Operations Management

Operations management (OM) is a set of activities that create value in the form of goods and services by transferring inputs into outputs. The efficient production of these goods and services requires effective applications of concepts, tools and techniques of OM where students will appreciate their importance in improving organisations’ productivity. In particular, the focus will be on inventory planning and control, total quality management, scheduling and just in time operations where sales and operations planning justifies their key roles in demand and supply matching. The unit equips students with an understanding of OM at the centre of a supply chain, design of products and processes, strategic approach to cost, quality, delivery and flexibility dimensions, and integrated material requirement planning that make an organisation competitive over others. As the manufacturing is progressively shifting to strategically low cost country locations, the students appreciate the outsourcing strategy, make or buy decision as key to anywhere production, anywhere consumption paradigm. This concept introduces students with Industry 4.0 vision of cyber-physical systems where the autonomous manufacturing is here to lead the way in a global supply chain.