Course description
Every day, people all over the world make product choices. Some prefer Toyota automobiles while others favour Volkswagen, some select Gucci while others choose Dolce and Gabbana. A customer’s preference for a product is usually defined by the ability of the producing organization to meet their desires. If more customers prefer one product to the other, it means the organization that makes it gains a larger market share than its rivals. This doesn’t just happen by chance: it is a result of the application of some very important ‘operations management’ techniques. This course explains how to manage the operations of your organization, from purchasing of raw materials to processing to distribution and sales. We can help you make your product (or service) your target market’s favourite while we teach you how to minimize waste. How do we even measure customers’ preference? This course unpacks how to target your customer base by employing various demand-forecasting methods to ascertain who will be interested in your product and when.
We begin by introducing you to operations management and its functions. We compare manufacturing and service operations and outline how they differ in terms of supply chain management, quality control and elimination of waste. Operations management can also aid in the creation of ideas and the design of products and services that will appeal to your target market. This course explores the many functions of the operations manager and describes the concept of ‘total quality management’ (TQM). This brings us to the practices of quality inspections and standards, which can let you ensure that poor quality or defective products don't leave the premises. We take you through the available methods of forecasting demand to demonstrate how market reaction can be predicted with some accuracy. Since forecasts are educated guesses, it is very important to get information from reliable sources and we outline how to do so. This is necessary in order to plan capacity and facility layout and ensure that the production process eschews waste and suits the market demand.
Whether you work alone or in a company, this course is useful to you because everyone in business wants to make their product or service appealing. This course is designed to equip you with the knowledge needed to guide a product manufacturing or service delivery organization to success by managing your supply chain and planning capacity. This will help you satisfy your customers, as will accurate market predictions that enable you to manage your firm’s resources and capacity to reduce waste and shortages. This course can help you improve your bottom line, boosting your contribution to your company and your career.
Upcoming start dates
Training content
Overview of Operations Management
Description: This module introduces you to the concept of operations management, it explains the importance of operations management, historical development and the role of an operations manager.Going further, you will learn the difference between manufacturing and service operations and the various planning processes in both operations.Progressing, you will learn what 'operations as a system' means as well as understand how the transformation model works.Finally, we will present the module summary.
- Learning Outcomes
- Introduction to Operations Management
- Manufacturing versus Service Operations
- The Systems View of Operations Management
- Lesson Summary
Operations Strategy and Product Design
Description: Having learned what operations management is about, the module is designed to help the learner understand the role of strategy in operations management. It begins by outlining the strategies that could be employed in operations management. After that, the learner is exposed to the strategy hierarchy. Moving on, the module explains the concepts of idea generation, product screening, product development process, process selection and finally, computer-aided manufacturing/design.
- Learning Outcomes
- Role of Strategy in Operations Management
- Generating Ideas
- Product Screening
- Process Selection
- Lesson Summary
Supply Chain Management
Description: In this module, you will learn about the principles of Supply Chain Management, Lean Manufacturing and how to eliminate waste. You'll also learn about the Just-In-Time principles and how these principles can help reduce waste.
- Learning Outcomes
- Supply Chain Procurement
- Supply Chain Distribution
- Lean Manufacturing
- Eliminating Waste
- Just-in-time Systems
- Lesson Summary
Capacity Planning and Facility Layout
Description: In this topic, you will learn how manufacturing and service organizations can plan capacity to match customers' demands. Also, this topic will help you understand the concept of facility layout in organizations and help you understand the factors that should be taken into consideration when choosing a location for your business.
- Learning Outcomes
- Capacity Planning
- Facilities Layout
- Location Planning and Analysis
- Lesson Summary
Work Systems Design
Description: In this module, we will explore how operations managers use strategies like skill variety, task significance, or work organization to enhance job performance. We will also consider models for analyzing work to eliminate unnecessary tasks and regulate the duration of each stage in a production line.
- Learning Outcomes
- Job Design
- Motion Study
- Work Measurement
- Lesson Summary
Inventory
Description: In this module, you will learn the important practices of inventory management. You will be exposed to the concept of inventory control which will help you ensure that the right amount of inventory needed for production at a time is available.
- Inventory - Learning Outcome
- Inventory Management
- Inventory Costs
- Benefits and Dangers of Inventory Management
- Inventory Control
- Lesson Summary
Quality Management
Description: In this module, you will learn about the basics and practices of quality management. Since quality is one thing customers watch out for in a product or service, this module will help you understand the important things you need to know about quality management such as Total Quality Management (TQM) and Quality Inspections and Standards.
- Learning Outcomes
- Total Quality Management
- Quality Inspections and Standards
- Statistical Process Control
- Producing for Quality
- Lesson Summary
Course assessment
- Assessment: Course assessment
Certification / Credits
Upon successful completion of this course, you should be able to:
- Define and explain ‘operations management'
- Compare crafts manufacturing, mass production and modern production
- Outline the two main approaches to strategic management in an organization
- Describe the stages involved in the development process of a new product
- Define ‘supply chain procurement’ and unpack the role of ‘e-purchasing’ in procurement process
- Explain the three classifications of maintenance: corrective, preventive and alternative
- Demonstrate how to plan capacity for an organization
- Describe the three types of workflow layout: process, product and fixed-position
- Discuss the concepts involved in time and motion studies
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