How Service Operations are Different from Manufacturing Operations - Essay Example

Task Operations Management-Discuss How Service Operations Are Different From Manufacturing Operations And Explain How Service Operations Can Benefit From Implementing Manufacturing Approaches And Systems. Draw Concepts and Theories to Answer These Questions Introduction This paper focuses on elaborating on the difference between service and manufacturing operations. It goes further to give an explanation of how service operations benefit from implementing manufacturing systems into their operations. The use of systems has recently been widely accepted as an easy way of increasing the value of the goods and services being offered to customers (Harvard Business Review, 2000). The use of systems theory can be said to be a specialized form of system thinking which implies that systems are integrated into the activities of a manufacturing or service operator. They are integrated for the purposes of increasing a business’s profitability, efficiency along with many other aspects that are described in the paper. Service operations are actually concerned with giving guidance on the achievement of effectiveness along with efficiency in delivering and supporting the services offered by a business (Harvard Business Review, 2000). This is done so that the customer and service providers are assured of their money’s value. These operations may be used by a business in the achievement of their strategic objectives and this fact makes the service a very critical and essential capability of a business entity (Hammer and Champy, 2001). The purpose of providing guidance is to maintain steadiness in the service operation strategies in a business. It allows for changes in the designs, scales, scope along with the service levels being applied by a business. An organization is provided with a detailed guideline process, tools along with methods for using when controlling reactive and proactive reactions (Johnston and Clark, 2005). The business managers along with practitioners attain knowledge that helps them in making more appropriate and better decisions on various aspects. These aspects include the management of the availability of the services, the control of demand for their services, optimizing the utilization of the existing capacities, making schedules of their operations and the fixing of various problems affecting their business. The guidance that is offered involves the support of the business service operations through the use of newer copies and architectures (Hammer and Champy, 2001). The examples of these services are the utilization of a shared service, mobile business along with web services. On the other hand, manufacturing operations usually concern themselves with the functioning of a business or a facility in contrast to the issues of maintaining, supplying distributing the products from the business. There are many differences that exist between the two processes (Harvard Business Review, 2000). For instance, service operations are usually labor intensive with the delivery of their products involving their interactions with humans along with many processes that are manual (Chopra and Meindl, 2001). The industry does not require the utilization of standardization along with automation of procedures like the manufacturing operations to augment their efficiencies. Manufacturing operations often require the use of systems that help in the scheduling of activities to enhance the coordination of these activities (Paton, Clegg, Hsuan and Pilkington, 2011). The service operations may not require the scheduling activities on a temporary basis as opposed to the manufacturing operations which might require them on a permanent basis (Harvard Business Review, 2000). The customers usually play a vital role in the service operations and their initiation. This involvement by the customers often brings service heterogeneity and greatly impacts the quality of the services being offered. The different and distinct needs of the customers involved makes the providers change the contents of their products to suit their needs. The quality of the service operations are also very hard to measure as well as monitor (Fitzsimmons and Fitzsimmons, 2006). The manufacturing operations on the other hand can easily be measured or quantified and do not involve the customers in their activities. They are initiated by the producers or manufacturers to satisfy the general needs of their perceived customer base. The customers of the manufacturing operations are not involved in the manufacturing operations and only purchase complete products from the manufacturers (Paton, Clegg, Hsuan and Pilkington, 2011). Another major difference that exists between the service and manufacturing operations is that service operations are mainly intangible unlike their counterparts, which are tangible. This implies that the products of service operations are normally hard to store or account for, and it is also very difficult to identify who the actual suppliers are. The products from service operations can only be stored in scientific books. Manufacturing operations on the other hand are usually tangible, and this implies that they can easily be accounted for, stored and measured (Fitzsimmons and Fitzsimmons, 2006). It is also easy to identify the suppliers of these operations since they normally come tagged with identifiers. The difficulty experienced in storing the products of service operations comes due to the fact that the products are intangible, and this creates another difficulty of identifying their suppliers. Service operations are used to produce services which are created and utilized at the same time. This is different from the manufacturing operations which produce products that are used later on (Paton, Clegg, Hsuan and Pilkington, 2011). The manufacturing operations usually include the use of distributing systems and storage facilities unlike the service operations which do not. The customer of a service operation normally has to include his inputs before the operations begin. This is different from the manufacturing operations whereby the input of manufacturing a product comes from the manufacturers themselves (Fitzsimmons and Fitzsimmons, 2006). Finally, service operations have complicated networking structures with each branch having its own strategies for handling different customer needs. In contrast to this processes, manufacturing operations usually obtain their guidance consistent strategies that are used within the companies (Chopra and Meindl, 2001). MRP II is a system that is used in planning the manufacturing resources that are utilized by a manufacturing industry. It specifically addresses the issues of operational and financial planning, and it uses its simulation capabilities to answer the uncertainties of the events that might occur (Paton, Clegg, Hsuan and Pilkington, 2011). This system does not exclusively use its system functionalities but also utilizes man’s skills, data accuracy along with various computer resources. It is a notion that has been invented for the purpose of utilizing the human resources in a manufacturing plant in more productive activities (Hammer and Champy, 2001). The MRP II system typically uses computer resources and can either be purchased or be in-built. It has facilities that assist in the planning activities of a business, tracing items, managing contracts, purchases and reporting along with managing costs among other features. The modules contained in the system are integrated for the purpose of having common information as well as enabling its free flow within an organization (Johnston and Clark, 2005). The system is generally concerned with coordinating the manufacturing processes along with the usage of materials, their finances and the human labor at their disposal. Service operations will benefit from utilizing the system through the provision of steady data to everyone who is involved in these operations. The service operations using these computerized systems will benefit from not having errors input into their systems (Chopra and Meindl, 2001). The service operations are also bound to benefit from the forecasts made on their sales along with marketing efforts, which are vital in determining the demands for raw materials. The system facilitates the development of a schedule for the service operations that provides an accurate account of the capacities for the machine along with their labor. It schedules the productions of the service operations according to the order in which the raw materials arrive (Johnston and Clark, 2005). This in turn, enables the service operations to be very effective and efficiently satisfy the distinct needs of their customers. The managers for the service operations may also obtain vital information from the system regarding their accounts and financial positions (Hammer and Champy, 2001). The MRP II systems enable the service operations to benefit in other diverse ways that facilitate their implantation. They help in providing better controls on the service operations inventories since they give an analysis of all the required materials are utilized (Harvard Business Review, 2000). They also help in providing improved scheduling facilities as they record activities and customer needs in the order they happen. This helps the personnel responsible for operations in prioritizing their activities according to the most urgent and pressing customer needs (Chopra and Meindl, 2001). In addition to the above benefits, the MRP II systems assist the service operators in establishing and maintaining more productive relations with their customers. This is mainly done through the inventories that the system keeps for their customer’s needs (Hammer and Champy, 2001). The people in charge of these service operations are able to prioritize and distinguish between the distinct needs of their customers thus increasing their satisfaction levels. Service operations in the design or engineering disciplines also benefit through the systems as they are able to come up with better and improved controls on their design. This is usually achieved through their customer’s alterations, which can be easily implemented using the systems (Chopra and Meindl, 2001). They also benefit through the use of better controls on the quantities and qualities utilized in delivering services. The system does away with the issue of resource waste and directs them to the most urgent needs that a business is encountering (Harvard Business Review, 2000). Finally, service operations in the financial or costing sectors also attain several benefits from using this system. They benefit by having reductions on the working capital that is reserved for inventory purposes because the systems have in-built functions for performing these activities (Chopra and Meindl, 2001). They also benefit from improvements in their flow of cash within the business which is achieved through the quick delivery of services to their customers. More of them are served appropriately with the company reaping adequate funds to facilitate their internal and external activities (Hammer and Champy, 2001). An accurate account of their activities is also kept, and this enables operators to determine where they are making losses and also where they need to improve on their resource utilization. Lean manufacturing systems are concerned with expenses incurred on acquiring resources for other goals apart from creating values for the final consumers. They become wasteful and thereby establish an elimination target for service operations (Maylor, 2003). The systems purpose is usually focused on the preservation of a services value while performing less work. The systems were adopted from the production systems of the Toyota Company (TPS). The TPS system is widely known as a system that was first used by the company in improving their customers’ value for their products while minimizing costs (Chopra and Meindl, 2001). The lean systems do assist service operations in decision making through the use of empirical techniques. The systems don’t just use the existing ideas in a certain field but use certain empirical mechanisms in the formulation of the best decisions (Fitzsimmons and Fitzsimmons, 2006). The use of “Just-in time” lean manufacturing systems in service operations helps in bringing a variety of benefits into a business. The lean systems do assist businesses in improving the quality of the services on offer (Hammer and Champy, 2001). This is usually enables the business to remain competitive in the market by helping them to comprehend their customers desires and needs. By understanding their customers, the service operators are then able to develop services that will satisfy their necessities along with expectations (Maylor, 2003). The systems also happen to be beneficial in the elimination of wastes within the business of the service operator (Harvard Business Review, 2000). The time spent on performing activities within the service operations from their commencement to end, is drastically reduced along with the overall costs incurred (Chopra and Meindl, 2001). The services created through these manufacturing systems happen to have fewer defects. This usually happens because the processes of batching and production errors have already been eliminated. The system further facilitates a reduction in the inventories that service operations yield. This is because only products that are required in the following processes are produced. The inventories applicable in the service operations are also not permitted to build up thereby reducing the spaces required for the operations (Paton, Clegg, Hsuan and Pilkington, 2011). In utilizing lean systems, lesser spaces and manpower is required for the management of the systems. The systems also greatly assist in enhancing the flexibility of the service operations since there are less inventories and lead-times from the processes involved in the dealings of a consumer and the operators (Fitzsimmons and Fitzsimmons, 2006). The use of these systems enables the creation of safer working environments for the since less wastes are witnessed. This helps in the creation of cleaner environments for the workers who do not dwell in better arrangement environments (Harvard Business Review, 2000). The tools and equipment are properly sorted, and the expectations of uncoordinated movements in search of the items are eliminated (Chopra and Meindl, 2001). The employees working for the service operators usually have their morale being improved because they are now able to give their feedbacks on the problems they are encountering. The Just In Time systems that are used in service operations greatly help in eliminating the wastes emanating from transport, motion, inventories, over production and processing along with the defects. The reduction of these wastes which are a cost to the operations help in reducing the values that consumers have to pay for utilizing the services on offer (Hammer and Champy, 2001). Finally, the use of these systems can be said to contribute to higher stock turnover levels, fewer breakdowns form the machines in use and augmenting the efficiency of the service operations. They also assist in increasing operators profits from his or her activities and improving the services development and the delivery performances (Chopra and Meindl, 2001). Conclusion The service operations can be said to be different from the manufacturing operations mainly because the former deals in intangible products. Companies using the traditional methods in the production of their commodities and services do encounter several problems, which can be handled through the use of the systems discussed. The systems can be said to be very important in contributing to the profitability and efficiencies of the operations of the manufacturing and service sectors (Paton, Clegg, Hsuan and Pilkington, 2011). The systems theory facilitates the regulation of operator activities, and this implies that businesses are capable of correcting their faults through the feedback obtained from the users (Maylor, 2003). This makes use of systems vital when performing manufacturing or service operations. References Chopra, S. and Meindl, P. 2001. Supply Chain Management: Strategy, Planning, And Operation, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J. Fitzsimmons, J.A. and Fitzsimmons, M.J. 2006. Service Management: Operations, Strategy, And Information Technology, 5th edition, McGraw-Hill Education, Maidenhead . Hammer, M and Champy, J. 2001. Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution, Nicholas Brealey, London. Harvard Business Review. 2000. Harvard Business Review on Managing the Value Chain, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Mass. Hill, A. and Hill, T. 2011. Essential Operations Management, Palgrave, London. Johnston, R. and Clark, G. 2005. Service Operations Management: Improving Service Delivery, 2nd edition, Financial Times Prentice, Harlow. Maylor, H. 2003. Project Management, 3rd Edition, Financial Times/Prentice Hall, London. Paton, S., Clegg, B., Hsuan, J. and Pilkington, A. 2011. Operations Management, McGraw- Hill, Maidenhead. Read More