Operations Management Discussion Forum Response 150-200 words APA Citations

Please reply to the below discussion with a 150 – 200 word response and an APA formated cited source.

Operations management and project management are similarly important with regard to the overall success and productivity of any firm. In the case of my current place of employment, Bush Industries, we are a furniture manufacturer highly committed to a positive customer experience for both home and office consumers alike. We hold great stock in our ability to ensure sustained operations to ensure we produce our product as efficiently as possible, through focus on forecasting, quality control, and aggregate planning (CSU, 2019).

The organization has been manufacturing furniture for 60 years, therefore a great deal of adaptation and constant improvements have had to occur over time to adjust to changing market demands as well as advanced systems and technology. One of the ways in which we apply this focus to ensure we are moving forward with the times is our project management group who are tasks specifically to identify areas where we can apply focus on continuous improvements – they are the gatekeepers of short-term projects which are focused on reducing costs and improving efficiencies. Kim and Grunig (2011) state that the more one commits to problem resolution, the more acquisitive one will become with that information, which leads to them sharing that information with others. Project managers must become familiar with problems, enough that they can anticipate their potential as much as possible.

Operations management (OM) within furniture manufacturing realm consists of the same fundamentals for any organization; planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling (Heizer, 2017). The operations directors and managers work very closely with our product development and marketing teams to ensure compliances are met and strategy clear when executing new product ideas as well as determining production scheduling to meet customer demands. In addition, our operations management group oversees the facilities maintenance, inventory, location and layout, scheduling, and quality control and testing. Our operations management group and our project management group both have the same goals in mind; the dramatic difference to note is that the OM group is highly versatile and focused through the entire supply chain process – from raw materials procurement to the consumer, whereas our project management group (while mindful of the contributions from beginning to end) are hyper-focused on a specific process to improve the OM’s ability to execute their work more efficiently and most times, less costly.