How does operations management contribute to the achievement of the success of an organization?

Operations management refers to the management of resources to produce a good or provide a service.  A manager must ensure that resources are used to create a good or provide a service as efficiently as possible and as effectively as possible.

A good operations manager will see to it that there is no waste in the production process, for example, materials not being used properly, people being scheduled inefficiently, or machines breaking down.  Waste in the process means that there is less profit for the company. If I have more people scheduled than I need, I must pay them even if they are not producing, and that means higher expenses and less revenue. If I have stacks and stacks of materials standing by, too far in advance, I have tied up the company's money in a way that is not producing any revenue.  If I manage so that there is too much production and inventories build up, I have the expense of storing my inventory, and it is yielding no revenue for the company at all.  Managing to avoid all of these difficulties is a large part of a company's success, the ability to keep expenses low and production at just the right point to be able to sell what is demanded as it is being demanded. Like any other kind of manager, an operations manager helps the company by minimizing expense and maximizing revenue.

A good operations manager will also concern him or herself with quality control. If goods of poor quality are produced, this will cause returns of the product and ultimately will harm a company's reputation. Good management of quality control entails motivating everyone in the company to pay attention to quality and to report any problems immediately. It also entails inspecting the products made and possibly following up with customer surveys.  A problem in quality can thus be attended to.  Checking on one's equipment is important as well.  An operation manager who ignores equipment problems does so at his or her peril, since these can lead to poor quality in production. Operations management includes checking on the quality of the raw materials used in the production process.  If these are of poor quality, what is produced is likely to be of poor quality, too. Without management of quality, a company is not going to be successful.