- Operations Management/Finance Interface—Capital equipment and inventories comprise a sizable portion of many firms' assets.
- Service Operations—Coping with inherent service characteristics such as simultaneous delivery/consumption, performance measurements, etc.
- Operations Strategy—Consistent and aligned with firm's other functional strategies.
- Process Design and Improvements—Managing the innovation process.
Mark Davis, Nicolas Aquilano and Richard Chase (1999) have suggested that the major issues for operations management today are:
- reducing the development and manufacturing time for new goods and services
- achieving and sustaining high quality while controlling cost
- integrating new technologies and control systems into existing processes
- obtaining, training, and keeping qualified workers and managers
- working effectively with other functions of the business to accomplish the goals of the firm
- integrating production and service activities at multiple sites in decentralized organizations
- working effectively with suppliers at being user-friendly for customers
- working effectively with new partners formed by strategic alliances
As one can see, all these are critical issues to any firm. No longer is operations management considered subservient to marketing and finance; rather, it is a legitimate functional area within most organizations. Also, operations management can no longer focus on isolated tasks and processes but must be one of the architects of the firm's overall business model.