Operations Management deals with the production of goods and services and all supporting functions that are necessary to make this happen. In this module, the focus is on management decisions that have to be taken into a world of global markets and an increasing global competition.
Why is an innovative, efficient and reliable operations management important?

Size Matters.

The costs of goods sold still take a huge share of overall costs in almost every company. Even in the pharmaceutical industry that is better known for R&D and sales, operations take the biggest part. Quality and efficiency of operations are therefore decisive for the overall competitiveness.

Challenge: "Continuous Improvement".

In most industries, you have to increase your productivity by 3 - 7% each year to stay in the game! How do initiatives that are able to ensure these improvements look like? How do you involve every single employee in these changes?

Challenge: Globalisation.

Today, production takes place in global networks. It is no longer enough to optimise a single plant in a single country. The optimisation of often historically grown global production networks is challenging and complex. How can you structure this task, what are typical roles of production sites in these networks and how do you coordinate activities in global networks?

Challenge: Building up a Service Business in an Industrial Company.

As service becomes an important part of the overall business concerning turnover and margins, a new way of managing services is needed! How do you professionalise this business?

Challenge: Complexity.

More and more variations of products are brought to the markets. How do you master this complexity?