Operations Management - Essay Example

Executive summary This paper focuses on the identifying the differences between service operations and manufacturing operations. It clearly distinguishes what are the tasks undertaken by the service operations management and the manufacturing operations management. Consequently, it explains how service operations management can benefit from implementing manufacturing operations and system. It covers the lean operations and resource planning system to illustrate clearly that point. Introduction Service operation management is very different from manufacturing operations management. Service operations management entails fulfilling the end user’s needs and creating a suitable environment for the workers so that they can produce the required specifications of the user (Johnston 1998). Manufacturing operations management entails producing the required commodity required by the end user. It entails making sure that the product required has undergone through all the detailed steps in the manufacturing process. Difference between service operation and manufacturing operation Service operation is a process that is concerned with the maintenance of daily operations that occur with in an organization. Service operation management makes sure that the daily activities of the business run normally without any interruptions. Service operations management focuses on the infrastructure and the daily activities that are used to deliver services for an organization. Some of the tasks that occur in service operation include fixing problems that occur in the organization, fulfilling the user needs and requests, resolving failures of the system, and undertaking routinely operational tasks. On the other hand, manufacturing operations are the tasks that an organization undergoes in order to produce a commodity. Manufacturing operations make sure that the production of the commodity that is needed has been successful. In addition to that, it makes sure that the quality of the goods or commodities needed are met. While service management focuses on the maintenance of the infrastructure and meeting the requests and orders of a client, manufacturing operations makes sure that the needed commodity is produced. Service operations deal with the services that are to be given to the organization while manufacturing operations deal with creating the goods that are needed for production in the organization. This is to imply that service operations deal with the intangible while manufacturing operations deal with the tangibles in an organization. The intangibles that service operations deal with is the fixing problems that occur in the organization, fulfilling the user needs and requests, resolving failures of the system and undertaking routinely operational tasks. The tangible that the manufacturing operations deal with is the production of the goods of one unit until the end. Manufacturing operations make sure that the goods that are required are manufactured and processed the way the client has requested them to be. In service operations, there is a relationship between the producer and the consumer. The production and consumption is simultaneous while in manufacturing operations, there production and the consumption of the goods occur at different stages (Hammer & Champy 2001). For instance, in a baking flour company, the task that service operations entails is to make sure that the consumers are satisfied with the baking flour. The service operations management team will make sure that the daily activities in the company run efficiently. However, in a manufacturing operations set up, the management team will make sure that they process the baking flour that is needed. In addition to that, they will also make sure that all the steps that are required to produce the baking flour are completed. In a service operation system, the inventory concept might not be material. For instance in a health care sector, people who are queuing in a line to see the doctor might be an inventory concept. However, in a manufacturing operations set up, the inventory is usually there together with the buffers. This is because manufacturing operations deal with commodity and goods while in a service operation system, most of the time they deal with people and services. Service operations management makes sure that the manufacturing environment is suitable and conducive for proper manufacturing of commodities while the manufacturing operations department makes sure that the commodity is manufactured. In this way, manufacturing operations are dependant on service operations if they are to produce a good commodity according to the users demand. On the other hand, service operations make sure that the manufacturing operations department meets the end users requirements by providing a suitable environment for the production of the commodity. In the service operations sector, there is a considerable variety of service delivery required. The variety of services to be delivered include the fixing problems that occur in the organization, fulfilling the user needs and requests, resolving failures of the system and undertaking routinely operational tasks. In manufacturing operations, the services that are to be delivered include producing the commodity and goods that the end user requires (Garvin 1992). For the manufacturing operations, the services that are needed are producing a fine commodity. This is because in service operations department, they include dealing with the producer and the consumer. In the service operations sector, the management must make sure that the substantive and peripheral are existence. For instance in a hotel sector, the work of the service operations sector is to make sure that food is available for the client. Besides that the service operations management team must also make sure that the client is comfortable and they have a helping hand whenever they require it. In the manufacturing operations sector, they only have to deal with the substantive benefits. This is only to make sure that the client receives a good quality of the good they require. Service operations management can benefit from implementing manufacturing operations and system approaches. Some of the theories or approaches that they can use is lean operations and resource planning system. Resource planning system The main task that is involved in the resource planning system of the manufacturing operations is to make sure that all the resources of the organization are planned effectively. The resource planning system makes sure that the costs that are incurred are cut. The system also makes sure that the efficiency of the operation has improved. In addition to that, the resource planning manufacturing system makes sure that the system is available for managing the demands of a complex manufacturing procedure. The resource planning management system makes sure that the peoples’ skills are correctly integrated with the work they are doing, it provides an accurate database and in addition to that computer resources. The goal of the resource planning manufacturing system is to provide data that is consistent to all the team players in the manufacturing operations industry. The resource planning manufacturing system provides this data as the product goes through the line of production. The resource planning manufacturing system coordinates the entire manufacturing production. Some of the products, which are coordinated, include the materials that are required, the finance of the manufacturing process and the human relations involved (Schonberger & Knod 1991) The resource planning manufacturing system begins with the planning of the materials that are required for the manufacturing process. From the sales and marketing department, the resource planning manufacturing system enables the input of the forecasts of the sales. The next task that the resource planning manufacturing system will undertake is drawing a master production schedule. This includes the specific plans to be undertaken being broken down for every product that is in line. The resource planning manufacturing system then assists in the development of a production schedule that is detailed. The schedule accounts for the capacity of the labor and machine. In addition to that it also schedules the way the production will run in relation to the materials’ arrival. The output of the resource planning manufacturing system is the final labor and the schedule of the machine. In addition to that, the resource planning manufacturing system will also provide data about the final production numbers, and the cost of production, which must include the time of labor, time of the machine, and materials that will be used. The service operations management can benefit greatly from the resource planning manufacturing system. If the service operation is to adopt this kind of system, it will benefit from better control of their inventories. Additionally, the service operations will be avoiding will include many information errors. Information errors which can be encountered include some data is missing, the redundancy of data, incorrect keying in of numerals leading to numerical errors, based on the incorrect numeric errors, incorrect calculations occur which lead to misinterpretation of data which results to the making of bad decisions. If the service operations management integrates the resource planning management system, it will also gain improved scheduling. The relationship between the supplier and the manufacturing management will also be productive. Furthermore, the design control will improve together with the control of the quality and quantity of the products. The working capital will also be reduced, accurate records for inventory will also be produced together with quicker deliveries since the cash flow will have improved (Johnston & Clark 2005). Lean operations Lean operations are concerned with a practice in production that involves considering the resources’ expenditure of any manufacturing goal. It removes the possibility of creating a resource of value for the end consumer to be wasteful and eliminates it. In a lean production, value is determined if the consumer is willing to pay for any process or action undertaken (Cookson 2009). Lean production is concerned with providing value but with less work undertaken to provide the commodity that is required. Lean operations works with eliminating all the unnecessary steps. Lean operations include aligning all the steps that are to be undertaken in an activity in a flow that is continuous. In addition to that, it also entails recombining the labor workforce in to a cross functional team which will be dedicated to undertaking the activity at hand. Lean production is also about continually striving to improve the services that occur within the organization. In this way, the manufacturing organizations can develop, produce and distribute products with half of the work force that they had before. In addition to that, the space that will involved in the production of the commodity, the tools needed for the production of the commodity together with the time that will be required will be halved. The organization, if it applies lean production, then it can become more flexible and it can become more responsible in responding to the clients desires (Harvard Business Review 2000). Lean operations can be very helpful in the service operations management. They can apply lean operations to reduce the work force that they had before. Consequently to that, the space that will involved in the production of the commodity, the tools needed for the production of the commodity together with the time that will be required for the production of the commodity will be also be reduced. In this way, the profits of the organization will increase. This will help the organization meeting its target and predefined goals. Conclusion Service operations differ from manufacturing production in a number of ways. Firstly, service operations management makes sure that the daily activities of the business run normally without any interruptions. Service management focuses on the infrastructure and the daily activities that are used to deliver services for an organization. Manufacturing operations are the tasks that an organization undergoes in order to produce a commodity. Manufacturing operations make sure that the production of the commodity that is needed has been successful. Service operations deal with the services that are to be given to the organization while manufacturing operations deal with creating the goods that are needed for production in the organization. This is to imply that service operations deal with the intangible while manufacturing operations deal with the tangibles in an organization. In service operations, the production and consumption is simultaneous while in manufacturing operations, there production and the consumption of the goods occur at different stages. Resource planning system and lean operations are some of the approaches that service operations can benefit from manufacturing operations system. This will assist the service operations organization in growing to be a profit making company that cuts on the costs which are to be incurred. References Cookson, R. 2009. International Companies Start to Sever Links with Risky Customers. Financial Times. Retrieved on 12th March, 2012 from http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/352ed140-fbc8-11dd-bcad-000077b07658,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F352ed140-fbc8-11dd-bcad-000077b07658.html&_i_referer=#axzz1otHOUbqA Garvin, D.A. 1992. Operations Strategy, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall . Hammer, M & Champy J. 2001. Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution, London: Nicholas Brealey. Harvard Business Review. 2000. Harvard Business Review on Managing the Value Chain. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School Press . Johnston, R. & Clark G. 2005. Service Operations Management: Improving Service Delivery, 2nd Edition, Harlow: Financial Times Prentice . Johnston R. 1998. Service operations management operations: return to roots. International Journal of operations & operations management 19(2):104-124 Schonberger, R.J. & Knod E.M. 1991.Operations Management: Improving Customer Service, 4th Edition, Homewood: Irwin. Read More