Introduction

The successful management of Operations is critical to the success of all businesses. Operations is the area of the business concerned with the production of goods and services; Operations Management is responsible for ensuring that business operations are efficient in terms of how resources are used and effective in terms of meeting customer needs and expectations.

Operations Managers focus on three critical areas of the business:

1. contributing to the strategy of the organisation.

2. the day-to-day management of the processes that transform inputs (in the form of materials, information, labour, and energy) into outputs (in the form of goods and services) that deliver desired outcomes for the company and the customer.

3. developing a culture of continuous improvement to maintain competitiveness.

To perform this function effectively, Operations Managers have a number of critical responsibilities, for example:

• Aligning the Operation’s strategy with the company strategy: this involves developing a clear vision of how Operations should support the company’s long-term goals and translating those goals into implications for Operation’s performance objectives for quality, speed, dependability, flexibility, and cost.

• Designing the company’s processes: in the service sector the product is often a process, the design of which falls into the domain of Operations Management; in manufacturing processes are designed by Operations Management to prepare a product for market.

• Planning & controlling the Operation: the activity of deciding what the Operation’s resources should be doing, then making sure they do it as efficiently as possible.

• Improving the performance of Operations: continuous improvement is the responsibility of all Operations Managers; the focus is on improving quality while reducing costs.

Aims

The overall aim of this course is to provide delegates with an introduction to the critical role of an operations manager in all sectors of the economy including manufacturing, financial services, health services, government departments, etc. The course will allow delegates to explore key aspects of operations management and help them consider how they can improve their impact as an operations manager.

Objectives

By the end of the programme delegates will be able to:

1. Explain the purpose of operations management and how to align operations management strategies with the organisation’s strategy, (Operational Excellence);

2. Outline the approach for aligning the operation to meet the needs and expectations of the customer both internal and external, (Service Excellence);

3. Demonstrate an ability to use a number of tools and techniques to improve the performance of key business processes, (Process Excellence);

4. Describe a number of approaches to improve the effectiveness of the human resource, (Performance Excellence);

5. Outline alternative organisational structures to deliver improved customer service while delivering greater efficiencies, (Organisational Excellence).

Methods

It is our intention to give you an opportunity to understand the nature and practice of operations management. In order to do so we will present you with a range of learning experiences including presentations, case studies, exercises and simulations.

Duration:

4 days

Who it's for:

It is not only operations managers or factory managers who run operations, all managers in all sectors run some form of operation, for example: a finance manager’s operation processes invoices and other financial transactions, an HR manager’s operation processes recruitment so, if you are responsible for the management of processes then you are an operations manager. This course, is designed for all managers: senior, middle and first line and supervisors in all sectors of the economy.

Course Content

Day 1

Administration, introductions, course objectives and methodology.

Session 1. Concepts: The Function of Operations

ACTIVITIES:

• Exercise: what is operations? Why is it critical to business success?

• Review of exercise

• The extent and importance of operations management in the economy

• Exercise: describing the transformation process and identifying critical monitoring points

• Review of exercise

• The transformation process: transformed and transforming resources.

• Identifying Key Performance Indicators to effect control and deliver improvements.

• Describing a general model of operations management

• Exercise: simulating a transformation process

• Review of exercise.

TOOLS: 1. The Transformation Process Model. 2. KPIs.

Session 2. Concepts: The Strategic Role of Operations Management

ACTIVITIES:

• Exercise:  developing a definition of strategy and exploring strategic options

• Review of exercise

• Porter’s generic strategies model and the five competitive forces

• How operations drivers, supports and implements strategy

• Exercise: identifying operations key stakeholders and their needs

• Review of exercise

• Industry 4.0, the digital age and the potential impact on operations strategy.

TOOLS: 1. Porter’s Generic Strategies Model. 2. Porter’s 5 Forces Model

Session 3. Operations Improvement

ACTIVITIES:

• Exercise: simulating process flow process

• Review of exercise;

• The 7 classic wastes + 6 more

• Quality Control v Quality Assurance

• The limitations of visual quality control checks.

TOOLS: 1. Process Flow Simulation Model. 2. The Toyota 7 Classic Wastes Analysis.

Day 2

Session 4: Operations Planning & Control

ACTIVITIES:

• Case Study: the Toyota Production System

• Exercise: line balancing – Heijunka

• Review of exercise

• Exercise: standardised work

• Review of exercise;

• Standard work and the potential problems due to lack of standards

• Improving productivity with Total Productive Maintenance

• The three pillars of the Toyota Production System:

o Just in Time (JIT)

§ Exercise: Calculating Takt time;

§ Review of Exercise;

§ Pull versus Push systems;

§ How to achieve one-piece flow.

o Jidoka

§ Automatic and manual line stops;

§ Managing the integration of people and machines;

§ Error proofing systems;

§ Creating a visual control system.

o Culture – the critical role of organisational culture;

o Black Box Thinking – the benefits of continuous feedback to the learning organisation

TOOLS: 1. Heijunka. 2. Total Productive Maintenance. 3. Just In Time. 4. Takt Time.

Session 5. Concepts: Lean Operations

• The Lean philosophy and the five principles of Lean Operations

• Specifying value and the voice of the customer (VOC)

• Mapping the value stream

• The process of mapping a business process – learning to see.

• Problems for process mappers – a lack of standardisation

• The process improvement process

• Exercises:SIPOC Mapping, Process Sequence Mapping, Spaghetti Mapping, Flow-charting, and Value stream Mapping

• Review of Exercises

• The application of Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED)

• Deploying Failure Mode & Effect Analysis to assess risk of deploying a re-engineered process.

• Exercise: Product FMEA

• Review of exercise.

TOOLS: 1. SIPOC Mapping. 2. Process Sequence Mapping. 3. Flow-charting. 4. Value Stream Mapping. 5. Single Minute Exchange of Die. 6. Failure Mode and Effect Analysis.

Session 6. Concepts: A System for Workplace Organisations

ACTIVITIES:

• The 5S system

• Exercise: developing a product and creating a process to build it

• Review of Exercise.

TOOLS: The 5S System.

Day 3

Session 7. Concepts: Operations Planning and Control

ACTIVITIES:

• Case Study: TSB Homeloans (a UK Mortgage Company)

• Identifying special cause and common cause variation

• How process variation impacts on business performance

• The history and developments of Control Charts to identify process variation.

• Exercise: how to calculate standard deviation

• Review of Exercise

• Data collection and sampling systems

• Exercise: Calculating process capability and sigma scores

• Review of exercise

• Exercise:constructing a control chart using data from the Case Study company

• Review of Exercise

• Calculating process capability.

TOOLS: 1. Standard Deviation. 2. Sampling Tools. 3. Process Sigma. 4. Process Capability.

Session 8. Concepts: Process Improvement

ACTIVITIES:

• Feedback systems to inform improvement activities.

• Establishing improvement priorities

• Exercises: Pareto Analysis to establish the ‘vital few’ issues

• Review of Exercises

• Exercise: Cause & Effect diagram with 5Whys

• The cultural issues to address in order to establish process control charts.

TOOLS: 1. Pareto Analysis. 2. The Cause & Effect Diagram. 3. 5 Whys.

Session 9. Concepts: The Human Side of Operations Management

ACTIVITIES:

• Exploring the first Industrial Revolution and the first factories

• Identifying the insights developed as a result of the Hawthorne experiments.

• Understanding the complexity of human performance

• Revisiting the purpose of Performance Appraisal

• The contributions of Industrial Psychology to management thinking

• Identifying the key to motivating people at work

• Exploring alternative approaches to leading people, effectively

• Exercise: the Deming Red Beads exercise

• Review of exercise

• Considering the impact of target setting on individual performance

• How to measure culture, commitment, competence, and productivity of the operations team.

TOOLS: 1. Performance Appraisal. 2. OCI Circumplex. 3. Productivity Measurement Tools.

Session 10. Concepts: Job and Workplace Design

ACTIVITIES:

· Identifying the objectives of job design

· Exploring a framework for Job Design

· Considering how Job Design can impact effectiveness, efficiency, motivation, health & safety.

· How to use the job characteristics model to design motivating jobs

· Using job rotation, enlargement, enrichment and team working to improve motivation.

· Developing guidelines for job redesign

· Considering how ergonomics impact on job design

· Exercise: the factors that impact on employee wellbeing

· Review of exercise

· Exploring the impact of workplace design on employee performance and wellbeing.

TOOLS: The Job Characteristics Model.

Day 4

Session 11. Concepts: Capacity Planning and Control

ACTIVITIES:

• Defining capacity planning and control

• The objectives of planning capacity

• Outlining the capacity planning process and the challenges

• Describing the dynamic decision-making process of capacity planning

• Exercise: using moving average to plan output capacity

• Review of exercise

• Understanding the difference between design capacity and effective capacity

• Exercise: calculate operation utilisation and efficiency

• Review of exercise

• Identifying causes of fluctuating demand

• Exercise: how to deal with over-capacity and under-capacity

• Review of exercise

• The basis of make or buy decisions.

• Approaches to reconciling capacity with demand

• Exercise: what actions are available to an operations manager to deal with fluctuating demand

• Review of exercise.

TOOLS: 1. Capacity Planning Tools. 2. Calculating Operational Efficiency Tools. 3. Make or Buy Decision Making Tools.

Session 12. Concept: Inventory Planning and Control

ACTIVITIES:

• Defining inventory

• Exercise: compare questions about personal inventories with business inventories

• Review of exercise

• Explore why inventory is necessary.

• Exercise: situations when inventory is required

• Review of exercise

• Comparing the advantages and disadvantages of holding inventory

• Different systems for managing inventory.

• Exercise: decisions to be made in order to manage inventory, effectively and efficiently

• Review of exercise

• Identifying the factors that inform volume decisions.

• Exercise:calculating the most cost-effective inventory plan

• Review of exercise

• Identifying the best time to re-order

• Exercise: how to keep inventory to a minimum without losing sales

• Review of exercise

• Two bin and three bin inventory systems.

TOOLS: 1. Inventory Management Tools. 2. Inventory Planning Tools. 3. Tow Bin and Three Bin Inventory Systems.

Session 13. Concepts: Supply Chain Planning and Control

ACTIVITIES:

• What is supply chain management?

• Identifying the objectives of supply chain management

• Exploring the activities of supply chain management

• Understanding the function of procurement

• The supply chain dynamics including the Bullwhip effect;

• Identifying how effective procurement can impact on the profit line;

• How to select suppliers;

• Exercise:criteria-based decision-making;

• Review of exercise;

• Exploring the most effective supplier selection process;

• Exercise: negotiating skills;

• Review of exercise;

• Exploring the different types of relationships in supply chains;

• The benefits of developing partnerships with suppliers;

• Identifying opportunities to improve the performance of the supply chain;

• Exercise: the challenges faced by logistics companies in the future;

• Review of exercise.

TOOLS: Criterial-based Decision-Making.

End of course.