1.

Discuss on why the name production management course has been

changed into operation management

The main reason the name production management has been changed into operation
management is Production management becomes the acceptable term from 1930s to 1950s at
that time Production management focused only at combining and transforming various resources
used in the production subsystem of the organization into value added products while Operation
Management cover both products and services with that product and also because of production
Management is a part of the whole cycle of operations Management. Operations managers, the
people charged with managing and supervising the conversion process, play a vital role in
today’s firm. They control about three-fourths of a firm’s assets, including inventories, wages,
and benefits. They also work closely with other major divisions of the firm, such as marketing,
finance, accounting, and human resources, to ensure that the firm produces its goods profitably
and satisfies its customers. Marketing personnel help them decide which products to make or
which services to offer.

Generally, the new name Operations Management was identified, as service sector became more
prominent. Rapid changes in technology has posed numerous opportunities and challenges which
have resulted in enhancement of manufacturing capabilities through new materials, facilities,
techniques and procedures. Hence, managing a service/production system has become a major
challenge in the global competitive environment. Production and Operations Management leads
the way for the organizations to achieve its goals with minimum effort. Hence the study of the
subject at undergraduate and postgraduate level has more significance.

2. Explain the major factors to be considered in facility location and lay out
for a new business establishment

Facility Location

Of all the pieces of the planning puzzle, facility location is the most strategic and critical. Once
you build a new manufacturing facility, you have made a substantial investment of time,
resources, and capital that can’t be changed for a long time. Selecting the wrong location can be
disastrous. Some of the key factors that influence facility location are the following:
  Proximity to customers, suppliers, and skilled labor

 Environmental regulations

 Financial incentives offered by state and local development authorities

 Quality-of-life considerations

 Potential for future expansion and also

Availability of power, Transportation, Suitability of climate, Government policy, Competition

between states, Availability of labour, Civic amenities for workers, Finance and research
amenities, Availability of water and fire-fighting facilities etc are factors affecting facility
location

Facility Layout

After the site location decision has been made, the next focus in production planning is the
facility’s layout. The goal is to determine the most efficient and effective design for the
particular production process. A manufacturer might opt for a U-shaped production line, for
example, rather than a long, straight one, to allow products and workers to move more quickly
from one area to another. Business organizations must also consider layout, but they are more
concerned with how it affects customer behavior. for example, a hospital to place its freight
elevators in the center of the building but doing so may block the flow of patients, visitors, and
medical personnel between floors and departments.

For an organization to have an effective and efficient manufacturing unit, it is important that
special attention is given to facility layout. Facility layout is an arrangement of different aspects
of manufacturing in an appropriate manner as to achieve desired production results. Facility
layout considers available space, final product, safety of users and facility and convenience of
operations.

An effective facility layout ensures that there is a smooth and steady flow of production material,
equipment and manpower at minimum cost. Facility layout looks at physical allocation of space
for economic activity in the plant. Therefore, main objective of the facility layout planning is to
design effective workflow as to make equipment and workers more productive.
Factors affecting Facility Layout

Facility layout designing and implementation is influenced by various factors. These factors vary
from industry to industry but influence facility layout. These factors are as follows:

 The design of the facility layout should consider overall objectives set by the
organization.
 Optimum space needs to be allocated for process and technology.
 A proper safety measure as to avoid mishaps.
 Overall management policies and future direction of the organization etc

3. What are the fundamental difference between product design and services
design? Show with examples

The early-stage development and design process is easily one of the most important periods of
time for any business, whether you are product or service based. After all, the decisions that you
make at this stage will have a huge impact on everything from usability and accessibility, to
desirability and feasibility. So, both service design and product design as processes feed into how
happy your customer or user will be. and, as such, how successful your business is in the long
term. It’s easy to fall into thinking that the two processes are exactly the same: How can product
design and service design really be that different? Well, the truth is, there certainly are some
similarities in the ways that they are often conducted, but there are also huge differences that you
need to be aware of so that you can create the best product or service possible.

What is Product Design?

Product design: is the method of finding a market opportunity, clearly defining the problem,
developing a proper solution for that problem and validating the solution with real users.

What are the key principles of Product Design?

“Product design is the process of identifying a market opportunity, clearly defining the

problem, developing a proper solution for that problem and validating the solution with real

users.” As such, design thinking is a brilliant foundation for the product design process, since it
is so focused on finding actionable and practical solutions to the problems of users. This is such a

valuable process for product designers, as it focuses on product development from one end to the

other, not just the design itself. This helps designers to define exactly what they’re trying to

achieve in terms of their users’ needs, thereby creating something with a much greater chance of

success.

What is Service Design?

Service Design: Service design is all about taking a service and making it meet the user’s
business and customer's needs.

What are the key principles to service design?

Service design is the coordination and combination of people, communication, and material
components to create quality service. Product design is the combination of manufacturing
capabilities with product and business knowledge to convert ideas into physical and usable
objects.

The Service Design, it is “The activity of planning and organizing people, infrastructure,
communication and material components of a service in order to improve its quality and the
interaction between service provider and customers.

The purpose of service design methodologies is to design according to the needs of customers or
participants, so that the service is user-friendly, competitive and relevant to the customers.” To
put it simply then, the process has a focus on ensuring that a service is meeting the needs of all
users as effectively as possible at every single step.

In terms of implementing service design, according to Marc Stickdorn and Jakob Schneider, the
methodology has five basic principles:

 User-centred, through understanding the user by doing qualitative research

 Co-creative, by involving all relevant stakeholders in the design process
 Sequencing, by partitioning a complex service into separate processes
 Evidencing, by visualising service experiences and making them tangible
The Differences Between Service Design And Product Design

Difference between service design and product design: The key factor involved in planning a
new product or service is the product/service design. Designs are created keeping in mind the
customer’s wants and needs, the existing products in the market and the competition from the
other firm's et cetera

The process of design consists of certain steps that include motivation, ideas for improvement,
capabilities of the organization, and forecasting. In the production process, innovations, research,
and development play a vital role. Due to the impact, a product and service design can have on
an organization, the design process is encouraged to be a part organization's strategy.

Service design and product design differ from each other in a lot of ways provided below:

1. Service design talk about the activity of organizing and planning people, communication and
material constituents in the attempt to improve the service quality. It is the interaction between
the one rendering the services and customers experiencing the services. A service can be
anything that is done for the client’s satisfaction whereas the product design is concerned with
arranging the parts of product and business knowledge to generate ideas and concepts and
change them into physical and usable products.

2. Service design is an intangible aspect as it cannot be touched while product design is a

tangible aspect.

3. Services are created and delivered at the same time as it cannot be stored whereas the products
can be held in the inventories.

4. While creating the service design, one has to spend more time in organizing the people and
communicating the goals to them as services are rendered on the spot whereas, in product design,
one has to focus more on the knowledge of the product and assembling the raw material for the
product.

Service design and product design might seem synonymous with each other. But, they are
different from each other.
Service design is all about the organization and planning of resources and communicates for
creating optimal service quality. This is intangible in nature. On the other hand, product design
allows solving real problems through functionality irrespective of how and what a product looks
and feels like, though product design is related to the physical nature of products.

For example,

Let us consider the popular Zomato food delivery app. The product design will include the
functionality of the app and how it will help customers to use the app. However, the service
design will include the planning of delivery agents, the panel required for managing the orders
placed, the admin panel, etc. ensuring smooth service. All in all, both product and service design
are essential to creating a good user experience. By keeping it user-centered and giving them
importance in decision making, businesses will be eventually able to enhance customer loyalty
and experience customer growth along with better sales.

4. Discuss on the manufacturing and services operations with examples

All organizations can be broadly divided into two categories: manufacturing organizations and
service organizations. Although both categories have an OM function, these differences pose
unique challenges for the operations function as the nature of what is being produced is different.

The Key Differences between Manufacturing and Service Operations are:

Tangible output: Service operations are typically found in banking, hospitality, advertising,
consultancy and the public sector. The output of a service firm, such as consultancy or training,
is intangible. Manufacturers produce tangible goods, which are physical products that can be
held and seen and stored.

Inventory: Service firms, unlike manufacturers, do not hold inventory; they create a service
when a client requires it, it cannot be stored. Manufacturers produce goods for stock, with
inventory levels aligned to forecasts of demand. Inventory also represents a cost.

Customisation vs. Standardisation: Manufacturers have a standardised way of producing

goods en-masse in a factory. One finished product is defined, fixed and the same as the next.
They can also produce for stock in advance of any orders. Service firms do not produce a service
unless a customer requires it, although they design and develop the scope and content of services
in advance of any orders. Service operations have more opportunities to customise the services
they provide tailored to customers’ needs. E.g. beauticians and hairdressers must customise the
styling and treatments to match the customer’s hair, shape of face etc.

Labour: A service firm recruits people with specific knowledge and skills in the disciplines that
it offers. Service delivery is labour intensive and cannot be easily automated, although
knowledge management systems enable a degree of knowledge capture and sharing.
Manufacturers can automate many production processes to reduce their labour requirements or
relocate to countries where labour costs are low.

Location: Service firms do not require a physical production site. The people creating and
delivering the service can be located anywhere. For example, global consulting firms use
communication networks to access the most appropriate service skills and knowledge from
offices around the world. Manufacturers must have a physical location for their production and
stock holding operations.

Production Environment: Manufacturing and service operations both plan the environment in
which work takes place, but they focus on different elements. Manufacturing operations consider
the manufacturing layout and its effect on the flow of work: fixed, process-focused or product-
focused (assembly line). In a service operation managers schedule workers to handle customer
demand. They must coach and train employees to provide optimal services to customers when
they arrive. Service operations also plan the environment according to how it affects customers.
They are concerned about the atmosphere for customers, layout of furnishings, arrangement of
signs and colours and sounds designed to enhance the customer experience.

5. How the productivity of an operation can be enhanced sustainably?

Discuss the methods of enhancing the productivity of an operation

Low productivity is one of the root causes of the “working poor” phenomenon: people who work
long hours, often in the informal economy or in subsistence agriculture, but still do not earn
enough to feed their families. Raising productivity and ensuring that the productivity gains are
equitably shared between business owners and investors (higher profits and shareholder value)
and workers (higher wages and better working conditions) is, therefore, of critical importance in
efforts to reduce poverty. The virtuous circle of productivity, employment and development can
be fuelled through the re-investment of productivity gains into product and process innovations,
plant and equipment improvements, and measures to enhance the skills and improve the work
environment of the workforce.

Productivity refers to how efficiently resources are used; it can be measured in terms of all
factors of production combined (total factor productivity) or in terms of labour productivity,
which is defined as output or value added divided by the amount of labour used to generate that
output. Labour productivity increases when value added rises through the better use,
coordination, etc. of all factors of production. Value added may increase when labour is working
smarter, harder, faster or with better skills, but it also increases with the use of more or better
machinery, reduced waste of input materials, or with the introduction of technological
innovations. Labour productivity measures the efficiency of a country with which inputs are used
in an economy to produce goods and services and it offers a measure of economic growth,
competitiveness, and living standards within a country.

Governments, workers and employers are united in their pursuit of enhanced productivity
because greater productivity is the primary source of improvements in living standards, the most
sustainable route out of working poverty, and the basis (and measure) of competitiveness in
global markets. Productivity growth may have employment-displacing effects and can even
cause the disappearance of entire job families. These effects are central to the discussion around
the Future of Work since new technologies and the automation of work processes may cause
profound disruptions in the world of work. However, experience has shown that in the longer
term and at the aggregate level, productivity growth may not necessarily reduce employment
growth in a country. Productivity gains can work their way through the macro economy so that
job losses in one location or sector is compensated by job gains in another area or sector.

DWA-SDG Relationship

Employment is the primary means of income generation for the poor. Increasing productivity of
the poor, improving their employability and creating productive employment opportunities for
them is an important way to fight poverty.
Cross-cutting policy drivers

The ILO promotes the so-called “high road” to productivity which seeks to enhance productivity
through better working conditions and the full respect for labour rights as compared to the “low
road” which consists of the exploitation of the work force. As highlighted above social dialogue
is crucial to all efforts aimed at improving productivity, in particular those that adopt the “high
road”. A recent ILO story from Colombia illustrates very well how social dialogue and collective
bargaining have greatly improved productivity in the garment industry.

1 - Review Your Existing Workflow

You won’t know what can be changed until you know how everything works now. Three areas
contain critical information to help you identify needed changes.

 People - Do you have people with the right skills in the right places? Do you have a
project manager to keep the critical pathway visible and on track? Are objectives clearly
defined, realistic, and safe?
 Processes - When was the last time you mapped your processes? Have you used value
stream mapping to assess process improvement projects? Where are the pain points and
bottlenecks?
 Equipment and technology - Is all your equipment in good repair? Is the technology
you rely on optimal for your current needs? How easy is it to make changes in
production?

2 - Update Processes and Technology

Once you have reviewed and mapped your existing workflow, start identifying areas where
processes and/or technology could use some updating or changing. Processes that have been in
place for a long time may be riddled with workarounds as new equipment was added or
production methods changed.

 Automation is a powerful tool for increasing efficiency and reducing error.

 New software solutions can help with scheduling, inventory, and monitoring
improvements in equipment can improve production speed and quality.