Meet our Peer Research Advisers
Key Questions to Explore
Questions to consider when completing the operations exhibits of your business plan:
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Scopus This link opens in a new windowContent types: Abstracts and citations for peer-reviewed journals that might discuss how to manufacture products.
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AccessEngineering This link opens in a new windowContent type(s): Books, videos and case studies about manufacturing processes, supply chain logistics, and workflow optimization, which can help outline how your business will produce goods or deliver services efficiently.
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ProQuest SciTech Collection This link opens in a new windowContent type(s): Scholarly articles, trade journals, and dissertations on science and technology topics. Useful for learning about materials or processes for manufacturing your product
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ThomasNetContent type(s): Directory of U.S. suppliers. Search by the components or materials your product will need, like Lithium Batteries or Polyurethane
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Macrae's Blue BookContent type(s): Directory of U.S. suppliers. Search by the components or materials your product will need, like Fan Blades or Silicon Gaskets
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Alibaba.comContent type(s): Directory of global. suppliers. Search by the components or materials your product will need, like Knitting Machines or Wireless Earbuds. Note: Remember that materials or components purchased from outside the U.S. will require your company to pay tariffs.
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ProcurementIQ This link opens in a new windowContent type(s): Analyst reports that assist with buying decisions in supply chains and sourcing.
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YouTube: How Stuff WorksSearch this YouTube channel for a product or process using the magnifying glass next to About.
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Google PatentsContent type(s): Full-text search of patents and patent applications from the US and around the world.
How Can We Make Our Product?
Manufacturing is a "form of production by which raw and semifinished materials are processed and converted into finished products needed by consumers" (Encyclopedia of Business and Finance, 2022).
There are many manufacturing types, processes and techniques (Investopedia, 2024). You'll need to determine how a product like yours is manufactured. Consult sources like scholarly articles, books, and videos to figure this out. Take notes on machines, materials or processes that are identified and use these words as search terms later.
If using generative AI tools, remember that the response is a suggestion only. Try describing your product in different ways and then decide on a final process as a team.
Operations Management. (2022). In Encyclopedia of Business and Finance (4th ed., Vol. 2, pp. 627-629). Macmillan Reference USA.
Photo by Arno Senoner on Unsplash
These are databases that are useful for learning about how products are made and what materials are involved in that process.
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Scopus This link opens in a new windowContent types: Abstracts and citations for peer-reviewed journals that might discuss how to manufacture products.
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AccessEngineering This link opens in a new windowContent type(s): Books, videos and case studies about manufacturing processes, supply chain logistics, and workflow optimization, which can help outline how your business will produce goods or deliver services efficiently.
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ProQuest SciTech Collection This link opens in a new windowContent type(s): Scholarly articles, trade journals, and dissertations on science and technology topics. Useful for learning about materials or processes for manufacturing your product
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Google PatentsContent type(s): Full-text search of patents and patent applications from the US and around the world.
JMU Libraries subscribes to many e-books that discuss manufacturing processes in different industries. Ask a Peer Research Adviser for help finding e-books on production in other areas!
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Manufacturing Process Selection Handbook
Call Number: e-bookISBN: 9780080993607Provides engineers and designers with process knowledge and the essential technological and cost data to guide the selection of manufacturing processes early in the product development cycle. -
Apparel Manufacturing Technology
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Call Number: e-bookISBN: 9781315350509Publication Date: 2016-08-05Provides a broad conceptual perspective of apparel manufacturing process starting from raw material selection to packaging and dispatch of goods. F -
Handbook of Food Process Design, 2 Volume Set
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Call Number: e-bookISBN: 9781444330113Publication Date: 2012-05-21Provides a complete account of food process designs, including heating and cooling, pasteurization, sterilization, refrigeration, drying and crystallization in the broader context of food production and consumption.
These sites have videos that document manufacturing processes.
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YouTube: How Stuff WorksSearch this YouTube channel for a product or process using the magnifying glass next to About.
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Inside the Factory (British TV series)Documentary series that goes inside various factories in Britain.
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Made in a Day (series)This series explores cutting-edge manufacturing in an inter-connected world
How Can We Find Suppliers for Machinery & Raw Materials?
A supplier is a "person or a company who provides goods or services to another person or entity. For every business transaction, there are two parties. One party is a seller and the other a buyer. The seller is mostly referred to as the supplier while the receiver is the buyer." (DHL, n.d.)
Once you have an idea about the process for making a product similar to yours, you can search for companies that sell the equipment or materials you'll need. These will be your suppliers.
Once you have an idea about the process for making a product similar to yours, you can search for companies that sell the equipment or materials you'll need.
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There are many websites or business directories online, some specific to industries such as restaurants or apparel manufacturing. These suggestions are a starting point but shouldn't be considered an exhaustive list.
The materials and machinery your product requires will ultimately determine the best place to search.
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ThomasNetContent type(s): Directory of U.S. suppliers. Search by the components or materials your product will need, like Fan Blades or Silicon Gaskets
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Alibaba.comContent type(s): Directory of global. suppliers. Search by the components or materials your product will need, like Knitting Machines or Wireless Earbuds. Note: Remember that materials or components purchased from outside the U.S. will require your company to pay tariffs.
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MacRAE's Blue BookContent type(s): Directory of U.S. suppliers. Search by the components or materials your product will need, like Fan Blades or Silicon Gaskets
How Can We Estimate Startup Costs for Office Furniture or Designing Our Website?
Procurement "is the business process that involves purchasing goods or services from an external supplier, often through a competitive tendering or bidding process," according to A Dictionary of Human Resource Management.
Our subscription to IBISWorld comes with ProcurementIQ reports on more than 1,000 products and services that business might purchase like Office Furniture Systems or Website Design Services. These reports show what drives prices and market trends, which can help your team estimate costs and understand supply risks.
Photo from Storyblocks
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Data Axle Reference Solutions This link opens in a new windowDirectory of U.S. businesses (key personnel, addresses, credit rating, sales, subsidiaries, etc) and households (name, address, and phone number, census data for the household's area).
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ProcurementIQ This link opens in a new windowInsight and analysis on goods and services, specifically designed to help purchasing, supply chain management, and strategic sourcing professionals to identify price drivers and market characteristics that impact buying decisions.
How Much Can We Outsource?
Outsourcing refers to a procedure in which "the delegation of noncore operations or jobs from internal production to an outside resource (Encyclopedia of Business and Finance, 2022). Outsourcing is also called "contracting out."
"A subset of the term, offshoring, also implies transferring jobs to another country, either by hiring local subcontractors or building a facility in an area with lower production costs."
A company could outsource a step in the production process or a service such as legal counsel.
Photo by Marjan Blan on Unsplash
Outsourcing in the Business Environment. (2022). In Encyclopedia of Business and Finance (4th ed., Vol. 2, pp. 639-640). Macmillan Reference USA.
Talk with your operations instructors about how much your company can outsource. Many of them will say it's not enough for your business to buy all of the components from other firms and simply assemble them in your facility.
Visiting your instructor's office hours is the best strategy for determining what is appropriate amount of outsourcing for your proposed product.
Photo by Jeremy Kearney on Unsplash
How Can We Estimate Transportation Costs?
Transportation concerns the movement of products from a source—such as a plant, factory, or workshop—to a destination—such as a warehouse, customer, or retail store, according to the Encyclopedia of Small Business (2007, p. 1125).
It includes both getting materials to your facility for production and distributing your finished goods. Transportation may occur by air, water, rail or road. Transportation costs "generally depend upon the distance between the source and the destination, the means of transportation chosen, and the size and quantity of the product to be shipped."
Image source: Storyblocks
Transportation. (2007). In Encyclopedia of Small Business (3rd ed., Vol. 2, pp. 1125-1127). Gale.
A freight rate is the cost of transporting goods from one point to another. The freight rate is affected by the distance the goods need to travel as well as the nature of the goods, including whether they are breakable or perishable (Mayhew, 2023).
Search in Google for international freight calculator to see options like Freightos or Freightfinders. Almost all of these sites will require you to sign up for a free account to see your estimated costs.
Image source: Tiry Nelson Gono on Unsplash
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Logistics Management: Top 30 U.S. PortsLogistics Management is a trade journal that annually ranks U.S. ports in terms of container volume.
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FedEx Freight Rates and Transit TimesThis overview of what affects freight shipping costs also links to calculators.
Mayhew, S. "freight rate." In A Dictionary of Geography. Oxford University Press, 2023.
The International Trade Association define a tariff as "a tax levied by governments on the value ... of imported products" (ITA, n.d.). The company buying the product pays this tax to the U.S. Custom and Border Protection agency. Tariff rates differ by product category and export country.
Your business will pay tariffs on any material or component that you are purchasing from outside the U.S. For Fall 2025, we are advising COB 300 students who are importing goods to use the Total Rate from the country of origin (i.e., China) on the New York Times Tariff Tracker in their business plan calculations.
Image source: Storyblocks
Tips for Getting the Best Info from Operations Resources
JMU Libraries has created several tutorials in Google Slides to help students use our specialized business resources.
Click on the name of the database to open the tutorial that shows how to search for data and cite the information you find in APA style.
