Essentials of Operations Management

Nigel Slack is Emeritus Professor of Operations Management and Strategy at Warwick Business School, an Honorary Professor at Bath University, and 'Honorary Fellow of the European Operations Management Association'. He is an educator, consultant, and writer with a wide experience in many sectors.Alistair Brandon-Jones is a Full Chaired Professor in Operations and Supply Chain Management, and Head of the Information, Decisions, and Operations Division at the University of Bath, School of Management. He is also an Adjunct Professor for Hult International Business School and Danish Technical University.Nicola Burgess is a Reader in Operations Management at W;arwick Business School. She has worked extensively with public sector organisations to understand operations management and improvement in a public sector context.

• 1 Operations management and performance IntroductionKey questions1.1 What is operations management?1.2 What is the input–transformation– output process?1.3 Why is operations management important to an organisation's performance?1.4 What is the process hierarchy?1.5 How do operations (and processes) differ?1.6 What do operations managers do?Summary answers to key questionsProblems and applicationsWant to know more?Notes on chapter2 Operations strategy IntroductionKey questions2.1 What is strategy and what is operations strategy?2.2 How does operations strategy align with business strategy (top-down)?2.3 How does operations strategy align with market requirements (outside-in)?2.4 How does operations strategy align with operational experience(bottom-up)?2.5 How does operations strategy align with operations resources (inside-out)?2.6 How are the four perspectives of operations strategy reconciled?2.7 How can the process of operations strategy be organised?Summary answers to key questionsProblems and applicationsWant to know more?Notes on chapter3 Product and service innovation IntroductionKey questions3.1 What is product and service innovation?3.2 What is the strategic role of product and service innovation?3.3 What are the stages of product and service innovation?3.4 What are the benefits of interactive product and service innovation?Summary answers to key questionsProblems and applicationsWant to know more?Notes on chapter4 Process design – resources IntroductionKey questions4.1 Why is choosing the right resources important?4.2 Do processes match volume–variety requirements?4.3 Are process layouts appropriate?4.5 Are job designs appropriate?Summary answers to key questionsProblems and applicationsWant to know more?Notes on chapter5 Process design – analysis IntroductionKey questions5.1 Why is it important to get the details of process design correct?5.2 What should be the objectives of process design?5.3 How are processes currently designed?5.4 Are process tasks and capacity configured appropriately?5.5 Is process variability recognised?Summary answers to key questionsProblems and applicationsWant to know more?Notes on chapter6 Supply chain management IntroductionKey questions6.1 What is supply chain management?6.2 How should supply chains compete?6.3 How should relationships in supply chains be managed?6.4 How is the supply side managed?6.5 How is the demand side managed?6.6 What are the dynamics of supply chainsSummary answers to key questionsProblems and applicationsWant to know more?Notes on chapter7 Capacity management IntroductionKey questions7.1 What is capacity management?7.2 How is demand measured?7.3 How is capacity measured?7.4 How is the demand side managed?7.5 How is the supply side managed?7.6 How can operations understand the consequences of their capacity management decisions?Summary answers to key questionsProblems and applicationsWant to know more?Notes on chapter8 Inventory management IntroductionKey questions8.1 What is inventory?8.2 Why do you need inventory?8.3 How much should you order? (The volume decision)8.4 When should you order? (The timing decision)8.5 How can you control inventory?Summary answers to key questionsProblems and applicationsWant to know more?Notes on chapter9 Resource planning and control IntroductionKey questions9.1 What is resource planning and control?9.2 What is the difference between planning and control?9.3 How do supply and demand affect planning and control?9.4 What are the activities of planning and control?9.5 What is enterprise resource planning (ERP)?Summary answers to key questionsProblems and applicationsWant to know more?Notes on chapter10 Operations improvement IntroductionKey questions10.1 Why is improvement so important in operations management?10.2 What are the key elements of operations improvement?10.3 What are the broad approaches to improvement?10.4 What techniques can be used for improvement?10.5 Why is risk management also improvement?Summary answers to key questionsProblems and applicationsWant to take it further?Notes on chapter11 Lean operations IntroductionKey questions11.1 What is lean?11.2 How does lean consider flow?11.3 How does lean consider (and reduce) waste?11.4 How does lean consider improvement?11.5 How does lean consider the role of people?11.6 How does lean apply throughout the supply network?Summary answers to key questionsProblems and applicationsWant to take it further?Notes on chapter12 Quality management IntroductionKey questions12.1 What is quality and why is it so important?12.2 What steps lead towards conformance to specification?12.3 What is total quality management (TQM)?Summary answers to key questionsProblems and applicationsWant to know more?Notes on chapter13 Project management IntroductionKey questions13.1 What are projects?13.2 What is project management?13.3 How is the project environment understood?13.4 How are projects defined?13.5 How are projects planned?13.6 How are projects controlled and learned from?Summary answers to key questionsProblems and applicationsWant to know more?Notes on chapter