COURSE SYLLABUS
M&L 7388 – FIELD PROBLEMS IN LOGISTICS
FALL 2014
Professor: Walter Zinn
Office:
500 Fisher Hall
Class:
Fridays 8:30am-12:00pm
A.
e-mail: zinn.13@osu.edu
Phone: 292-0797
Classrooms: Gerlach 305–Plenary meetings
Gerlach 250–Team meetings
INTRODUCTION
Field Problems in Logistics is an advanced projects course for MBA and MBLE students. Students
work as a consulting team to solve business problems for clients. At the end, each the team
delivers a final report and a presentation to the client.
B.
OBJECTIVES
The general objective is to provide students with a directed opportunity to test their problem
solving skills on an actual business problem. Specifically, the course is designed to provide the
following knowledge and experience:
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C.
Design and execute a consulting project applying logistics tools.
Develop business presentation skills.
Improve on the ability to work in teams.
Gain practical business experience before entering the job market.
FORMAT
The course is offered on a tutorial basis. The format of the class is as follows:
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Prior to the beginning of the course, the professor meets with business firms and public sector
agencies to explain the course’s objectives, requirements and limitations. Those who agree to
participate are asked to prepare a request for proposal (RFP).
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Consulting teams are organized in teams of five to six members. Students form their own
teams. Specific research projects are assigned on a first come - first serve basis to
complete teams. Please notify me by email anytime after 12pm Friday August 29th. The
email must contain the name of every member of the team and 3 projects in decreasing
order of preference. Early emails will not be accepted.
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Individual teams (all members) will meet weekly with the professor every Friday for about 30
minutes. We will discuss progress against plan, problems, and work with the team as required.
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D.
DEVELOPING THE PROJECT CHARTER AND LOG
1. View the project charter as a contract. Be prepared to deliver everything you promise in a project
charter.
2. Elements of the project charter are as follows:
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What are the project goals, as outlined in the RFP and discussed with the client?
What is the scope of the project? What is out-of-scope?
How does the consulting team propose to conduct the study? (research design)
Most importantly, what are the deliverables?
What is the data collection plan? (Data source, format, timetable for collection and cleanup).
What is the work plan? (Weekly Gantt Chart)
What are the estimated expenses for the project?
3. Once the project charter is signed off by the client your freedom to redefine the research project is
limited – except by agreement with the client.
4. Each consulting team is required to prepare a project log. The project log is a journal of every
team and client meeting describing:
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E.
The progress made since the last meeting
The role of each team member in the meeting
Issues requiring particular attention from the team.
The logs are due in three different dates; 9/26; 10/31; and 12/05. They can be sent to the
instructor as an attachment. There is no need for a hard copy.
ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES
1. The consulting team is under the same restriction as any other consultant in honoring the
confidentiality of information collected from the client or for the client. All information
collected from the client or for the client remains the property of the client.
2. One student on each team is appointed as a point of client contact. All client contacts should
be made through this designated team representative.
3. A client contact is appointed by the client firm. All contact with the client should be made
through this designated client representative.
F.
SCHEDULE
1. The teams should contact the client by September 2nd (Tuesday) and have the project charter
signed-off by October 3rd.
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2. On Friday, September 27th we will meet as a class in Gerlach 305 for progress reports on each
project. Each presentation is allotted 30 minutes, including 10 minutes for questions.
Everyone is required to attend all presentations.
3. The final plenary meeting date is December 5th. The purpose of this meeting is to share our
learning with all members of the class and to prepare for the client presentation. Each team is
allotted 30 minutes for presentation, including 10 minutes for questions. The written project is
due on this date. An electronic copy of the paper suffices. A paper copy is only needed if
requested by the client. Everyone is required to attend all presentations.
4. Please note these important dates. The team meetings are on Fridays. Each team will have an
appointed hour which we will keep throughout the semester.
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G.
Friday, August 29th (plenary meeting-introduction)
Friday, September 5th (team meetings)
Friday, September 12th (team meetings)
Friday, September 19th (team meetings)
Friday, September 26th (team meetings - project log 1 due)
Friday, October 3rd (plenary meeting-midterm presentations)
Friday, October 10th (team meetings)
Friday, October 17th (team meetings)
Friday, October 24th (team meetings)
Friday, October 31st (no meetings-project log 2 due)
Friday, November 7th (team meetings)
Friday, November 14th (team meetings)
Friday, November 21st (team meetings)
Friday, November 28th (no meetings-Thanksgiving)
Friday, December 5th (plenary meeting-final presentations–project log 3 due)
December 8th-17th (schedule client presentation)
EVALUATION
Course performance is determined by an evaluation of the following course components:
Project Logs
Mid-term progress report presentation
Attendance to required meetings
Project Report
Final Project Presentation
10%
20%
10%
30%
30%
Note: Except for the attendance grade, a group grade is assigned to each consulting team.
However, the grade of an individual team member may vary by from the team project grade
depending on project logs, peer evaluations and/or the instructor’s observation of individual
performance within the team.
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