Operations apply to all business/public functions be it Supply Chain, Logistics, Marketing and Sales, Safety and Security, Environment, Health, Engineering, Quality, Project, Human Resources etc.
You may be involved in Government Operations or Business Operations. Operations are in transportation such as airlines and shipping. They are in banks and hospitals. Teachers are involved in production and operations. Talking about teaching, have we ever pondered on the main reason our educational institutions are producing unmarketable or unemployable graduates? Why do we have school leavers or university/polytechnic products who can’t run their own businesses? What kind of questions am I even asking….how many directors, top executives, managers, or retirees can successfully start and manage their own business operations? Everyone prefers paid employment or “free money”.
“HELP PEOPLE AROUND YOU”
You may know all of these and more but knowledge is never total and learning is never final. How are we making ourselves and our children less vulnerable to unemployment and other social – economic challenges ravaging our country today? How well are we building entrepreneurial skills for ourselves or committed to support our younger generations to build professional Production and Operations Management skills?
NIGERIA WILL NOT GET ANYWHERE WITHOUT PRODUCTION.
Let’s take Production and Operations seriously and reduce the consumption of foreign goods. The minimum we should be done is to produce at least 20 -30 percent of the food we consume, ourselves.
We create inflation, hyperinflation, unemployment and low standards of living by the choices we make not necessarily because we have some government macroeconomics administered by public policy fire brigadier generals.
PRODUCTION IS MEANINGFUL AT ANY SCALE
Let’s explore all available means to engage in farming and stop consuming imported food products especially canned, genetically modified, and others for health, safety and developmental reasons. Naira will never appreciate it if we continue to rely on imports and we will never earn foreign exchange if we don’t export goods and services. Money meant for development, especially for infrastructure and services like education and health will be
used to service foreign debts and so on.
Let’s go into manufacturing and add value to agricultural and natural resources to create employment and wealth.
I’m sure many of us would have learned one-two things from the supply chain disruption due to
the ravages of COVID-19 pandemic which made some billionaires or millionaires at the expense of the majority. Let’s prepare for something worse than the Corona debacle.Let’s build our own resilience and social security.
The government is no longer interested in constructing homes for the middle class not not talk of the masses. With knowledge of Production and Operations, we can build our own homes and generate electricity from our wastes through cooperative efforts….the benefits are limitless.
FACTORY WORKERS, FARMERS ARE POTENTIALLY GREAT
A factory worker or farmer will take pride in production if the consciousness is there that additional professional education and training could be the golden key to great success.
Not everyone needs to get a degree or HND through classroom attendance. One can study part- time, at home or when in paid employment or doing their own business while working towards earning a Professional Certificate or Diploma. Those who can afford it can move on to undertake Advanced Diploma and Post Graduate Diploma ( PGD). Professional PGDs are acceptable for Master’s Degree enrollment in most Universities globally.
Today the media is replete with Online Courses locally and internationally. Self development pays.
OUR YOUNG GRADUATES NEED PRODUCTION/ OPERATIONS SKILLS.
Undergraduates and NYSC members need to be concerned about their future. Paid employment is getting tougher by the day. Employers prefer professional qualifications.
Adding professional CERTIFICATION or Diploma to your Resume or CV as a job seeker is important.
All graduates in Sciences, Engineering, Technology, Social Sciences (Economics, Management/ Business Administration) and the Arts need to develop Production And Operations Management Skills to maximize thier intellectual, career and entrepreneurial growth potentials.
Business owners, public servants, managers and executives who understand the crucial role of Production and Operations Management competencies need to share their knowledge with others because they make a significant difference between success and failure in life.
This may sound elementary or appear rudimentary but it’s a fact of life that little slips and trips make great falls. What we often underrate, put down or ignore may be a saving grace.
I remember when I was working in the largest international manufacturing company in Africa at the time, Bata Nigeria Limited in the 1970s. Those of us in the Factory were called backroom boys but we were making more money than the office clerks who wore fancy shirts and ties….we were building skills in machine operations, process/material handling and
warehousing operations, laboratory operations etc. I learned about Production Control and Work Study under a UK trained Industrial Engineer in the 70s. I used part of this knowledge in the 80s in Sanusi Brothers and at the Ministry of Finance And Economic Development in Ogun State. To ask me whether that knowledge is still useful to me today is not a moot question.
When you keep growing knowledge your harvests keep getting bountiful. Knowledge is always transferable.
As an active member of the National Union of Chemical, Footwear, Rubber, Leather & Non- Metallic Products Employees (NUCFRULANPE) I can recall that we could hold the entire Management to ransom or send jitters down the spines of our parent company overseas by a threat of labour action or issuing a warning strike notice. That’s the power of labour. And by extension, the power of production. We were in a better position to use collective bargaining and negotiate higher wages and better conditions of service.
Production is the axis on which the entire ecosystem pivots. Nations that produce more rules the others that produce less. Although, bad governance standards may make Gross Domestic Product ( GDP) per capita a weak measure of standards of living.
Production creates notable brands in the world ( as I mentioned above) which make their owner’s billionaires and their countries of origin prosperous through foreign exchange earnings. We are proud of Dangote today and there are many others silently working. Let’s join them. Let’s flood our markets with MADE IN NIGERIA!
