Operation management (Coursework Sample)

Operation management
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Operation management
`Operations management refers to the management of all activities directly involved in the creation of goods/services through the conversion of inputs into output. It consists of the following process capacity planning, forecasting, inventory management, buying and maintaining material, quality assurance, motivation of employees, scheduling, and making decision on where to allocate facilities. The four functions of management include operations, marketing and finance.
Finance
The finance function accomplishes all the activities relating to acquiring resources at favorable prices and allocation of resources within the organization. Personnel involved in f the management of finance and operations cooperate by exchanging information and expertise in activities such as economic analysis of investment proposal, and provision of funds. Provision of funds refers to the funding of operations. The amount of funds for each operation and the timing of funding is influenced by the quantity of funds available within an organization, and are specifically considered when the funds are limited. Careful funding is needed to avoid the problems associated with cash-flow. Majority of the profit oriented firms obtain from the revenues they generate from selling goods and services. Economic analysis of investment proposals involves evaluating alternative investments that requires inputs from both operations and finance personnel (Heizer, 2011).
Marketing
Marketing refers to the process of finding out what people want, why they want it and the amount of money they are willing to spend in order to have what they want. Marketing involves all the mechanisms that are used to reach and convince prospective clients that you are the company of choice for them. It is the message which conveys the information that prepares the prospect for sales. Marketing is composed of advertising, public relations, brand marketing, viral marketing, and direct mail. Marketing is most usually confused to mean the same thing as advertising, although they are two different concepts in business. Advertising is defined as the promotion of something such as a company, a product or service or product. It features a strong call to action and promotes the benefits of that being advertised. A sale is the conversion of a business inquiry leading into a contract or shipment. It is the activity of taking a lead and selling the item desired. The three functions of operation management, that is, finance, operations and marketing, operations interface at various points during the process of designing and developing products. These functions interface during setting up of realistic schedule, forecasting, and making decisions pertaining to quality and quantity (Heizer, 2011).
Operations
This function of operation management encompasses the following within an organization: management information systems (MIS), accounting, purchasing, manufacturing engineering, product design, logistic, human resources and maintenance. Accounting involves giving out information on supplies to management touching on the costs of material, labor, materials, and overhead cost. It produces reports on items like scrap, downtime, and inventories. Accounting is composed of accounts payables and accounts receivables. Accountants also collect that are used for making financial statements (Heizer, 2011).
Management information systems (MIS) involves the provision of effective information needed for efficient management. This is mainly achieved through designing systems hardware and software in order to capture relevant information and preparation of reports. Purchasing is responsible for procuring equipment, supplies, materials, and services. Purchasing ensures timely delivery of purchases in the right quantity to facilitate all the operations within an organization. The purchasing department plays the role of evaluating vendors to ensure reliability, timely delivery, quality, flexibility, fair price and services, and the inspection of purchased goods (Heizer, 2011).
Human resource is responsible for recruiting and training of personnel within an organization. In addition it concerned with contracting negotiation, administration of wage and salary and labor relation, as well as making sure that employees are healthy and safe.
Product designing is conducted by such professionals like chefs in the hotel industry, engineers in manufacturing companies, chemist and architects just to mention a few. Designers come up with goods and services based on the information provided to them by markets from the market which provides specifications of products to operations to make products.
Maintenance refers to the upkeep and repair of the entire infrastructure in an organization such as buildings and equipment, as well as waste management, parking and security.
Manufacturing engineering involves designing or purchasing of the equipment and machinery involved in the process of production. It is also referred to as process engineers.
Logistics is concerned with the transportation of raw material to the plant, storage, as well as the shipping of goods to warehouses, retail outlets, or final customers.
The roles of operation manager
Operation manager plays the role of overseeing all the activities that contributes towards the production of goods and services within an organization. Operations manager provides guidance to the system through decision making. The manager is responsible for managing the planning process, designing, and controlling all the elements in an organization.
Manufacturing and service share similarity in terms of what is done but differ in terms of how it is done. Both manufacturing and services are involved in designing and operation decisions. Manufacturing and service organizations differ mainly due to the fact that manufacturing is goods-oriented a...