Operations management is the administration of business practices to create the highest possible level of efficiency within an organization. It involves the planning, scheduling, and control of activities that transform inputs into finished goods and services. Operations management teams strive to balance costs with revenues to achieve the highest possible net operating profit. The objective of operations management is to increase an organization's revenues by improving its operations and maximizing the use of existing resources.
It also includes providing excellent customer service. Operations management is primarily concerned with planning, organizing, and supervising in the contexts of production, manufacturing, or service delivery. As such, it focuses on delivery, ensuring that an organization successfully converts inputs into outputs in an efficient manner. The inputs themselves could represent anything from materials, equipment, and technology to human resources such as staff or workers.
Operations managers use numerous formulas, such as the economical order quantity formula, to determine when and what size of an inventory order to process and how much inventory to keep on hand. In the event of any problem, operations managers use their technical expertise to understand the cause and implement the best solutions. Operations management is also concerned with controlling the production process and business operations as efficiently as possible. Excellent organizational capacity is crucial to successfully improving efficiency and boosting productivity as an operations manager. Emphasizing the importance of strategic thinking is also a cornerstone of many major operations management programs, something that should allow graduates to ensure that their organization stays ahead of its competition. The goal of operations management is to support and meet the company's strategic objectives while using the least amount of available resources without sacrificing efficiency or quality.
It evaluates controllable and uncontrollable factors and makes predictions for the organization. The Cass Business School in the United Kingdom offers a specialized master's degree in Global Supply Chain Management (GSCM). The one-year course combines operations management with information on the strategic supply chain, global procurement, business sustainability, and finance.
