The operations process of a manufacturer tends to be highly automated or mechanised.

Service providers rely heavily on interaction with the customer and their processes tend to be more labour-intensive.

We have learned that marketing decides the product design, and operations are responsible to produce the goods and services which have been designed by marketing.

In establishing and operating the transformation process (selecting transformed and transforming resources) the way the product is designed by marketing and the features of the market have significant implications for operations.

The product specifications from marketing and the market demand have a number of meaningful and significant elements for the operations manager, known as the four V's.