Strategic Operation Management

To be able produce professional managers capable of fulfilling strategic roles within business and government enterprises the need for the practice of operations management cannot be forgone. Operations management is very important in business operations since it forms the heart of the organisation by controlling the system of operation. Operations management deals with the design, operation, and improvement of the systems that create and deliver a firm’s primary products and services. Like marketing and finance, operations management is a functional field of business with clear management responsibilities. Guinness Ghana limited is a company in which produces alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages such as Guinness and Malta Guinness respectively. In a business entity like Guineas Ghana limited the use of operations management is very necessary in every fabric of the company’s activities. Guinness Ghana Limited uses operations management to ensure and sustain efficiency and effectiveness in the organisation. Efficiency in Guinness Ghana is concerned with how well resources such as human expertise and inputs are put in use irrespective of the purpose for which they were deployed in the company. The company through its activities ensures that the primary objective for its establishment to make profits and maximize shareholders value is realized. The company reduces its cost of production by ensuring that tangible and intangible resources are not over stretched or wasted in the organisation. This is a situation where the company carries out effectively its objectives to be the market leader using minimum resources to achieve maximum output. The measures of effectiveness and efficiency in Guinness Ghana leads to labour productivity, yield, capacity fill working capital utilization and the efficiency of production systems. Guinness Ghana Limited also makes good use of its products and services management through operations management. Product (or service) management includes a wide range of management activities, ra nging from the time that there's a new idea for a product to eventually provide ongoing support to customers who have purchased the new product. Every organization conducts product management, whether it's done intentionally or unintentionally. Guinness Ghana through this module provides a wide overview of considerations in developing and managing its product. How a product is eveloped or managed depends very much on the nature of the organization and its products, Guinness Ghana uses it core competences in the areas of manufacturing, branding, marketing through wholesale and retail outlets to gain competitive advantage in the market place. Quality management is also a very important aspect of operations management in every organisation. Guinness Ghana is very critical about its products de veloped for the customer in the market place. Quality management is crucial to effective operations management, particularly continuous improvement to match the consumers taste and preference at all times. More recent advancements in quality, such as benchmarking and total quality management, outsourcing and reengineering have resulted in advancements to operations management in Guinness Ghana Limited. The company through its reengineering and benchmarking activities has always earned the leadership in the market. Benchmarking serves as a first class internal auditing process which the company uses to diagnose its weaknesses and identify ways of turning them into strength to increase itscustomer base in the market place. Management Control and Coordinating Function cannot be forgone in operations management especially in a company like Guinness Ghana Limited. Management control and coordination includes a broad range of activities to ensure that the company’s goals are consistently being met in an effective and efficient fashion. Basically, organizational coordination and control is what the company uses to take a systematic approach to figuring out if it is actually doing what it wanted to be doing or not. Some of the major approaches to the company’s organizational control and coordination include product evaluation, product distribution, advertising and promotion, sales and service and product development. For instance, product distribution in Guinness Ghana is done through retailers and other small distribution outlets organized by the company to ensure that its products reaches the consumer within an arms length. The company also uses advertisements as a major instrument to reach the customer and reorient the perception of customers about its products. In this increasingly expanding and competitive marketplace, the company ensures its products and services are prominently in the minds of their customers and clients. This occurs as a result of ongoing advertising and promotion by the company. Facilities management is also a necessary function and its importance on operations management for Guinness Ghana is needed. Effective operations management in the company’s activities depends on a great deal of effective management of facilities, such as buildings, computer systems, signage, lighting and plants and machinery. Facilities management in Guinness Ghana is very important since the company may be engaged in a batch or mass production depending on the demand circumstances on the market. In a case high demand which could necessitate higher or mass production, facilities needs to be managed in producing large quantities of products which must be standardized to meet the market demand at specific period. Well managed facilities like plants and machinery in the company help in production speed, lower per unit cost, ease of manufacture and control and the efficiency in the company’s production process. Inventory control and management is one importance of operations management that Guinness Ghana limited uses in its operations. Managing and controlling the inventory of the company is very critical. Innovative methods, such as Just-in-Time inventory control, are some of the major instruments used by the company to save costs and move products and services to customers more quickly. Generally the importance of operations management on businesses is embedded in every aspect of the organisations activities and therefore has critical role to play in ensuring that organisations achieve their objectives and goals.