p.1The discipline of Operations Management examines how work
is accomplished, that is, how an organization transforms inputs into output... It’s easy for us to recognize
when an organization’s processes are seriously flawed - or delightfully well done, but it’s far more difficult
to identify why the process is flawed or superb. Sound recommendations for improvement are grounded in solid analysis of the
operation and its environment... Operational design addresses how inputs are transformed into the organization’s
products. In other words, operation design focuses upon value added transformations.
p.2 There is no one "right" way to design an operation to
produce some product.
p.7 The first step in analyzing an operation is to identify
its capacity... the capacity of a work station or operating unit must include the time
dimension... Capacity may be expressed in different ways. Use your judgment in selecting the terms of expressing
and analyzing capacity. The key is whether the method of expression accurately conveys the capacity of the operation and the
utilization of the operation's resources.
p.8 The bottleneck resource establishes the capacity of the operating
unit overall.. the cycle time for the operating unit equals the cycle time for the bottleneck work station.
p.9 bottleneck identification is a critical piece of analysis...
the fundamental question is: what resource constrains output? The constraint could involve labor or
equipment or both... Improvement efforts should focus on the bottleneck.
p.9 Capacity utilization is a key measure of efficiency;
however, that does not mean that capacity should be utilized at 100% on average. That would lead to employee dissatisfaction.
More importantly, we need to examine the way demand occurs to be sure we have sufficient capacity at key times.
Peak demand times are when capacity is most stressed.
p.11 An important characteristic of an operation is its flexibility...
A flexible operation is one that can readily adapt to one or more of the changes posed by
the environment. This can be a key competitive weapon, since some companies compete on the basis
of flexibility in the marketplace. This flexibility may take the form of meeting unexpected demand surges quickly
