Operations Solutions Center

From engineering and production to quality assurance and customer service—the role of Operations is to increase profit by getting quality product ready for market on time and to provide the best possible customer service.

Operations is comprised of many different departments, including research and development, engineering, materials, production, plant management, purchasing, warehousing, and shipping and receiving. To facilitate collaboration among departments, the Operations team needs a business management solution to provide a single source of data and platform for shared processes.

When different departments work with the same system, it helps ensure all orders are complete and filled in a timely and accurate manner. In addition, an integrated system allows companies to accommodate exceptions as smoothly as possible. And because managers have access to the same source of information, everyone is kept up-to-date on customer demand, materials shipments, and production schedules.

Vince: A day in the life of an Operations Manager

My job is to bring people together to work on our business strategy. I make sure the departments under my supervision have what they need, when they need it. I'm a problem-solver, and my motto is "There's no time like the present to address problems." Every day, I meet with warehouse, production, purchasing, materials, and shipping and receiving managers to review sales order reports and address any concerns. It's up to me to discover potential issues—such as exceptions and unusually large orders—and coordinate a cohesive response through discussion, prioritization, and planning. I also try to spend some time checking in with the machine operators and the shop floor manager.

It's extremely important that people have the information they need to do their jobs. That's why I appreciate our company's Microsoft Dynamics business management solution—it works like familiar Microsoft software so people can quickly investigate for contextual information or take action on the spot.

Susan: A day in the life of an Order Processor

I do a lot of different things, but processing orders is my first priority. I ensure that workers in the shop have adequate time to prepare and ship the orders. I help expedite "rush" orders and address issues with problem orders.

In addition, I assist other departments with purchase orders and invoicing. I talk with the Purchasing manager all the time. I check inventory levels every day to see what we need to order. I also work with Accounting to help ensure that orders aren't automatically shipped to clients who are behind in paying their bills.

I also confirm each client's shipping preference. All the order activity is tracked by purchase order number and customer identity number, so this sometimes takes extra time, but improves efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Sammy: A day in the life of a Shipping Manager

My responsibility is to help keep the company profitable by ensuring that orders are shipped on time, are accurate, and arrive intact. I review our overall performance in these areas throughout the year. Sometimes, not having sufficient product is a problem, so I work to ensure we can meet demand as much as possible. I spend about half of my time in my office, and the rest of my time in the warehouse supervising staff. The focus is on pushing orders through as early as possible for fast turnaround.

Our Receiving process is also important to my role. An incoming shipment might include something that we need to complete an outgoing shipment. We will unpack something immediately if we know it will let us send out a shipment that would otherwise be delayed. I watch for opportunities to make shipping cost-effective—for example, we might unpack two incoming shipments and repack them into one outgoing order.

We have a good group of employees, but fulfilling orders is a tough job and the turnover rate is high. It isn't only the physical labor and long hours, but also all the details and paperwork we have to keep track of when dealing with the inventory. Minimizing turnover is a difficult part of my job.

At the end of the day, I like to know that as much has been shipped as possible—as accurately as possible—and that the warehouse is in order.