Operations management is the process of obtaining and utilizing resources to produce useful goods and services so as to meet the

goals of the organization. Example: Hospital : Example: Hospital Inputs Processing Outputs Table 1.2 Healthy patients Doctors, nurses Hospital Medical Supplies Equipment Laboratories Examination Surgery Monitoring Medication Therapy Improvement of patients health condition. Materials management is the branch of logistics that deals with the tangible components of a supply chain. Specifically, this covers the acquisition of spare parts and replacements, quality control of purchasing and ordering such parts, and the standards involved in ordering, shipping, and warehousing the said parts. Materials Management is an essential part of any organization. Especially in a Hospital, Materials Management Department plays a vital role in the smooth and efficient function of it. It means the management of materials likes planning, Purchasing, Store & Inventory Control, Care and Preservation, Issue of materials, Accounting and Disposal of scrap. It is in direct touch with the user department in its day-to-day activities. The most important purpose served by stores is to provide an uninterrupted service to the various user departments. In the case of a Hospital we can say the Operation Theatre, Wards, Specialty Clinics, Units, Refraction Departments, Registration, Admission Departments etc. are the user departments. The successful and efficient functioning of a department depends mainly upon how best the materials are supplied by stores department to them. Further stores often equated directly with money, as materials have money value. Inventory management is primarily about specifying the size and placement of stocked goods. Introduction Supply Chain Management (SMC) is the process of planning, implementing and controlling the operations of the supply chain with the purpose of satisfying the customer requirements as efficiently as possible. SCM encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing and procurement, conversion and all logistics management activities1.

Healthcare is a gigantic sector in India, estimated to be around 80,000 crores. But unfortunately the sector remained fragmented and non-competitive till very recently. It is projected that in the next few years approximately Rs 4000 will be pumped in to modernize the Indian health care services. The new facilities provided particularly in superspeciality hospitals with the start-ofart equipment should be able to provide not only quality services to the patients but also meet the expectations of all the stake holders. Corporate sector has come up in many states of India, who are adopting different business models like Hub and Spoke Model, and Networking Model to achieve their strategic objectives and goals. Regretfully, money is generally at the top of the agenda. To meet the rising demands, India will need 80,000 beds every year for the next 5 years.2 . It is uncertain wjhether the public sector could fill the gap. Private sector has the potential to meet such a huge demand. HOSPITAL SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (HSCM) HSCM is a set of approaches to efficiently integrate suppliers or vendors, transport, hospital services (including outpatient, emergency, in-patient, laboratory, radiology, stores and purchase, food, laundry and medicines /equipments) to achieve Total Quality Management (TQM) in health care services by optimum utilization of resources. The HSCM deals with the management of materials/equipments, manpower like doctors, nurses and other supporting staff, to transform sick patient to healthy person at a reasonable cost, in the shortest possible time with utmost satisfaction of the patient. It is necessary that the departments related to materials, finance, receiving and store-keeping work in tandem to process effectively the high volume of purchases, receipt and payment transactions that take place at regular intervals. The task of the purchase department is to procure the inventory at lower prices without compromising on the quality by reducing the lead times with the suppliers through competitive bidding, direct negotiation and group purchasing. An efficient inventory policy should link the supply to the consumption patterns for reducing overall inventory level. The transactions should be online so that the database gets updated automatically subsequent to each and every issue of material /medicine etc to enhance efficiency.3,4

Purchase Activity Procurement is one of the crucial factors in purchasing activity. Several day -today operations and functions of each and every department of a hospital depend upon the activities of the purchase department. Right from the sophisticated life saving drugs used by doctors to stapler pins used in the hospital office are purchased by the purchase department. The purchase department should concentrate on 5 Rs right source, right quantity, right quality, right price and right time for continuous supply of all types of materials/medicines required by the hospital. It is important at this stage that the hospitals undertake vendor analysis and keep the list of vendors rated on a mutiparameter rating. Vendor Analysis must take into account the factors like quality, quantity, pricing, reliability, speed, financial position, production capacity, process capacity, and transport facilities available with the vendors. Vendor Rating: Parameters COMPANY Size/Capacity Financial strength Operational profit PRODUCTS Quality Price Packaging SERVICE Delivery on time Condition on arrival Follow-up instructions Number of rejections Handling of complaint Technical assistance Emergency aid Supply update catalogues

Manufacturing range Uniformity Research facilities Geographical location Labour relation Trade relation Warranty

The Supply Chain Management in hospitals is linked with purchase function so as to minimize cost, time and delivery of better services to the patient. Since a huge portion of revenue is devoted to purchasing, an effective purchasing strategy is vital. SCM is a major link in having effective vendor relations, vendor evaluation, vendor development and negotiatons2,4. Activity of Stores Stores is one of the most crucial departments of a hospital. It is responsible for performing vital functions acquisition, receiving, evaluation, warehousing, maintenance, accounting and distributing goods and supplies to all the departments of the hospital. The issue of material from the stores to the user department is an intricate system. The stores department in-charge should be well versed with accounting or should be trained for the same. The stores department has to maintain a co-operative relationship with other departments of the hospital. A good interaction with other departments of the hospital ensures efficient functioning of the stores department. The materials/medicines used in the hospital can be classified based on their usage or purpose: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Diagnostic Surgical Therapeutic Bedside Service Engineering Housekeeping and Printing and Stationery.4

Logistics is the process of strategically managing the procurement, the movement and the storage of materials, through the organization and its marketing channels in such a way that the current and future supply flow is maximized through the cost effective fulfillment of orders.

Medicines (and biologicals) have a shelf life and many drugs/medicines are expensive. The Logistics Department in the hospital should have a fool-proof strategy and mechanism of provisioning, storing and issue of such shelf-life drugs in a manner that they are stored and carried in a temperature-/ humiditycontrolled atmosphere and issued on a FIFO (First in, first out ) basis. An early warning report should automatically be generated to alert the doctors on the anticipated expiry of the shelf life. There should be contractual arrangement with the vendors for drugs supplied to the hospitals without the loss of shelf life. Such material should have the longest remaining life, and if possible, arrangement for replacement within some agreed months of the remaining life may be had with the suppliers. The materials manager interacts with a variety of external agencies such as vendors, transporters, government agencies and other local bodies (Unions) and has to satisfy a large number of internal customers, such as doctors, services, house keeping, canteens, movements etc. The Manager in obtaining an exceptional service and commitment from the external agencies in satisfying the needs of our internal customers through whom we provide complete satisfaction to our ultimate customer namely the patients who look for a healthy future life.5 Supply Chain Management (S C M)

For larger image, please click here The Logistics Manager is the most important actor behind the scene in achieving the hospitals objective.4-6 Conclusions Supply Chain Management is not merely a buzzword, it is a concept, strategy and approach that is proving its worth in hospital management all over the world. Hospitals which implemented SCM successfully have recorded a 50% inventory reduction, 40% increase in on-time delivery, doubling of inventory returns coupled with nine-fold reduction in out of stock rates. Every touch point to hospital has to be converted into a bond through which close relationships could be established and maintained. The multifaceted technologies are in the forefront of new logistic applications. Vehicles will become warehouses and order status will be visible along the entire supply chain, even when a truck is caught in a snowstorm. The supply chain, currently, has become a glass pipe where information about an order is completely visible, from supplier to manufacturer to distribution centre to transporter to customer. A fully computerized inventory will let the hospital to run the SCM at the speed of thought. The tomorrows supply chain management will be completely a virtual organization with advent of rapid implementation of internet biotechnologies, integrated through effective sharing of data and cost saving at every point.

. Basic functions of healthcare field Make the patients comfortable and make them mentally prepared for the treatment. Obtain patients records, apart from assisting in the treatment. Put together and implement an agreed list of priorities which forms a business plan for a department or whole organization. Monitor the effectiveness of services and make recommendations for improvement.

 Monitor departmental expenditure against budgetary targets and negotiate realistic amendments to future budgets. Responsible for the overall management of the affair of the various health care services of the hospital. Order supplies, control finances, as well as coordinate your activities with the other managers. Responsible for the proper handling of the administration of the department. Co-ordinate the admission and discharge of patients, casualty and outpatient services and bed allocation. Advise on staffing in medical departments and in departments such as cleaning and catering. Organize and co-ordinate paramedical services. Key Result Areas Key Result Areas or KRAs refer to general areas of outcomes or outputs for which the department's role is responsible. A typical role targets three to five KRA. Key Performance Areas These are the areas within the HR DEPARTMENT, where an individual or group, is logically responsible / accountable for the results. To manage each KRA/ KPAs, a set of KPI are set . HERE IS AN EXAMPLE, WHICH YOU CAN USE TO DEVELOP OTHERS FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION. CORPORATE OBJECTIVE / STRATEGY -improve the company competitive positioning and productivity by 10%. HR DEPARTMENT'S OBJECTIVE -Achieve high productivity level in all activities [ say by 10%] KRA 1 -RECRUITMENT/ SELECTION KPA --RECRUITMENT KPI ----reduce average time taken to fill vacancies by 15% KPI ----reduce average cost per recruit by 10%

KRA 2 -WORKPLACE MANAGEMENT KPA -labour turnover KPI ---reduce the labor turnover by 20% KPI ----benchmark total HR COSTS externally. KRA 3 -SAFETY AND HEALTH WORKPLACE KPA ---workplace accidents KPI ----reduce workplace accidents by 10% KRA 4 -BUILDING CAPABILITIES AND ORGANIZATION LEARNING KPA ----TRAINING KPI --- ALL WORKFORCE below middle management should receive a minimum of 4 days of training. THIS IS , ROUGHLY, HOW HR DEPARTMENTS KRAs / KPAs / KPIs ARE SET , MONITORED AND EVALUATED. THIS CAN BE APPLIED TO ALL OTHER FUNCTIONAL DEPARTMENTS LIKE MARKETING / SALES / PRODUCTION ETC. Quality Assurance Quality assurance is the process of verifying or determining whether products or services meet or exceed customer expectations. Quality assurance is a processdriven approach with specific steps to help define and attain goals. This process considers design, development, production, and service. The most popular tool used to determine quality assurance is the Shewhart Cycle, developed by Dr. W. Edwards Deming. This cycle for quality assurance consists of four steps: Plan, Do, Check, and Act. These steps are commonly abbreviated as PDCA.

The four quality assurance steps within the PDCA model stand for:

Plan: Establish objectives and processes required to deliver the desired results. Do: Implement the process developed. Check: Monitor and evaluate the implemented process by testing the results against the predetermined objectives Act: Apply actions necessary for improvement if the results require changes.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Revenue Related o Responsible for monthly targets. Relationship Management o Maintaining relationship with key government official. o Maintain relations with the top people in key hospitals. Operations o Ensuring that Ambulances are operational on a day to day basis Vehicle Status o Ensuring that Ambulances are manned on a day to day basis ,prepare the schedule for the same - Monthly Rooster o Ensuring inventory supplies to the Ambulances on a regular basis -Purchase , Maintenance and Inventory Register o Ensuring collection from the vehicles on an ongoing basis o Ensuring Ambulance maintenance on regular basis. -Maintenance process o Ensuring Ambulances RTO related matters, insurance is up to date o A detailed audit of each ambulance schedule every month. Maintaining Ambulance Forms / Bills o Consent Form o PRF form Reasons to Study Operations Management : Reasons to Study Operations Management 50% or more of the jobs in industry are operations management-related: Customer Service Quality Assurance Production

Planning Scheduling Inventory Management Logistics Operations Management activities are at the core of all business organizations. All Other Functional Areas are interrelated with Operations Management Dr Felton Lean

Operations as Technical Core : Operations as Technical Core Dr Felton Lean

IMPORTANCE OF OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT : IMPORTANCE OF OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT Improves productivity: * Effective control of the conversion process of inputs into outputs (e.g., fewer defect output, less wastage of material inputs, effective allocation of staff, will lead to more output per unit time). ** Higher productivity leads to higher profits How? Improves our ability to meet customer needs: * Ensure provision of high quality products and services at reasonable prices (not just cheap output) * Enables us to provide service to our target customers better than our competitors * Meeting customer needs is crucial to long term survival of the firm Why? Dr Felton Lean

IMPORTANCE OF OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT : IMPORTANCE OF OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT Central to the building of a brand name/reputation of the company/firm, as a competitive weapon: * Highquality product/service provider * Low cost/good value producer/service provider (e.g., Woolworths, Sony & Panasonic) * Fast delivery or response/lead time (e.g., Hong Kong for 2 hrs suit tailoring Improves the living standards of citizens and wealth of nations: * Has impact on GDP per capital high output per unit time * High-value added vs. skills needed to manufacture