Routledge An Introduction to Operations Management: The Joy of Operations

An Introduction to Operations Management: The Joy of Operations covers the core topics of operations management, including product and service design, processes, capacity planning, forecasting, inventory, quality, supply chain management, and project management. Das provides a clear, connected, and current view of operations management and how it relates to a firm’s strategic goals. Students will benefit from the real-world scenarios that foster an understanding of operations management tasks. Without relying heavily on statistics and mathematical derivations, the book offers applied models and a simple, predictable chapter format to make it easy to navigate. Students of introductory operations management courses will love this practical textbook. A companion website features an instructor’s manual with test questions, as well as additional exercises and examples for in-class use. Review 'I am pleased to write an endorsement for An Introduction to Operations Management. Apart from the singularly interesting title, the book is unique in its approach to the presentation of operations management topics. It is written in conversational style, promoting easy understanding of the topic presented. The informal tone and logical structure of each chapter serve to pique students’ interest while the chapters contain numerous real-world examples and work-outs from contexts that students can immediately relate to, such as music and entertainment. The chapters contain ‘quick check’ boxes that can be used to check understanding. The book is complete in content and eminently readable. The chapters focus on the what, why, and how of operations management, while delivering content in an engaging fashion. Student interest in learning the material is kept alive throughout the chapter by linking topics to their relevance and practical importance in actual applications. The topic coverage is salient to today’s operating environment in most firms. Das breaks new ground pedagogically, drawing on his vast experience in teaching operations management superbly to write a textbook that is not only different, but innovative in its approach to presenting the topics. Professor Das’ book is a welcome addition to textbooks on operations management.' - Ram Narasimhan, Michigan State University, USA 'Some of the words I have heard students use to describe operations are "not fun" or "boring." However, be ready to be surprised, Professor Das has brought "fun" and "joy" into operations.... sentences are short and crisp and there are lots of examples from the real world (e.g. see "OM in Practice" and various short cases shown in vignettes). Key points are repeated and reinforced in text, diagrams and vignettes. Chapters are written from the perspective of the millennials. Professor Das begins with a chapter that has "you" in the title, referring to the student reader. He then builds the foundation by discussing product and process design and managing processes. He covers traditional topics such as forecasting, capacity planning, capacity management, inventory management, and quality management…skillfully weaves through these chapters covering technical issues as well as social and psychological issues. He adds supply chain design and supply chain management. He concludes the book by addressing location decisions and project management. The topics flow logically yet the chapters are written in such a way that an instructor can use different chapters separately. This book will be a joy to teach in an introductory operations management class.' - Thomas Y. Choi, Arizona State University, USA ‘Unlike many books that are seemingly written for instructors, this book is written with its readers in mind: 20-year-old marketing or finance majors who are only taking operations because it is required. Getting these students to see the value of operations has always been a challenge, but this book’s accessibility will make that a bit easier. Das manag