Instructions

think a product

An organization’s ability to successfully develop and bring new products to market is critical to its survival. Many companies find that the cost to create and launch new products is unmanageable and so they fail in these endeavors. Those who succeed, however, have likely found the most efficient and effective methods of producing the goods and/or services they sell to their customers. The role of operations management, therefore, is paramount to this success.

Operations managers are faced with a variety of decisions throughout every stage of production from planning, to control, to improvement. To compete in today’s business world, companies must effectively balance productivity and quality; that is, they must keep their production costs down while also producing and delivering the high-quality goods and services that their customers demand.

Following what you’ve written so far, answer the following questions as they relate to your developing organization:

What types of production processes will you use? How will you decide where to place your production facilities and what choices will you make in designing them?

How will quality-management and lean-manufacturing techniques help you improve your production and operations management?

What role will technology and automation play in your operations management?

Use what you have learned on production and operations management (“Bringing a Product to Market”) to answer these questions in narrative form. Again, your response to the above questions should be between a total of 400-600 words. You will be graded on accuracy of content/concepts used, feasibility, and finally the organization and presentation of the writing. Please refer to the rubric posted on Canvas for more detail on grading.