Operations (OP)

1. Understand operation's role and function in business to value its contribution to a

company.
a. Explain the nature of operations (OP:189) (CS)
- Operations management refers to 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.
2. Determine needed safety policies/procedures to protect employees.
a. Identify potential safety issues (OP:151) (MN)
- Working at a height, poor housekeeping, electrical & extension cords,
forklifts, chemicals, and confined spaces are the most common and recurring
safety issues that threaten the safety of employees at a business.
b. Establish safety policies and procedures (OP:012) (MN)
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3. Develop policies/procedures to protect workplace security.
a. Identify potential security issues (OP:154) (MN)
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b. Establish policies to protect company information and intangibles (OP:155) (MN)
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c. Establish policies and procedures to maintain physical security of the work
environment (OP:157) (MN)
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4. Implement purchasing activities to obtain business supplies, equipment, resources, and
services.
a. Explain the nature and scope of purchasing (OP:015) (CS)
- Not all businesses produce their goods and services and sell them. In other
words, not all businesses are independent and depend on other businesses to
create unfinished products or raw materials so they can finish these products
before selling them to their customers.
- Vendors are businesses that either produce unfinished goods/raw materials or
process them to create finished products, or that purchase finished products
and then distribute them to other businesses who purchase from them.
- For example, vendors for retail businesses that sell food products, such as
Walmart or Food Basics can be farms or other packaging companies since
they will sell finished products to these retail businesses so that they can in
turn sell them to their customers.
b. Select vendors (OP:161) (SP)
- Vendors are important for receiving both raw materials or finished products so
that a business has products to sell
- These vendors are also businesses as they sell their products to businesses, so
that these businesses can then sell their products to other businesses as
vendors or to customers as a retail/merchandising business
 - It is important for a business to select vendors that are related to the business
through connections or ones that create products that the business actually
sells. This relationship between vendors and businesses also helps benefit both
of them if the relation stays strong and there is trust between both.
c. Evaluate vendor performance (OP:162) (SP)
- Vendor performance and expectations are important for a business since they
are trying to maximize their profit and sell the best possible products to their
customers
- Some guidelines include manufacturing and production quality of products,
cost of purchasing products/products in bulk from the vendor, honesty
(producing the agreed upon quantity of goods for an agreed upon price), and
the overall relationship the business has with the vendor
5. Understand production's role and function in business to recognize its need in an
organization.
a. Explain the concept of production (OP:017) (CS)
- All businesses create some sort of product or sell some sort of service to its
customers. All of these require production, whether it be the manufacturing
and assembly of goods or the materials required to perform certain services.
- Generally, the process requires turning raw material into finished or partly
finished goods at a large scale. These products will then be distributed by a
vendor to businesses that purchase from that vendor, so that the business can
then sell these products to its customers.
- Production can be for both smaller products (stationary items, sports
equipment, small electronics, etc.) or for more complex items (aircraft,
automobiles, household equipment, etc.)