Operations Management and the Importance of Interdepartmental Communication
Introduction
Operations management is the department responsible for overseeing the transformation process through which company resources (e.g. land, labor, capital, and/or customers) are converted into goods and services. It is the operation manager's responsibility to ensure that products being manufactured meet specifications of quality and design, that they are produced according to schedule, and that this done at minimum cost to the company. The magnitude of this task requires that the operations manager stay in constant communication with numerous other functional departments of an organization. There are six critical phases of production for which operations management is responsible: (1) service or product design, (2) product quality and process planning, (4) capacity planning and supply chain management, (5) material requirements and inventory planning, (6) facility location planning and (7) facility layout and job design. The nature of an operation manager's responsibilities will vary by organization and depends on the type of product or service being offered. However, regardless of the company, because operations managers are concerned with such a variety of tasks, sustaining clear lines of communication within the organization is critical. In order to maintain and improve production quality and efficiency the operations manager must stay in continual dialogue with the finance, marketing, human resources, and research and design departments.
Service and Product Design
In service or product design two questions will be addressed: (1) what service or product should an organization be offering and (2) what will be the design for this service or product. The first question requires communication with the marketing department, while the second questions is dependent upon the research and design (R&D) and finance departments. The operations manager must first learn from marketing what new products are being developed and what the demand for new products
Operations management is the department responsible for overseeing the transformation process through which company resources (e.g. land, labor, capital, and/or customers) are converted into goods and services. It is the operation manager's responsibility to ensure that products being manufactured meet specifications of quality and design, that they are produced according to schedule, and that this done at minimum cost to the company. The magnitude of this task requires that the operations manager stay in constant communication with numerous other functional departments of an organization. There are six critical phases of production for which operations management is responsible: (1) service or product design, (2) product quality and process planning, (4) capacity planning and supply chain management, (5) material requirements and inventory planning, (6) facility location planning and (7) facility layout and job design. The nature of an operation manager's responsibilities will vary by organization and depends on the type of product or service being offered. However, regardless of the company, because operations managers are concerned with such a variety of tasks, sustaining clear lines of communication within the organization is critical. In order to maintain and improve production quality and efficiency the operations manager must stay in continual dialogue with the finance, marketing, human resources, and research and design departments.
Service and Product Design
In service or product design two questions will be addressed: (1) what service or product should an organization be offering and (2) what will be the design for this service or product. The first question requires communication with the marketing department, while the second questions is dependent upon the research and design (R&D) and finance departments. The operations manager must first learn from marketing what new products are being developed and what the demand for new products
Cited: Heizer, Jay and Barry Render. Operations Management. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004. Shim, Jae K. and Joel G. Siegel. Operations Management. New York: Barrons Educational Series Inc.,1999.