Operations management (OM)is the business function that plans,organizes,coordinates,and controls the resources needed to produce a company’s goodsand services.Operations management is amanagement function.It involves managingpeople,equipment,technology,information,and many other resources.Operationsmanagement is the central core function ofevery company.This is true whether thecompany is large or small,provides a physical good or a service,is for profit ornot for profit.Every company has an operations management function.Actually,all the other organizational functions are there primarily to support the operationsfunction.Without operations,there would be no goods or services to sell.Considera retailer such as Gap that sells casual apparel.The marketing function providespromotions for the merchandise,and the finance function provides the neededcapital.It is the operations function,however,that plans and coordinates all theresources needed to design,produce,and deliver the merchandise to the various retaillocations.Without operations,there would be no goods or services to sell to customers.Therole ofoperations managementis to transform a company’s inputs into thefinished goods or services.Inputs include human resources (such as workers and man-agers),facilities and processes (such as buildings and equipment),as well as materials,technology,and information.Outputs are the goods and services a company produces.Figure 1-2 shows thistransformation process.At a factory the transformation is theInputs• HumanResources• Facilities& Processes• Technologies• MaterialsTheTransformationProcessOutputs• Goods• ServicesPerformance InformationCustomer FeedbackFIGURE 1-2The transformation process