Welcome to your Operations Management (OM) course. In this book, we present a state-of-the-are view of the activities of the operations function. Operations is an exciting area of management that has a profound effect on the productivity of both manufacturing and services. Indeed. Few activities have as much impact on the quality of our lives. The goal of this text is to present a broad introduction to the field of operations in a realistic, practical manner. Operations management includes a blend of topics from accounting, industrial engineering, management, management science, and statistics. Even if you are planning on a career in the operations area, you will likely be interfacing with people who are. Therefore, having a solid understanding of the role of operations in an organization is of substantial benefit to you. This book will also help you understand how OM affects society and your life. Certainly, you will better understand what goes on behind the scenes when you buy a meal at Hard Rock Café, place on order through Amazon.com, or buy a customized Dell Computer over the Internet.
       Although many of our readers are not OM majors, we know that marketing, finance, accounting, and MIS students will find the material both interesting and useful because we develop a fundamental working knowledge of the firm. Over 350,000 readers of our earlier editions seem to have endorsed this premise.

Part One Intorduction to Operations Management
Part Two Designing Operations
Part Three Managing Operations