Like Drive a Car – Adapt to to the Situation

A response to the Like Driving a Car Activity
created by Bruce Stead (@B Stead)

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In Operations Management there are several calculations and methods that entail forecasting, inventory management, and order management. How those calculations and methods may be used may differ by industry. A common chart in many Supply Chain Management textbooks shows the relationship between manufacturing processes and volume. At one corner of the chart is project management processes, with low volumes and custom orders – which could be bridge builders as an example; at the other end of the chart would be process flow industries, such as a paint manufacturer, which have high volumes, but with standardized product offerings.

Concepts such as inventory turn-over would apply to each of the types of business processes, and while the calculation method would be the same, one would not expect to have the same inventory turnover value for a bridge builder as a paint manufacturer. There are industry standard figures for these types of business and the turnover figure for a bridge builder would be expected to be lower due to lower volume, as a “for instance”. If a student got a job with a bridge builder, the “expected” turnover figure would fall into a different range then if they got a job at a paint manufacturer. The same calculation method is used, but the expected result is different in respect to the industry. This could be compared to driving a car compared to other vehicles. Like the skills involved with driving a car, those same skills would need to be adapted for driving a bus or a fork-lift truck or a transport truck.

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