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Operations management

Operations management is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Operations management rather than just read about it. In short: Operations management is concerned with designing and controlling the production of goods and services, ensuring that businesses are efficient in using resources to meet customer requirements. It is concerned with managing an entire production system that converts inputs (in the forms of raw materials, labor, consumables, and energy) into outputs (in the form of goods and services for consumers).

Operations management — main illustration
Operations management — illustration

Key takeaways

  • Operations management belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
  • Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
  • Connect Operations management to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
  • Reproduce the core statement of Operations management from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Operations management is concerned with designing and controlling the production of goods and services, ensuring that businesses are efficient in using resources to meet customer requirements. It is concerned with managing an entire production system that converts inputs (in the forms of raw materials, labor, consumables, and energy) into outputs (in the form of goods and services for consumers). Operations management covers sectors like banking systems, hospitals, companies, working with suppliers, customers, and using technology. Operations is one of the major functions in an organization along with supply chains, marketing, finance and human resources. The operations function requires management of both the strategic and day-to-day production of goods and services. In managing manufacturing or service operations, several types of decisions are made including operations strategy, product design, process design, quality management, capacity, facilities planning, production planning and inventory control. Each of these requires an ability to analyze the current situation and find better solutions to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of manufacturing or service operations.

History The history of production and operation systems begins around 5000 B.C. when Sumerian priests developed the ancient system of recording inventories, loans, taxes, and business transactions. The next major historical application of operation systems occurred in 4000 B.C., when the Egyptians started using planning, organization, and control in large projects such as the construction of the pyramids. By 1100 B.C., labor was being specialized in China; by about 370 B.C., Xenophon described the advantages of dividing the various operations necessary for the production of shoes among different individuals in ancient Greece:

"...In large cities, on the other hand, in as much as many people have demands to make upon each branch of industry, one trade alone, and very often even less than a whole trade, is enough to support a man: one man, for instance, makes shoes for men, and another for women; and there are places even where one man earns a living by only stitching shoes, another by cutting them out, another by sewing the uppers together, while there is another who performs none of these operations but only assembles the parts. It follows, therefore, as a matter of course, that he who devotes himself to a very highly specialized line of work is bound to do it in the best possible manner."

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Operations management: Ford Motor Company assembly line: the classical example of a manufacturing production system.
Ford Motor Company assembly line: the classical example of a manufacturing production system.
Operations management: Post office queue. Operations management studies both manufacturing and services.
Post office queue. Operations management studies both manufacturing and services.
Operations management: Shoemakers, 1568
Shoemakers, 1568
Operations management: Marshall's flax mill in Holbeck. The textile industry is the prototypical example of the English industrial revolution.
Marshall's flax mill in Holbeck. The textile industry is the prototypical example of the English industrial revolution.
Operations management: In a job shop machines are grouped by technological similarities regarding transformation processes, therefore a single shop can work very different products (in this picture four colors). Also notice that in this drawing each shop contains a single machine.
In a job shop machines are grouped by technological similarities regarding transformation processes, therefore a single shop can work very different products (in this picture four colors). Also notice that in this drawing each shop contains a single machine.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Operations management

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Operations management claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Operations management before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Operations management ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Operations management

In research
Operations management appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry
Engineering practice reuses Operations management in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom
Operations management is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Business terms, Management by type, Manufacturing, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Operations management outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Operations management in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what Operations management means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain Operations management out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Operations management in simple terms?

Operations management is concerned with designing and controlling the production of goods and services, ensuring that businesses are efficient in using resources to meet customer requirements. It is concerned with managing an entire production system that converts inputs (in the forms of raw materi…

Why does Operations management matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Operations management?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Operations management.

Tags

  • Business terms
  • Management by type
  • Manufacturing
  • Production economics
  • Supply chain management

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