Intro to business

• This lesson introduces you to operations management, product differentiation, customer needs and marketing, distribution and promotion, and information technology management
• Operations management


  • Covers the function of operations in both manufacturing and service organizations
• Customer needs and marketing

  • Explore different marketing concepts, gain insight into the marketing mix, learn how relationships with customers are built and strengthened, and examine the strategy a business needs to market its services and products
• Distribution and promotion


  • Covers how products and services move through distribution channels and other logistic avenues
• Information technology management


  • Looks at the function of information technology, how it supports the business, and how increased reliance on the digital business world makes it more important than ever
• Production


  The process of creating products and services for businesses and consumers
• Operations management


  • Streamline products through factory automation, new production processes, updated quality control methods, and improved relationships throughout the supply chain
• Operations manager


  Plays key roles in the organization, as they control a significant portion of the firm's human resources and assets
• Production planning


  1. Allows the company to figure out the competitive environment and what the company's own strategic objectives are to find the best production methods

  2. Balances cost, quality, inventory, and service
• Production process decisions


  • Production process
  • Site selection
  • Facility layout
  • Resource planning

  
• Production process


  Determines how a good or service is produced or delivered and how it will best work with customer demand and organizational goals
• Production methods


  • Mass production
  • Mass customization
  • Customization
• Mass production


  Simultaneous manufacturing of many identical goods
• Mass customization


  Goods are produced using the same techniques as in mass production, but at a certain point in the process, the product or service is customized or tailored to a customer's specifications
• Customization


  Items are produced specifically based upon the desire of the customer, each product is unique and is designed to meet certain specifications
• Process manufacturing


  Includes the breaking down of raw or natural materials into one or more outputs, the products
• Assembly process


  Products are combined to create an output
• Production timing


  • Continuous process
  • Intermittent process
• Location factors for production

  • Available resources
  • Marketing factors
  • Manufacturing environment
  • Incentives by location
  • Global production considerations
• Facility layout types


  • Process layout
  • Product layout
  • Fixed-position layout
  • Cellular layouts
• Process layout


  Arranges workflow around the production process, employees often grouped in teams work together on similar tasks
• Product layout


  Workstations and departments arranged in a line, products continue to move down the line
• Fixed-position layout


  Products aren't moved, workers and machinery come to the product
• Cellular layouts


  Combine aspects of product and fixed-position layouts, work cells are small, self-contained production units where multiple machines and employees are arranged in a narrow, sequential order
• Fixed-position layout


  Products aren't moved down the line or around the facility. Instead, this layout keeps the product at one workstation, and workers and machinery come to the product. This layout often is used for things that are large and can't be moved easily, such as ships or airplanes. A fixed-position configuration also is used for onsite services such as housekeeping and landscaping.
• Cellular layout


  Combines aspects of the product and fixed-position layouts. The design consists of work cells, which are small, self-contained production units where multiple machines and employees are arranged in a narrow, sequential order. Each work cell performs all or most of the tasks necessary to complete a manufacturing order. Cells range from five to ten employees, and most are trained to do any of the steps required to finish the tasks in that cell.
• Inventory management and its relationship with supply channels are critical to the production process. For the production process to start, a company must get resources and then maintain an influx of these goods as production continues.
• Bill of materials


  A list of the raw materials, assemblies, sub-assemblies, and components needed to manufacture a product.
• Make-or-buy decision


  When creating a bill of materials, a company needs to decide whether to make the materials used to create the product or buy them from outside vendors.
• Outsourcing


  When a company purchases items from outside the organization.
• Inventory


  The goods that a company has in stock for production purposes or sale to consumers.
• Inventory management


  • Determining how much of each type of product to keep on hand and consists of ordering, receiving, storing, and tracking that inventory. The overall goal is to remain cost-efficient and hold stocks steady while still meeting the requirements of production and sales.
• When inventory management is efficient, product quality is higher and profits increase. On the other hand, poor inventory management results in dissatisfied customers and financial difficulties.
• Perpetual inventory


  Keeping continuously updated lists of inventory levels, orders, sales, and receipts of all major inventory stock.
• Materials requirement planning (MRP)

  A system that uses a master schedule to ensure that materials, labor, and equipment needed for production jobs are put in the proper places at the correct time.
• Manufacturing resource planning II (MRP II)

  A more complex system that allows integration into other departments, such as finance, marketing, accounting, engineering, and manufacturing. This integration provides excellent transparency in the process and improves communication for planning purposes.
• Enterprise resource planning (ERP)


  A system that focuses both internally and externally. Through data flow, suppliers and customers are integrated into the ERP system. The sales team can enter the customer's specifications into the system, which in turn sends the information to the production team; if supplies are needed to create the item, the order is sent to external suppliers. The system allows for real-time data to be passed along the production cycle to improve efficiency in the organization.
• Supply chain


  The entire sequence in which resources are secured, goods are produced, and the product is then delivered to the customer.
• Supply chain management


  The process of managing the supply chain so the transition of supplies along the way is smooth. The ultimate goal is to ensure that customers are satisfied with the product or service they receive.
• 1. procurement


  The process of purchasing materials and supplies online.