Every operation takes inputs (materials, labour, capital, information and time) and transforms them through processes into an output. The only real difference is whether that output is a good you can stack in a warehouse or a service that is used the moment it is made. Switch between the car plant and the emergency department, light each input type to find it in the flow, then push arrivals past the slowest stage and watch where the queue forms.
Inputs are the resources a business uses to produce goods or services. The course names five types: materials (raw materials and components such as steel or medicines), labour (the people and their skills, from line workers to nurses), capital (equipment and facilities such as robots or scanners), information (the knowledge the operation runs on, such as order specifications or patient records) and time (the hours and minutes the process consumes). Information and time are the two that are most often left off a list, yet an emergency department with no patient records and no consulting time has nothing to transform. Light each input type above and check that both systems have all five.
Information and time are inputs just like materials and labour, and every operations system turns them into outputs through transformation processes whose slowest stage sets the pace for everything that leaves.