New Challenges in Operation Management
Every aspect of a business is affected by operations. When a company
wants to operate smoothly, satisfy customers, grow their business, and make
money, operations management is at work. Operations management involves
planning, organizing, and supervising in the context of production and
manufacturing. Good operations management enables a company to be
efficient and effective by using the fewest resources and meeting customer
demands. In essence, operations management highlights the link between
process and value. With increasing customer expectations and the decreasing
supply of some resources, operations management has become increasingly
important for the success and profitability of businesses. Effective and
adequate operations management bring more accountability and accuracy
that allows for the successful delivery of goods and services. While operations
management has aided production facilities immensely, there are still some
challenges that operations managers face on a daily basis. The field of
operations management is challenging and requires a deep understanding of
the business processes to allow operations managers to deliver value to their
customers.
There are numerous challenges that operations managers face frequently.
The first challenge is globalization. Globalization - Globalization is defined as
the process by which businesses interact with people, companies, and
governments on an international scale. This is being driven by the reduction of
trade barriers, advancements in information and transportation technology,
and more. The benefit of globalization is that there is more interactions
between different populations around the globe and allows companies to
reach a wider market. However, operations managers have found themselves
facing competition not only from their country of origin, but from countries all
around the globe. To maintain their competitive advantage, operations
managers must keep up with the trends and software technology available to
help increase their production.
Furthermore, the next challenge in operation management is sustainability.
Sustainability is a frequent issue discussed among various news outlets with
manufacturing being one of the largest factors contributing to conversation.
There is much debate over whether or not we will have the appropriate
amount of resources needed in order to have a sustainable future. When
discussing the concept of sustainability, the three pillars of sustainable usually
come into play, which include social, environmental, and economic.
Operations managers need to be aware of the outcomes of each of these
pillars, including how their production facility or work will affect these factors.
Effective operations management will implement practices that will address
these concerns pertaining to sustainability.
The issue of effective communication comes next in the list of new
challenges in operation management. Consistency and effectiveness of
communication is extremely difficult within organizations. The challenge for
operations managers is to be able to communicate effectively with all internal
and external stakeholders. This will ultimately allow for more thorough
transparency within your production facility, which will aid your factory floor
immensely. Having everyone on the same page can boost efficiency within
your manufacturing operation with ease and operations management needs
to look into software that can make this much simpler for them. Effective
communication is a must for manufacturing facilities that are seeking to boost
operational efficiency in areas such as demand planning, demand forecasting,
using the plan or forecast, and ultimately implementing this into a proper
production plan.
Besides, ethical conduct is also one of the challenges faced by in
operation management. Ethics is defined as a subset of business ethics that
is meant to ensure that production functions or activities are not damaging to
people or society. Understanding the ethics of business will ensure that you
will not fall out of line in terms of keeping the people and environment of your
business safe. Unethical behavior has contributed to the demise of various
companies around the globe, which is why understanding them is so
important. Being ethical across all functions of your business will ensure that
your operation runs smoothly and that you will not turn into one of the
companies that have failed due to this.
To wind up, the new challenges aforementioned faced in operation
management can be a troublesome for the operation managers and also the
business as a whole, However, it can be surely rid off by implementing ways
such as, developing and define goals and objectives, making use of business
intelligence and empowering managers with the tools they need for success.
References
Heizer, J., Render, B., & Munson, C. (2008). Operations management.
Prentice-Hall.
Kleindorfer, P. R., Singhal, K., & Van Wassenhove, L. N. (2005). Sustainable
operations management. Production and operations
management, 14(4), 482-492.
Wolniak, R. (2020). Main functions of operation management. Production
Engineering Archives, 26(1), 11-14.
