Operations Strategies Flashcards
What are operations processes?
Operations processes are steps involved directly in the transformation of inputs into outputs.
Outline the 4 V’s of operation management.
Volume - what volume of input to have?
Variety - what range of outputs should be made?
Variation (in Demand) - how should we respond to changes in demand?
Visibility - how involved should the customer be in production?
Why is ‘volume’ important for operations management?
If a business cannot adjust to changes in market demand and adjust their volume, wastage will increase and profits will decrease.
Achieving high volumes in production is beneficial because mass production helps achieve economies of scale (and then cost leadership).
It also helps to simplify the production process and make it more efficient.
Why is ‘variety’ important for operations management?
The greater the variety of products made, the more the operations process needs to allow for variation - this makes it harder for the business to maximise flexibility and efficiency.
Achieving variety allows the business to appeal to and reach a wider range of customers, however the production process becomes much more complicated.
Why is ‘variation in demand’ important for operations management?
A variation in demand can impact the production process significantly, and creates a strain on the business in terms of balancing the amount of inputs from suppliers needed.
The business must be flexible in order to accomodate for increases and decreases in demand. Being able to accomodate for decreases and increases in demand in advance allowed the business to raise prices and adjust human resources when needed to maximise profits and reduce wastage.
Why is ‘visibility’ (customer contact) important for operations management?
Customer contact can directly affect transformation processes. Increasing visibility and the importance of customer feedback helps create a stronger connection between customers and the business, and helps the business adjust production when necessary to appeal to customers.
It requires the business to invest more resources (ie. employees to work at feedback call centres), compromising cost leadership.
Outline Sequencing and Scheduling, and the 2 main scheduling tools.
Sequencing and scheduling assist with order in the transformation process, referencing to the order in which activities in the operations process, and the length of those activities, occur.
The 2 main scheduling tools are Gantt charts and Critical Path Analysis (CPA).
What is a Gantt chart, and what does it do?
Gantt charts outline the activities that need to be performed, in the order they need to be performed, as well as the length each activity is expected to take.
Advantages include easy monitoring of progress, and increased efficiency.
What is Critical Path Analysis, and what does it do?
The CPA is a scheduling technique that shows when tasks need to be completed, how long they take, and what order they need to be in.
It is the shortest length of time it takes to complete ALL tasks in a project.
This means that when looking at a CPA diagram, the highest number is the CPA, because that’s the shortest amount of time that ALL tasks can be completed in.
