Opm300

TUI

Roy L. Bishop II

Design of Goods and Services

Operational Management

SLP 3

In the beginning of this Operations Management course I selected my military unit of assignment as the organization whose operations I want to explore. At first I felt that I had selected the 188th in error due to the fact that it performs maintenance on millions of dollars worth of US Army equipment, but didn’t produce a product. Later reviewing the 188th operations I have come to realize that the 188th does produce a product, that product is well trained disciplined, physically and mentally fit to fight soldiers. These employees don’t just perform maintenance repairs, but each one is a student of military science and is an instructor of the same. We are constantly training to be prepared for the changes we face on the current battle field. Every day an American citizen raises his or her hand and is sworn into service of defense to our great nation. These are the raw materials that companies like the 188th Infantry Brigade manufactures its products out of. These civilians will become our replacements. They will be reborn with a new set of values.

Many people know what the words Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage mean. But how often do you see someone actually live up to them? Soldiers learn these values in detail during Basic Combat Training (BCT), from then on they live them every day in everything they do whether they’re on the job or off. In short, the Seven Core Army Values are what being a Soldier is about.

The 188th Infantry Brigade’s product life cycle doesn’t differ much from that of the US Army in hold. On August 18, 2010 SFC Michael J. Carden of the American Forces Press Service reported that “Three of the four services met or exceeded their active duty recruiting goals for July, and the one that fell short did so intentionally”. The Marine Corps intentionally slowed down recruiting efforts by 1 percent because...