Developing Good Business Sense

Developing Good Business Sense

Bus/210

December 15, 2012

Mary Davis

Developing Good Business Sense

Once a company has decided what goods to make and sell, the next step is the process of creating those goods and providing the service for them. This where a company’s operations and materials management process comes into effect. Operation is the system of a company that transforms inputs (resources such as people and materials) into finished goods and services. Materials management is the activities that control the flow of resources into and out of operations (Jones, 2007). Operations and Materials Management (OMM) functions as a three step process, the input, operations, and output stage.

Input Stage

“At the input stage, a company’s materials management expertise determines how much value the company creates for customers” (Jones, 2007, p. 373). An example would be controlling the flow of customers in an emergency room or bank and having the freshest food in a restaurant. Another example would be the raw materials needs to produce goods. The flow of inputs is also taken into consideration in this stage. For example, how rapidly the customers receive their food in a restaurant and reducing the wait time for people waiting in emergency rooms or in lines at the bank.

Operations Stage

In the operations stage the interaction between the knowledge of employees with the machinery and computer systems to change the inputs into outputs. An example of this would be how well the banker is familiar with the computer systems to process customer’s transactions quickly and efficiently. Some more examples would be the use of the operating system used in emergency rooms to ensure each patient is being seen for what their needs are and to dispense medication. Also waitress and cooks need to work as a team with the computers to ensure diners are getting what they ordered.

Output Stage

In the output stage has three main activities. First, the...