Operation management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Operation management - Essay Example There has been increasing competition in the market place and organisations are looking for different methods to improve and enhance the overall productivity and performance.The output or final results are dependent on the efficiency and effectiveness of the operations. In this paper, an attempt has been made to understand the business operations and processes with the help of a case study. By exploring and analysing the business operations of the company presented in the case study it will become easy to understand the practical implications of the operations management tools and techniques and at the same time it will be easy to comprehend the different issues and challenges which are being faced by the organisations in the quest of improving the overall operations and activities of the organisation. Operations Management is the field of business which deals with managing the resources of the business that will be used to produce the output of the business (Schemenner, 1984). This field deals with the creation of a transformation system which takes the business inputs and uses the business process to produce the business output (Schonberger and Knod, 1991). This field also produces the controlling protocols for the transformation process (Gaither, 1984). These protocols consist of: layout strategy, operations strategy, and design strategy, which are augmented by a planning stage. Examples of most common operations include: retail operations, banking operations, manufacturing operations and etc (Flint, Larsson, Gammelgaard, and Mentzer, 2005). Operations management also help the company in the planning of the following aspects of the business (Chase and Aquilano, 1977): Capacity Inventory Supply Chain Quality Failure Prevention and Recovery By helping the company answer questions related to these domains, operations management enable the company to become more productive and effective in its operations and resource utilisation. Thereby, enhancing the companyâ €™s chances of survival in its marketplace and later go on to strengthen it place in its market (Fugate Mentzer, and Stank, 2010). One important element in this regard is of the planning and control. It is important for the organisations to carefully plan and control all operations and materials input in order to make sure that the final output or result is according to the demand and requirements in the market (Fitzsimmons, and Fitzsimmons, 2007). ANALYSING THE OPERATIONS OF A FROZEN VEGETABLE FACTORY: Business Analysis: Overview of the Company and Market: The company is operating in the frozen vegetable industry; it is backed by a strong specialist food group. As the group philosophy suggests that it focuses on speciality food segments, the factory’s operations are consistent with this philosophy. The factory produces a range of frozen vegetables like: carrots, cauliflowers, beans, peas, petit poi’s, broccoli, and sprouts. Most of the factory’s output cons ists of peas, which undergoes a very tedious process before a final version for the customers is available. The peas market is highly competitive and is dominated by five players. One of the players in this market is privately owned and is most of the time involved in changing the dynamics of the competition. It does this by reducing its profit margins, and thereby price, which leads to an increase in the number of customers going to this supplier of peas. However, major variables which influence the demand for peas include the quality and size of the harvest. The price of a