Operations management

Operations management is the design, operation, and improvement of processes that produce and deliver an organization’s goods or services.

Process design: The specification of activities, resources, and flows used to produce a good or deliver a service. It determines how operational work is structured before execution.
Process mapping: A visual representation of the steps, decisions, and flows in a process. Mapping makes operational handoffs and bottlenecks visible.
Lean manufacturing: A production approach that seeks to maximize customer value while reducing waste. It applies operations principles to streamline manufacturing flows.
Strategic management: The formulation and execution of an organization’s long-term direction and competitive choices. Operations turns broad strategic choices into processes and capabilities.
Economies of scale: Cost advantages that arise when increased output lowers average production cost. Capacity and process choices determine whether greater scale reduces unit costs.
Capacity planning: The process of determining the production capability needed to meet expected demand. Operations must match available capacity to changing workloads.
Bottleneck: A process step whose limited capacity constrains the throughput of an entire system. The slowest constrained step often sets the operation’s output rate.
Just-in-time manufacturing: A production system that supplies materials and makes goods in response to immediate demand. It reduces inventory by synchronizing supply closely with production needs.
Business process management: The discipline of modeling, analyzing, and improving end-to-end organizational processes. It overlaps with operations but often spans functions beyond production and delivery.
Service-level agreement: A contract specifying measurable service standards and responsibilities between parties. Operational performance is often judged against agreed delivery and reliability targets.

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