Operations management was a major area of organizational creativity in the era of scientific management during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It got a recharge in the 1950s and 1960s when mathematics and computer science were utilized through operations research models to schedule production, arrive at optimal inventory levels, and so forth. The superior productivity and quality of Japanese manufacturing induced a further revolution in operations management in the 1970s and 1980s, and management vocabulary was enriched by Just-in-time (JIT), Kanban, Total Quality Management (TQM), quality circles, continuous improvement, and so forth. And yet there is much scope for operations-related creativity.
My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.
21st Century Organizational Transformation 