The convergence of factory and service operations in the 21st century: Directions for research and education

There has been interest in the development of 'Services Sciences' as a unique subset of Operations and Technology Management leading to unnecessary complexity and contusion. Traditional 'factory' style operations have sought to eliminate inventory and to become more flexible. Services have sought to industrialise their operations to achieve economies of scale and predictability of traditional factory operations. This paper offers an Organisation Theory based-definition of 'services' vs. 'factory' operations and conceptual arguments for their convergence. This leads to a more unified model of Operations Management where the degree of service vs. product output is a key variable.