Manufacturing Operations

 Manufacturing operations transform materials into desired

goods and products.
 Operations can be described using different verbs and object
phrases such as pressing and turning metal (on a lathe), cutting
paper, sewing clothes, sawing and drilling wood, sandblasting
glass, forming plastics, shaping clay, heat-treating materials,
soldering contacts, weaving fabric, blending fuels, filling cans,
and extruding wires.
 Similarly, there are a variety of assembly phrases, such as
snapping together parts, gluing sheets, fitting components,
joining pieces together, preparing (assembling) a burger.

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 What Are Operations?
 Operations are purposeful actions (or activities) methodically
done as part of a plan of work by a process that is designed to
achieve practical ends and concrete objectives.

 This definition is applicable to both manufacturing and service

organizations.

 An operations manager is responsible for planning, organizing,

coordinating and controlling organizational resources to produce
desired goods and services; that is the subject matter of
“Production and Operations Management.”

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Manufacturing Operations (continued)
 Factories produce goods including cars, planes, TVs,
refrigerators, computers, light bulbs (including LED ones), and
furniture sets.
 The assembling of sandwiches made of meat, buns, and sauces
is seen as a manufacturing application by fast-food restaurants
such as Burger King and McDonald's.
 Processed goods also include things like paint, cheese, milk,
and other chemicals.
 Fresh food and manufactured food differ significantly,
although much of agriculture is a production process.
 When producers need to do maintenance and repairs on
products like cars, copy machines, refrigerators, HDTVs, X-
Boxes, etc., goods and services coexist.
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