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I have been looking forward to my first MBA session on Operations Management since I arrived in Italy in October, says Hajime Sudo, Full Time MBA student at The Bradford-Perugia MBA Programme in Italy. Malcolm Afferson’s fascinating lecture made me sit up and realize that I am in a world class business school. He brought experience from all over the world to the classroom and brought the importance of Operations Management alive for a diverse range of cultures. Malcolm Afferson is Senior University lecturer in Production and Operations Management at the Bradford University School of MAnagement. His previous experience includes working for the United Nations (Food Agriculture Organisation) on various food and water projects in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Prior to this he was a food technologist and factory manager for a blue chip organisation in the UK. He is currently responsible for teaching Operations Management, Project Management and World Class Operations at post graduate level. He has taught for the School of Management in these subjects on post graduate programs in the Bahamas, Europe and the Middle and Far East. Present responsibilities include further programme, development especially in computer based learning and the use of SAP as a teaching medium. Research interests have included the development of computer based scheduling and planning systems for small organisations and the development of manufacturing process improvement techniques for the service sector. Operations Management is the management of manufacturing and service processes in companies and is integral to all aspects of the Full Time MBA study. Whilst the study may leave Full Time MBA students exhausted, the ability to oversee business problems at the upper levels of management means that you can’t afford to sleep through Operations Management. The intensive module of eight hours for four consecutive days included a combination of theory and practical case studies of global companies, which left me intrigued rather than tired. The Professor kept our interest by working with us as a group and individually. I was particularly interested in case studies from my home nation of Japan. I felt a kind of pride to know that Japanese skills such as Kaizen and 5S are widely used in the world and our renowned people eg Taiichi Ohno, Kaoru Ishikawa and so on, are recognised globally. Taiichi Ohno was a prominent Japanese businessman. He is considered to be the father of the Toyota Production System, which became Lean Manufacturing in the U.S. He devised the seven wastes (or muda in Japanese) as part of this system. He wrote several books about the system, including Toyota Production System Beyond Large-Scale Production. He moved to the Toyota motor company in 1943, and gradually rose through the ranks to become an executive. In what is considered to be a slight, possibly because he spoke publicly about the production system, he was denied the normal executive track and was sent instead to consult with suppliers in his later career. Ohno's principles influenced areas outside of manufacturing, and have been extended into the service arena. For example, the field of sales process engineering has shown how the concept of Just In Time (JIT) can improve sales, marketing, and customer service processes Kaoru Ishikawa was a Japanese university professor and influential quality management innovator best known in North America for the Ishikawa or cause and effect diagram (also known as fishbone diagram) that is used in the analysis of industrial process. But the Full Time MBA is not all work so far. At lunch time, Malcolm Afferson enjoyed interactive conversation with the students about our customs and culture. I am honoured to be here and already see that I can learn a lot from those around me – not just in terms of knowledge but in the whole behaviour and attitude of global business. For gathering more info about Bradford's Full-time MBA programme, please check out this link.
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