Operations Management I

Session 3.0
(09.04.2016)
MBA E (Trimester III)
Faculty: S. Venkatanarayanan
Manipal University, Dubai

Work Flow Systems

Session 3.0
(09.04.2016)

Streamlined Flow System

(Continuous Flow System)
Automobile Assembly Line
Chassis

Parts
Assembl
y

Doors
Assembl
y

Painting

100 200 Workstations

Quality
Control

Cars
Rollout

Streamlined Flow System

(Continuous Flow System)
Automobile Assembly Line
Chassis

Parts
Assembl
y

Doors
Assembl
y

Painting

Quality
Control

Cars
Rollout

100 200 Workstations

Fast Food Restaurant

Cash
Counter

Delivery
Counter

Dining
Area

Disposal

Departure

Streamlined Flow System

Features & Issues
Low Variety / High Volume
Streamlined Flow
Work Stations

Streamlined Flow System

Role of OM
Ensuring continuous flow
Balancing Work/Capacity
Importance of Planning & Maintenance Management
Good Quality Assurance System
Inventory Choices (Process Industries Petrochemical,
Pharma)

Intermittent Flow System

Travel Operators
Family Vacation, Eco/Nature Tourism, Adventure Tourism

Mobile Telephone Operators

Several Tariffs and Plans

Satellite based Digital TV Entertainment Providers

Several Channels, Tariffs and Plans

Personal Products
Many products, brands, variants and stock keeping units (SKUs)

VarietyVarietyVariety !!! (For Customization)

Intermittent Flow System

Features & Issues
Mid-Variety / Mid-Volume
Increased flow complexities
Flow / Capacity Balancing difficult but important
Batch Processing
Alternative methods of work organization

Capacity Estimation difficult

Production Planning & Control complex

Intermittent Flow System

Challenges
Offering variety without
compromising on quality
and delivery schedule is a
huge challenge.

Challen
ges

Intermittent Flow System

Role of OM
Manage the offering
Variety Management, Modular Designs, Delayed
Differentiation

Design an appropriate operating system

Divide and Rule

Manage operations
Changeover from one mode to another

Jumbled Flow System

Construction of a huge fyover

Construction of a metro-train network

Resourc
e3
Resourc
e6

Resourc
e1

Resourc
e7
Resourc
e5

Operations of a large multi-specialty hospital

Job 1
Job 2

Resourc
e4
Resourc
e2

Construction of a huge sports complex

Manufacture & Assembly of a large aircraft

Job 3

Construction of a new airport terminal

Jumbled Flow System

Features & Issues
High Variety / Low Volume
Non-standard, complex flow patterns (highly customized
items, customer orders for one or a few)
No benefits from volumes or scale of operations

Jumbled Flow System

What to expect, therefore
Huge uncertainties
Too many entities involved (e.g. Environment
Clearance)
Longer time span (few years)
Difficult to dedicate resources exclusively
Sharing of common resources a reality

Operations Planning and Control too complex

Jumbled Flow System

Role of OM
Complexity of Operations Planning and Control
Need for sub-system oriented thinking
Importance of factoring uncertainty
Criticality of Project Management tools and techniques

Complexity of Operations
Management
Notion of Variety
Products, Models, Variants, Processes, Routing, Technology
Choices

Volume-Variety tradeoffs
Relatedness of flow to volume-variety interactions
High Volume Low Variety (Continuous Flow)
Mid Volume Mid Variety (Intermittent Flow)
Low Volume High Variety (Jumbled Flow)

Number of stages in operations

Complexity of Operations Management

No. of Stages

Type of Flow

Many
Som
e
Few

More
Complex
Less
Complex

Complexity of Operations Management

No. of Stages

Type of Flow

Many
Som
e
Few

Multispecialty
Hospital

Petrochemicals
Automo
bile
Garme
nts
Fast
Food

No Frills
Airline

Softw
are
Comput
er
Restaur
ant

Full Fare
Airline
Eye
Hospital