Major: Operations Management
Hamburgers didn’t become one of the world’s most popular foods just because they taste good -- although that didn’t hurt. Fast food got a big boost in 1954, when Ray Kroc franchised the McDonald brothers’ restaurants. He came up with the idea of using assembly lines to turn out cheap, identical burgers.
Operations management majors learn from success stories like Kroc’s. Their goal? To become experts on getting the best products and services to consumers as quickly and cheaply as possible.
Operations management majors learn how to manage the development, production, and manufacturing of products and services. Topics of study include factory management, labor relations, and quality control.
Did You Know?
- Mass customization is a recent development in operations. It combines the speed and lower cost of mass production with the personalized service of artisans.
Are You Ready To...?
- Learn how to adjust production and inventory levels according to consumer demand
- Analyze how a business can streamline transportation of goods, delivering products more quickly at a lower cost
- Learn how to identify a bottleneck in production and find a creative solution
- Learn the fine art of negotiating with suppliers
- Complete an internship
It Helps to Be...
A creative, flexible, and practical thinker who can dream up several different solutions to any problem.
College Checklist
- Is the program accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business?
- What internship or co-op opportunities will you be able to choose from?
- Are there student organizations for business majors, such as Alpha Kappa Psi?
- What are recent grads doing now?
Did You Know?
- Many business schools participate in cooperative education programs (co-ops), in which students get paid, practical experience with local companies.
Course Spotlight
In a course on total quality management, you’ll learn how to ensure that the organization you work for turns out a high-quality product or service. Throughout the semester, you’ll use probability, sampling, charting, and other statistical tools.
Benchmarking, one of the concepts you’ll study, requires identifying an appropriate yardstick with which to measure quality. This is more complicated than it may at first appear. After all, you can’t use the same yardstick to measure both cars and sweaters. And what, exactly, makes a sweater attractive?
