Discuss the operations management of a large company. Your discussion must be specific and refer
to one product/service throughout most of the project. Read
the instructions carefully. Do not just put generic theory; the
discussion must be specific, you must apply the theory and
use the tools we discuss in class. The practical examples
must refer to your company’s activity and must be explained
in text.
If the company provides a service, you may have to be creative and elaborate on
certain sections. Service companies will have unique operations management
activities and you should highlight them. The marks allocation will be adjusted
accordingly.
OPM 2103 Operations Management Page 3 of 6
Faculty – Business Assessment 3 AY 202010
- INTRODUCTION, COMPETITIVENESS AND STRATEGY
Provide a brief background of the company, including the industry they compete in, the
company’s activity and their products/services. Which organizational strategy is the
company following? Is it a low cost, differentiation or response strategy? Why do you
say so? Justify your answer. Which operations strategy is the company following?
Explain how you believe the company competes with this product (relating this to their
operations). Why do you think they are so competitive? Describe the product/service
you choose to discuss in this project and the specific inputs-transformations-outputs
10 marks - PRODUCTIVITY
What is productivity? Why is it important for businesses to monitor productivity? Is
productivity difficult to measure in this industry or company? Why? How would you
recommend productivity be measured? Provide an example of how they could measure
productivity by applying theory to their situation (Excel). Explain the calculated example
in your Word written project – what were your assumptions? How could they realistically
increase productivity? Discuss the factors that realistically affect their productivity.
10 Marks - FORECASTING
Define forecasting and discuss the importance of forecasting to operations
management. Why are forecasts generally wrong and what are the consequences of
poor forecasting? How could forecasts be improve? In detail, explain the different
forecasting approaches. Provide examples of the forecasting techniques using Excel
and explain the theory behind them. How could they improve their forecasts?
10 Marks
OPM 2103 Operations Management Page 4 of 6
Faculty – Business Assessment 3 AY 202010 - PRODUCT AND SERVICE DESIGN
Explain the reasons why companies are involved in product and service design or
redesign. Select a product or service and discuss its design. In your opinion, what
improvements (re-design) must be made to that product or service? Explain briefly why
companies must take into consideration legal, ethical, and sustainability issues when
designing their product or services. Explain briefly the various impacts this product
causes to the legal, sustainability and 3R (reduce, reuse and recycle) factors.
10 Marks - CAPACITY PLANNING
What is capacity? Discuss the key questions in capacity planning; what kind of capacity
is needed, how much is needed to match demand and when is it needed? Based on
this; is the company under or overcapacity? Is there excess capacity available? What
should they do if they need more capacity? Provide an example of how they could
calculate capacity by applying theory to their situation (Excel). Explain the calculated
example in your Word written project – what were your assumptions?
10 Marks - PROCESS SELECTION AND FACILITY LAYOUT
Explain what process selection is and why it is important. Which process type is the
company following? Discuss how the volume and variety of goods produced has
influenced the process type that the company uses. What is the basic objective of layout
planning and the three basic types of facility layout? Study the layout of the
organization, what type of layout is it and explain why? Do you think the layout is good
and helps in free flow of work? Can the process be improved? How?
10 Marks
OPM 2103 Operations Management Page 5 of 6
Faculty – Business Assessment 3 AY 202010 - LOCATION
Discuss the importance of location planning. In what location is the company
manufacturing or selling their product/service? Why do you think they choose those
locations? Select a specific location and explain your answers. Which factors did they
consider? In your opinion, is this a good location? Why or why not? Be creative – for
example, you could support your recommendation with a map of competitor locations if
that is a criteria.
5 marks - WORK DESIGN AND MEASUREMENT
Explain briefly how work design and measurement techniques could be used to improve
operations of a company. Explain job specialization with suitable example. What is job
enlargement, rotation and enrichment? Why is work measurement important and how
do you measure standard time? Give an example.
5 marks - QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Discuss the 4 determinants of quality for a selected product for the company. Do you
believe this company offers good quality – justify your answer by relating it to the
benefits of good quality? What would be the consequences of poor quality for this
company? Use specific examples. What can you recommend to improve quality of the
products and/or services – consider the dimensions or determinants of quality when
answering this? Provide examples of how they could use two quality tools (Excel).
Explain the applications of the tools in your Word written project.
10 marks
OPM 2103 Operations Management Page 6 of 6
Faculty – Business Assessment 3 AY 202010 - PRODUCTION PLANNING AND INVENTORY MANAGEMENT
Define aggregate planning its goal. Discuss why organizations make capacity decisions
on three levels and why organizations need to do aggregate planning. How do they
prepare production plan to match the expected demand? Do they maintain any
inventory? What type of inventory does the company hold? Use specific examples? Use
the economic order quantity model and show an example with calculation.
5 marks - CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
In this section, provide a conclusion to the report. Briefly outline what you believe to be
the main points from the various topics that you have covered. The conclusion should
summarize the report as a whole. Lastly, where necessary, make any relevant
recommendations.
10 marks