If you are looking for an actual course in operations management, and not just an overview, BUS300 is likely to be the best of this list. Through this course, Saylor Academy designed and developed a course that focuses on the process that turns resources into products and services in an organization and on how managers can influence processes, productivity, and how things get done. The advantage is that it doesn’t simply adhere to factory floors. Examples are drawn from both manufacturing and service operations to give you an idea of how resources have to be obtained, organised and allocated and how a problem in one area of an operation can affect the rest of the system. You will learn about the basics of operations, resource allocations, processes, productivity, planning, quality and decision making in operations. It’s quite a bit at 38 hours, but you’re rewarded with a free certificate and a solid base for business students, budding operations managers, entrepreneurs, and anyone else who would like a more comprehensive study than a quick course could provide.

This Alison course has a slightly different approach to the field of operations management, linking it directly to project management, procurement, quality control and risk. Rather than presenting operations as an abstract concept, it provides an overview of its components in an actual work environment. You will learn about the project life cycle, procurement fundamentals, the difference between quality assurance and quality control, and what organisations do to identify and address risk, goal setting, and productivity in the workplace. It is at beginner level, and will take you about 4-5 hours to complete — if you want to have a general idea of what operational work entails on a day to day basis, then it’s certainly a worthwhile weekend project. It’s ideal for beginning managers, business students, and managers who are new to their role and want to know what is going on in the business but not just the manufacturing part. It’s not just about manufacturing, it includes project, procurement, and risk concepts that are applicable to almost any business.

If you prefer to learn from a real university but don’t want to enroll in a degree program, then try OpenLearn’s offering on operations management and operations strategy. It uses the input-process-output model to describe what operations managers do, describes what operations managers do, and argues the importance of operations to a company’s success first of all. There’s also a pretty good amount of time dedicated to transformation processes, and the strategic decisions that are involved in running something successfully. This is considered a Level 2 course by OpenLearn and requires a little background, but also takes about six hours. Complete it and you’ll receive a free Statement of Participation as a friendly gesture for free. It’s perfect for anyone wanting to get a university-level introduction without committing to an entire course and provides a solid academic base without being too long to complete in a couple of sessions.

This is a free course that covers fundamental concepts in operations management.This is an open course on Introduction to Operations Management.

This course introduces the fundamentals of operations management and looks at how different types of operations contribute to organizational efficiency. It also connects operations with basic accounting concepts, including assets, liabilities, and the balance sheet. The course is useful for learners who already have some business knowledge and want a short introduction to how operational activities affect an organization. It is also CPD-accredited and can be completed online at your own pace.

This one’s slightly higher than most of these guys are. Rather than merely providing definitions, it gets you to think about how organisations convert inputs into outputs and how various processes relate to one another – after all, that’s what operations management is all about, beyond the jargon. OpenLearn rates it at level 3, which means that you will need some prior knowledge about the topic to be able to understand it, and you should be able to cover it in about four hours. You will be awarded a Statement of Participation on completion, like all their other free resources. It’s best suited to the Business or Operations beginner, who has some knowledge of how business works and is seeking to get more advanced insights into how business really works, because it builds on the beginner level material and approaches operations from a different perspective – one that is processdriven, not just a repetition of the basics you may already have seen.

A lot of the intro material assumes a connection between operations and productivity and competitiveness and it doesn’t mention it, which this course has a lot of time dedicated to. It presents what operations managers do and the types of decisions that are made at the strategic and tactical level which affect business performance over time. There’s some quality management as well, and how the daily operation decisions affect their ability to meet the larger objectives. It is intermediate-level, takes about 1.5 to 3 hours, and is one of the few resources on this list that is available in Spanish as well. It is ideal for business students, supervisors, and future business operations managers who wish to gain insight into the basics of the management of business operations, as well as explaining the relationship between effective operations and competitiveness clearly between operations management and competitiveness.

Operations strategy looks at the bigger decisions behind how an organization produces and delivers its products or services. This MIT course goes beyond basic operations concepts and examines how operational choices can support a company’s overall competitive strategy. It covers areas such as capacity, facilities, technology, sourcing, supply chains, quality, cost, and process improvement. The course is useful for learners who already understand basic operations management and want to see how those ideas connect to long-term business decisions. Because it is a graduate-level MIT course, it is more demanding than the beginner resources in this list, but the material is valuable for students, managers, and professionals who want a deeper understanding of operations strategy. The course materials are available through MIT OpenCourseWare, allowing independent learners to study the subject without enrolling at MIT.

This is a larger one in the list of possibilities, with more scope than is offered by a short course. It begins with the input-output transformation model, which also appears in most operations theory; then expands outward to include equipment effectiveness, quality management, inventory techniques and operations strategy. You will also encounter many other terms that you will see repeatedly when you begin reading about manufacturing and lean management, such as bullwhip, lean production, Kanban and Heijunka. It’s a real time investment at this point in the process, 6 to 10 hours, but it is one of the few resources here that covers so many aspects of operation. It is appropriate for students who are new to the field, business students who are interested in operations management and process improvement, and supervisors who want to get a lot more exposure to operations management and process improvement in one single place.It’s suitable for both beginners and business students with an interest in operations management and process improvement, and it combines inventory, quality, lean production and supply chain concepts all in one package rather than having to piece them together from various courses.

The diploma covers many topics, so it’s also a good way to review previous topics you’ve learned and have gaps in your theory knowledge about before you take the exam for a more advanced position.

Supply networks involve much more than simply moving products from one location to another. This MIT course examines how organizations manage supply networks for both products and services, with attention to the decisions that connect suppliers, operations, and customers. Topics include supply-chain structure, logistics, inventory, procurement, outsourcing, information flows, and demand. The course is particularly useful for learners who want to understand how different parts of a supply network affect one another rather than studying logistics or inventory as isolated subjects. It takes a more advanced approach than a basic supply-chain introduction, so some previous business or operations knowledge can be helpful. Students, operations professionals, supply-chain managers, and business learners can use the course materials to explore how organizations coordinate resources and make supply-network decisions. The complete course materials are available through MIT OpenCourseWare for independent study.

This one combines the typical concepts of operations management with one thing that most introductory courses do not cover: forecasting. It emphasizes the importance of production and operations management, and then explains quantitative techniques for forecasting demand, such as exponential smoothing and other forecasting techniques that can be used in planning and operations decision-making. It is assumed that you already know the basics, so it is listed as advanced level and is a 4-5 hour task. If you are already comfortable with core operations management concepts and want to add a quantitative planning skill to your toolkit, this course is a solid next step. Forecasting feeds directly into inventory, staffing, capacity, and production planning, so this course adds a genuinely quantitative dimension to your operations knowledge that a lot of introductory material simply does not cover.

This is a Great Learning course that is practical and quick. It covers lean management systems, manufacturing, supply chain systems, quality systems, inventory control and capacity planning – all within approximately 1.5 hours of content. You will also be introduced to a few concepts that occur frequently when examining how factories and warehouses improve their processes over time: Value Stream Mapping, Waste reduction, Kaizen, and 5S implementation. You have lifetime access, which means that there is no urgency to complete enrollment. It is helpful for beginners, operations people, supply chain learners and students of business who are looking for a brief and hands-on introduction instead of one based on theory.

The course is also instructor-led involving short video lessons, so this is a great option if you like to learn better by seeing someone explain a concept than reading lengthy sections of text.

This is a Great Learning course that is practical and quick. It covers lean management systems, manufacturing, supply chain systems, quality systems, inventory control and capacity planning – all within approximately 1.5 hours of content. You will also be introduced to a few concepts that occur frequently when examining how factories and warehouses improve their processes over time: Value Stream Mapping, Waste reduction, Kaizen, and 5S implementation. You have lifetime access, which means that there is no urgency to complete enrollment. It is helpful for beginners, operations people, supply chain learners and students of business who are looking for a brief and hands-on introduction instead of one based on theory.

The course is also instructor-led involving short video lessons, so this is a great option if you like to learn better by seeing someone explain a concept than reading lengthy sections of text.

Supply chain management (SCM) is essentially the back-bone of operations and this course provides an introduction to the systems through which goods are moved from suppliers to customers. Organizations need to coordinate the purchasing, inventory, production, logistics, and distribution, making it a natural fit with any operations management study plan. Students will learn about the link between the planning of the supply chain and business performance and the significance of the efficient movement of materials and information throughout the supply chain. There is a potential that the course will be helpful to learners who would like to extend their operations management knowledge to logistics and supply chain functions specifically. It is ideal for learners and beginners, business students, operations managers and students who are interested in careers in the supply chain, and it is meant to relate operations management to supply chain related activities for production and customer delivery.

Business process management is a discipline that involves the comprehension and enhancement of the processes by which organizations create products and services. It is closely related to operations management since both disciplines involve the design, monitoring and improvement of an organization’s processes over time. As of now, this is included in Great Learning’s free operations management learning resources, and it contains about an hour of learning content. This course serves as an introduction to process-oriented thinking which can be followed by more advanced courses such as lean management, quality improvement, supply chain management, and process optimization. Business processes are the crux of operations in modern work and an understanding of how to design and improve them helps link theory to real work activities for beginners, business students and operations specialists.

One of the basic aspects of operations management is inventory management, which is easy to say, but hard to manage properly. Whilst businesses must have the right level of stock to keep up with demand, they must also not have too much stock to keep in their storage facilities, risking shortages or items going out of date in the stockroom. Alison offers free inventory management learning materials on topics like inventory control, inventory management, warehouse management and supply chain management. These resources can assist learners to appreciate the methods used by organisations to track their inventory and its decisions regarding replenishment, storage and purchase as part of their supply chain. Because inventory directly affects cash flow, customer service, and operations, they can be beneficial to any operations manager, warehouse worker, business student, supply chain student, or entrepreneur handling physical products.

Supply chain management is closely related to operations management, as supply chain organizations have to manage supplier, production, inventory, transportation and customers efficiently. This Great Learning resource introduces basic concepts of supply chain management and enables the learners to understand the flow of products and information in the supply chain from one end to another end. It serves as an excellent foundation for students who are interested in studying procurement, logistics, inventory and planning of the supply chain in the context of operations management. The resource may be used in conjunction with Operations Management courses to develop a comprehensive view of material and product flow management in organisations. It is appropriate for business students, operations professionals, supply chain novices, and managers wanting to learn how supply chains enable business operations, on a daily basis.

Lean management is about minimizing activities that add no value to the customer, thereby improving the operation. It’s very known for manufacturing, and has been utilized in services, healthcare, technology, and numerous other markets over the years. Alison offers free learning tools on lean principles, waste reduction, process improvement and some related operational skills which are constantly seen in both manufacturing and service processes. These resources will help learners develop the understanding of how to recognize unnecessary steps and rework processes to increase efficiency and customer value within an organization. Lean thinking is a practical approach to process improvement and elimination of unnecessary work that is useful to the operations person, students in the manufacturing industry, manufacturing managers and anyone interested in process optimization.

This is one of the resources on the entire list that’s more of an “on the job” application since you can likely see the concepts being practiced in your own workplace within moments.

Consistent processes and products are essential to fulfil customer and business requirements, therefore quality management is an important part of operations. Great Learning Academy offers free quality management learning resources on the concepts related to quality control, quality assurance and process improvement. The topics enable learners to grasp how organisations monitor their performance, analyse their problems and make improvements over time, rather than just responding to problems when they occur. The resource may be used alongside operations management study to bring in a quality perspective to any other study you are undertaking. It can be used by business students, operational specialists, manufacturing students, and individuals engaged in quality or process improvement because operational performance and consistency are directly linked to quality.

Designing a manufacturing system involves decisions about more than production itself. This MIT course examines how manufacturing and supply-chain decisions fit together when organizations design their operating systems. The material covers topics such as logistics network design, capacity planning, flexibility, sourcing decisions, and make-or-buy choices. It also considers how manufacturing decisions connect with product development and broader supply-chain requirements. That makes the course particularly relevant for learners interested in manufacturing operations, production planning, supply-chain design, or industrial management. It is aimed at a graduate-level audience, so it is better suited to learners who already have some familiarity with operations or business concepts rather than someone starting completely from scratch. The course materials are available through MIT OpenCourseWare, making it possible to work through the lectures, readings, assignments, and other available resources independently without enrolling in the university program.

Six Sigma is a process improvement technique that focuses on reducing variation and defects, and is often used in the operations, manufacturing, quality management and business process improvement community. Six Sigma learning resources are provided free of charge on Great Learning Academy and serve to introduce learners to the concept of process improvement, quality measurement and operational efficiency. Operations management studies can be complemented by learning Six Sigma, which offers a systematic approach to identifying problems in a process and improving it. It can be used by business students, operations professionals, quality professionals, manufacturing learners, and anyone interested in process improvement in general. This is what makes Six Sigma very relevant to operations management in general; it provides a structure to think about process quality and improvement.

Logistics management refers to the movement or storage of goods or materials, and is closely related to operations and supply chain management. From the initial manufacturing to final distribution, organisations must have efficient transportation, warehousing, and distribution systems to ensure smooth operations. Alison provides free resources for logistics management learning to help people learn about transportation, warehouse management, distribution and supply chain processes. These topics are especially useful for students in operations related careers with a physical product and/or supply network, not just in pure service careers. The resources are appropriate for students, logistics professionals, learners in the supply chain, operations managers and entrepreneurs in physical-product businesses where logistics efficiency has a direct impact on costs, delivery time and customer satisfaction.

Project management is closely related to operations management but it has a different purpose. Typically, operations involve a set of recurring processes, while projects involve a single, short-term effort to bring about a particular change or result, such as the deployment of a new system or the redesign of a facility layout. There are some great project management resources available from Great Learning Academy, and these are free. Planning, scheduling, resource management, risk management and project execution provide learners with an understanding of how organizations manage operational improvement projects from start to finish. This resource can be useful for any operations professional, business student, manager, or employee who has to implement new projects or process changes involving technology or quality improvement, as operations teams often have projects that must be implemented, whether it be a technology implementation or a change to a process or quality improvement.

This MIT course provides a broader look at the decisions involved in managing business operations. Instead of concentrating on one area such as inventory or logistics, it brings together several parts of operations management, including process analysis, capacity, inventory, production control, quality, procurement, product development, and supply-chain design. Case studies and simulation activities are also part of the course, giving learners opportunities to connect operational concepts with practical business situations. The course is more advanced than a typical beginner introduction, making it a better fit for business students, managers, and professionals who already have some understanding of how organizations operate. It can also work as a useful reference for someone studying operations management independently and looking for university-level material. MIT OpenCourseWare provides the course materials online, so learners can study the subject at their own pace without formal enrollment.

This course teaches students the principles of warehouse management, covering topics such as warehouse design, equipment, and workforce organization.During this course students will learn about the principles of warehouse management, including warehouse design, equipment, and workforce organisation.
For companies with a large number of physical products stored, handled, and delivered, the management of warehouses is a key part of their operations. In order to maintain a smooth flow of operations in efficient warehouses, the implementation of suitable inventory systems, storage processes, material handling procedures, and order fulfillment systems are essential. Alison offers free warehouse management learning resources which can help learners grasp the principles of the operations and logistics of the warehouse more broadly. Subject complements Operations Management, Inventory Management and Supply Chain Management, in which it deals with physical facilities where goods are received, stored and dispatched. It also serves as a valuable tool for students in supply chain, warehouse staff, logistics professionals, operations managers, and entrepreneurs dealing with the physical inventory, as the performance of the warehouse can impact the accuracy of their inventory, fulfillment speed and operating cost.

Operations management is not limited to factories and physical products. Service businesses also need to design processes, manage demand, deliver consistent experiences, and measure operational performance. This MIT course focuses specifically on those challenges. It uses examples from areas such as healthcare, retail, hospitality, financial services, transportation, and internet services to examine how service operations work in different settings. The course looks at service design, delivery, customer demand, and the operational decisions that influence performance. It can be useful for business students, managers, entrepreneurs, and operations professionals who work in service-based organizations or want to understand how operations principles apply outside manufacturing. Since it is a graduate-level MIT course, learners should expect more detailed material than they would find in a short introductory course. The complete course materials are available through MIT OpenCourseWare for independent learning.

Procurement plays a crucial role in the operations of an organization since it’s essential for getting the materials, equipment, and services that the organization must use when running its activities on a day-to-day basis. Buying decisions can affect cost, quality, supply and supplier relationships that can impact the entire operation. Alison offers free procurement and purchasing resources including purchasing processes, supplier management, sourcing and procurement planning. These resources are especially beneficial for students who are interested in how a purchase decision relates to the overall performance of an operation in a business. This resource can be used for business students, procurement professionals, operations managers, supply chain learners and entrepreneurs as procurement decisions impact on production, inventory and costs throughout the operation