Ans1.

Introduction:

Inventory management helps companies identify which and how much stock to order at
what time. It tracks inventory from purchase to the sale of goods. The practice identifies and
responds to trends to ensure there’s always enough stock to fulfil customer orders and
proper warning of a shortage. Once sold, inventory becomes revenue. Before it sells,
inventory (although reported as an asset on the balance sheet) ties up cash. Therefore, too
much stock costs money and reduces cash flow.

Concept:

Inventory management is vital to a company’s health because it helps make sure there is
rarely too much or too little stock on hand, limiting the risk of stockouts and inaccurate
records. Public companies must track inventory as a requirement for compliance with
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules and the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act.
Companies must document their management processes to prove compliance.

Different types of inventory:

Raw materials
Raw materials are all the items that your business uses to manufacture finished products.
These materials can be sourced, produced by your company, or procured from a supplier.
Raw materials can be further classified into two categories:
 Direct raw materials
 Indirect raw materials

Direct raw materials

Direct raw materials are the components that are used directly in the final product. These
materials are easy to quantify and account for per unit or per batch basis.
Indirect raw materials
Indirect raw materials are the components that are not part of the final products but are
used during the production process. Indirect raw materials are harder to identify and
account for since they can’t be traced to specific batches or units. However, these are
essential for the production process.
So these raw materials are categorized as indirect raw materials.

Work-in-progress (WIP)
All the materials that your factory floor has started working on, but the product isn’t quite
finished yet, consist of your work in progress inventory.
It can comprise direct and indirect raw materials — the only thing to note here is that the
product is not complete and is a work in progress.
Finished goods
All the items ready to be sold are considered part of your finished goods inventory, Of
course, depending on the workflow you adopt, this could mean slightly different things.
If you follow a make to order workflow , then the final product is made and can already be
shipped to your customers. Whereas, if you follow the make-to-stock workflow, the
inventory will have to be stored in a warehouse until an order comes through. In either case,
your finished goods inventory should be pretty clear and straightforward to account for and
track.

Techniques to manage inventories:

1. FIFO vs. LIFO

First in, first out and last in, first out are accounting methods (also known as “costing”)
based on how products move through your warehouse.

FIFO is a useful system for businesses that sell the oldest inventory first. If it was first into
the warehouse, it should also be first out the door when someone orders that product. This
keeps inventory as fresh as possible, which is essential for perishable or expiring goods.

2. Demand forecasting

Demand forecasting (or sales projections) helps you understand how much of each product
you need to have on hand at all times to meet customer demand.

For established businesses, demand forecasting should be based on historical sales data.
Newer businesses might need to rely on assumptions and industry data until they have a
sales history of their own.

3. Minimum order quantity vs. economic order quantity

Minimum order quantity (MOQ) and economic order quantity (EOQ) are two methods a
business can use to determine when to reorder products.

MOQ focuses on maintaining the minimum possible amount of each product type a seller is
willing to fulfill. High-ticket items tend to have a lower MOQ, while low-cost items often
have a higher MOQ. It is important to take this into account when reordering products from
suppliers; consider a supplier’s MOQ for a particular product against your own sales
projections.

Conclusion:

Whether you’re running an online, brick-and-mortar or multichannel business, effective

inventory management is key to keeping your business running efficiently – and your
customers happy. As you implement the above techniques, be sure to regularly assess how
well they’re working for your business and team. This way, you can make adjustments and
find the best ways to optimize your new systems and processes whenever necessary.
Ans 2.

Introduction:

The Theory of Constraints is a methodology for identifying the most important

limiting factor (i.e., constraint) that stands in the way of achieving a goal and then
systematically improving that constraint until it is no longer the limiting factor. In
manufacturing, the constraint is often referred to as a bottleneck.

The Theory of Constraints takes a scientific approach to improvement. It

hypothesizes that every complex system, including manufacturing processes, consists
of multiple linked activities, one of which acts as a constraint upon the entire system
(i.e., the constraint activity is the “weakest link in the chain”).

Concept:

Drum-Buffer-Rope

Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR) is a method of synchronizing production to the constraint

while minimizing inventory and work-in-process.

The “Drum” is the constraint. The speed at which the constraint runs sets the “beat”
for the process and determines total throughput.

The “Buffer” is the level of inventory needed to maintain consistent production. It

ensures that brief interruptions and fluctuations in non-constraints do not affect the
constraint. Buffers represent time; the amount of time (usually measured in hours)
that work-in-process should arrive in advance of being used to ensure steady
operation of the protected resource. The more variation there is in the process the
larger the buffers need to be. An alternative to large buffer inventories is sprint
capacity (intentional overcapacity) at non-constraints. Typically, there are two
buffers:

 Constraint Buffer: immediately before the constraint; protects the constraint

 Customer Buffer: at the very end of the process; protects the shipping
schedule
The “Rope” is a signal generated by the constraint indicating that some amount of
inventory has been consumed. This in turn triggers an identically sized release of
inventory into the process. The role of the rope is to maintain throughput without
creating an accumulation of excess inventory.

contrasting Theory of Constraints and Lean Manufacturing

The Theory of Constraints and Lean Manufacturing are both systematic methods for
improving manufacturing effectiveness. However, they have very different
approaches:

 The Theory of Constraints focuses on identifying and removing constraints

that limit throughput. Therefore, successful application tends to increase
manufacturing capacity.
 Lean Manufacturing focuses on eliminating waste from the manufacturing
process. Therefore, successful application tends to reduce manufacturing
costs.

Both methodologies have a strong customer focus and are capable of transforming
companies to be faster, stronger, and more agile. Nonetheless, there are significant
differences, as highlighted in the following table.

Conclusion:

The Theory of Constraints takes a scientific approach to improvement. It

hypothesizes that every complex system, including manufacturing processes, consists
of multiple linked activities, one of which acts as a constraint upon the entire system
(i.e., the constraint activity is the “weakest link in the chain”).

Ans3.

A.

Introduction:
Operations management in hospitals is the process of planning, organising, and controlling
the operations of a healthcare organisation. It includes the management of both clinical and
non-clinical operations. The main goal of operations management in hospitals is to ensure
that all operations are carried out efficiently and effectively.

It overlooks various essential aspects of hospital operations, such as staffing, patient flow,
resource allocation, and process improvement. Operations management in hospitals also
helps ensure that the hospital is running smoothly and meeting its goals.

Concept:

Operations management in hospitals is crucial to the success of any healthcare organisation.

It helps to ensure that all operations are carried out efficiently and effectively. Additionally,
hospital operations management also helps improve patient care quality and safety.

Operations management in hospitals is also critical for financial reasons. Proper operations
management can help to reduce costs and improve efficiency. It, in turn, can lead to
increased profits for the hospital.

Operations management in hospitals is a complex and challenging process. However, it is

essential for the success of any healthcare organisation. Proper operations management can
help to improve patient care quality and safety, as well as increase profits.

Without operations management, hospitals would not be able to function correctly.

Operations managers ensure that hospitals run smoothly and meet their goals.

Are you interested in a career in operations management in hospitals? Well, there are many
great programs available. A degree in operations management can help you start a
rewarding career in this vital field. We offer Advanced Certificates in Operations, Supply
Chain and Project Management for aspiring operations managers.

Conclusion:

Operations management in hospitals refers to the varied administrative functions that keep
hospital operations running. It includes managing budgets, staffing, employee concerns,
available services, quality of care and hospital policies. Operations management
professionals are essential to keeping a hospital functioning, ensuring that it provides the
care that its patients need. They often work as a team to perform the different
administrative tasks required to keep the hospital running.

B.

Introduction:

Generally, the quality of a product or service is the degree to which it satisfies the
customer’s expectations. It is judged or realized by comparing it with some standards. Just
like we define the quality of any product or service by using and comparing it with other
products.
Quality is a vague and complex concept, and as such, it is more difficult to define it in one
sentence. Different scholars viewed it differently.

Concept:

A Health Care Organization (HCO) is a complex organization by nature owing to the

intangible outcome of service and a blend of diverse professional personnel. Quality
management in healthcare is a critical requirement in health sector. The principles of quality
have been implicit in health care. However, quality is not a physical attribute service. Use of
the term ‘Health Care Service’ in place of ‘Medical Care’ further defines the field and puts it
as an entity that can be assessed, monitored and improved. A quality healthcare system can
be defined as “one that is accessible, appropriate, available, affordable, effective, efficient,
integrated, safe, and patient related”.1 Health care is delivered by practitioners in allied
health services, dentistry, midwifery, obstetrics, medicine, nursing, optometry, pharmacy,
psychology and other care providers.

Quality in health care

Medicine is a learned profession and it decides its own content quality. The focus for quality
in health care is on simple preventive maintenance rather than total service maintenance.
Donabedian proposed the use of triad of structure, process, and outcome to evaluate the
quality of health care.3 The structure component includes the infrastructure, skill and
qualifications of health care professionals and administrative systems to deliver the health
care. The process encompasses the individual components of care and their interactions.
The outcome is the recovery, restoration of function, and survival.

Total quality management

The aim of the quality assurance programs in HCOs is to implement a system that is capable
of managing the health care service to deliver a high quality service in a measurable way.
The answer lies in TQM, a system that can address all the challenges of the organization.
Total Quality Management (TQM) is defined as a management philosophy concerned with
people and work processes that focuses on customer satisfaction and improves
organizational performance.9 It encompasses Content Quality and Delivery Quality both. It
decreases burden of errors, ensures optimal utilization of infrastructure and medical
personnel and manages quality control

Conclusion:

Health care is a sacred and scientific enterprise and not fundamentally a commercial one.
The competent authorities should enforce the responsibility for ensuring high quality
standards and quality of care in healthcare facilities. The authority should consider shaping
the curricula to ensure training of future professionals to increase patient satisfaction. To
gain the desired momentum, HCOs need to initiate a new Quality Movement to achieve
total quality in health care service. It is the need, the challenge and the future direction.