Business Case Studies & Business Publications

Product and Process: Factory Physics

Chao, Raul O., Gol...

Technical Note

Product and Process: Factory Physics

Chao, Raul O.; Goldberg, Rebecca

OM-1656 | Published September 22, 2025 | 2 Pages Technical Note

Collection: Darden School of Business

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Product Details

This technical note is part of a set that focuses on product and process considerations, including product and process life cycles, the product–process matrix, the focused factory, and factory physics. While designed to be used together, these four notes can also be used as stand-alone documents to support particular learning objectives. The other notes in this set are “Product and Process: Product and Process Life Cycles” (UVA-OM-1653), “Product and Process: The Product–Process Matrix” (UVA-OM-1654), and "Product and Process: The Focused Factory” (UVA-OM-1655). These materials form one module in our collection of introductory operations management topics, and all are appropriate for an advanced undergraduate- or graduate-level introductory course on operations management. The complete list of the materials in this collection is available in the teaching materials included with this technical note.

1. Present the stages of both product and process evolution and explain how they interact to create competitive advantage and market position. 2. Describe the elements of the focused factory in the context of an operations strategy, and the corresponding competitive advantage. 3. Explore the three strategies for meeting variability in customer demand: inventory, capacity, and lead time. 4. Describe the balanced scorecard as a valuable tool to monitor and manage any operation at a high level because it addresses many different aspects of company operations: financial, customer, business process, and learning and growth.