Operations Management For Dummies - Softcover

A plain-English guide to improving business operations and increasing efficiency

Operations management is a critical skill for all current and aspiring business leaders. Now, Operations Management For Dummies takes the guesswork out of this often-intimidating subject. Whether you are a professional just promoted into your first operations management job who needs to learn operations fast or your aim is to score your highest in an undergraduate or MBA operations management class, the plain-English, step-by-step information in Operations Management For Dummies gives you the critical toolkit for operations success.

• Operations Management 101 ? find out how to represent processes in a diagram and get the lowdown on the operations management vocabulary used to measure those processes
• It's a risky business ? discover the risks that may threaten your operations, from determining how much demand there will be for your product or service to making forecasts of future demand
• Put the "I" in improvement ? get the scoop on continuous improvement ? a concept that relates to building and sustaining effective and profitable organizations
• Make things happen ? take an in-depth look at project management as it relates to operations management to better understand the life cycle of projects (and why many projects fail)
• Go global ? explore how companies decide what parts or services to outsource and when and where to outsource them
• Succeed in startups ? learn how to successfully cope with the special operations challenge of startup growth

Open the book and find:

• How to design a process to meet organizational goals
• Basic process flow terms
• The scoop on demand forecasting, capacity planning, and inventory management
• The basics behind aggregate planning
• Tips to design and manage your supply chain
• How to scale operations as a product travels through the normal life cycle curve
• Ways to estimate a project's timing and cost

Learn to:

• Make sense of complex topics
• Understand key concepts in operations management
• Score your highest in your operations management course