1. Why should one study operations management?
Operations Management is the set of activities that creates value in the form of goods and services by transforming inputs into outputs.
• Operations Management is one of the three major functions of any organization, and it is generally related to all the other business functions. All organizations market (sell), finance (account), and produce (operate), and it is important to know how the Operations Management activity functions. Therefore, we study how people organize themselves for productive enterprise.
• We study Operations Management because we want to know how goods and services are produced. The production function is the segment of our society that creates the products we use.
• We …show more content…

9. The U.S. , and indeed much of the world, has been described as a “knowledge society” how does this affect productivity measurement and the comparison of productivity between the U.S. and other countries?

Productivity is harder to measure when the task become more intellectual. A knowledge society implies that work is more intellectual and therefore harder to measure. Because the U.S. (and many other countries) are increasingly “knowledge” societies, productivity is harder to measure. Using labor hours as a measure of productivity for a postindustrial society vs. an industrial or agriculture society is very different. For example, decades spent developing a marvelous new drug or winning a very difficult legal case on intellectual property rights may be significant for post-industrial societies, but not show much in the way of productivity improvement measured in labor hours.

10. What are the measurement problems that occur when one attempts to measure productivity

Productivity is difficult to measure because precise units of measure may be lacking, quality may not be consistent, and exogenous variables may change.

11. Mass customization and rapid product development were identified as current trends in modern manufacturing operations. What is the relationship? If any, between these trends? Can you cite any example?

In services, Smart phones service, and in computers, Dell model, are good