Assignment 1: Discussion—Managing Capacity

Capacity management in businesses is a function of their operations and environment. In today’s business world, evaluating and managing capacities is becoming significantly more difficult. Therefore, managers need to do a balancing act to reduce costs and effectively utilize available capacities.

Using the Internet, research capacity management.

Then respond to the following:

• Which type of operation has a more difficult time managing capacities: an environment supporting standardized products or one supporting customized products? Why? State your reason(s) and provide examples.

After your initial post, discuss the following:

• Among other decisions an operations manager makes, the one pertaining to capacities is the most critical. Why is it considered a critical decision? Which area do you think is more challenging as it pertains to capacity planning? Make sure your answer addresses the productivity aspect as well as the uncertainty element.
• Briefly describe how uncertainty affects capacity decisions.
• Why is capacity planning for a service more challenging than it is for a goods producer?
• How do capacity decisions affect productivity?

Write your initial response in 200 to 300 words. Give examples in support of your responses, be sure to include numerical examples where required. Apply APA standards to citation of sources.