Lecture 1

Question 1

What is products?

Answer 1

Everything you wear, eat, sit on, or in, use, knock, or read about on a sports field comes to you courtesy of operations.

Question 2

What is services?

Answer 2

Every book you borrow from the library, every medical treatment you receive, every lecture you attend at a university, every service you receive comes to you in courtesy of operations.

Question 3

Characteristics of products/goods and services

Answer 3

core goods:
- tangible
- can be inventoried
- little customer contact
- quality easily assured
- long lead time
- The material is transformed
- often capital-intensive

core services:
- intangible
- cannot be inventoried
- extensive customer contact
- Quality harder to assess
- short lead time
- The information or customer is transformed
- often labour-intensive

Question 4

What is operations management?

Answer 4

is the management of processes used to design, supply, produce, and deliver valuable goods and services to customers

Question 5

What is a process?

Answer 5

a system of activities that transforms inputs into valuable outputs

Question 6

Inputs and outputs of Operations Management

Answer 6

material, labour, capital, knowledge, to goods and services.

Question 7

Common challenges of operations management (5)

Answer 7

lowering cost, improving quality, enhancing product desirability, aligning with the company’s competitive strategy, evolving with the needs of competition, customers, and technology.