Operations management is an area of management concerned with 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 meeting customer requirements.
It is concerned with managing an entire production or service system which is the process that converts inputs (in the forms of raw materials, labor, consumers, and energy) into outputs (in the form of goods and/or services for consumers). Operations produce products, manage quality and create services. Operation management covers sectors like banking systems, hospitals, companies, working with suppliers, customers, and using technology. Operations is one of the major functions in an organization along with supply chains, marketing, finance and human resources. The operations function requires management of both the strategic and day-to-day production of goods and services.
In managing manufacturing or service operations several types of decisions are made including operations strategy, product design, process design, quality management, capacity, facilities planning, production planning and inventory control. Each of these requires an ability to analyze the current situation and find better solutions to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of manufacturing or service operations. A modern, integrated vision of the many aspects of operations management may be found in recent textbooks on the subject.
The history of production and operation systems begins around 5000 B.C. when Sumerian priests developed the ancient system of recording inventories, loans, taxes, and business transactions. The next major historical application of operation systems occurred in 4000 B.C. It was during this time that the Egyptians started using planning, organization, and control in large projects such as the construction of the pyramids. By 1100 B.C.
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Industrial engineering is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information and equipment. Industrial engineering is central to manufacturing operations. Industrial engineers use specialized knowledge and skills in the mathematical, physical and social sciences, together with the principles and methods of engineering analysis and design, to specify, predict, and evaluate the results obtained from systems and processes.
A value chain is a progression of activities that a firm operating in a specific industry performs in order to deliver a valuable product (i.e., good and/or service) to the end customer. The concept comes through business management and was first described by Michael Porter in his 1985 best-seller, Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. The idea of the value chain is based on the process view of organizations, the idea of seeing a manufacturing (or service) organization as a system, made up of subsystems each with inputs, transformation processes and outputs.
Purchasing is the process a business or organization uses to acquire goods or services to accomplish its goals. Although there are several organizations that attempt to set standards in the purchasing process, processes can vary greatly between organizations. Purchasing is part of the wider procurement process, which typically also includes expediting, supplier quality, transportation, and logistics. Purchasing managers/directors, procurement managers/directors, or staff based in an organization's Purchasing Office, guide the organization's acquisition procedures and standards and operational purchasing activities.
Learn through practice (using a Value Chain Management simulation) the key drivers of effective Value Chain Management. From Purchasing to Sales, through Operations and Supply Chain Management, unders
The objective of the Winter School is to expose the audience to modern topics on Optimization and Operations Research. Every year, two prominent researchers are invited to provide tutorials on selecte
The objective of the Winter School is to expose the audience to modern topics on Optimization and Operations Research. Every year, two prominent researchers are invited to provide tutorials on selecte
Introduces Production Management strategies, dynamics, value networks, and activities, with examples like watch manufacturing and cold-pressed juicing.
This study applies Six-Sigma DMAIC methodology to enhance the efficiency of a manufacturing production line, specifically targeting the "gaps" between planned and actual working time. Key findings reveal that meetings, scanning, follow-up activities, walki ...
Fifty years ago, transportation and logistics problems were primarily analyzed either from a supply-side or a demand-side perspective, with the fields of operations research and demand modeling evolving separately. Since then, there has been a growing inte ...
Monitoring the health of complex industrial assets is crucial for safe and efficient operations. Health indicators that provide quantitative real-time insights into the health status of industrial assets over time serve as valuable tools for, e.g., fault d ...