What is the difference between the term production management and operations management?

Production vs Operation Management

Production management and operations management are management jargon that needs to be simplified for those who are sitting on the fence or those inside an organization unable to comprehend them clearly. Sometimes it becomes confusing to be talking about production management inside operations management but they are separate and distinct entities in the study of management as ultimately, production is a part of the whole cycle of operations. Read on to clarify the doubts.

Operations Management

The study of set of activities comprising supervision, planning and designing of business operations in the field of manufacturing of goods and services is termed as operations management. The purpose of operations management is to make certain that the operations of a business are efficient and effective and result in minimum of wastage. Operations management tries to cut down resources involved in operations while at the same time making operations more effective and productive. In fact operations management is more concerned on processes than people or products. Operations management in a nutshell is using physical resources in an optimum manner, converting input into output, so as to supply to the market the desired and finished product.

Production Management

Production management on the other hand focuses specifically on the production of goods and services and is concentrated upon churning output from input. It is a broad sum of activities that go into turning raw material into final, finished product. One may feel that production management is a subset of operations management, but production management in itself is a broad subject that comprises production planning and control, inventory management, and operations control. Production management includes all management activities spanning selection. Designing, operating, controlling and updating production system.

In brief:

Operations vs Production Management

• Both production management and operations management play an important role in an organization in increasing the efficiency and productivity.

• While operations management is focused upon administration, planning and execution of operations involved in production of goods and services and trying to minimize the resources at the same time increasing output, production management is more concerned with input/output and churning out products in the shape of desired finished product.

Understanding Production and Operations Management


Introduction

The very essence of any business is to cater needs of customer by providing services and goods, and in process create value for customers and solve their problems. Production and operations management talks about applying business organization and management concepts in creation of goods and services.

Production

Production is a scientific process which involves transformation of raw material (input) into desired product or service (output) by adding economic value. Production can broadly categorize into following based on technique:

Production through separation: It involves desired output is achieved through separation or extraction from raw materials. A classic example of separation or extraction is Oil into various fuel products.

Production by modification or improvement: It involves change in chemical and mechanical parameters of the raw material without altering physical attributes of the raw material. Annealing process (heating at high temperatures and then cooling), is example of production by modification or improvement.

Production by assembly: Car production and computer are example of production by assembly.

What is the difference between the term production management and operations management?

Importance of Production Function and Production Management

Successful organizations have well defined and efficient line function and support function. Production comes under the category of line function which directly affects customer experience and there by future of organization itself.

Aim of production function is to add value to product or service which will create a strong and long lasting customer relationship or association. And this can be achieved by healthy and productive association between Marketing and Production people. Marketing function people are frontline representative of the company and provide insights to real product needs of customers.

An effective planning and control on production parameters to achieve or create value for customers is called production management.

Operations Management

As to deliver value for customers in products and services, it is essential for the company to do the following:

  1. Identify the customer needs and convert that into a specific product or service (numbers of products required for specific period of time)
  2. Based on product requirement do back-ward working to identify raw material requirements
  3. Engage internal and external vendors to create supply chain for raw material and finished goods between vendor → production facility → customers.

Operations management captures above identified 3 points.

Production Management v/s Operations Management

A high level comparison which distinct production and operations management can be done on following characteristics:

  • Output: Production management deals with manufacturing of products like (computer, car, etc) while operations management cover both products and services.
  • Usage of Output: Products like computer/car are utilized over a period of time whereas services need to be consumed immediately
  • Classification of work: To produce products like computer/car more of capital equipment and less labour are required while services require more labour and lesser capital equipment.
  • Customer Contact: There is no participation of customer during production whereas for services a constant contact with customer is required.

Production management and operations management both are very essential in meeting objective of an organization.




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What is the difference between the term production management and operations management?
The article is Written By “Prachi Juneja” and Reviewed By Management Study Guide Content Team. MSG Content Team comprises experienced Faculty Member, Professionals and Subject Matter Experts. We are a ISO 2001:2015 Certified Education Provider. To Know more, click on About Us. The use of this material is free for learning and education purpose. Please reference authorship of content used, including link(s) to ManagementStudyGuide.com and the content page url.



What is the difference between the terms production management and operations management quizlet?

Operations management focuses on decisions for the production and delivery of the firm's products and services (includes the service industry in addition to manufacturing). Production management is the management of the production.

What is the difference between production and operation?

Production management stands for managing activities that are related to production. Whereas, operation management takes a step further and manages the administrations and business operations related to manufacturing and other activities. Production management is a subset of operation management.

What is the meaning of production and operation management?

Production and operations is the management of processes and operations used by businesses in the production of their goods and services. It is the study of design, operation, and improvement of production systems for efficiency and effectiveness.

What is the difference between operations management and supply chain management?

The major difference between supply chain management and operations management is that the supply chain is mainly concerned with what happens outside the company – obtaining materials and delivering products – while operations management is concerned with what happens inside the company.