Research Paper on:
Shipping Operations and Operations Management Objectives

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
to develop happy loyal customers. The operating core of any company is a system that encompasses design, engineering, production, networks of information flow, material flows, research and the integration of  these units as well as the delivery of goods and services. Larger corporations have a chief operations officer who is responsible for finding inefficiencies in the flow of work, "production  processes, quality, supply chain, inventory, manufacturing, and everything else that effects the bottom line and ultimately the success of [the] company" (Obringer, 2002). This person will then work to re-engineer  the processes that have problems to be more efficient (Obringer, 2002). The operations managers goal is to satisfy the customer (Obringer, 2002), in other words, customer service is the target  goal for this manager. Within this role, the operations manager will be involved in all procedures and aspects of the business, such as the safety and health, environmental issues, supply  chain, quality of the product and service, manufacturing, sales, and marketing (Obringer, 2002). One of the most challenging aspects of running a shipping business are those that manage the information  needed to track inventory and trucks, or other transportation modes used to ship the goods (Kelley, 2000). One tool that has been developed for this purpose is the transponder, also  referred to as a Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) system (Kelley, 2000). Transponders allow the company to know where all shipments are (Kelley, 2000). For example, American Freightways Corporation operates  more than 19,100 pieces of equipment from 198 terminals that keep track of their shipments (Kelley, 2000). This companys goal was to shorten the time lapse between the pickup and  the delivery of shipments and, at the same time, to improve the quality of their service (Kelley, 2000). This network of computerized transponders was the answer to meet the goal