LES 1: INTRODUCTION
• OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
= the management of systems or processed that create goods and/or provides services
→ many service jobs are related to operations: financial/marketing/accounting/information services
• GOOD OR SERVICE (niet letterlijk uit hoofd kennen, wel begrijpen en kunnen)
Good Service
= physical item that include raw materials, parts, = activity that provide some combination of time,
subassemblies and final products location, form or psychological value
bv: car, computer, oven, shampoo, … bv: air travel, education, haircut, legal counsel, …
Characteristics: Characteristics:
- Tangible output (tastbaar) - Intangible output (ontastbaar)
- low customer contact - high customer contact
- low labor content (nodige arbeid) - high labor content (nodige arbeid)
- high uniformity of input - low uniformity of input
- easy measurement of productivity - difficult measurement of productivity
- high opportunity to correct problems - low opportunity to correct problems
- much inventory - little inventory
- narrow range in wages - wide range in wages
- usually patented - not usually patented
→ can be both, bv: restaurant meal, computer repair, songwriting, …
• SUPPLY CHAIN
= A sequence of activities and businesses involved in producing and delivering a good or service
1) Supplier: takes a small part (metal, grain, seeds, …) and sells these to organizations
2) Manufacturer: makes something from different parts
3) Distributor: buys (in large scales) from manufacturer and redistributes to stores
→ Repackages (downsize package), so it is interesting for the customers (ex: 1 pc per package)
4) Retailer: sells to customers, promotes and marketeers it
o Supply chain management
→ adding value in EACH STEP of the supply chain
= difference between cost of inputs and the
value of outputs
→ control = comparison of feedback against
previous established standards, to determine if
corrective action is needed
→ bv food processor: input = raw vegetables / processing = cutting, … / output = canned vegetables
→ bv hospital: input = doctors, nurse / processing = surgery, … / output = treated patients
o Difference between logistics and supply chain
→ logistics = the movement, storage and flow of good/services/information within the supply chain
→ supply chain management = link major business processes within and across companies
→ LPI = logistics performance index
=> Belgium: 4.00 in 2023 = #7 in the world (higher index is better)
=> Covid and Brexit both had a visible impact on the logistic landscape
,• DECISION-MAKING PROCESS
→ What = What resources are needed, and in what amounts?
→ When = When will each resource be needed? When should the work be scheduled?
→ Where = Where will the work be done?
→ How = How will the product or service be designed? How will the work be done?
→ Who = Who will do the work?
o Models
= a safe space to check strategic decisions, comparable with flight simulators for pilots in training
→ use a model to see what happens when things in the economy change (ex: trump increases taxes)
→ the outcome is not exactly correct because assumptions were made, but it gives an idea
→ benefits: → limitations:
1) Easier to use + cheaper than dealing 1) Quantitative information may be emphasized at
with the real system the expense of qualitative information
2) Increase understanding of the problem 2) Models may be incorrectly applied and the results
3) Enable managers to analyze what-if misinterpreted
questions 3) Use of models does not guarantee good decisions
→ being a data-driven decision maker = combine hard skills (lots of data)
with soft skills (correct decisions)
LES 2: COMPTETIVENESS, STRATEGY AND PRODUCTIVITY
→ Why do some businesses fail:
- Neglecting operations strategy
- Failing to consider customer wants and needs based on historical and other data
- …
o Competitiveness
=how effectively a business meets the needs of customers relative to others offering similar products
→ combination of price, delivery time and differentiation = 3 pillars of operations strategy!
o Strategy
= mission, goals, business strategies, functional strategies, tactics, operations
=> interconnected between functions and top-down
o Mission
= the reason for the existence of a business
→ mission statement = states the purpose of the business
→ ex microsoft: ‘to help people and businesses throughout theworld to realize their full potential’
→ ex starbucks: ‘to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one cup and one nieghborhood at a time’
o Goals
= provide detail and the scope of the mission, serve as the basis for business strategies
• STRATEGIES
= a plan for achieving business goals
o business strategies = overall strategies related to the entire business
→ 3 basic business strategies: 1) low cost, 2) responsiveness, 3) differentiation from competitors
→ problem with combining the 3 strategies: risk of no focus, and not achieving any advantage
→ look at competitor competencies to match and exceed = try to match the competitors on 2 of the
pillars, like same product, same price, but 1 day faster delivery
, o operations strategies
= relates to products/services, methods, resources, quality, cost and lead times
→ to be truly effective, it is important to link it to business strategy
→ 4 types of traditional strategies of businesses:
1) cost minimization
2) product differentiation
3) quality focus
4) time-based strategies (reducing time)
=> agile operations = the use of flexibility to adapt in an environment of change
=> productivity = reducing the time needed to perform work
o examples strategies
• STRATEGY FORMULATION
o SWOT-analysis
→ internal environmental scanning: Strengths + Weaknesses
→ external environmental scanning: Opportunities + Threats
.
o Alternative model: Porter’s Five Forces model
1) New competition
2) substitute products/services
3) power of customers
4) power of suppliers
5) intensity of competition
o order qualifiers = characteristics that customers perceive as minimum standards of acceptability for
a product or service to be considered as a potential for purchase
o order winners = characteristics that customers perceive as minimum standards of acceptability for a
product or service to be considered as a potential for purchase
• TACTICS AND OPERATIONS
o Tactics = the methods and actions taken to accomplish strategies
o Operations = the actual “doing” part of the process
• PRODUCTIVITY
= a measure of the effective use of resources, usually expressed as the ratio of output to input
→ useful for: 1) tracking performance over time
2) judging the performance of an entire business/industry
→ Improving long-term productivity (+adoption of new technologies such as AI) will be key to long
term growth and competitiveness