Production and Operation Management

Today, due to technological advancements, manufacturers in the U.S. have become so efficient, they require fewer workers to produce the same amount of output.

Education and training are less important to workers in the service sector than to workers who have jobs in the manufacturing sector.

So far, the high cost of CAD/CAM techniques has limited their use to large, expensive manufactured goods such as automobiles.

Flexible manufacturing systems use machines that are designed to do a multitude of tasks so that they can produce a variety of goods.

Land, labor, capital, and knowledge are inputs into the production process.

Computers and robots are only useful in continuous production processes where the same type of product is produced many times.

Online-focused strategies don't affect operations managers since it is not essential for operations managers to negotiate in an interfirm environment.

One of the best ways to maintain consistently high quality in the production process is to give a group of specialists in a separate quality control department the authority to inspect each product at the end of the production process.

Operations managers have learned that quality control is not a never-ending process. Just before you add packaging to the finished product, official company inspectors do a random spot-check. All inspections have to occur at the end of a production run because only then can the inspector see the total finished product in order to determine if quality is jeopardized.

Pieces and Parts, Inc., is a major supplier of components used by Game Guys, Inc.. Game Guys is looking to implement a just-in-time inventory system. Pieces and Parts should benefit from this approach, since JIT systems greatly simplify the task of suppliers.

In an effort to improve the quality control process at the Southern Peanut Corporation, management is introducing the importance of the Deming Cycle to employees. This suggests that managers are aware of the need to find potential problems before they occur.

What is a common tool used in production scheduling?

What is the purpose of a production flow analysis in production and operation management?

What is the concept of 'lean manufacturing' in production and operation management?

What does the acronym 'JIT' stand for in the context of production and operation management?