production and operation of the plant facilities. Effective utilization of the
production processes, tools, techniques so as to efficiently manage the
operations. Besides the above; capacity planning, work study, scheduling,
loading, etc can also be used to manage the operations of the plant.