ABSTRACT
Operations management refers to the direction and control of the processes used by food and agribusiness fi rms to produce goods and services. In the past, operations management was concerned primarily with manufacturing in factories. Today we recognize that service managers in supermarkets, fi nancial institutions, web-based industries, and agribusiness consulting fi rms have the same questions and considerations of job design, location choice, facility design, purchasing, transportation, and scheduling as does the manufacturing sector. Operations management for food and agribusiness fi rms can be broken into two distinct areas: (1) production planning and (2) supply chain management . Chapter 14 is devoted to production planning as it pertains to both agribusiness service and manufacturing fi rms, while in Chapter 15 we look at the related area of supply chain management in the food and agribusiness industries.
