What is an operations strategy? - Understanding the key elements and factors
1. What is an operations strategy?
An operations strategy is a set of decisions an organization
makes regarding the production and delivery of its goods.
Organizations may consider each step they take toward
manufacturing or delivering a product an operation, and all
decisions regarding these various operations are the
operations strategy. An organization's operations strategy
works in tandem with its overall business strategy, helping
the organization to achieve its long-term goals and
improve competitiveness in the marketplace.
2. For example, a company that produces and sells computers may have the following operations:
•Obtaining materials
•Working with suppliers
•Designing new computers
•Manufacturing computer designs
•Managing employees
•Delivering finished computers to sellers or consumers
3. Elements of an operations strategy
Products and assembly
Product operations managers look to streamline processes, such as team communication or
product assembly.
Delivering and storing inventory
An inventory operations strategy is one that helps businesses decide how to order, maintain
and process their inventory.
Supply chain optimization
The supply chain element of an operations strategy looks for ways to optimize the movement
of products from suppliers to distributors
Quality of the final product
Quality operations aim to produce a satisfactory final product.
4. Facilities management
Facilities planning and management is the analysis of how the organization's current
facilities factor into the organization's goals
Forecasting for planning
Forecasting operations is where an organization makes plans for the future. It uses data
to make assumptions about the future of the organization.
5. Key success factors for operations
strategies
•Goals: You can establish a goal for every operation to give the operation direction and may
help you with decisions regarding the operation, which may help achieve the larger goals of
the organization.
•Employees: Most operations have employees who perform them. Having the right employees
for each task can improve the quality of the finished task. Whenever you are analyzing an
operation, you can look to see who works on it and for ways to improve their ability to do
their job well.
•Innovation: Innovation can help organizations find better ways to operate and potentially
gain an advantage over their competitors. Within every operation, it's a good idea to look for
areas where you can innovate. You can encourage operations managers to try new processes
and then analyze the results.
•Analysis: All operations require regular analysis, and with analysis, you can learn which
operations are running well and which need improvement. Consider implementing a system
for regular analysis in each section of your operations strategy by having members of each
operation analyze themselves, or establish a separate department to analyze all the other
operations.