Operations Management [antikvár]

Foreword Operations Management is a topic increasingly appearing before the genera! public linked with job opportunities in the national press and the establishment of departments in universities, polytechnics and colleges throughout the USA and the UK. We define Operations Management as that function of an organisation which is concerned with the design, planning and control of resources for the production of goods and the provision of services and it is our contention that a knowledge of this topic is essential to all those concerned with this country's future — hence this book. Our aim in writing Operations Management is essentially to bridge the gap between the non-technical appreciation of the manager and the intelligent layman and the lengthy, often very technical, specialised texts on the topics. Thus this book is aimed not only at students and practising operations and production managers, but also those whose role necessarily interacts with the production of goods and provision of services — engineers, economists, marketing specialists, accountants, personnel managers and those involved in other management service functions. With this overall approach in mind, Operations Management has been developed so that Chapter 1 introduces the reader to the general concept, with Chapter 2 concentrating on the planning aspects of products, services and systems. Chapter 3 then pays attention to the design of products and services and Chapter 4 to the design of production. Operations planning and control is dealt with in Chapter 5 and as a recognition of the increasing role of service industries within the UK economy, Chapter 6 concentrates on the management of operations specifically within that sector. The more technical aspects of Operations Management have been concentrated in the last five chapters: Chapter 7 links forecasting as a precursor to inventory control in Chapter 8; Chapter 9 covers the associated topic of material requirements planning which has strong links with scheduling in Chapter 10, and, finally. Chapter 11 examines statistical quality control — all technical aspects of Operations Management. David Bennett, Colin Lewis and Mark Oakley Aston University Management Centre January 1988