Essentials of Operations Management, 3rd edition
Published by Pearson (March 1, 2023) © 2023
- Nigel Slack Warwick Business School, Warwick University
- Alistair Brandon-Jones University of Bath , School of Management
- Nicola Burgess University of York
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Introduce your students to operations management principles with this easy-to-read textbook
Essentials of Operations Management, 3rd edition, by Nigel Slack, Alistair Brandon-Jones and Nicola Burgess is an essential resource for your teaching, with a clear and highly practical approach that has become the trademark of the authors.
This edition includes a Companion Website with additional resources to help your students deepen their understanding of the concepts introduced.
"This textbook provides valuable insight into the essentials of directing, designing, delivering and developing operations. For the times we live in, the addition of ‘responsible operations' at the end of each chapter makes the book an essential text for any operations management course."
Dr Philip Davies, Associate Professor of Operations Management
Henley Business School
Hallmark features of this title
Help students understand real-life issues
- Various real-life practices are explored in ‘Operations in Practice’ example boxes throughout chapters
- Examples and case studies focus on recent developments to reflect the shifting world of operations management in theory and practice
A beginner-friendly layout introduces the core principles of operations management
- A clear structure makes the content reader-friendly, based on the "Four Ds" model of Operations Management
- The text offers a blend of qualitative and quantitative perspectives
- Well-known for its clear explanations, the text uses a simple language that is easy for your students to understand.
Further distinctive features
- Content suitable for operations management modules as part of business studies courses.
- A set of problem-type exercises, to support your students' understanding of the subject.
- Real-life practices, explored in examples from a wide variety of international businesses and organisations, expanded and updated to reflect current developments.
- A comprehensive summary and further reading at the end of chapters, offering students additional guidance.
New and updated features of this title
New and updated sections demonstrate improved content and the latest advancements in the field.
- NEW ‘Responsible Operations' section in every chapter summarises how the topic touches upon social, ethical and environmental issues
- UPDATED! Lean operations coverage is repositioned to align this as an improvement approach instead of a planning and control approach
Updated examples and resources offer teaching support and reinforce your students' learning.
- UPDATED! Over half of the examples have been updated to reflect the ever-changing world of operations management, including new examples of operations within Amazon, LEGOLAND®, Michelin, JD.com, NASA and many more
- UPDATED! A thoroughly revised instructor's manual is available to lecturers adopting this textbook, with solutions and a teaching guide for each chapter
Features of Pearson eBook for the 3rd Edition
Operations management is critical to the success and survival of organisations everywhere, no matter how large or small.
Essentials of Operations Management is a comprehensive introduction to the discipline and an essential resource for your teaching, with a clear and highly practical approach that has become the trademark of the authors.
Updated with new examples from a wide variety of international businesses and organisations, this edition further introduces updated content to reflect current developments.
Improve your students' learning experience with a range of digital tools.
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1 Operations management and performance
Introduction
Key questions
1.1 What is operations management?
1.2 What is the input–transformation– output process?
1.3 Why is operations management important to an organisation's performance?
1.4 What is the process hierarchy?
1.5 How do operations (and processes) differ?
1.6 What do operations managers do?
Summary answers to key questions
Problems and applications
Want to know more?
Notes on chapter
2 Operations strategy
Introduction
Key questions
2.1 What is strategy and what is operations strategy?
2.2 How does operations strategy align with business strategy (top-down)?
2.3 How does operations strategy align with market requirements (outside-in)?
2.4 How does operations strategy align with operational experience
(bottom-up)?
2.5 How does operations strategy align with operations resources (inside-out)?
2.6 How are the four perspectives of operations strategy reconciled?
2.7 How can the process of operations strategy be organised?
Summary answers to key questions
Problems and applications
Want to know more?
Notes on chapter
3 Product and service innovation
Introduction
Key questions
3.1 What is product and service innovation?
3.2 What is the strategic role of product and service innovation?
3.3 What are the stages of product and service innovation?
3.4 What are the benefits of interactive product and service innovation?
Summary answers to key questions
Problems and applications
Want to know more?
Notes on chapter
4 Process design – resources
Introduction
Key questions
4.1 Why is choosing the right resources important?
4.2 Do processes match volume–variety requirements?
4.3 Are process layouts appropriate?
4.5 Are job designs appropriate?
Summary answers to key questions
Problems and applications
Want to know more?
Notes on chapter
5 Process design – analysis
Introduction
Key questions
5.1 Why is it important to get the details of process design correct?
5.2 What should be the objectives of process design?
5.3 How are processes currently designed?
5.4 Are process tasks and capacity configured appropriately?
5.5 Is process variability recognised?
Summary answers to key questions
Problems and applications
Want to know more?
Notes on chapter
6 Supply chain management
Introduction
Key questions
6.1 What is supply chain management?
6.2 How should supply chains compete?
6.3 How should relationships in supply chains be managed?
6.4 How is the supply side managed?
6.5 How is the demand side managed?
6.6 What are the dynamics of supply chains
Summary answers to key questions
Problems and applications
Want to know more?
Notes on chapter
7 Capacity management
Introduction
Key questions
7.1 What is capacity management?
7.2 How is demand measured?
7.3 How is capacity measured?
7.4 How is the demand side managed?
7.5 How is the supply side managed?
7.6 How can operations understand the consequences of their capacity management decisions?
Summary answers to key questions
Problems and applications
Want to know more?
Notes on chapter
8 Inventory management
Introduction
Key questions
8.1 What is inventory?
8.2 Why do you need inventory?
8.3 How much should you order? (The volume decision)
8.4 When should you order? (The timing decision)
8.5 How can you control inventory?
Summary answers to key questions
Problems and applications
Want to know more?
Notes on chapter
9 Resource planning and control
Introduction
Key questions
9.1 What is resource planning and control?
9.2 What is the difference between planning and control?
9.3 How do supply and demand affect planning and control?
9.4 What are the activities of planning and control?
9.5 What is enterprise resource planning (ERP)?
Summary answers to key questions
Problems and applications
Want to know more?
Notes on chapter
10 Operations improvement
Introduction
Key questions
10.1 Why is improvement so important in operations management?
10.2 What are the key elements of operations improvement?
10.3 What are the broad approaches to improvement?
10.4 What techniques can be used for improvement?
10.5 Why is risk management also improvement?
Summary answers to key questions
Problems and applications
Want to take it further?
Notes on chapter
11 Lean operations
Introduction
Key questions
11.1 What is lean?
11.2 How does lean consider flow?
11.3 How does lean consider (and reduce) waste?
11.4 How does lean consider improvement?
11.5 How does lean consider the role of people?
11.6 How does lean apply throughout the supply network?
Summary answers to key questions
Problems and applications
Want to take it further?
Notes on chapter
12 Quality management
Introduction
Key questions
12.1 What is quality and why is it so important?
12.2 What steps lead towards conformance to specification?
12.3 What is total quality management (TQM)?
Summary answers to key questions
Problems and applications
Want to know more?
Notes on chapter
13 Project management
Introduction
Key questions
13.1 What are projects?
13.2 What is project management?
13.3 How is the project environment understood?
13.4 How are projects defined?
13.5 How are projects planned?
13.6 How are projects controlled and learned from?
Summary answers to key questions
Problems and applications
Want to know more?
Notes on chapter
Nigel Slack is Emeritus Professor of Operations Management and Strategy at Warwick Business School, an Honorary Professor at Bath University, and 'Honorary Fellow of the European Operations Management Association'. He is an educator, consultant, and writer with a wide experience in many sectors.
Alistair Brandon-Jones is a Full Chaired Professor in Operations and Supply Chain Management, and Head of the Information, Decisions, and Operations Division at the University of Bath, School of Management. He is also an Adjunct Professor for Hult International Business School and Danish Technical University.
Nicola Burgess is a Reader in Operations Management at W;arwick Business School. She has worked extensively with public sector organisations to understand operations management and improvement in a public sector context.
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