OPERATIONS STRATEGY

Operations Strategy

Operations Strategy

Operations Strategy (OS) considers as the design and management of transformational process in manufacturing and servicing organizations. Whereas in the past, the operations manager often assumed a functional role focused to improving efficiency within the four walls of the factory or servicing organization, today's operations manager faces a complex task in which success often hinges on securing and maintaining a value-added position within one or more global supply chains. This new era of OS philosophy and practice is precipitated by the globalization of provided bases and marketplaces, improvement in information technology (IT) programs and hardware, and the prevalent acknowledgement and acceptance of provide string of connections concepts (Bryson, 2003, 66). These alterations of the enterprise natural environment are endowing managers to redefine their operational schemes at the enterprise and mesh grade, thereby supplying important possibilities for discovery and risks for those locked into the customary purposeful viewpoint of OS. The objectives of this notion are to analyze the present perspectives of OS and supply projections for its future development in the international economy. Toward this end, we characterize OS, talk about its decision-making scope, recap important points in its chronicled development, differentiate between the purposeful and method perspectives of OS, recognize the components that are quickly altering the function of the operations manager, and suggest some key OS achievement components for the future (Fitzsimmons, 2006, 15).

Transformation processes are used in all public and private organizations to provide both manufactured products and services. In general, they create value by transforming the following:

Product form (as in manufacturing and education)

Location (as in transportation)

Time availability (as in inventory storage)

Exchange (as in retailing)

Physiological aspect (as in health care)

Information (as in telecommunications)

These transformation processes are not mutually exclusive within an organization (Heizer, 2004, 63). For example, a hospital may provide medical treatment (physiological aspect), ambulance service (changing location), and maintenance of medical supply inventory (time availability), insurance processing (exchange), and e-mail reminders of upcoming appointments (information).

There are several misconceptions about OM. First, owing to its close ties to industrial engineering, OS is frequently considered synonymous with manufacturing. However, OS is equally relevant in service businesses, such as hotels, hospitals, retailers, transportation systems, and schools, where issues of capacity planning, facility design, inventory control, manpower scheduling, and customer service are equally critical to the firm's success (James, 1995, 220).

The unique demands and operational characteristics of service industries often provide a more challenging environment for the operations manager (Johnson, 2005, 69). Some of the special characteristics that differentiate service from manufacturing operations include the simultaneous production and consumption of the firm's product, the inability to inventory final output, and the presence of the customer during the provision of the firm's product. These differences place special requirements on workforce scheduling, facility location, design, layout and capacity, inventory management, and product design, among other factors. Johnston (2001, 27) examines several of these issues and how developments in the manufacturing sector can be applied in a service ...