Operations management is the systematic direction and control of processes that transform resources into finished goods or services for customers. It involves planning, organizing, and overseeing the production process to ensure that items are delivered on time. To maximize the use of operations management, it is essential to analyze the main components of it. These components include organization and productivity, predicting consumer demand, inventory management, product design, quality control, material handling, and maintenance policies.
Organization and productivity are two key factors in being an operations manager. This job often requires versatility and innovation to ensure that a product is designed correctly and meets the characteristics and desires of the consumer market. Quality control is also important to ensure that products are made correctly and operational risks are assessed correctly. Problems must be addressed with knowledge of operations management to meet new expectations.
Randall Schaeffer, an experienced operations and manufacturing management professional, explains that operations management is an interdepartmental function in which the manager assumes a range of responsibilities across multiple disciplines. Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) software can help take manufacturing operations to the next level of production efficiency by leveraging operational data already in an ERP system. In this era of rapidly advancing technologies, an operations manager must have an affinity with technology to be able to design processes that are efficient and compliant with technology. The operations manager should also be familiar with common strategic policies, basic material planning, manufacturing and production systems, and their analysis. This will help them make more rational decisions and improve overall efficiency of operations.
