Production and Operations Management
Production Process
Form utility: The value producers add to materials in the creation of finished goods and services
Process Manufacturing: That part of the production process that physically or chemically changes materials.
Intermittent process: A production process in the production run is short and the machines are changed frequently to make different products
Computer-aided design (CAD): The use of computers in the designs of products.
Computer-aided manufacturing(CAM): The use of computers in the manufacturing of products.
Computer-integrated manufacturing(CIM): The uniting of compute-aided design with computer-aided manufacturing.
Flexible manufacturing: Designing machines to do multiple tasks so that they can produce a variety of products.
Assembly process: That part of the production process that puts together components.
Continuous process: A production process in which long production runs turn out finished goods over time.
Operations Management Planning
Facility location: The process of selecting a geographic location for a company's operations.
Purchasing: The function in a firm that searches for high quality material resources, finds the best suppliers, and negotiates the best price for goods and services.
Just-in-time (JIT) inventory control: Production process in which de minimum of inventory is kept on the premises and parts, supplies and other needs are delivered just in time to go on the assembly line.
Quality: Consistently producing what the consumer wants while reducing errors before and after delivery to the customer.
Six Sigma quality: A quality measure that allows only 3.4 defects per million opportunities.
Telecomuting: Working from home via computer.
Control Products: Pert and Gantt Charts
Gantt Chart: Bar graph showing production managers what projects are being worked on and what stage they are in at any given time.
Program evaluation and review technique (PERT): A method for analyzing the tasks involved in completing a given project, estimating the time needed to complete each task, and identifying the minimum time needed to complete the total project.
Critical path: In PERT network, the sequence of tasks that takes the longest time to complete.
From Production to Operations Management
Operations management: Area in management that converts or transforms resources into goods and services.
Operations management in the service industry is all about creating a good experience for those who use the service.
Production: Creation of finished goods and services using the factors of production: land, capital, entrepreneurship and knowledge.
Production management: All the activities managers do to help their firms create goods.