sixth edition
OperatiOns ManageMent
Nigel Slack
Stuart Chambers
Robert Johnston
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,Welcome to
OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Operations Management is important, exciting, challenging, and everywhere your
look!
Important, because it’s concerned with creating all of the products and services upon
which we depend. Exciting, because it’s at the centre of so many of the changes affecting
the world of business. Challenging, because the solutions that we find need to work
globally and responsibly within society and the environment. And everywhere, because
every service and product that you use – the cereal you eat at breakfast, the chair you sit
on, and the radio station you listen to while you eat – is the result of an operation or
process.
Our aim in writing Operations Management is to give you a comprehensive understanding
of the issues and techniques of operations management, and to help you get a great final
result in your course. Here’s how you might make the most of the text:
● Get ahead with the latest developments – from the up-to-the-minute Operations in
practice features in every chapter to the focus on corporate social responsibility in the
final chapter – these put you at the cutting edge.
● Use the Worked examples and Problems and applications to improve your use of key
quantitative and qualitative techniques, and work your way to better grades in your
assignments and exams.
● Follow up on the recommended readings at the end of each chapter. They’re specially
selected to enhance your learning and give you an edge in your course work.
And in particular, look out for the references to
MyOMLab in the text, and log on to
www.myomlab.com* where you can
● check and reinforce your understanding of key concepts using self-assessment
questions, audio summaries, animations video clips and more;
● practice your problem-solving with feedback, guided solutions and a limitless supply of
questions!
We want Operations Management to give you what you need: a comprehensive view of the
subject, an ambition to put that into practice, and – of course – success in your
studies. So, read on and good luck!
Nigel Slack
Stuart Chambers
Robert Johnston
* P.S. In order to log in to MyOMLab, you’ll need to register with the access code included with all
new copies of the book.
,Further reading in Operations Management
Take your study and interest in operations management further with these leading
textbooks written by the same team of expert authors.
,OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Sixth Edition
Nigel Slack
Stuart Chambers
Robert Johnston
,Pearson Education Limited
Edinburgh Gate
Harlow
Essex CM20 2JE
England
and Associated Companies throughout the world
Visit us on the World Wide Web at:
www.pearsoned.co.uk
First published under the Pitman Publishing imprint 1995
Second edition (Pitman Publishing) 1998
Third edition 2001
Fourth edition 2004
Fifth edition 2007
Sixth edition 2010
© Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, Christine Harland, Alan Harrison, Robert Johnston 1995, 1998
© Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 2001, 2004, 2007, 2010
The rights of Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston to be identified as authors
of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a
licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright
Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.
All trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners. The use of any
trademark in this text does not vest in the author or publisher any trademark ownership
rights in such trademarks, nor does the use of such trademarks imply any affiliation with
or endorsement of this book by such owners.
ISBN: 978-0-273-73046-0
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Slack, Nigel.
Operations management / Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, Robert Johnston. – 6th ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-273-73046-0 (pbk.)
1. Production management. I. Chambers, Stuart. II. Johnston, Robert, 1953– III. Title.
TS155.S562 2010
658.5–dc22
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
14 13 12 11 10
Typeset in 10/12pt Minion by 35
Printed and bound by Rotolito Lombarda, Italy
The publisher’s policy is to use paper manufactured from sustainable forests.
,Brief contents
Guide to ‘operations in practice’, Part Three
examples, short cases and PLANNING AND CONTROL 267
case studies xi
10 The nature of planning and control 268
Making the most of this book 11 Capacity planning and control 297
and MyOMLab xiv
Supplement to Chapter 11 – Analytical
Preface xviii queuing models 333
To the Instructor xx 12 Inventory planning and control 340
To the Student xxi 13 Supply chain planning and control 373
Ten steps to getting a better grade in 14 Enterprise resource planning (ERP) 406
operations management xxii Supplement to Chapter 14 – Materials
About the authors xxiii requirements planning (MRP) 422
15 Lean synchronization 429
Acknowledgements xxiv
16 Project planning and control 457
17 Quality management 495
Part One
INTRODUCTION 1 Supplement to Chapter 17 – Statistical
process control (SPC) 520
1 Operations management 2
2 Operations performance 32 Part Four
IMPROVEMENT 539
3 Operations strategy 60
18 Operations improvement 540
Part Two 19 Risk management 571
DESIGN 85 20 Organizing for improvement 601
4 Process design 86 Part Five
5 The design of products and services 112 CORPORATE SOCIAL
6 Supply network design 138 RESPONSIBILITY 631
Supplement to Chapter 6 – Forecasting 168 21 Operations and corporate social
responsibility (CSR) 632
7 Layout and flow 177
8 Process technology 206 Notes on chapters 652
9 People, jobs and organization 233 Glossary 658
Supplement to Chapter 9 – Work study 259 Index 670
,
, Contents
Guide to ‘operations in practice’, examples, Problems and applications 58
short cases and case studies xi Selected further reading 59
Making the most of this book and MyOMLab xiv Useful web sites 59
Preface xviii
To the Instructor xx Chapter 3
To the Student xxi Operations strategy 60
Ten steps to getting a better grade in
Introduction 60
operations management xxii
What is strategy and what is operations strategy? 62
About the authors xxiii
The ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ perspectives 65
Acknowledgements xxiv
The market requirements and operations
resources perspectives 68
The process of operations strategy 75
Part One Summary answers to key questions 79
INTRODUCTION 1 Case study: Long Ridge Gliding Club 80
Problems and applications 81
Chapter 1 Selected further reading 82
Operations management 2 Useful web sites 82
Introduction 2
What is operations management? 4
Operations management is important in Part Two
all types of organization 6 DESIGN 85
The input–transformation–output process 11
The process hierarchy 15 Chapter 4
Operations processes have different Process design 86
characteristics 19 Introduction 86
The activities of operations management 23 What is process design? 87
Summary answers to key questions 25 What effects should process design have? 88
Case study: Design house partnerships at Process types – the volume–variety effect on
Concept Design Services 27 process design 91
Problems and applications 30 Detailed process design 96
Selected further reading 30 Summary answers to key questions 108
Useful web sites 31 Case study: The Central Evaluation Unit 109
Problems and applications 110
Chapter 2 Selected further reading 111
Operations performance 32 Useful web sites 111
Introduction 32
Operations performance is vital for any Chapter 5
organization 34 The design of products and services 112
The quality objective 40 Introduction 112
The speed objective 42 Why is good design so important? 114
The dependability objective 44 The benefits of interactive design 129
The flexibility objective 46 Summary answers to key questions 134
The cost objective 48 Case study: Chatsworth – the adventure
Trade-offs between performance objectives 54 playground decision 135
Summary answers to key questions 56 Problems and applications 136
Case study: Operations objectives at Selected further reading 137
the Penang Mutiara 57 Useful web sites 137
