Syllabus Point:

Main Point role of operations management

• goods and/or services in different industries

• Goods are tangible (can be touched), and the production of goods requires consideration of inputs, partly finished goods, finished goods and physical distribution to customers. Where the industry involves perishable or hazardous goods (for example fruit or food), additional complexities arise in relation to storage, shipment, and managing the physical presentation of inventory for sale.

• Services are intangible (cannot be touched), and the production of services typically involves less complexity for operations than the production of goods as the inputs are mainly labour (less inputs to acquire and manage) and there are no partly completed goods, or inventory of goods to manage.

• Different industries have different challenges and complexity for the operations function and the operations manager including perishables and materials handling and storage.