Operations management is about how organizations produce goods and services. Operations produce goods and services by managing processes to change the state or condition of something in order to produce outputs. One set of inputs to an operation’s processes is transformed resources. These are the resources that are treated, transformed or converted in the process. They are usually a mixture of material, information, and customers. Banks typically process customers and information, factories typically process material, hospitals typically process customers in terms of patients, consultants typically process information and customers, and shipping companies typically process goods in transport. The other set of inputs to any operation process are transforming resources. These are the resources that act upon the transformed resources. There are basically two types of transforming resources namely facilities and staff. As with transformed resources the transforming resources differ depending on the nature of the operations. Facilities may be factories and machines in manufacturing while it may be offices and computers in engineering consulting, shops in retailing and ships, trucks, and warehouses in transportation. Staff may be assembly workers in manufacturing while in services it may be doctors, engineers, lawyers, accountants, material handlers, drivers, clerks, and management consultants.

What happens within the transformation process depend on what inputs it is transforming. Materials processing may change the physical properties, location, and possession of the material input. Information processing may change the informational properties, possession, and location of information. Customer processing may change the physical properties, location, but also psychological and physiological state of the customer.

Some operations produce just goods and others just services or information but most operations produce a mixture of the two. The distinction between services and goods (often called products) is often difficult but is mostly referred to their tangibility.

The course covers The scope of OM, The role and objectives of operations, Operations strategy, Operations system design and process choice, Layouts, Industry network design, Supply chains, Planning and control, Quality, Operations performance and improvement.

Please be aware that this course is also a part of a minor in Process and Innovation Management

This course is part of the minor in Operations and Innovation Process Management

Book:

· Slack, N, Brandon-Jones, A.: Operations Management, Pearson, 9th ed., 2019

Articles:

• Frandsen, Raja, Pleuger, Basner: Expanding markets through analytical services and solutions. CBS Competitiveness Platform, 2017.

• Karlsson, Christer & Åhlström, Pär: Assessing Changes Towards Lean Production. International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Vol. 16, No. 2, 1996
• Karlsson, Christer: The Development of Industrial Networks –Challenges to Operations Management in an Extraprise. International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Vol. 23, No. 1, 2003
• Mikkola, Juliana .H.: Modularity, component outsourcing, and inter-firm learning. R & D Management, Vol. 33, No. 4, 2003
• Karlsson, Stjernqvist, Frandsen: Becoming a Solution Provider, CBS Competitiveness Platform, 2018