Operations Management Demystified

Though many economists disagree, I have always believed that India should dominate manufacturing. This would not only increase our GDP and self-sufficiency but also provide gainful employment at different skill levels. Like China, we too can become a manufacturing hub, producing quality and value-added products. By moving men and women from agriculture to the manufacturing workforce with focused training, we can significantly improve their earnings. Currently, the strain on farmers with fractured land holdings drives many to despair, even to the point of suicide.

My book, "Operations Management Demystified: A Springboard for Further Study", is not a textbook in the traditional sense. Those are already available for rigorous study by students and professionals. Instead, this book aims to whet the readers' appetites, to spark curiosity and excitement about operations management-a field that pervades our homes, shops, services, and manufacturing units of all sizes. If successful, this book will help demystify the often opaque world of operations and encourage people from diverse educational backgrounds to confidently engage in this vital area.

As an engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, with over four decades of experience in the industry-both as a full-time professional and a consultant-I have had the opportunity to learn operations from input to output across a range of industries. These include steel, automobiles, textiles, tiles, fertilizers, engineering, electrical switchgear, wires and cables, bulbs, soap making, picture tubes, electronics, food processing, mineral processing, modern ports and SEZs, technology-based warehousing, and the service industry.

In this book, I share my experiences in operations management, aligning them with what is taught in formal engineering and management schools, combined with insights from various training programs that employers may offer for skill upgrades-programs that employees often attend grudgingly and learn little from.