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Operations management is an area of management concerned with overseeing, designing, and controlling the process of production and redesigning business operations in the production of goods or services. It involves the responsibility of ensuring that business operations are efficient in terms of using as few resources as needed and effective in terms of meeting customer requirements. It is not concerned with managing the process that converts inputs (in the forms of raw materials, labor, and energy) into outputs (in the form of goods and/or services).〔(Great Operations: What is Operations Management ). Retrieved on July 3, 2013〕 The relationship of operations management to senior management in commercial contexts can be compared to the relationship of line officers to highest-level senior officers in military science. The highest-level officers shape the strategy and revise it over time, while the line officers make tactical decisions in support of carrying out the strategy. In business as in military affairs, the boundaries between levels are not always distinct; tactical information dynamically informs strategy, and individual people often move between roles over time. According to the United States Department of Education, operations management is the field concerned with managing and directing the physical and/or technical functions of a firm or organization, particularly those relating to development, production, and manufacturing. Operations management programs typically include instruction in principles of general management, manufacturing and production systems, factory management, equipment maintenance management, production control, industrial labor relations and skilled trades supervision, strategic manufacturing policy, systems analysis, productivity analysis and cost control, and materials planning.〔U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences: Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP). Retrieved on October 26, 2009 from (CIP 2000 - CIP Lookup to Occupational Crosswalks )〕〔(ATMAE Membership Venn Diagram )〕 Management, including operations management, is like engineering in that it blends art with applied science. People skills, creativity, rational analysis, and knowledge of technology are all required for success. ==History== The history of production and operation systems began around 5000 B.C. when Sumerian priests developed the ancient system of recording inventories, loans, taxes, and business transactions. The next major historical application of operation systems occurred in 4000 B.C. It was during this time that the Egyptians started using planning, organization, and control in large projects such as the construction of the pyramids. By 1100 B.C., labor was being specialized in China; by about 370 B.C., Xenophon described the advantages of dividing the various operations necessary for the production of shoes among different individuals in ancient Greece.〔Friedrick Klemm, A history of Western Technology, Charles Scribner's Sons 1959 in D. A. Wren and A. G. Bedeian, The Evolution of Management Thought, Wiley 2009〕 In the Middle Ages, kings and queens ruled over large areas of land. Loyal noblemen maintained large sections of the monarch’s territory. This hierarchical organization in which people were divided into classes based on social position and wealth became known as the feudal system. In the feudal system, servants produced for themselves and people of higher classes by using the ruler’s land and resources. Although a large part of labor was employed in agriculture, artisans contributed to economic output and formed guilds. The guild system, operating mainly between 1100 and 1500, consisted of two types: merchant guilds, who bought and sold goods, and craft guilds, which made goods. Although guilds were regulated as to the quality of work performed, the resulting system was rather rigid, shoemakers, for example, were prohibited from tannin hides.〔D. A. Wren and A. G. Bedeian, The Evolution of Management Thought, Wiley 2009〕 The industrial revolution was facilitated by two elements: interchangeability of parts and division of labor. Division of labor has always been a feature from the beginning of civilization, the extent to which the division is carried out varied considerably depending on period and location. Compared to the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery was characterized by a greater specialization in labor, one of the characteristics of growing European cities and trade. It was in the late eighteenth century that Eli Whitney popularized the concept of interchangeability of parts when he manufactured 10,000 muskets. Up to this point in history of manufacturing, each product (e.g. each gun) was considered a special order, meaning that parts of a given gun were fitted only for that particular gun and could not be used in other guns. Interchangeability of parts allowed the mass production of parts independent of the final products in which they will be used. In 1883, Frederick Winslow Taylor introduced the stopwatch method for accurately measuring the time to perform each single task of a complicated job. He developed the scientific study of productivity and identifying how to coordinate different tasks to eliminate wasting of time and increase the quality of work. The next generation of scientific study occurred with the development of work sampling and predetermined motion time systems (PMTS). Work sampling is used to measure the random variable associated with the time of each task. PMTS allows the use of standard predetermined tables of the smallest body movements (e.g. turning the left wrist by 90°), and integrating them to predict the time needed to perform a simple task. PMTS has gained substantial importance due to the fact that it can predict work measurements without actually observing the actual work. The foundation of PMTS was laid out by the research and development of Frank B. and Lillian M. Gilbreth around 1912. The Gilbreths took advantage of taking motion pictures at known time intervals while operators were performing the given task. The idea of the production line has been used multiple times in history prior to Henry Ford: the Venetian Arsenal (1104), Smith pin manufacturing in the Wealth of Nations (1776) or Brunel's Portsmouth Block Mills (1802). Ransom Olds was the first to manufacture cars using the assembly line system, but Henry Ford developed the first auto assembly system where a car chassis was moved through the assembly line by a conveyor belt while workers added components to it until the car was completed. During World War II, the growth of computing power led to further development of efficient manufacturing methods and the use of advanced mathematical and statistical tools. This was supported by the development of academic programs in industrial and systems engineering disciplines, as well as fields of operations research and management science (as multi-disciplinary fields of problem solving). While systems engineering concentrated on the broad characteristics of the relationships between inputs and outputs of generic systems, operations researchers concentrated on solving specific and focused problems. The synergy of operations research and systems engineering allowed for the realization of solving large scale and complex problems in the modern era. Recently, the development of faster and smaller computers, intelligent systems, and the World Wide Web has opened new opportunities for operations, manufacturing, production, and service systems. Malakooti (2013) states that production and operation systems can be divided into five phases: # Empiricism (learning from experience) # Analysis (scientific management) # Synthesis (development of mathematical problem solving tools) # Isolated Systems with Single Objective (use of Integrated and Intelligent Systems, and WWW) # Integrated Complex Systems with Multiple Objectives (development of ecologically sound systems, environmentally sustainable systems, considering individual preferences) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Operations management」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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