Operations Management: An Integrated Approach, 5th Edition

PROCESS SELECTION

So far we have discussed issues involved in product design. Though product design is important for a company, it cannot be considered separately from the selection of the process. In this section we will look at issues involved in process design. Then we will show how product design and process selection issues are linked together.

Types of Processes

When you look at different types of companies, ranging from a small coffee shop to IBM, it may seem like there are hundreds of different types of processes. Some locations are small, like your local Starbucks, and some are very large, like a Ford Motor Company plant. Some produce standardized “off-the-shelf” products, like Pepperidge Farm's frozen chocolate cake, and some work with customers to customize their product, like cakes made to order by a gourmet bakery. Though there seem to be large differences between the processes of companies, many have certain processing characteristics in common. In this section we will divide these processes into groups with similar characteristics, allowing us to understand problems inherent with each type of process.

All processes can be grouped into two broad categories: intermittent operations and repetitive operations. These two categories differ in almost every way. Once we understand these differences, we can easily identify organizations based on the category of process they use.

Designing a custom-made cake is an example of an intermittent operation.

An assembly line is ...