Operations Management

In an era when world’s resources are depleting at a fast pace, efficient and effective use of resources is critical for the sustainability of business operations. How to use the limited resources in the most efficient and effective way to serve the mission of an organization is the fundamental problem of Operations Management. The word operations refer to all production and logistics activities carried out to deliver a service or to manufacture a product.

Therefore, Operations Management embraces both service and manufacturing companies in the search for Operational Excellence. This requires engaging available resources of a company in an optimal manner to deliver services or manufacture products in the right amount, at the right time, and at a quality defined by the customer.

To achieve this, Operations Management addresses strategic issues such as product and process design and improvement, facility location, manufacturing or service capacity determination, supplier selection, supply chain design and coordination, quality systems design; tactical issues such as inventory management, supply and demand matching, quality planning; and operational issues such as manufacturing and service activities scheduling, production monitoring and control, quality control.

Operations Management discipline draws upon two main research methodologies: Mathematical modeling and empirical research. These methodologies have their roots in operations research, economics, and social sciences. In addition to its interactions with Finance and Marketing, Operations concentration is a multidisciplinary joint program with Industrial Engineering in terms of the offered courses and faculty involvement. Both disciplines draw upon operations research in various ways and overlap substantially in their theoretical and methodological foundations. After being exposed to these orientations, you will soon choose your own path and develop your curriculum together with your faculty advisor.