USTB博士论文正文——学号姓名.docxVIP

Chapter 1 Operations managementWhat is operations management?Operations management is the activity of managing the resources which are devoted to the production and delivery of products and services. It is one of the core functions of any business, although it may not be called operations management in some industries. Operations management is concerned with managing processes. And all processes have internal customers and suppliers. But all management functions also have processes. Therefore, operations management has relevance for all managers. Why is operations management important in all types of organization?Operations management uses the organizations resources to create outputs that fulfil defined market requirements. This is the fundamental activity of any type of enterprise. Operations management is increasingly important because todays business environment requires new thinking from operations managers.What is the input-transformation-output process?All operations can be modelled as input-transformation-output processes. They all have inputs of transforming resources, which are usually divided into `facilities and `staff, and transformed resources, which are some mixture of materials, information and customers. Few operations produce only products or only services. Most produce some mixture of tangible goods or products and less tangible services. What is the process hierarchy?All operations are part of a larger supply network which, through the individual contributions of each operation, satisfies end-customer requirements. All operations are made up of processes that form a network of internal customer-supplier relationships within the operation. End-to-end business processes that satisfy customer needs often cut across functionally based processes.How do operations processes have different characteristics?Operations differ in terms of the volume of their outputs, the variety of outputs, the variation in demand for their outputs, and the degree of `visib