Operations management is a system of designing, selecting, planning, executing, coordinating, controlling and improving processes. It is the engine room of an organization and plans and drives manufacturing and services. All activities take into account assets, costs and human resources, and begin with a thorough analysis of processes. To perform this function in today's business environment, manufacturers must continually strive to improve operational efficiency.
The three main stages of operations management are planning, organization and oversight. At the planning stage, operations managers must make decisions that have long-term implications and are crucial to a company's success. This includes analyzing the market to check for demands, setting capacity levels, and ensuring that providing quality is a factor in every facet of their operations. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is the modern software architecture that addresses production operations, distribution, accounting, human resources and procurement. The organization stage involves daily material management activities such as purchasing, inventory control, and work scheduling activities.
It also requires the management of both strategic and daily production of goods and services. This includes using CAD programs to digitally test products and resolve design problems before moving to the prototype stage. The oversight stage involves monitoring the progress of stitching and filling operations to ensure finished products are ready to ship on the scheduled date. It also involves using operations research to address problems of scheduling (production sequence), loading (tools to use), selection of types of parts (parts to work on). Finally, it includes following ISO 9000 procedures for paperwork.
