The Operations function in any organisation comprises product development, factories that produces goods including vendors, distribution and warehousing activities, logistics and transportation, as well as service activities that help make supply meet demand across supply chains. Operations Management is the study of ways to make Operations functions and their activities efficient and effective by coordinating decisions and allocating resources optimally. 

The Operations Management major is designed to provide tools, methods and processes that are required to manage production of goods and services efficiently and effectively. It provides a student a perspective and an understanding of how excellence in operations delivers competitive advantage. The major teaches you about principles & theories to make operational decisions (for example, levels of inventory to keep or how to schedule gates & planes at airports) as well as provides methods and processes to organize work in a wany to enhance productivity (for example, just-in-time and lean operations or vendor management or design of facilities). It combines managerial decision making with technical aspects of decision making. Typical areas of learning will include capacity and facilities planning, forecasting demand & resources, planning & scheduling activities, logistics & inventory management, project management, quality planning and control, coordinating decisions across functions of a firm for improved performance and customer service. Principles of operations management are applied in many functional domains and industries. Global supply chains have made operations function more technology oriented. The major will equip students to learn about technologies and softwares that are used in industry to make such decisions. The major is data oriented and teaches quantitative models for making better decisions.  

Operations Managers are found in all business whether they are any kind of design or manufacturing or services. Traditionally, they have worked in factories & transportation sectors but increasing they are found in banks, retail, real estate, hospitals, entertainment & arts, event management, advertising, space industry, technology management firms, city management etc. Wherever, resources need to be allocated and activities need to be planned and executed, one will find operations managers. Consulting firms hire operations graduates to design and execute operational improvement strategies on shop floors or other kinds of service organisation.

On completion of this major, the student will be able to: 

• understand how operations management contributes to the achievement of an organization’s strategic objectives 
• analyse and identify bottlenecks and areas of operational improvement to enhance productivity
• use analytical methods to make operation decisions in manufacturing and service environments
• Evaluate approaches to problem solving and process improvement in production and distribution settings
• Undertake planning and scheduling activities in any operational context