Operations Management: An Integrated Approach, 5th Edition

PLAN OF THIS BOOK

The purpose here is to provide concepts and techniques that give you the ability to efficiently plan, order, and control the resources needed to produce a company's goods and services. The topics progress from strategic to tactical, similar to the order of decisions used in the Gourmet Wafers example. Figure 1-6 shows the plan of the book. We begin with broad, overarching issues such as product design and process selection. Also early on we cover operations topics that require a strategic perspective and a cultural change within the organization, such as supply chain management, total quality management, and just-in-time systems. We progress to more tactical issues, such as work measurement, inventory management, and scheduling concerns.

We have designed the chapters to provide relevant operations management concepts and techniques that are important to business professionals regardless of their field of study. Throughout the chapters we show how the tools and concepts discussed relate to other functions in the organization and that operations management concepts are far-reaching, affecting every aspect of the organization.

Before You Go On

You should understand that operations management (OM) is the business function responsible for planning, coordinating, and controlling the resources needed to produce a company's goods and services. OM is directly responsible for managing the transformation of a company's inputs (e.g., materials, technology, and information) ...