The complete Preface will be available early in spring 2003.

The field of operations management is dynamic and an integral part of many of the good things that are happening in business organizations. The material in this book is intended as an introduction to the field of operations management and to show how it has interesting, realistic, and practical applications to service and manufacturing operations.

The subject matter represents a blend of concepts from industrial engineering, cost accounting, general management, management science, quantitative methods, and statistics. Operations activities such as forecasting, choosing a location for an office or plant, allocating resources, designing products and services, scheduling activities, and assuring and improving quality are core activities and important issues in business organizations. Some of you are or will be employed directly in these areas, while others will have jobs that are indirectly related to this area. So whether this is your field of study or not, knowledge of this field will certainly benefit you and the organization you work for.

Approaches to Study
The text contains more material than one could normally hope to study in a one-term course. Rather than rely on the authors’ personal bias, each instructor can choose those topics most suited to his or her own preferences. Those who prefer an analytic/quantitative emphasis, for example, will be quite comfortable with the abundance of examples and problems. Those who prefer a more qualitative approach will welcome the fact that some of the more quantitative material is placed in chapter supplements and that there are memo exercises, operations tours, and cases for assignment. Obviously, there are many possibilities between these two extremes.

What’s New in the Second Canadian Edition?
The Second Canadian Edition of Operations Management has been developed for the Canadian market with an eye toward several key features:

Up-to-Date Canadian Content – An almost entirely new selection of relevant Canadian readings, newsclips, cases, and operations tours fills the text with real-world applications! In addition to Canadian content filling the body of the text, nearly 150 readings, over 20 cases, 10 operations tours, and an array of newsclips are spread throughout the text, focusing on Canadian and international companies, both large and small. Profiles of such diverse companies as Westjet, Zellers, SKF Canada provide students with a realistic understanding of the manufacturing and service companies inside and outside Canada.

Updated Coverage and Organization – The Second Canadian Edition features increased coverage of services and service aspects of manufacturing in many chapters. A new example of action plan has been added to Chapter 2; new examples of seasonality and nonlinear trend modelling have been added to Chapter 3; and new examples of design for manufacturability have been added to Chapter 4. Chapter 6 now combines Process Design and Facility Layout, with new coverage of process design including drawing process flow diagrams. Chapter 7 includes some new ergonomics examples and a methods analysis example. To Chapter 9, a list of ISO 9000 Principles has been added, and Chapter 10 includes new control charts for Individual and Moving Range. The new expanded Chapter 12 on Supply Chain Management has been moved forward. Chapter 13 includes the application of radio transmission in warehousing, and Chapter 14 includes new description of the trade-off method and some service applications in aggregate planning. The MRP chapter (15) now includes a major section on ERP and e-issues in Operations are covered in many chapters, including 2, 3, 8, 12, and 15. Chapter 16 includes some new examples of Kanbans and a brief description of 5S principles. Chapter 17 includes detailed coverage of staff requirement determination and staff scheduling. Chapter 18 includes new applications of project management, including an approach for cost control. And, in response to reviewer feedback, the Supplements to Chapter 6 (Linear Programming), Chapter 8 (The Transportation Model), Chapter 10 (Acceptance Sampling), and 19 (Simulation) are now located in PDF format on the Student CD included with this text.

Tightened Exposition – The Second Canadian Edition of Operations Management has been painstakingly revised to bring you a tighter, shortened text, while maintaining the wide topical coverage and student-friendly style.