prelims for tqm

• Operations Management is the management of systems or processes that create goods and/or provide services
• Three basic functions in managing a business organization: finance, operations, and marketing
• Supply chain is the sequence of organizations involved in producing and delivering a product or service
• Value-added is the difference between the cost of inputs and the value or price of outputs
• Goods/products are physical items including raw materials, parts, subassemblies, and final products
• Services are activities that provide time, location, form, or psychological value
• Characteristics of services: intangibility, inseparability, variability, perishability
• Feedback is measurements taken at various points in the transformation process
• Control involves comparing feedback against established standards to determine corrective action
• Three categories of business processes: upper-management processes, operational processes, supporting processes
• Operations function includes all activities directly related to producing goods or providing services
• Quantitative approaches seek mathematically optimal solutions
• Performance metrics include profits, costs, quality, productivity, flexibility, inventories, schedules, forecast accuracy
• A trade-off involves giving up one thing in return for something else
• The business organization is a system composed of subsystems: marketing, operations, finance
• Outsourcing is obtaining a product or service from outside the organization
• Agility is the ability to respond quickly to demands or opportunities
• business uses the internet to transact business
• Technology includes product and service technology, process technology, information technology
• Six Sigma aims to reduce costs, improve quality, and increase customer satisfaction
• Lean production system uses minimal resources to produce high-quality goods with some variety
• Competitiveness is how effectively an organization meets customer wants and needs compared to others
• Businesses compete using marketing and operations functions
• An organization's mission is its reason for existence, expressed in a mission statement
• Goals provide detail and describe the scope of the mission, serving as a foundation for strategies
• Strategies are plans for achieving organizational goals and guide the organization by providing direction and alignment
• Functional strategies support the overall strategies of the organization and relate to each functional area
• Tactics are methods and actions taken to accomplish strategies and provide guidance for operations
• Single strategy allows focusing on one strength or market condition, while multiple strategies address a particular set of conditions
• Outsourcing reduces costs by transferring work to outside suppliers
• Supply chain strategy specifies how the supply chain should function to achieve goals
• Sustainability strategy focuses on corporate sustainability practices as society emphasizes it more
• Global strategy involves strategic decisions regarding globalization as it increases
• Quality-based strategies focus on maintaining or improving product or service quality, while time-based strategies aim to reduce time required for activities
• Productivity measures output relative to input and productivity growth is the increase from one period to the next
• Accounting:

  • Responsible for preparing the financial statements, including the Balance Sheet (BS), Income Statement (IS), and Cash Flow (CF)
• Purchasing:

  • Responsible for the procurement of materials, supplies, and equipment
• Personnel:

  • Concerned with recruitment and training of personnel
  • Handles labor relations, contract negotiations, and wage and salary administration
• Public relations:

  • Responsible for building and maintaining a positive public image of the organization
• Definition of process: One or more actions that transform inputs into outputs