Chapter 1
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Definitions
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Operations and supply chain management (OSCM) is defined as the design, operation, and improvement of the systems that create and deliver the firm's primary products and services
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Concerned with the management of the entire system that produces a product or delivers a service
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Operations refers to manufacturing and service processes that are used to transform the resources employed by a firm into products desired by customers
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Supply chain refers to processes that move information and material to and from the manufacturing and service processes of the firm
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Processes
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Planning consists of the processes needed to operate an existing supply chain strategically
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Sourcing involves the selection of suppliers that will deliver the goods and services needed to create the firm's product
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Making is where the major product is produced or the service provided
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Delivering is also referred to as logistics processes
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Returning involves processes for receiving worn-out, defective, and excess products back from customers and support for customers who have problems with delivered products
Differences between services and goods production (five differences)
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The first is that a service is an intangible process that cannot be weighed or measured, whereas a good is a tangible output of a process that has physical dimensions
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The second is that a service requires some degree of interaction with the customer for it to be a service
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The third is that services, with the big exception of hard technologies such as ATMs and information technologies such as answering machines and automated Internet exchanges, are inherently heterogeneous— they vary from day to day and even hour by hour as a function of the attitudes of the customer and the servers
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The fourth is that services as a process are perishable and time dependent, and unlike goods, they can't be stored.
Operations Strategy