Description
Investigative Report
Carry out an investigation into the operations management of a company.
You will be expected to include a critical review of the organisation’s supply chain; an evaluation of tools and techniques employed by the organisation, evaluation of the information systems used and quality standards in relation to performance. In your report you will provide conclusions and recommendations in light of your investigation.
This may include but is not limited to:
Concepts of Managing Operations
Tools and Techniques for Managing Operations
The Management of Quality Systems
Legislation/Health & Safety
Nature, Content & Process of operations strategy
Support Notes
Concepts of Managing Operations
• The types and nature of operations: product, service and product-service mix
• How operations inter-link with and support strategic objectives
• The concept of the supply chain including: the nature of supply and demand; the constituent parts of the supply chain and its stakeholders (suppliers, core operations, distributors, customers/clients); circular flows within the supply chain
• The importance of continuity of movement of information, products and services into and out of the organisation
• Roles and responsibilities for managing the operations, products and services
• The impact of people management processes on the organisations operations
Tools and Techniques for Managing Operations – remember you cannot cover everything – it depends on the relevance to the organisation
• The use of tools and techniques such as flow process charts and network charts, to achieve operational objectives
• Loading – maximum resource availability less downtime
• Activity sequencing and workload scheduling to use resources to meet stated objectives
• The comparison of available and attainable resources
• The principles of managing capacity – stock control, warehousing
• The principles of procurement – purchasing, buying, Materials Requisition Planning (MRP)
• The management of information systems
• Use of ICT
The Management of Quality Systems
• The principles of quality and their application
• The importance and benefits of quality as a contribution to the organisation’s strategic objectives
• The concepts of managing continuous improvement
• The range of tools and techniques available to manage quality and continuous improvement
Legislation/Health & Safety
• The critical issues that affect the operations of the business
Nature of operations strategy
• The market and resource based views of operations strategy and their impact on operational decision making
Content of operations strategy
• Consideration of various ‘decision areas’ including capacity, location, supply network, process technology and organisational structure supporting operation decision making
Process of Operations Strategy
• The alignment of resource requirements, developing sustainable competitive advantage and assessing the impact of uncertainty on operations