Chapter 20 - Managing Operations, Quality, and Productivity Flashcards
What is this Chapter about?
The nature of operations management.
The components involved in designing effective operations systems.
Organizational technologies and their role in operations management.
Identifying components involved in implementing operations systems through supply chain management.
Explaining the meaning and importance of managing quality and total quality management.
Explaining the meaning and importance of managing productivity, productivity trends, and ways to improve productivity.
20.1 Describe what operations management is and give an example.
Operations management is the set of managerial activities used by organizations that transforms resource inputs into products and services. One example would be Dell or Apple buying electronic components, assembling them to PC, and selling them to consumers/retailers.
20.1 Describe why operations management is essential to organizations.
Operations management is the core of what organizations do, as it is what adds value and creates the products and services. Operations management also ensures competitiveness and overall organizational performance (enhancing quality and productivity).
20.1 What was one problem the US manufacturing industry had to face?
Steel. Companies in the far east were able to produce high quality steel for a much cheaper price than US companies. As a result of foreign competition, US manufacturers had to be more efficient and responsive.
20.1 Give an example how the tremendous growth of the service industry (which now accounts for 80% of the private-sector of the GNP) is similar to factory work.
Similarity: managers of automobile plants and hair salons both have to decide how to design their facilities, identify the best locations for them, determine optimal capacities, make decisions about inventory storage, set procedures for purchasing raw materials, and set standards for productivity and quality.
20.1 Describe the relationship between Operations Management and Organziational Strategy.
Suppose that a firm decides to upgrade the quality of its products or services. The organization’s ability to implement the decision is dependent in part on current production capabilities and other resources. If existing technology will not permit higher-quality work, and if the organization lacks the resources to replace its technology, increasing quality to the desired new standards will be difficult. Overall, it affects the organization’s effectiveness.
20.2 What is the product-service mix?
The decision concerning how many and what kinds of products or services (or even both) to offer to consumers.
20.2 What is the risk with making capacity decisions?
The capacity decision is a high-risk decision because of the uncertainties of future product demand and the large monetary stakes involved. In addition, there can be a potential loss of market opportunities.
What are facilities?
Facilities are the physical locations where products/services are created, stored, and distributed. A facility’s location and layout can greatly impact major decisions of the organization.
Describe what a layout of a facility is. Define the three types of layout.
Layout includes the physical configuration of facilities or the arrangement of equipment, or both.
Product layout- Arranged around the product, appropriate when large quantities of a single product are needed. Most assembly lines use this layout.
Process layout- Arranged around the process. The needs of each incoming job are diagnosed as it enters the operations system, therefore creating a variety of products/activities. Example: a health care clinic.
Fixed-postion layout- Used when organizations create large, complex products. The product remains in place, therefore people and machines work around it as it is being assembled.
20.3 Shortly define the few types of manufacturing technology.
Automation- The process of designing work so that it can be completely performed by machines. Automation relies on feedback, sensors, information, and control mechanisms.
Computer-assisted manufacturing- Technology that relies on computers to design or manufacture products. One type of computer-assisted manufacturing is computer-aided design (the use of computers to design parts and complete products and to simulate performance so that prototypes need not be constructed)
Robotics- Any artificial device that can perform functions ordinarily thought to be appropriate for human beings.
20.3 Give one example of how service technology has helped the service industry.
Electronic banking, where people can access their accounts, move money between accounts, and pay bills, has become commonplace, and many people deposit checks digitally using imaging from their phones.
Define supply-chain management in your own words.
The process of managing operations control, resource acquisition, and inventory to improve overall effectiveness and efficiency.
20.4 What happens if managers stressed profitability when they should be stressing sales and market share?
Misplaced accountability results in ineffective organizational control, to say nothing of hostility and conflict.
20.4 Define purchasing management.
Also called procurement, it is concerned with buying materials/resources needed to produce products and services. It is the heart of effective supply chain management. A manager must also pay attention to quality, reliability of the supplier, and getting the best financial terms.
