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 com-
panies have now come to understand the importance
of operations. This is because they have realized that
effective operations management gives the potential to
improve both efficiency and customer service simulta-
neously. But more than this, operations management is
everywhere, it is not confined to the operations function.
All managers, whether they are called Operations or
Marketing or Human Resources or Finance, or what-
ever, manage processes and serve customers (internal
or external). This makes, at least part of their activities
‘operations’.
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