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OPEraTiOns ManagEMEnT
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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Eighth edition

nigel slack
alistair Brandon-Jones
robert Johnston
Pearson Education Limited
Edinburgh Gate
Harlow CM20 2JE
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1279 623623
Web: www.pearson.com/uk

First published under the Pitman Publishing imprint 1995 (print)

Second edition (Pitman Publishing) 1998 (print)
Third edition 2001 (print)
Fourth edition 2004 (print)
Fifth edition 2007 (print)
Sixth edition 2010 (print)
Seventh edition 2013 (print and electronic)
Eighth edition published 2016 (print and electronic)

© Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, Christine Harland, Alan Harrison, Robert Johnston 1995, 1998 (print)
© Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, Robert Johnston 2001, 2004, 2007, 2010 (print)
© Nigel Slack, Alistair Brandon-Jones, Robert Johnston 2013, 2016 (print and electronic)

The rights of Nigel Slack, Alistair Brandon-Jones and Robert Johnston to be identified as authors of this
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NOTE THAT ANY PAGE CROSS REFERENCES REFER TO THE PRINT EDITION
 Brief contents

Guide to ‘operations in practice’, examples, Part Three

short cases and case studies xii
DELivEr 315
Preface xvi
To the Instructor. . . xviii
10 Planning and control 317

To the Student. . . xix 11 Capacity management 350

Ten steps to getting a better grade in Supplement to Chapter 11 —
operations management xx Analytical queuing models 391
About the authors xxi 12 Supply chain management 398
Acknowledgements xxii 13 Inventory management 432
Publisher’s acknowledgements xxiv 14 Planning and control systems 468
Supplement to Chapter 14 — Materials
requirements planning (MRP) 491
Part One
DirECTing ThE OPEraTiOn 3
15 Lean operations 498

1 Operations management 4
2 Operations performance 38 Part Four
3 Operations strategy 74 DEvELOPMEnT 531
4 Product and service innovation 109 16 Operations improvement 532
5 The structure and scope of operations 140 17 Quality management 572
Supplement to Chapter 5 — Forecasting 170 Supplement to Chapter 17 — Statistical
process control 603
18 Managing risk and recovery 616
Part Two 19 Project management 646
DEsigning ThE OPEraTiOn 181
Notes on chapters 681
6 Process design 182
Useful websites 689
7 Layout and flow 216 Glossary 691
8 Process technology 246 Index 704
9 People in operations 276
Supplement to Chapter 9 — Work study 306

v
This page intentionally left blank
 Contents

Guide to ‘operations in practice’, How is operations performance judged

examples, short cases and case studies xii at an operational level? 48
Preface xvi How can operations performance be
measured? 63
To the Instructor. . . xviii How do performance objectives trade off
To the Student. . . xix against each other? 66
Ten steps to getting a better grade Summary answers to key questions 68
in operations management xx Case study: Operations objectives at the
About the authors xxi Penang Mutiara 70
Problems and applications 72
Acknowledgements xxii
Selected further reading 73
Publisher’s acknowledgements xxiv
Chapter 3:
Operations strategy 74
Part One Introduction 74
What is strategy and what is operations
DirECTing ThE OPEraTiOn 3
strategy? 76
What is the difference between a ‘top-down’
Chapter 1: and ‘bottom-up’ view of operations
Operations management 4 strategy? 80
Introduction 4 What is the difference between a ‘market
What is operations management? 5 requirements’ and an ‘operations
Why is operations management important resources’ view of operations strategy? 84
in all types of organization? 8 How can operations strategy form the basis
What is the input–transformation–output for operations improvement? 92
process? 13 How can an operations strategy be put together?
What is the process hierarchy? 19 The process of operations strategy 98
How do operations and processes differ? 22 Summary answers to key questions 102
What do operations managers do? 27 Case study: McDonald's: half a century
Summary answers to key questions 31 of growth 104
Case study: Design house partnerships at Problems and applications 107
Concept Design Services 33 Selected further reading 108
Problems and applications 36
Selected further reading 36 Chapter 4:
Product and service innovation 109
Chapter 2: Introduction 109
Operations performance 38
What is product and service innovation? 110
Introduction 38 What is the strategic role of product
Why is operations performance vital and service innovation? 114
in any organization? 39 What are the stages of product and
How is operations performance judged service innovation? 119
at a societal level? 41 What are the benefits of interactive
How is operations performance judged product and service innovation? 130
at a strategic level? 46 Summary answers to key questions 134

vii
Case study: Developing ‘Savory Rosti-crisps’ Summary answers to key questions211
at Dreddo Dan’s 136 Case study: The Action Response Applications
Problems and applications 138 Processing Unit (ARAPU) 212
Selected further reading 139 Problems and applications 214
Selected further reading 214
Chapter 5:
The structure and scope Chapter 7:
of operations 140 Layout and flow 216
Introduction 140 Introduction 216
What do we mean by the ‘structure’ What is layout and how can it influence
and ‘scope’ of operations’ supply performance?217
networks?141 What are the basic layout types used
What configuration should a supply in operations? 220
network have? 145 How does the appearance of an
How much capacity should operations operation affect its performance? 231
plan to have? 149 How should each basic layout type
Where should operations be located? 154 be designed in detail? 234
How vertically integrated should an Summary answers to key questions240
operation’s network be? 156 Case study: The event hub 241
How do operations decide what to do Problems and applications244
in-house and what to outsource? 161 Selected further reading 244
Summary answers to key questions164
Case study: Aarens Electronic 166
Problems and applications 168
Chapter 8:
Selected further reading 169 Process technology 246
Introduction 246
Supplement to Chapter 5: What is process technology? 247
Forecasting 170 What do operations managers need to
Introduction 170 know about process technology? 251
How are process technologies evaluated? 258
Forecasting – knowing the options 170
How are process technologies
In essence forecasting is simple 171
implemented?264
Approaches to forecasting 172
Summary answers to key questions271
Selected further reading178
Case study: Rochem Ltd 272
Problems and applications 274
Selected further reading 274
Part Two
Chapter 9:
Designing the Operation 181 People in operations 276
Introduction 276
Chapter 6: Why are people so important in operations
Process design 182 management?277
Introduction 182 How do operations managers contribute
What is process design? 183 to human resource strategy? 279
What should be the objectives of How can the operations function be
process design? 185 organized?281
How do volume and variety affect How do we go about designing jobs? 286
process design? 189 How are work times allocated? 300
How are processes designed in detail? 195 Summary answers to key questions301
Case study: Grace faces (three) problems 302

viii
Problems and applications 304 Supplement to Chapter 11:
Selected further reading 305 Analytical queuing models 391
Introduction 391
Supplement to Chapter 9:
Work study 306 Notation391
Variability391
Introduction 306 Incorporating Little’s law 393
Method study in job design 306 Types of queuing system 393
Work measurement in job design 309
Chapter 12:
Supply chain management 398
Part Three Introduction 398
What is supply chain management? 399
Deliver 315 How should supply chains compete? 402
How should relationships in supply chains
Chapter 10: be managed? 407
Planning and control 317 How is the supply side managed? 412
Introduction 317 How is the demand side managed? 419
What are the dynamics of supply chains? 423
What is planning and control? 318
Summary answers to key questions426
What is the difference between planning
Case study: Supplying fast fashion 428
and control? 319
Problems and applications 430
How do supply and demand affect planning
Selected further reading431
and control? 321
What are the activities of planning and control? 327
Summary answers to key questions345 Chapter 13:
Case study: subText Studios Singapore 346 Inventory management 432
Problems and applications 348 Introduction 432
Selected further reading 349 What is inventory? 434
Why should there be any inventory? 437
Chapter 11: How much to order? The volume decision 442
Capacity management 350 When to place an order? The timing decision 452
Introduction 350 How can inventory be controlled? 458
Summary answers to key questions463
What is capacity management? 351
Case study: supplies4medics.com 465
How are demand and capacity
Problems and applications 466
measured?354
Selected further reading 467
How should the operation’s base capacity
be set? 364
What are the ways of coping with Chapter 14:
mismatches between demand Planning and control systems 468
and capacity? 366 Introduction 468
How can operations understand the What are planning and control systems? 469
consequences of their capacity What is enterprise resource planning and
decisions?373 how did it develop into the most common
Summary answers to key questions382 planning and control system? 475
Case study: Blackberry Hill Farm 384 How should planning and control systems
Problems and applications 388 be implemented? 483
Selected further reading 389 Summary answers to key questions486

ix
Case study: Psycho Sports Ltd 487 Summary answers to key questions566
Problems and applications 489 Case study: Reinventing Singapore’s
Selected further reading 490 libraries 568
Problems and applications 569
Supplement to Chapter 14: Selected further reading 570
Materials requirements
planning (MRP) 491 Chapter 17:
Introduction 491 Quality management 572
Master production schedule 491 Introduction 572
The bill of materials (BOM) 492 What is quality and why is it
Inventory records 494 so important? 573
The MRP netting process 494 What steps lead towards conformance
MRP capacity checks 497 to specification? 580
Summary497 What is total quality management (TQM)? 587
Summary answers to key questions597
Chapter 15: Case study: Turnaround at the
Lean operations 498 Preston plant 599
Problems and applications 601
Introduction 498
Selected further reading 602
What is lean? 499
How does lean eliminate waste? 506 Supplement to Chapter 17:
How does lean apply throughout the
supply network? 519
Statistical process control 603
How does lean compare with other Introduction 603
approaches?521 Control charts 603
Summary answers to key questions524 Variation in process quality 604
Case study: Saint Bridget’s Hospital 525 Control charts for attributes 608
Problems and applications 527 Control chart for variables 610
Selected further reading 528 Summary of supplement 615
Selected further reading615

Part Four Chapter 18:

Development 531
Managing risk and recovery 616
Introduction 616
Chapter 16: What is risk management? 617
Operations improvement 532 How can operations assess the
potential causes and consequences
Introduction 532
of failure? 619
Why is improvement so important in How can failures be prevented? 632
operations management? 533 How can operations mitigate the effects
What are the key elements of operations of failure? 637
improvement?540 How can operations recover from the
What are the broad approaches to effects of failure? 639
improvement?545 Summary answers to key questions642
What techniques can be used for Case study: Slagelse Industrial
improvement?554 Services (SIS) 643
How can the improvement process Problems and applications 645
be managed? 559 Selected further reading 645

x
Chapter 19: Problems and applications 679
Project management 646 Selected further reading 680
Introduction 646
Notes on chapters 681
What is project management? 647
Useful websites689
How are projects planned? 653
How are projects controlled? 669 Glossary691
Summary answers to key questions674 Index704
Case study: United Photonics Malaysia Sdn Bhd 675

xi
 guide to ‘operations in practice’, examples, short
cases and case studies

Chapter Location Company/example Region Sector/activity Company size

1 Operations Lego Europe Manufacturing Large
management Torchbox UK Web design Small
MSF Global Charity Large
Pret a Manger Global Hospitality Medium
Formule 1 Europe Hospitality Large
Ski Verbier Exclusive Europe Hospitality Small
Hewlet Packard Manufacturing Large
To be a great operations Global N/A N/A
manager…
Concept design services General Design/manufactur- Medium
ing/distribution
2 Operations Novozymes Europe Pharmaceutical Large
performance Patagonia Global Garments Large
Holcim Global Cement/aggregates Large
Quality Street Global Confectionary Large
The Golden Hour General Healthcare N/A
UPS Global Distribution Large
Mymusli German Web retail Small
Aldi Europe Retail Large
Foxconn Taiwan Manufacturing Large
The Penang Mutiara Malaysia Hospitality Medium
3 Operations SSTL UK/ Space Aerospace Medium
strategy Apple retail Global Retail Large
Amazon Global Web retail Large
Apple supply operations Global Manufacturing Large
Nokia Global Telecomm Large
Sometimes any plan is better Europe Military Large
than no plan
McDonalds Global Hospitality Large
4 Product and Apple iPhone Global Design Large
service innova- Kodak Global Manufacturing Smaller
tion Square watermelons Global Agriculture Various
IKEA Global Design/ Retail Large
Dyson Global Manufacturing Large
The circular economy Global Sustainability Various
Dreddo Dan’s Global Snack food Large

xii
Chapter Location Company/example Region Sector/activity Company size
5 ­The structure ARM and Intel Global Design and Design/ Large
and scope of manufacturing
operations Hollywood studios USA Creative Large
Surgery and shipping India/Global Healthcare/transporta- Large
tion
Counting clusters Various Various Various
HTC Taiwan Design/manufacturing Large
Samsun Korea Manufacturing Large
Aarens Electronic Netherlands Manufacturing Medium
6 ­Process Changi airport Singapore Air travel Large
design Fast food Global Hospitality Large
Ecover Europe Manufacturing Large
Sands Film Studio UK Creative Small
Space4 housing UK Construction Medium
Sainsbury’s UK Retail Large
Shouldice hospital Canada Healthcare Small
Action response UK Charity Small
7 ­Layout and Volkswagen Germany Manufacturing Large
flow Google USA Technology Large
Factory flow helps surgery UK Healthcare Medium
Apple’s shop UK Retail Large
Cadbury’s UK Manufacturing/ enter- Large
tainment
Nestlé Global Manufacturing Large
Office cubicles Various Design Various
Zodiac France / Manufacturing Medium
Global
The Event Hub UK Policing Medium
8 ­Process I Robot Global Various Various
­technology Technology or people? Various Various Various
QB house Asia Hairdressing Medium
Marmite UK Food Large
Technology failures UK Technology Large
Who’s in the cockpit? Global Various Airlines Various
Rochem UK Food processing Medium
9 ­People in W L Gore Global Manufacturing Large
operations High customer contact jobs USA Air travel Large
McDonald’s Global Hospitality Large
Yahoo USA Technology Large
Music while you work Global Various Various
Grace faces (three) problems UK Legal Medium
10 Planning Joanne manages the UK Retail Medium
and control schedule
Operations control at Air Global Airline Large
France
Uber Global Technology platform Large
Can airline passengers be General Airports Various
sequenced?
The hospital triage system Global Healthcare Various
The life and times of a UK Food processing Medium
chicken sandwich (part 1)

xiii
 Chapter Location Company/example Region Sector/activity Company size
11 ­Capacity Heathrow UK Airports Large
­management Panettone Italy Food processing Large
Amazon Global Retail Large
Lowaters UK Horticulture Medium
Demand management USA Public Large
Baseball games USA Leisure Medium
Blackberry hill farm UK Leisure Small
12 Supply chain Ocado UK Retail Large
management The North Face Global Garment manufacture Large
Apple Global Technology Large
The tsunami effect Asia Various Various
Levi Strauss Global Garment manufacture Large
Seven-Eleven Japan Japan Retail Large
Supplying fast fashion Global Garment design/ Large
manufacture/ retail
13 Inventory National Health Service UK Public sector Large
management Blood and Transplant service
Energy inventory Global Power generation Large
Treasury wines Australia Wine production Large
Gritting roads Europe Public sector Large
Flame electrical South Africa Wholesale Small
Amazon Global Retail Large
Supplies4medics Europe Retail Medium
14 ­Planning Butchers pet care UK (Dog) food production Medium
and control SAP and its partners Global Systems developers
systems The life and times of a chick- UK Food production Medium
en salad sandwich (part 2)
What a waste USA Recycling Large
Psycho sports N/A Manufacturing Small

15 Lean Jamie’s lean meals UK Domestic food N/A

operations preparation
Pixar adopts lean USA Creative Large
Toyota Global Auto production Large
Waste reduction in airline N/A Air transport N/A
maintenance
Andon’s in Amazon Global Retail Large
Torchbox UK Web design Small
St Bridget’s Hospital Sweden Healthcare Medium
16 Improve- Sonae Corporation Portugal Retail Large
ment The checklist manifesto N/A Healthcare Various
6Wonderkinder Germany App developer Small
Improvement at Heineken Netherlands Brewer Large
6Sigma at Wipro India Outsourcers Large
Learning from Formula 1 UK Transport Various
Reinventing Singapore’s Singapore Public sector Medium
libraries

xiv
Chapter Location Company/example Region Sector/activity Company size
17 Quality TNT Express Global Transport Large
­management Victorinox Switzerland Manufacturing Large
Four Seasons Global Hospitality Large
Magic moments UK Photography Small
Ryanair’s Europe Airline Large
Millbrook Proving Ground UK Auto testing Medium
Quick Food Products UK Food production Small
Fat finger syndrome Global Finance Various
Deliberate defectives Canada Manufacturing Large
Preston plant Canada Manufacturing Medium
18 Managing Tesco UK Retail Large
risk and Findus Europe Food production Large
recovery G4S UK Outsourcer Large
The rise of the micromort N/A Various Various
Is failure designed-in to Netherlands Airline Large
airline operations?
General motors USA Auto manufacture Large
Slagelse Industrial Services Denmark Manufacturing Medium
19 Project Disney Global Leisure Large
management Vasa’s first voyage Sweden Military N/A
Halting the growth of ma- Global Healthcare Large
laria
The Scottish Parliament UK Construction Large
Building
United Photonics Malaysia Development Large

xv
 Preface
introduction - Operations may not run
the World, but it makes the World run
Operations management is important. It is concerned
with creating the services and products upon which we
all depend. And all organizations produce some mixture
of services and products, whether that organization is
large or small, manufacturing or service, for profit or not
for profit, public or private. Thankfully, most companies
have now come to understand the importance of opera-
tions. This is because they have realized that effective
operations management gives the potential to improve
both efficiency and customer service simultaneously. But
more than this, operations management is everywhere,
it is not confined to the operations function. All manag-
ers, whether they are called Operations or Marketing or
Human Resources or Finance, or whatever, manage pro-
cesses and serve customers (internal or external). This
makes, at least part of their activities ‘operations’.
Operations management is also exciting. It is at the
centre of so many of the changes affecting the business
world – changes in customer preference, changes in sup-
ply networks brought about by internet-based technolo-
gies, changes in what we want to do at work, how we
want to work, where we want to work, and so on. There
has rarely been a time when operations management
was more topical or more at the heart of business and
cultural shifts.
Operations management is also challenging.
Promoting the creativity that will allow organizations
to respond to so many changes is becoming the prime
task of operations managers. It is they who must find
the solutions to technological and environmental chal-
lenges, the pressures to be socially responsible, the
increasing globalization of markets and the difficult- to-
define areas of knowledge management.
The aim of this book
This book provides a clear, authoritative, well-structured
and interesting treatment of operations management as
it applies to a variety of businesses and organizations.
The text provides both a logical path through the activi-
ties of operations management and an understanding of
their strategic context.
xvi
More specifically, this text is:
● Strategic in its perspective. It is unambiguous in
treating the operations function as being central to
competitiveness.
● Conceptual in the way it explains the reasons why
operations managers need to take decisions.
● Comprehensive in its coverage of the significant ideas
and issues which are relevant to most types of
operation.
● Practical in that the issues and challenges of making
operations management decisions in practice are dis-
cussed. The ‘Operations in practice’ feature, which
starts every chapter, the short cases that appear
through the chapters, and the case studies at the end
of each chapter, all explore the approaches taken by
operations managers in practice.
● International in the examples that are used. There
are over 110 descriptions of operations practice from
all over the world.
● Balanced in its treatment. This means we reflect the
balance of economic activity between service and
manufacturing operations. Around seventy-five per
cent of examples are from organizations that deal
primarily in services and twenty-five per cent from
those that are primarily manufacturing.
Who should use this book?
This book is for anyone who is interested in how services
and products are created.
● Undergraduates on business studies, technical or
joint degrees should find it sufficiently structured to
provide an understandable route through the subject
(no prior knowledge of the area is assumed).
● MBA students should find that its practical discus-
sions of operations management activities enhance
their own experience.
● Postgraduate students on other specialist Master’s
degrees should find that it provides them with a
well-grounded and, at times, critical approach to the
subject.
Distinctive features
Clear structure
The structure of the book uses the ‘4Ds’ model of opera-
tions management that distinguishes between the strate-
gic decisions that govern the direction of the operation,
the design of the processes and operations that create
products and services, planning and control of the deliv-
ery of products and services, and the development, or
improvement of operations.
Illustrations-based
Operations management is a practical subject and cannot
be taught satisfactorily in a purely theoretical manner.
Because of this we have used examples and short ‘opera-
tions in practice’ cases that explain some of the issues
faced by real operations.
Worked examples
Operations management is a subject that blends qualita-
tive and quantitative perspectives; ‘worked examples’ are
used to demonstrate how both types of technique can
be used.
Critical commentaries
Not everyone agrees about what is the best approach to
the various topics and issues with operations manage-
ment. This is why we have included ‘critical commentar-
ies’ that pose alternative views to the one being expressed
in the main flow of the text.
Summary answers to key questions
Each chapter is summarized in the form of a list of bullet
points. These extract the essential points that answer the
key questions posed at the beginning of each chapter.
Case studies
Every chapter includes a case study suitable for class
discussion. The cases are usually short enough to serve
as illustrations, but have sufficient content also to serve
as the basis of case sessions.
Problems and applications
Every chapter includes a set of problem-type exercises.
These can be used to check out your understanding of
the concepts illustrated in the worked examples. There
are also activities that support the learning objectives of
the chapter that can be done individually or in groups.
Selected further reading
Every chapter ends with a short list of further reading
that takes the topics covered in the chapter further, or
treats some important related issues. The nature of each
further reading is also explained.
xvii
 To the instructor . . .

Teaching and learning resources for the 8th edition

new for the eighth edition
This 8th Edition is different. In fact, it’s the biggest set
of changes that we have made between editions. We
have been consulting widely with our users, who have
very kindly contributed to advising us on how we should
further improve both the structure and content of the
book. First the structure – we have retained the ‘4Ds’
structure (direct, design, delivery and development)
that has proved to be exceptionally popular, but we have
shifted two chapters that were in the ‘design’ section into
the ‘direct’ section. Our users, quite rightly, pointed out
that ‘design innovation’ and ‘the structure and scope of
operations’ (what was called ‘Supply network design’ in
previous editions) were both fundamental and strategic,
and so therefore should be included in the first part
of the book. We have done this and made both chap-
ters more strategic. We have also moved two chapters
(Quality management and Project management) into the
‘Development’ section on the grounds that they are both
increasingly seen as part of operations improvement. In
terms of the content, we have included various aspects
of sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility in
each chapter rather than separating the issue out at the
end of the book. The issues covered are just too important
to be segregated in that way. Needless to say, as usual,
we have tried to keep up to date with the (increasingly)
rapid changes taking place in the (wonderful) world of
operations.
Specifically, the 8th edition includes the following
key changes:
● The importance of sustainability and Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) has been emphasised
further, and included throughout the book.
● We have even further strengthened the emphasis on
the idea that ‘operations management’ is relevant to
every type of business and all functional areas of the
organization.
● Many new ideas in operations management have
been incorporated, including the ‘three level’
approach to performance, the relationship between
innovation, creativity and design, crowdsourcing,
ideas management, business ecosystems, triadic rela-
tionships, office layout, telecommuting and organi-
sational ‘ambidexterity’. However, we have retained
the emphasis on the foundations of the subject.
● Six of the 19 cases at the end of the chapter are new
(but the old ones are still available on the website),
and provide an up-to-date selection of operations
issues.
● The book has been visually redesigned to aid learn-
ing. Instructor’s resources A completely new instruc-
tor’s manual is available to lecturers adopting this
textbook, together with PowerPoint presentations
for each chapter and a Testbank of assessment ques-
tions. Visit www.pearsoned.co.uk/slack to access
these. Most importantly, a new set of online resourc-
es to enable students to check their understanding,
practise key techniques and improve their problem-
solving skills now accompanies the book.

● There are now more than 110 of the popular ‘Opera-

tions in Practice’ examples throughout the book, over
40 per cent of which are new.

xviii
 To the student . . .
Making the most of this book
All academic textbooks in business management are, to
some extent, simplifications of the messy reality that is
actual organizational life. Any book has to separate top-
ics, in order to study them, which in reality are closely
related. For example, technology choice impacts on job
design that in turn impacts on quality management;
yet, for simplicity, we are obliged to treat these topics
individually. The first hint therefore in using this book
effectively is to look out for all the links between the
individual topics. Similarly with the sequence of topics:
although the chapters follow a logical structure, they
need not be studied in this order. Every chapter is, more
or less, self-contained. Therefore study the chapters in
whatever sequence is appropriate to your course or your
individual interests. But because each part has an intro-
ductory chapter, those students who wish to start with
a brief ‘overview’ of the subject may wish first to study
Chapters 1, 6, 10 and 16 and the chapter summaries of
selected chapters. The same applies to revision – study
the introductory chapters and summary answers to key
questions.
The book makes full use of the many practical exam-
ples and illustrations that can be found in all operations.
Many of these were provided by our contacts in compa-
nies, but many also come from journals, magazines and
newspapers. So if you want to understand the impor-
tance of operations management in every-day business
life look for examples and illustrations of operations
management decisions and activities in newspapers
and magazines. There are also examples which you can
observe every day. Whenever you use a shop, eat a meal
in a restaurant, borrow a book from the library or ride
on public transport, consider the operations manage-
ment issues of all the operations for which you are a
customer.
The case exercises and study activities are there to
provide an opportunity for you to think further about
the ideas discussed in the chapters. Study activities can
be used to test out your understanding of the specific
points and issues discussed in the chapter and discuss
them as a group, if you choose. If you cannot answer
these you should revisit the relevant parts of the chap-
ter. The case exercises at the end of each chapter will
require some more thought. Use the questions at the
end of each case exercise to guide you through the logic
of analysing the issue treated in the case. When you
have done this individually try to discuss your analy-
sis with other course members. Most important of all,
every time you analyse one of the case exercises (or any
other case or example in operations management) start
off your analysis with the two fundamental questions:
● How is this organization trying to compete (or satisfy
its strategic objectives if a not-for-profit organiza-
tion)?
● What can the operation do to help the organization
compete more effectively?
xix
 Ten steps to getting a better grade
in operations management
I could say that the best rule for getting a better grade
is to be good. I mean really, really good! But, there are
plenty of us who, while fairly good, don’t get as good a
grade as we really deserve. So, if you are studying opera-
tions management, and you want a really good grade, try
following these simple steps:
Step 1 Practise, practise, practise. Use the Key ques-
tions and the Problems and applications to check your
understanding.
Step 2 Remember a few key models, and apply them
wherever you can. Use the diagrams and models to
describe some of the examples that are contained
within the chapter.
Step 3 Remember to use both quantitative and quali-
tative analysis. You’ll get more credit for appropri-
ately mixing your methods: use a quantitative model
to answer a quantitative question and vice versa, but
qualify this with a few well-chosen sentences.
Step 4 There’s always a strategic objective behind any
operational issue. Ask yourself, ‘Would a similar opera-
tion with a different strategy do things differently?’
Look at the ‘Operations in practice’ pieces in the book.
Step 5 Research widely around the topic. Use websites that
you trust – we’ve listed some good websites at the end of the
book. You’ll get more credit for using references that come
from genuine academic sources.
Step 6 Use your own experience. Every day, you’re
experiencing an opportunity to apply the principles of
operations management. Why is the queue at the airport
check-in desk so long? What goes on behind the ‘hole in
the wall’ of your bank’s ATM machines?
Step 7 Always answer the question. Think ‘what is
really being asked here? What topic or topics does this
xx
question cover?’ Find the relevant chapter or chapters,
and search the Key questions at the beginning of each
chapter and the Summary at the end of each chapter to
get you started.
Step 8 Take account of the three tiers of accumulating
marks for your answers.
(a) First, demonstrate your knowledge and under-
standing. Make full use of the text to find out where
you need to improve.
(b) Second, show that you know how to illustrate and
apply the topic. The Case studies and ‘Operations
in practice’ sections give you hundreds of different
examples.
(c) Third, show that you can discuss and analyse the
issues critically. Use the Critical commentaries
within the text to understand some of the alterna-
tive viewpoints.
Generally, if you can do (a) you will pass; if you can
do (a) and (b) you will pass well, and if you can do all
three, you will pass with flying colours!
Step 9 Remember what the issue is about, but also
understand why! Read the text until you really under-
stand why the concepts and techniques of operations
management are important, and what they contribute
to an organization’s success. Your new-found knowl-
edge will stick in your memory, allow you to develop
ideas, and enable you to get better grades.
Step 10 Start now! Don’t wait until two weeks before
an assignment is due. GOOD LUCK!
Nigel Slack
 about the authors
nigel slack is an Emeritus Professor of Operations
Management and Strategy at Warwick University, an
Honorary Professor at Bath University and an Associate
Fellow of Said Business School, Oxford University.
Previously he has been Professor of Service Engineering
at Cambridge University, Professor of Manufacturing
Strategy at Brunel University, a University Lecturer in
Management Studies at Oxford University and Fellow
in Operations Management at Templeton College,
Oxford. He worked initially as an industrial apprentice
in the hand-tool industry and then as a production
engineer and production manager in light engineer-
ing. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering and
Master’s and Doctor’s degrees in Management, and is a
Chartered Engineer. He is the author of many books and
papers in the operations management area, including
The Manufacturing Advantage, published by Mercury
Business Books, 1991, and Making Management Decisions
(with Steve Cooke), 1991, published by Prentice Hall,
Service Superiority (with Robert Johnston), published in
1993 by EUROMA, The Blackwell Encyclopedic Dictionary
of Operations Management (with Michael Lewis) pub-
lished by Blackwell, Operations Strategy together with
Michael Lewis, the fourth edition published by Pearson
in 2014 and Perspectives in Operations Management
(Volumes I to IV) also with Michael Lewis, published by
Routledge in 2003, Operations and Process Management,
with Alistair Brandon-Jones, Robert Johnston and Alan
Betts, now in its 4th Edition 2015. He has authored
numerous academic papers and chapters in books. He
also acts as a consultant to many international com-
panies around the world in many sectors, especially
financial services, transport, leisure and manufactur-
ing. His research is in the operations and manufacturing
flexibility and operations strategy areas.
alistair Brandon-Jones is a Professor in Operations
and Supply Management and Associate Dean for Post-
Experience Education at the University of Bath School of
Management, He was formerly a Reader at Manchester
Business School, an Assistant and Associate Professor
at Bath School of Management and a Teaching Fellow
Warwick Business School, where he also completed his
PhD. His other books include Operations and Process
Management, Essentials of Operations Management, and
Quantitative Analysis in Operations Management. Alistair
is an active empirical researcher focusing on e-enabled
operations and supply management, healthcare opera-
tions, and professional services. This work, supported
by a range of grants, has been published in many lead-
ing management journals. Alistair has consulting and
executive development experience with organizations
around the world, in various sectors including petro-
chemicals, health, financial services, manufacturing,
defence, and government. In addition, he has won sev-
eral university, national, and international awards for
teaching excellence.
xxi
 acknowledgements
During the preparation of the eighth edition of this
book (and previous editions) we have received an
immense amount of help from friends and colleagues in
the Operations Management community. In particular
everybody who has attended one of the regular ‘fac-
ulty work-shops’ deserves thanks for the many useful
comments. The generous sharing of ideas from these
sessions has influenced this and all the other OM books
that we prepare. Our thanks go to everyone who attend-
ed these sessions and other colleagues. It is, to some
extent, invidious to single out individuals – but we are
going to. We thank Pär Åhlström of Stockholm School
of Economics, James Aitken of University Of Surrey,
Yongmei Bentley of the University Of Bedfordshire,
Helen Benton of Anglia Ruskin University, Ran Bhamra,
Loughborough University, Tony Birch of Birmingham
City University, Abhijeet Ghadge of Heriot Watt
University, Professor Sven Åke Hörte of Lulea University
of Technology, Eamonn Ambrose of University College,
Andrea Benn of University of Brighton, Dublin, Mattia
Bianchi of the Stockholm School of Economics John K
Christiansen of Copenhagen Business School, Philippa
Collins of Heriot-Watt University, Henrique Correa of
Rollins College, Florida, Paul Coughlan of Trinity College
Dublin, Simon Croom of the University of San Diego,
Stephen Disney of Cardiff University, Doug Davies of
University of Technology, Sydney, Tony Dromgoole
of the Irish Management Institute, J.A.C. de Haan of
Tilburg University, Carsten Dittrich of the University
of Southern Denmark, David Evans of Middlesex
University, Ian Evans of Sunderland University, Paul
Forrester of Keele University, Ian Graham of Edinburgh
University, Ian Fouweather of Bradford University, Alan
Harle of Sunderland University, Norma Harrison of
Macquarie University, Catherine Hart of Loughborough
Business School, Steve Hickman of University Of Exeter,
Chris Hillam of Sunderland University, Ian Holden
of Bristol Business School, Matthias Holweg, Oxford
University, Mickey Howard of Exeter University, Kim
Hua Tan of the University Of Nottingham, Stavros
Karamperidis of Heriot Watt University, Tom Kegan of
Bell College of Technology, Hamilton, Denis Kehoe of
Liverpool University, Mike Lewis of Bath University,
Xiaohong Li of Sheffield Hallam University, John
Maguire of the University of Sunderland, Charles
Marais of the University of Pretoria, Peter McCullen of
xxii
University Of Brighton, Roger Maull, Exeter University,
Bart McCarthy, Nottingham University, Harvey Maylor
of Cranfield University, John Meredith Smith of EAP,
Oxford, Michael Milgate of Macquarie University, Keith
Moreton of Staffordshire University, Chris Morgan of
Cranfield University, Adrian Morris of Sunderland
University, Andy Neely of Cambridge University, Steve
New of Oxford University, John Pal of Manchester
Business School, Antony Potter of Manchester Business
School, Gary Priddis of University of Brighton, Sofia
Salgado Pinto of the Católica Porto Business School,
Peter Race of Henley College, Reading University, Gary
Ramsden of University Of Lincoln, Steve Robinson
of Southampton Solent University, James Rowell of
University Of Buckingham, Frank Rowbotham of
University Of Birmingham, Ian Sadler of Victoria
University, Hamid Salimian of University of Brighton,
Sarah Schiffling of University of Lincoln, Andi Smart,
Exeter University, Amrik Sohal of Monash University,
Nigel Spinks of the University Of Reading, Rui
Soucasaux Sousa of the Católica Porto Business School,
Alex Skedd of Northumbria Business School, Martin
Spring of Lancaster University, Dr Ebrahim Soltani
of the University of Kent, R. Stratton of Nottingham
Trent University, James Stone, Aston University, Dr.
Nelson Tang of the University of Leicester, David
Twigg of Sussex University, Helen Valentine of the
University of the West of England, Professor Roland
van Dierdonck of the University of Ghent, Dirk Pieter
van Donk of the University of Groningen, Arvind
Upadhyay of University of Brighton, Vessela Warren of
University Of Worcester, Bill Wright of Bpp Professional,
Ying Xie of Anglia Ruskin University, Maggie Zeng of
Gloucestershire University and Li Zhou of University
Of Greenwich University.
Our academic colleagues at both Warwick Business
School, Bath School of Management have also helped,
both by contributing ideas and by creating a lively and
stimulating work environment. At Warwick, thanks
go to, Nicola Burgess, Mehmet Chakkol, Max Finne,
Emily Jamieson, Mark Johnson, Pietro Micheli, Rhian
Silvestro, and Chris Voss. At Bath, thanks go to Brian
Squire, Chris Archer-Brown, Maria Battarra, Emma
Brandon-Jones, Günes Erdogan, Marco Formentini,
Emmanuel Fragniere, Andrew Graves, Jooyoung Jeon,
Richard Kamm, Mike Lewis, Sheik Meeran, Dimitris
Paraskevopoulos, Tony Roath, Jens Roehrich, Christos
Vasilakis, and Baris Yalabik.
Our late friend and colleague, Bob Johnston con-
tributed both expertise and wisdom to earlier editions
of this book. We still miss his intelligence, insight and
support.
We were lucky to receive continuing profession-
al and friendly assistance from a great publishing
team. Especial thanks to Kate Brewin, Caitlin Lisle, Tim
Parker, Kelly Miller, Kay Holman, Neville Hankins, Lucy
Chantler, Isobel McLean, Frances Topp and Sasmita
Sinha.
Finally, to our families, who both supported and
tolerated our nerdish obsession, thanks are inadequate,
but thanks anyway to Angela and Kathy, and Emma and
Noah.
Nigel Slack
Alistair Brandon-Jones
xxiii
 Publisher’s acknowledgements
We are grateful to the following for permission to repro-
duce copyright material:
Figures
Figure 2.11b from Spidergram to check on police forces,
The Times, 10/07/2002 (Miles, A. and Bladwin, T.)
reproduced with permission; Figure 3.15 adapted from
Operations Strategy, 4 ed., Pearson Education (Slack N.
and Lewis M.A. 2015) reproduced with permission;
Figure 5.6 from Operations and Process Management:
Principles and Practice for Strategic Impact, Pearson
Education (Slack, Nigel, Brandon-Jones, A., Johnston,
R. and Betts, A. 2012) reproduced with permission;
Figure 7.6 from For Toyota, patriotism and profits may
not mix, Wall Street Journal, 29/11/2011 (Dawson, C.)
reprinted with permission of Wall Street Journal,
Copyright © 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights
Reserved Worldwide. License numbers 3841860034292
and 3841860323322; Figure 8.4 from Unilever UK,
Reproduced with kind permission of Unilever PLC and
group companies; Figure 9.7 adapted from A new strat-
egy for job enrichment, California Management Review,
Vol. 17 (3) (Hackman, J.R., Oldham, G., Janson, R.
and Purdy, K. 1975) republished with permission of
University of California Press, permission conveyed
through Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.; Figure 12.6
adapted from What is the right supply chain for your
product?, Harvard Business Review, March-April, pp.
105–116 (Fisher, M.C. 1997), reprinted by permis-
sion of Harvard Business Review. Copyright ©1997
by Harvard Business Publishing; all rights reserved;
Figure 12.10 adapted from Purchasing must become sup-
ply management, Harvard Business Review, September
(Kraljic, Peter 1983), reprinted by permission of Harvard
Business Review. Copyright ©1983 by Harvard Business
Publishing; all rights reserved; Figure 15.7 from Applying
Lean in Offices, Hospitals, Planes and Trains, Presentation
at The Lean Services Summit, Amsterdam, June 24
(2004) p. 30, McKinsey & Company, www.mckinsey.
com. Copyright © 2004 McKinsey & Company. All rights
reserved. Reprinted by permission; Figure 15.12 adapted
from C.A. Voss and A. Harrison, Strategies for implement-
ing JIT, in, Just-in-Time Manufacture, IFS/Springer-Verlag
(Voss, C.A. (ed.) 1987) Copyright © 1987 Springer;
Figure 17.4 adapted from A conceptual model of service
xxiv
quality and implications for future research, Journal
of Marketing, Vol. 49, Fall, pp. 41-50 (Parasuraman,
A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.B. 1985), American
Marketing Association; Figure 19.4 from Reinventing
Project Management: The Diamond Approach to Successful
Growth and Innovation, Harvard Business School Press
(Shenhar, A.J. and Dvir, D. 2007) reprinted by permis-
sion of Harvard Business Review Press. Copyright ©
2007 by the Harvard Business Publishing Corporation;
all rights reserved.; Figure 19.6 adapted from Managing
Sensitive Projects: A Lateral Approach, English version by
Cutrin, T. and Etcheber, P. Routledge, NY (D’Herbemont,
O. and César B 1998) republished with permission of
Routledge Publishing Inc. Permission conveyed through
Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.; Figure 19.19 adapted
from Collaboration, Integrated Information, and the
Project Life Cycle in Building Design and Construction and
Operation, Construction Users Roundtables (CURT).
Tables
Table S9.2 adapted from Principles of Motion Economy:
Revisited, Reviewed and Restored, Proceedings of the
Southern Management Association Annual Meeting
(Atlanta, GA 1983) (Barnes, F.C. 1983) p. 298; Tables
9.3 and 9.4 from J.L. Kobrick and B.J. Fine, Climate and
human performance, in, The Physical Environment and
Work John Wiley (Oborne, D.J. and Gruneberg, M.M.
(eds.) 1983) reproduced with permission of Wiley in the
format Book via Copyright Clearance Center; Table 15.1
adapted from What is the Theory of Constraints, and How
Does it Compare to Lean Thinking? The Lean Enterprise
Institute (Rattner, S. 2009) Copyright © 1999 Sergio
Rattner. All rights reserved.
Text
Case Study on pages 346–49 adapted from Operations
and Process Management, 3rd ed., Pearson Education
(Slack, N., Brandon-Jones, A., Johnston, R. and Betts, A.
2012) © Pearson Education Limited 2006, 2009, 2012;
Box on page 470 adapted from My way - IT at Butcher’s
Pet Care, Engineering and Technology Magazine, Vol. 4
(13) (Allan K.); Box on pages 499–500 written and sup-
plied by Janina Aarts and Mattia Bianchi, Department
of Management and Organization, Stockholm School of
Economics, reproduced with permission; Box on page
534 adapted from Case study by Professors Rui Sousa
and Sofia Salgado Pinto, Católica Porto Business School,
Portugal; Case Study on pages 568-69 from Professors
Robert Johnson, Warwick Business School, Chai Kah Hin
and Jochen Wirtz, National University of Singapore, and
Christopher Lovelock, Yale University.
Photos
The publisher would like to thank the following for their
kind permission to reproduce their photographs:
(Key: b-bottom; c-centre; l-left; r-right; t-top)
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xxv
1 Operations management

2 Operations performance

3 Operations strategy

4 Product and service innovation

5 the structure and scope of operations

part one
DireCtinG the OPeratiOn

this part of the book introduces the idea of ‘operations’ and the operations
function. it also examines the fundamental activities and decisions that shape
the overall direction and strategy of the operations function. the chapters in
this part are:
● chapter 1 operations management – this introduces the common ideas
that describe the nature and role of operations and processes in all types of
organization.
● chapter 2 operations performance – this identifies how the performance of
the operations function can be judged.
● chapter 3 operations strategy – this examines how the activities of the
operations function can have an important strategic impact.
● chapter 4 product and service innovation – this looks at how innovation can
be built into the product and service design process.
● chapter 5 the structure and scope of operations – this describes the major
decisions that determine how and the extent to which an operation adds
value through its own activities.

Direct -
Steering operations
and processes
Transformed
resources
• Materials
• Information
• Customers Design - Develop -
Shaping processes, Operations Improving the
products and management operation’s
services capabilities Output Value
Input
products and added for
resources
services customers
Deliver -
Planning and
controlling ongoing
Transforming operations
resources
• Facilities
• Staff
1 Operations management

Key questions intrODuCtiOn

❯ What is operations management?
❯ Why is operations management
important in all types of
organization?
❯ What is the input–
transformation–output process?
❯ What is the process hierarchy?
❯ how do operations and
processes differ?
❯ What do operations managers do?
operations management is about how organizations create
and deliver services and products. everything you wear, eat,
sit on, use, read or knock about on the sports field comes to
you courtesy of the operations managers who organized its
creation and delivery. every book you borrow from the library,
every treatment you receive at the hospital, every service you
expect in the shops and every lecture you attend at university
– all have been created by operations. While the people who
supervised their creation and delivery may not always be
called operations managers, that is what they really are. and
that is what this book is concerned with – the tasks, issues
and decisions of those operations managers who have made
the services and products on which we all depend. this is an
introductory chapter, so we will examine what we mean by
‘operations management’, how operations processes can be
found everywhere, how they are all similar yet different, and
what it is that operations managers do (see Fig. 1.1).

Topic covered in
Direct this chapter

Operations
management

Operations Operations
performance strategy

Direct
The
Product
structure
and service
and scope of
innovation
operations
Operations Develop
Design
management

Deliver

Figure 1.1 this chapter examines operations management

Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 "How can it not be true? Leonard heard it from the driver who took you
to Paris. Robespierre was a few yards off our house at the Carrefour de la
Chèvre. It was from that very spot he set his agents upon you."

These details brought back the scene to Clarisse's memory. And she
thought of Vaughan, undoubtedly arrested also.

Olivier recalled her to the present, continuing to speak.

"Yes, it was Robespierre, the infamous wretch!"

She threw herself on him.

"Oh no! Hush! I implore you!"

He struggled to continue, but she prevented him, trying to drown his

words.

"I am sure you are mistaken.... Leonard is mistaken.... It is certain.... I

should have known.... If it were he ... I should have known!"

"No! You could not have known. You yourself said so just now. Why
should they account to you for their actions? It is he ... he and no other!"

And Olivier then gave her minutely every detail as the gardener had told
it to him. How one of the agents had conferred with Robespierre after the
arrest, at the Carrefour de la Chèvre, where he was enjoying a picnic.

Ah! Clarisse needed no such explanations. It was he, she knew it too
well. But how was she to persuade Olivier to the contrary? How prevent the
son from cursing his father?

She tried to excuse Robespierre, attributing to him other motives.

"You see," she said, "he doesn't know who we are.... He is mistaken....
His agents have misled him.... There could be so many
misunderstandings...."

Olivier shrugged his shoulders.

 "How credulous you are! Bah! he knows very well what he is doing! It
is his thirst for blood. Oh! you don't half know what he is, that Rob...."

Clarisse, horror-stricken, put her fingers to his lips, to arrest the words.

"No! No! Don't pronounce that name in such a way!"

And seeing him look at her in bewilderment, she tried to give him
plausible reasons.

"You might be heard, and you would be compromised."

"But how? Here? Where everybody holds his name in execration?"

"Yes; but then there are turnkeys coming and going at every moment.
And what if there are spies among the prisoners...?"

And, as if clutching at a straw, she followed up the idea.

"Yes, spies—traitors? You must not betray your feelings before them."

"True! there is no lack of infamy among the populace!"

He then told his mother of the incidents of his wanderings in Paris, of

his utter astonishment at the apathy of the crowd round that accursed
scaffold which was being transported to the Place de la Bastille, amidst the
preparations for the Festival of the Supreme Being.

And yet he knew that much of their indifference must be assumed. How
many thought as he did! How many had the long-awaited cry of deliverance
on their lips: "Down with the scaffold!" Only they dared not speak out! If
but one had the courage to give utterance to that cry, there would be enough
brave men found in the crowd to take it up and re-echo it, carrying the more
timid along with them. When once a move is made the multitude will
quickly follow.

Clarisse looked at him. A new thought had dawned on her mind, a

horrible thought!
 What if Robespierre should have Olivier arrested without knowing who
he was?

She interrupted him.

"Is the house where you lodge quite safe?"

As Olivier replied in the affirmative, and was continuing the narrative of

his adventures, she took up the thread of his thoughts. Suddenly a gleam of
hope shone in her eyes, as if her mental speculations had assured her.

"Ah! I did well to write to him!" she thought.

To him, to Robespierre! For she had written to the Incorruptible that

very morning.

She now turned this letter over in her mind, in which she had informed
him of her imprisonment, telling him her fears about her son, whose age she
particularly mentioned as nineteen years. It was a hint for Robespierre, who
would understand, and perhaps be touched to pity, and set her and Marie
Thérèse at liberty, and spare the lad who was her son and his own.

Clarisse had confided this letter to a prisoner set at liberty, whom she
earnestly entreated to see it safely delivered.

"It will be the easiest thing in the world," the man had replied; "you can
be quite at rest."

Clarisse did not suspect the irony of this reply, or that the supposed
prisoner was one of the spies to whom she had unwittingly alluded a little
while before. Ah, yes; she could be at rest, truly! The letter would reach
Robespierre. But under what conditions? He, who received so many! Alas!
It is in the wounded heart that most illusions take root! Clarisse did not
dream that anything could interfere with her scheme, and began to speculate
on the future, counting the hours, and saying to herself that in all probability
the letter could reach Robespierre the next day.
 The best she could do till then, she thought, was to moderate Olivier's
zeal, by showing him that their prison-life was not so unbearable; and she
imagined it would distract him if she presented him to some of her
companions in misfortune. They had just taken away the tables, so making
the courtyard appear larger, and leaving more room for the promenade.
Olivier was now noticing more clearly the people in this little prison-world
taking air and exercise in the open space to which the green acacia-trees
gave some semblance of a garden.

The women, dressed simply in summer toilets, retained an air of

elegance in spite of the plain ribbon band fastening their hair, and their
fresh, newly ironed caps. The men were gay and smiling, polite and
distinguished; they talked and played cards or chess together on the
benches, exchanging courtesies as if they were in a drawing-room. "After
you! ... I should not think of it! ..." And in and out the groups the concierge
Haly came and went, giving his orders, accompanied by two bulldogs, with
enormous spiked collars.

Just then a fair-haired, bright-eyed boy of fifteen knocked up against

Olivier.

"Oh! pardon, monsieur!" said the lad, who was playing a game of fives
and running after the ball.

"What a nice lad!" said Olivier.

"It's young de Maillé," said Thérèse. "Nobody knows why he has been
arrested. His doom is settled, however, for they say he threw a rotten
herring at the head of the concierge."

Here Clarisse stopped her.

"So they say, but it is not true, for the concierge is a fairly honest
fellow."

And addressing a lady who was just passing, she continued, "Is it not so,
madame? Haly is not a bad fellow, is he?"
 "No, but a blockhead; a lamb, however, compared to the jailers of other
prisons."

Clarisse thus presented Olivier: "My son—Madame la Marquise de

Choiseul."

Olivier bowed courteously, and as Madame de Choiseul, struck by the

distinguished air of the young workman, held out her hand, Olivier took it
in his and kissed it. In this high-born company all the grace of his early
education came back to him.

The marquise smiled and turned to Clarisse.

"Behold a son who betrays his mother! Your name is not Durand. You
belong to us. I had thought as much."

And as Clarisse was about to reply, she added: "Hush! I am not asking
your secrets."

She then assured the young man that his mother was right: the concierge
Haly, though rough, was rather kind than otherwise, letting visitors enter,
and even bring in provisions, sweets, and linen.

"And above all," she added, "he does us the great favour of letting us
walk about and disport ourselves here until night time."

She then pointed out to Olivier the various games in which the men and
children took part.

"As you see," she added, "they take full advantage of the permission."

Clarisse, well pleased with the tone of the conversation, tried to retain
the marquise.

"Tell him, madame, how you pass your evenings."

"What! Have you not yet told him?" asked the marquise, who had been
a silent spectator of the meeting between the mother and her son.
 "You must not forget that I only arrived yesterday," said Clarisse. "I
know nothing myself but what I have heard."

"Ah, true!" said Madame de Choiseul, who with a mother's heart now
understood Clarisse's kindly motive.

At once she pointed out to Olivier the windows of one of the buildings.

"That is what we call our drawing-room—a large apartment in which

we gather in the evening. There we play at guessing riddles, charades, and
bouts-rimés. Some read verses, or recite to us, and we even have music.
Look! Do you see that gentleman seated over there under an arch, turning
the pages of an album? That is the Baron de Wyrbach, who plays some
charming airs every evening on his viola d'amoré. He exhausts his
ingenuity to find something new for us."

Olivier listened in astonishment, beginning to be really reassured.

"You see," continued the marquise, "we might imagine ourselves still at
Versailles."

Then she added with a sad smile—

"And so we are in one sense, for all that remains of Versailles is now in
prison."

And she mentioned many names, singling out among the prisoners those
who belonged to the old Court: the Prince and Princess de Saint-Maurice,
the Chevalier de Pons, and the Count d'Armaille, whose nephew, young
d'Hauteville, had been a page to Louis XVI.

A group had formed round a young woman seated on the grassy knoll,
her back against the acacia, fanning herself daintily.

"Look now! Would you not think it a court of love in one of the groves
of Trianon? It is Madame de Méré receiving the homage of her admirers."

Madame de Méré rose at that moment to meet another lady who was
coming towards her, pretty, neat, and natty in her spotless toilet; and
Madame de Choiseul explained to Olivier who the newcomer was.

"That is Madame de Verneuil, who remains, though in prison, as

coquettish and as fashionably dressed as she used to be at Court. She even
finds time to make her usual change of toilet regularly three times a day,
without the assistance of maid or hairdresser. Not only does she dress
herself, and do her own hair, but she washes, dries, and gets up her own
linen! And all this in such good-humour that it brings tears to one's eyes."

Olivier was now quite reassured with regard to the severity of the prison
rules to which his mother and Thérèse were subjected. He was,
nevertheless, astonished at the careless indifference which he saw around
him. If the populace had revolted him on the Place de la Révolution, this
aristocratic company in the prison dumfounded him. He could not hide his
feelings, or refrain from expressing his surprise; but he did so respectfully,
with tact, and in perfectly good taste.

Clarisse essayed to interrupt him; but Madame de Choiseul had already

replied—

"You have just come from the country, perhaps, and have not mixed in
the Parisian world for some time. What you take for indifference is in
reality mere habit. You cannot change the French people. The moment they
find a struggle useless, they gaily make the best of it. Believe me, their
seeming frivolity only masks the resignation of a Stoic. There are still
rebellious and desperate spirits to be found, but they are in a minority. The
majority are heart-sick and ready to go, that is, to die; and they do die with
a smile on their lips, French to the last!"

Voices and sounds of applause interrupted the marquise, and cries of

"Bravo! Bravo! That was very good!" were heard. A young girl, her arms
tied behind her back, was bowing from the top of a ladder on which she was
standing, and to which she had mounted by the aid of chairs and stools
placed upon tables and benches. As she tried to descend all arms proffered
assistance, and when she had reached the ground another lady came
forward, the Marquise d'Avaux, whom Madame de Choiseul named to
Olivier, and began to climb the improvised ascent with faltering steps.
 Clarisse, Thérèse, and Olivier watched this performance, understanding
nothing of it. Madame de Choiseul looked at them to note their expression,
and with one accord the three turned to question her—

"That is a new game, is it not?"

"Yes, and a rather gloomy one," answered Madame de Choiseul. Then

she added solemnly, "Those ladies are learning how to walk to the
scaffold."

She explained to them that the wooden steps which the condemned had
to climb to reach the guillotine were difficult to ascend. The women
encountered serious obstacles in mounting, being without the assistance of
their hands, which were tied behind them. They stumbled and slipped, their
dresses sometimes catching in the woodwork, to the great amusement of the
rabble crowd.

"It is to avoid these accidents," she said, "and to be able to meet their
martyrdom respected by the mob, that they rehearse the role which they
may be called upon to play on the morrow, perhaps, in public."

Olivier was dumb with admiration before this contempt of the scaffold,
the general resignation to the thought of death.

Presently peals of laughter were heard. The Marquise d'Avaux, just

before reaching the last stool, caught her dress on the back of a chair. She
laughed with the rest, and said gaily, showing her torn skirt—

"Some more work for this evening!"

"You see," continued Madame de Choiseul, "what the indifference

which revolted you so much just now hides in reality. Many of those young
women keep up the failing courage of the men at the scaffold, and offer to
die first."

But Clarisse, whose curiosity was now satisfied, tried to turn attention
from these gloomy subjects, her mother's heart telling her they would
reawaken Olivier's apprehensions. She soon found a pretext. Madame de
Narbonne passed them with her little girl, holding a basket of fruit, of which
the child partook without restraint.

"What lovely cherries!" exclaimed Clarisse.

Madame de Narbonne stopped to offer her some, but Clarisse declined,

and when pressed, said—

"Not for me, thanks; but my niece will perhaps taste them."

When Thérèse also asked to be excused, Olivier intervened.

"Only taste," he said, and as she still declined, "Will you allow me,
mademoiselle?" he asked, taking a bunch from the basket which the child
now carried. And he held one of the cherries up to his fiancée's lips. "Won't
you take one to please me?"

Clarisse could not help smiling. Olivier saw the smile. "And you, also,
mamma!" he said.

Clarisse allowed herself to be persuaded, looking gratefully at the kind

prisoner to whose good nature that little family scene was due, and Olivier
was beginning to renew his playful persuasions to Thérèse, when a bell
sounded from behind the big grating, tolling slowly.

Madame de Narbonne turned pale.

"The call!" she gasped.

All conversation now ceased; men and women fell into groups, or left
each other abruptly, looking anxiously towards the iron gate, as if expecting
some one to appear. Olivier felt the universal shudder of dread, and his fears
were again awakened.

"The call! What call!" he asked.

But the Marquise de Choiseul had gone away with Madame de

Narbonne, carrying the little child along with them, in great haste. Olivier,
turning round, met only the supplicating look of his mother, who had
perhaps understood.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I don't know," she said, with an effort.

Thérèse clung tremblingly to Clarisse, feeling that something terrible

was to happen, and Olivier going towards one of the prisoners to question
him was soon joined by Clarisse and Thérèse.

"The call? Why, it is the summons to such of the prisoners as are

destined to appear before the Revolutionary Tribunal. The bell had been
rung to assemble all the prisoners to meet the Recorder, who, with list in
hand, will read the names of those selected by the Revolutionary Tribunal
for trial."

"You mean for condemnation!" interrupted Olivier, with indignation.

The prisoner nodded assent.

"So all those who are named..."

"Will be taken in a cart to the Conciergerie, and..."

"And?"

"Ascend the scaffold two days after," said the prisoner in conclusion,
apparently resigned to his fate.

"Then it may be one of us, mamma?" asked Thérèse, bursting into tears.

Clarisse tried to master her emotion.

"No..." she said. "It's too soon ... isn't it? ... tell her..."

And she implored Olivier with a look.

"How can one know?" he said, driven to distraction.

 "Oh no! ... I assure you! ... You will see.... It is impossible! ..."

And still she murmured brokenly: "You will see.... It is impossible! ..."

The Recorder of the Revolutionary Tribunal now passed the grating,

accompanied by Haly, the concierge, and followed by turnkeys and
gendarmes, who, on entering the courtyard, formed themselves in line. The
Recorder was a little man, fat and full-blooded, his face twisted into a sly,
ugly smile. He seemed highly amused at the spectacle, and seated himself
under the acacia, talking to the concierge, who seemed surprised to see him,
and said—

"I thought the Tribunal would not sit to-morrow on account of the
Festival of the Supreme Being?"

"You are right! But they will sit the day after to-morrow. You
understand, I want to be free to-morrow and to take part in the festival...."

And with a cynical laugh he called for a glass of wine, which he

emptied at a draught.

"Attention! We must begin business!" he said; and with this he unfolded

the paper, the terrible paper, wherein the fate of the victims had been
decided in advance. But the day was near its close, the Recorder could not
see, and had to ask for a lantern.

The courtyard was full now.

Prisoners from the neighbouring yards had assembled in answer to the

call. All this little world was affected by various feelings; some were
resigned, some hopeful, some indifferent or frightened as they looked at the
messenger of death, who seemed quite unconscious of his ignominy.

What names would fall from his lips? There were some, worn out and
weary, looking forward to death as a release, who would have willingly put
theirs into his mouth. Others, more feeble, who were undergoing the full
horrors of suspense, stood in breathless fear, almost choked with anguish.
Oh! that horrible hope of hearing another's name called, rather than one's
own! And yet...

The Recorder was becoming impatient.

"Where is that lantern!" he shouted. "Is every one asleep here?"

A few of the prisoners had refrained from joining the anxious crowd;
either from habit or indifference, without disturbing themselves, they
continued playing or conversing as before. Clarisse and Thérèse were
seated at a little distance, their eyes fixed on the dread official, while
Olivier, standing near, ready to defend them, watched the affecting scene
with strained anxiety.

The Recorder was swearing now.

"Is that cursed lantern never coming? So much the worse! I shall
commence without it."

And he rose and tried to decipher the names in the dark.

"The first name is Bour ... no, Lour..."

Here a voice interrupted him in indignant protest.

"Oh! don't read like that! You double their sufferings. It is horrible! too
horrible!"

It was Olivier.

"Who dares to speak here?" thundered the Recorder.

Clarisse desperately pulled her son by the arm.

"I implore you! ... my child! ... I do implore you!"

At that moment some one appeared with a light.

"Ah! there's the lantern!" cried the concierge.

 When the man had explained that he had not been able to find any
matches, the Recorder began to read the paper—

"Sourdeval!" he cried out.

Other lanterns were now lighting up the courtyard and the distracted
crowd, and every eye was turned in the direction of the prisoner who had
been named.

"Here I am!" cried a voice.

And a man advanced, his head erect, calm and impassive, without
casting a single glance on the spectators, knowing no one perhaps. He
crossed the line of gendarmes, and disappeared behind the grating to fetch
his belongings.

The Recorder proceeded with his grim and gloomy task, drawing tears
from some, heart-rending cries from others, and interrupted by murmurs of
pity or defiance.

The young de Maillé, who was called among the first, stopped playing
with the children to go to his death. An old man, Monsieur de Mauclère, at
the sound of his name fainted away, and was carried out. Madame de
Narbonne, called also, confided her little daughter to Madame de Choiseul.

"Where are you going, mamma?" asked the child.

And Madame de Narbonne had the courage to reply—

"I shall be back in a moment, my darling."

"Don't go, mamma! ... don't go! ... I don't want you to go!"

Madame de Narbonne hurried away to hide her tears, then, breaking

down entirely, leant on the grating and sobbed aloud.

The Maleyssie family, father, mother, and two young girls, threw
themselves into each other's arms, thanking heaven they were not to be
separated in this supreme hour, and would walk hand in hand to the
scaffold. An old couple with white hair, the Maréchal and Maréchale de
Mouchy, worn with age, each walking with the aid of a stick, were called
together. At once she took his arm, and so they made their way with calm
courage through the prisoners, who bared their heads in reverence before
such sublime resignation. Another couple drew forth cries of admiration:
the Comte and Comtesse de Lavergne. The Comte, alone named, was taking
leave of his wife, who, after assuring herself she was not on the list,
implored the Recorder to include her. On his replying that he had no orders
to do so, she uttered the cry of sedition punishable by death: "Vive le Roi!"
and was inscribed forthwith on the fatal list.

Olivier now held his mother pressed against him, while Marie Thérèse
and Clarisse, nestling together, followed the terrible spectacle with joined
hands. All hearts were moved to admiration or to pity, according to the acts
of courage or faint-heartedness which were displayed. But brave deeds
predominated. A Monsieur de Gournay, called out whilst engaged in filling
his pipe on a bench, rose quietly and lit it at a turnkey's lantern, and went
towards the gate without a word. The Comte de Broglie, interrupted in a
game of chess with the Chevalier de Bar, as he rose pointed to the chess-
board, and said—

"You see, you would have lost, chevalier. But cheer up! I shall let you
have your revenge in the other world."

Then, calm and composed, taking leave of the chevalier, bowing to his
acquaintances, kissing the hands of the Marquise d'Avaux and of Madame
de Méré, he followed the gendarmes to his fate.

A discussion was taking place near to where Olivier was standing over a
name which had just been called.

"Leguay!"

Two men were speaking to each other; one was of middle age, turning
grey; the other quite young.

"Are you also Leguay?" asked the young man, who when his name was
called was surprised to see his fellow-prisoner advancing with him.
 "Yes," was the reply.

"Are you married, or a bachelor?"

"Married, and father of two children."

"I am a soldier, and have neither wife nor child.... Go no further."

The Recorder, who was growing impatient at the conversation of the

two men, whom he took for relations taking leave of each other, shouted—

"Well! Leguay?"

"It is I," answered the young man.

Only Olivier, Clarisse, and Thérèse had witnessed this sublime self-
devotion. Olivier made a movement as if to offer his hand to the young
hero, but he had already crossed over to the gendarmes.

The Recorder now scribbled something on the list, and the people
expected him to commence a new series. But he folded the paper, and after
asking for another glass of wine, said—

"That is all for to-day."

At these words an immediate feeling of relief ran through the crowd,

awakening them from that terrible nightmare.

"Thank God!" said Clarisse, with a sigh.

"And you told me you were quite safe!" exclaimed Olivier.

Again she had the courage to conceal the truth.

"Oh! my anxiety was for others, not for ourselves."

Olivier shook his head incredulously, and was about to reply, when the
voice of Haly announcing the hour for the visitors to leave interrupted him.
 "All visitors out! It is time to close!"

The Recorder by this time disappeared, preceded by gendarmes. The

prancing of horses was heard in the neighbouring courtyard, amidst a
confusion of orders and counter-orders. It was the men on duty who were
putting the prisoners in the cart, now ready to start. Haly, posted at the
grating of the gate by which Olivier had entered, received the cards of the
visitors, examining them by the light of his lantern, which he suspiciously
lifted to a level with their faces.

Olivier did not hurry his departure, in spite of the insistence of his
mother, who was terrified at the thought that the gate might shut on him.
But the concierge saw him.

"Hallo! You there! If you want to stay, you know, you have only to say
so."

"He is coming!" cried the two women.

And kissing him quickly, they pushed him towards the gate.

Olivier, before leaving, had promised his mother not to try and see them
for some days, but to rest satisfied with writing, without giving his address.

The two women glanced in spite of themselves at the neighbouring

courtyard, whence came a noise of wheels and the tramp of horses. They
stooped, and saw through the large grating the cart with its load of the
condemned roll away by the light of torches held by the turnkeys, and
driven by a coachman in a carmagnole and red bonnet. As the vehicle was
disappearing the two women recognised Madame de Narbonne in tears,
sending kisses to the prison, in which her little girl had now wept herself to
sleep.

"Oh! it is horrible!" said Thérèse.

And she fell on Clarisse's shoulder, thoroughly broken by the terrible

emotions of the day.
 At this moment the cart reached the street, and passed close to Olivier,
who commenced mechanically to follow it, while the people of the quarter,
seated at their doors, and accustomed to this daily spectacle, looked on with
indifference. But at a bend in the road Olivier let the cart go out of sight,
lost in reflection. He walked straight on as a man in a dream, stopping on
the quay to look down at the Seine. The cooling freshness of the water
seemed to revive him. He breathed the air gratefully, and continued his walk
along the river, feeling less depressed.

Suddenly from the heights of Port-Royal his eyes were dazzled by a

rush of unusual light. Showers of golden fire trailed in the air over the
Tuileries gardens. It was a trial of the fireworks to be let off the next day.
Olivier crossed the bridge, and hastening his steps reached the Place de la
Révolution, which at that hour was filled with loungers from the
boulevards, curious to see the preparations for the fête. Under a sky studded
with stars, the immense space lay extended before him, with its stands
already decked with flowers; its masts connected by garlands of foliage and
coloured glass; its flags, and plumes, and banners floating in the wind.

Here and there fiddlers, standing on chairs, taught to choirs of young

girls and young men the new anthem by Gossec, to be sung at the fête, a
hymn to the Supreme Being, composed specially for the occasion. Some,
carried away by their enthusiasm, followed up the hymn with a waltz or a
gavotte.

Olivier opened his eyes in astonishment, asking himself if all this was
real, or if he was in an extravagant dream. On one side he saw but sorrow,
on the other only joy! On one side, tears, despair, and the scaffold; on the
other, laughter, revelry, and flowers! And the laughter and flowers were to
honour and glorify the very one who was the cause of all this misery, who
tore children relentlessly from the arms of their mothers as he sent them to
death!

At this very moment the abhorred name fell on his ears: "Robespierre!
... There's Robespierre!" he heard the crowd whispering.

He turned round and saw some of them looking curiously at a man who
was crossing the square, seemingly in great haste, with a woman leaning on
his arm. Olivier understood that it was the Incorruptible who was passing
within barely an arm's length of him! He watched him disappear in the
crowd.

They were right; it was Robespierre, who had been enjoying a walk in
the Champs-Elysées with Cornélie Duplay. Returning home to supper, at
Duplay's house in the Rue Saint-Honoré, he could not resist crossing the
square to have a foretaste of the rejoicings in honour of his fête, to
contemplate behind the curtain the scene of his approaching triumph.
Cornélie had just said to him in delight, indicating the dancing groups,—

"The people seem to be devoted to it, heart and soul."

This flattered Robespierre's pride, who rewarded her with a gentle

pressure of the arm.

They continued their walk, deep in their own thoughts. Cornélie was
wondering if her dress would be at home when she arrived, that beautiful
dress for the fête, confided on this special occasion to a private dressmaker.
Robespierre, always suspicious and alert, was asking himself if he had done
well to listen to her, and thus cross the Place de la Révolution at the risk of
suggesting to the Committee of Public Safety the idea, absurd in itself, that
he had wished to attract the notice of the populace.

The couple now reached the door of the Duplays, in the Rue Saint-
Honoré, and Robespierre stepped aside gallantly for Cornélie to pass in.

At the same moment Olivier, who had stopped in deep thought at the
Place de la Révolution, retraced his steps homeward, fired with a sudden
resolution for the morrow.

"I will be at that fête," he said.

And the dark night swallowed him.

 CHAPTER VII

THE FÊTE OF THE SUPREME BEING

The Duplays' house, in which Robespierre lodged, was situated in the

Rue Saint-Honoré, opposite the Church of the Assumption. The front door
opened on to a large vaulted passage littered with planks propped up against
the wall. At the end of this a small courtyard was formed by the
quadrangular shape of the two-storied house. The first floor was occupied
by the Duplay couple and their two daughters, Cornélie and Victoire. The
ground floor was divided into three rooms, including the dining-room and
the drawing-room. Robespierre lived in a room on the first floor of the left
wing, which formed one side of the quadrangle. The ground floor of this
wing, along which ran a shed, was used by the old Duplay as a carpenter's
workshop. Robespierre's window was above the carpenter's shed, one room,
and his quarters were connected with the main building by means of a
wooden staircase, which led from his room to the dining-room. He was thus
well guarded on one side by the Duplay family, as he was on the other by
young Maurice Duplay and Simon, the wooden-legged, who occupied two
rooms on a line with Robespierre's, which also looked on to the shed.

It would have been certainly difficult for Robespierre to find a house

more suited to his craving for an ostentatious display of Republican
simplicity. The joiner's bench, the planks and tools littering the courtyard,
the shed full of workmen during the day, sawing, piecing, and planing; the
personal appearance of old Duplay, who only put aside his apron to come to
table, or to go to the Jacobin Club, at which he was a constant attendant, or
to the Revolutionary Tribunal, where he acted as deputy jury-man—all this
marked the simple and industrious surroundings in which he lived.

Two of his colleagues at the Convention had been lately received in the
courtyard by Cornélie Duplay, who was hanging out some stockings to dry;
and Robespierre had enjoyed their surprise from the window of his room,
where he was shaving himself. He was suspected of aiming at the
Dictatorship! Was he? And this was the spectacle which met the astonished
eyes of visitors who surprised him in his private life!
 Robespierre and Cornélie had been received at the door by Blount, who
barked and gambolled with joy at his master's return. The Duplay family,
cooling themselves in the courtyard, were awaiting their return.

"Here they are at last!" some one cried.

It was mother Duplay, seated in the background under the dining-room

window, washing a salad under the pump, her sleeves tucked up to the
elbow, all ears for the slightest sound.

"But we are not late, mamma!" said Cornélie, who had prudently
stopped to avoid being splashed.

"Not so very," answered the good woman, "but one never knows what
may happen in such a crowd!" And looking towards Robespierre, from
whom Victoire was taking his hat and stick, she added: "You can't help
being anxious about people you love. Can you?"

But Robespierre was for the moment entirely occupied with his dog,
who barked and jumped on his master in frantic delight.

"Yes, you good old dog, here I am! ... Yes! ... Yes! ... I couldn't take you
with me, because of the crowd. It isn't fit for a good dog like you."

"Then there were many people?" asked Duplay, who smoked his pipe,
seated on a joiner's bench near little Maurice, his son, who was amusing
himself by planing a small plank.

"Yes, a great many."

"An enormous crowd," added Cornélie, "particularly on the Place de la

Révolution."

"What! You crossed the Place de la Révolution?"

Robespierre hastened to explain that Cornélie had had a fancy to come

that way, which was, after all, excusable, as the people were dancing.

"What! Already?" asked Victoire, her eyes sparkling.