Two confessions to start: This is the first textbook I've "reviewed," and secondly, this book was used for an accelerated MBA class in which we covered eight chapters, or a little less than half the book. That said, it was read and marked up diligently, and accompanied by prerecorded video lectures I assume were produced by McGraw Hill. This program is also my first foray back into formal education in over 15 years, so I read this book more diligently than I did back in undergrad, and was, therefore, able to appreciate it a little more. It's an incredibly thorough book that dives into all the managerial components of operations in both the production and service industries. Not only does it cover the concepts well, but provides a slew of useful formulas for assessing things like how to optimize an assembly line production or the amount of leeway a quality control process should have, and what the numbers tell you.
On the critical side, the sections covered in my class -- if representative of the entire book -- were heavily focused on manufacturing. Perhaps that's inevitable, as the variables in mass production and complex production processes require more thorough analysis to be sustainable, but I can't count the number of times that a concept was introduced and followed by the example of, "such as those seen in the automobile industry." I get it, making cars is complex and requires probably the widest range of operational actions, and yet, it became white noise after a while. I work in the health insurance industry, closely aligned to marketing, which is not operations, but I had a hard time envisioning a lot of the concepts in action at my workplace, or any other similar workplace. Essentially, unless you work in manufacturing, little of this was relatable. And still, I found that to be eye-opening, in that I didn't (don't?) know much about manufacturing. I could've assumed it was complex beyond my comprehension, but this book made it a little easier to grasp. Will I come back to it in my free time and read the non-covered chapters? Not likely if I stay in my current job / More likely if I ever decide to start my own business / Guaranteed if I ever work for Toyota.