what is operations management 
operations management om is the administration of business practices to create the highest level of efficiency possible within an organization it is concerned with converting materials and labor into goods and services as efficiently as possible to maximize the profit of an organization operations management teams attempt to balance costs with revenue to achieve the highest net operating profit possible katie kerpel investopediaunderstanding operations managementoperations management involves utilizing resources from staff materials equipment and technology operations managers acquire develop and deliver goods to clients based on client needs and the company s abilities operations management handles various strategic issues including determining the size of manufacturing plants and project management methods and implementing the structure of information technology networks other operational issues include the management of inventory levels including work in process levels and raw materials acquisition quality control materials handling and maintenance policies operations management entails studying the use of raw materials and ensuring that minimal waste occurs operations managers use numerous formulas such as the economic order quantity formula to determine when and how large an inventory order to process and how much inventory to hold on hand the combination of understanding and coordinating the work of a company is central to becoming a successful operations manager operations and supply chain management oscm a critical function of operations management relates to the management of inventory through the supply chain 1 this process is known as operations and supply chain management oscm to be an effective operations management professional one must be able to understand the processes that are essential to what a company does and get them to flow and work together seamlessly the coordination involved in setting up business processes in an efficient way requires a solid understanding of logistics an operations management professional understands local and global trends customer demand and available resources for production operations management approaches the acquisition of materials and the use of labor in a timely cost effective manner to deliver customer expectations inventory levels are monitored to ensure that excessive quantities are on hand operations management is responsible for finding vendors that supply the appropriate goods at reasonable prices and have the ability to deliver the product when needed another large facet of operations management involves the delivery of goods to customers this includes ensuring that products are delivered within the agreed time commitment operations management also typically follows up with customers to ensure that the products meet quality and functionality needs finally operations management takes the feedback received and distributes the relevant information to each department to use in process improvement 