Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Inputs
Materials
Capital
Equipment
Personnel
Information
Energy
Outputs
Finished goods
and services
Conversion
Manufacturing
operations
Service
operations
Suppliers
Customers
Operating managers
Figure 14.1
Operations management system
workers and managers), capital (equipment), materials, information, and energy required to
produce the desired
outputs
. The conversion or
transformation
of inputs into outputs
involves the system of facilities, processes, and procedures by which goods and services are
produced.
Customers
purchase the outputs from the system, and their feedback to the rest
of the system is essential in generating and designing new products and services. Finally,
managers make decisions and obtain feedback on those decisions to make the total
production system fl ow smoothly. One key distinction is that production management
focuses on optimizing the management of the fi rm's conversion process, while supply chain
management seeks to optimize activities among the value chain, from the suppliers to the
customers.
For example, a dairy begins with raw milk and can produce a variety of milk, cheeses, ice
cream, and other products. The technology in a dairy is quite different from the technology
used to sell crop protection chemicals and provide agronomic services, yet the problems of
scheduling, controlling, storing, shipping, and general management of the two processes are
quite similar. Other examples are shown in
Table 14.1
.
Table 14.1
Examples of production systems and components
Manager
Suppliers
Inputs
Conversion
Outputs
Customers
Restaurant
Manager
Food Distributors
Meat Suppliers
Equipment Mfrs
Packaging
Meats
Vegetables
Food Servers
Utensils
Equipment
Cooking Meal
Preparation
Serving
Prepared
Foods
Satisfi ed
Customers
Hungry Diners
Crop Farm
Producer
Equipment Dealer
Seed Firms
Chemical Mfrs
Land
Labor
Equipment
Seed
Chemicals
Fertilizer
Tilling
Planting Spraying
Harvesting
Fruits
Vegetables
Grains
Food Processors
Ethanol Plants
Livestock Farms
Exporters
