OPERATION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT All organizations have operations.” A manufacturing company may conduct operations in a foundry, mill, or factory. Our interest is in the management of operations, or operations management (OM), including the usual management cycle of planning, implementing, and monitoring/controlling. The driving force for OM must be an overriding goal of continually improving service to customers, where customer means the next process as well as the final, external user. § Since there is an operation element in every function of the enterprise, all people in all jobs in every department of the organization should team up f