Elements of Operations Management
Operations management may be defined as the design, operation, and improvement of the production system that creates the firm’s primary products and services. Operations management is involved in transforming inputs to outputs. For this transformation process to be effectively administered various elements or factors should be considered. In this Delta case study various elements of operations management are incorporated. They include service, flexibility, price and facility location.
Service
This incorporates the work design of the cooling tower system and the level and quality of service it is capable of offering once purchased. A comparison of the metal in relation to the plastic cooling towers shows that the level of service of the latter is better compared to the metal ones. As shown in the case study the metal cooling towers are negatively affected by water pH, sunlight, pollution, salt air, and harsh process chemicals. This causes corrosion, rust and leakage thus calling for re-welding, patching and coating. The plastic ones are not affected by water pH neither are they affected by harsh weather conditions. They carry a 15 year warranty compared to the one year warranty of the metal cooling towers.
Flexibility
For effective operations process a product or service should be flexible. This means that it should be able to have the ability to rapidly increase or decrease production levels and change from one product to another. This case study looks at two forms of flexibility, the cooling capacity flexibility and the design flexibility. Metal cooling towers are customized on site and require high cost of labour and materials. However the plastic cooling towers are factory assembled with a 2000 tons capacity. They are thus able to adjust to operational heat load and the outflow changes since they use an extra margin of