Industries are in the third phase of development. The first phase was when companies worked to optimize the individual functions within companies. They tried to make marketing, operations or finance all work well. Some 20 years ago managers recognized that simply optimizing functions within a company wasn’t adequate. They had to find a way to optimize the total firm. Therefore, concepts such as “reengineering the corporation” advanced the kind of cross-functional process thinking that became popular in the 1980s and 1990s. They “broke down silos” and implemented process thinking. As good as these efforts were, today’s enlightened companies are recognizing that when a company purchases 50% to 70% of the cost of its final product from outside suppliers, there is a limit as to how well you can make your individual company perform. If a company really is to manage its total costs, quality, cycle time, and even technology, it needs to be able to manage its supply chains. And managing a supply chain means not just your direct suppliers, but their suppliers, right on down sometimes to the most basic raw materials. As a result, Operation Management (OM), which used to be an optional way for companies to improve their performance, is now becoming mandatory at many companies. Some companies may choose to ignore this imperative for a while, but they do so at their own risk. When the day comes that a competitor firm manages and energizes the creativity in its supply chains, the rules change for everyone in that industry. Companies that fail to manage their supply chains will find themselves not facing individual competitive companies, but entire supply chains with synchronized goals and energized and involved management. Current market conditions are creating lucrative opportunities for firms that provide supply-chain consulting, implementation, operations management, training support, and e-supply-chain services

This course treats OM as the continuous process of integrating suppliers and trading partners into an organization’s operations to optimize resources and streamline the flow of information, goods, and services from the point of origination to the point of sale. Its objective is to make the student think about how OM impacts all areas of the firm and to show how managers can improve their competitive position by addressing the major issues in OM  which include a wide array of topics as purchasing, operation, and distribution. For the most part, this course focuses on the operations part of a supply chain, where resources are transformed into goods and services. Our emphasis is on management, an interactive cycle of planning, organizing, staffing, execution and control for continuous improvement. Relevant quantitative techniques that are essential to the management decision-making process are emphasized and discussed in detail.