Total Operations Solutions
A holistic approach to Operations Management, this book focuses on value chain management, addresses new and current issues, and covers an implementation program to demonstrate how to put the methodology into practice.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Total Operations Solutions
Chapter 2: Why Total Operations Solutions?
In the 1980s, service rather than manufacturing was seen by many in the developed nations as the way of the future. In the 1990s the inherent weaknesses in the reliance on service became increasingly exposed. It is now recognized that in the global market place a whole systems supply/value chain approach has to be taken embracing service and manufacturing as a whole. This chapter describes a total systems approach to the analysis of organizations so as to determine gaps in key areas of performance. The correction of gaps is addressed in later chapters.
Trend Towards Service
In the United Kingdom statistics show that 78% of the workforce are engaged in service industries (http://www.statistics.gov.uk), and in the USA 80% are employed in service industries (http://www.census/gov/). Although a shift back to manufacturing has been identified (Basu and Wright, 1997), it is obvious that the greater percentage of the workforce of developed nations will continue to be employed in service activities. There are two reasons for this:
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Continual advances in technology mean that manufacturing is considerably less labour-intensive than previously. Automation, robotics, advanced information technology, new materials and improved work methods all have led to the reduction of manual labour.
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For larger organizations, manufacturing has become internationalized. For example, a company might outsource its manufacturing to overseas contractors or allied companies and itself concentrate on design, marketing and distribution.
Additionally, organizations can no longer regard themselves as being purely in manufacturing and hope to survive. The market first and foremost now takes for...
Copyright Ron Basu and J. Nevan Wright 2005 under license agreement with Books24x7
