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Role of Operations Manager

The operations Manager is th key figure in the system. He has the ultimate responsibility for the

creation of goods or provision of services. The kinds of jobs that operation manager oversees

vary from one organization to organization largely because of the different products/services

involved. Thus managing a Banking operation required a different kind of expertise than

managing a steel making operation. But in both cases they are managers. In every case, the

Operation manager must coordinate the use of resources through the management process of

planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling. However the major functions of

Operations manager are:

Planning it involves

Capacity Planning

Location Planning

Product and services planning

Make or Buy

Layout

Scheduling

Projects

Organising it involves

Degree of centralization

Process Selection

Staffing it involves

Hiring/ Layoff

Use of overtime

Directingit involves

Incentive plans

Issuance of work orders

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Job assignment

Controlling / Improving

Inventory

Quality

Cost

Productivity

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Challenges faced by Operation Manager

1. Coordinating the relationships between mutually supportive but separateorganizations Recently due to availability of fast and inexpensive communications,

business firms are now going for contract manufacturing. The contract manufacturers

are the firms that specialize in performing focused manufacturing activities. Companies

are now focusing on their core competencies and outsourcing the other functions like

information systems, product development and design, engineering services, packaging,

testing and distribution etc. The ability to coordinate these activities is a significant

challenge for the operation manager.

2. Optimizing global supplier, production and distribution networks - An operationmanager may face problems due to global suppliers, production in some other countries

and distribution of the product across different countries. This requires a careful

understanding of where control should be centralized and where autonomy is

important, among other issues. An operation manager has to take advantage of this

information system to optimally control such resources as inventory, transportation and

production equipments.

3. Increased co-production of goods and services - The Internet has opened new ways forthe customer to interact directly with a firm. A customer can monitor the progress of

order, placed by him or he can register his complaint on the companys websites. How

to provide efficient service to the customer is a challenge for an Operation manager.

4. Managing customer touch point A company can become efficient by providingcustomer support personnel, help lines and checkout counters. This increases cost of

staffing. An operation manager has to utilize the resources effectively by comparing

implicit cost of lost customers as well as direct costs of staffing.

5. Raising senior management awareness of operations as a significant competitiveweapon This is a challenge to the operation manager to increase the awareness of

senior management who may be having finance, marketing or different backgrounds

regarding operations can be used as a significant competitive advantage. E.g. Tata Nano,

Indigo Airlines.