Applications of Operations Management Concepts
Introduction
The world’s leading economies are ostensibly heading towards a recession with plummeting stock markets and soaring crude oil prices as consumers are beginning to feel the pinch of the credit crunch. According to analysts, the financial slumps of the past nine months seem to be unmatched since the Great Depression (Elliot, 2008). Unstable and unpredictable market turmoil from various sectors of industries with particular reference to the UK has seen major companies battling the slowdown in consumer spending due to the ongoing effects of the credit crunch which threatens job security (Harding & Elliot 2008).
The snowball effect of the faltering economy has caused companies and establishments to redesign their marketing strategies and approach towards consumers as well as employ various forms of operations management concepts to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of hospitality service operations.
This essay aims to discuss various service operations concepts that are currently applied in the industry to increase efficiency and effectiveness of the service process which will benefit hospitality firms in view of the economic challenges faced today. Demand and capacity management
Demand and capacity management has always been an issue for service-oriented establishments where balancing demand and supply almost seems impossible due to the inability to predict and forecast with pinpoint accuracy. Garcia et al. (2002) define the aim of capacity management as the goal of minimizing the waiting time for customers and avoiding idle capacity whilst attending to demand in the most efficient way possible. Demand management can be viewed as the process that balances the customers’ requirements with the capabilities of the supply chain (Croxton et al., 2002).
According to Klassen & Rohleder (2002), there are two approaches towards demand and capacity management. Demand management deals with manipulating demand to match the capacity available
The world’s leading economies are ostensibly heading towards a recession with plummeting stock markets and soaring crude oil prices as consumers are beginning to feel the pinch of the credit crunch. According to analysts, the financial slumps of the past nine months seem to be unmatched since the Great Depression (Elliot, 2008). Unstable and unpredictable market turmoil from various sectors of industries with particular reference to the UK has seen major companies battling the slowdown in consumer spending due to the ongoing effects of the credit crunch which threatens job security (Harding & Elliot 2008).
The snowball effect of the faltering economy has caused companies and establishments to redesign their marketing strategies and approach towards consumers as well as employ various forms of operations management concepts to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of hospitality service operations.
This essay aims to discuss various service operations concepts that are currently applied in the industry to increase efficiency and effectiveness of the service process which will benefit hospitality firms in view of the economic challenges faced today. Demand and capacity management
Demand and capacity management has always been an issue for service-oriented establishments where balancing demand and supply almost seems impossible due to the inability to predict and forecast with pinpoint accuracy. Garcia et al. (2002) define the aim of capacity management as the goal of minimizing the waiting time for customers and avoiding idle capacity whilst attending to demand in the most efficient way possible. Demand management can be viewed as the process that balances the customers’ requirements with the capabilities of the supply chain (Croxton et al., 2002).
According to Klassen & Rohleder (2002), there are two approaches towards demand and capacity management. Demand management deals with manipulating demand to match the capacity available
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