OMIS 4550 R 3.0: Inventory Management
Course Outline
Winter 2025
Thursdays, 11:30am-2:30pm, beginning on January 9, 2025 in S126
Instructor
Alan Marshall
S337C SSB or N216 SSB
amarshal@yorku.ca
Office hours: as posted on Canvas
Assistant
Paula Gowdie Rose
S337N SSB
416-736-5074
pgowdierose@schulich.yorku.ca
Alan Marshall holds an MBA (York University), teaches courses in Finance, Statistics, and Operations
Management at the Schulich School of Business, York University. He was a recipient of a 2013-2014
Seymour Schulich Teaching Excellence Award and is a past winner of the John Pease Teaching Award.
Brief Description
This course explores practical methods for planning and controlling inventories, which can be understood
and implemented by managers. Inventories are studied as a component of total business strategy.
Specific topics include: statistical forecasting procedures and their evaluations, the nature of production
and inventory systems, scheduling and planning of aggregate production, workforce and inventories and
the design of operational decision systems for transmitting aggregate policy decisions consistently to the
level of the individual stock keeping unit.
Prerequisites: None
Contents
Course Learning Outcomes ........................................................................................................................... 2
Deliverables at a Glance................................................................................................................................ 2
Course Material............................................................................................................................................. 2
Student Preparation for Class and Class Participation: Expectations ........................................................... 3
Class-by-Class Syllabus .................................................................................................................................. 4
Written Assignments/Projects and Exam[s]: Descriptions ........................................................................... 5
General Academic Policies: Grading, Academic Honesty, Accommodations and Exams ............................. 6
Quick Reference: Summary of Classes, Activities and Deliverables ............................................................. 7
OMIS 4550 R p. 2
Course Learning Outcomes
The principal objective of this course is to provide the student with a basic understanding of some of the
many tools of Inventory and Working Capital Management, and Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP).
To facilitate the learning process, the student will be required to apply some of these tools to a variety of
problems. This will be accomplished using weekly case discussions assignments, case presentations and
class discussion. The intended takeaways from this course are an ability to manage both the real (product
flow) side of an enterprise’s operations, as well as the financial ramifications, and to be able to apply them
in a variety of business settings.
Deliverables at a Glance
Course work includes two (2) case submissions, a case presentation, a case take-home final exam and
discretionary/participation.
Assignment/ Task
Case Submissions
Case Presentation
Take-home Case Final Exam
Class Discussions & Participation
Quantity
2
1
1
1
% Weight
15%
20%
30%
20%
Total %
30%
20%
30%
20%
100%
Author
Groups of 2
Groups as assigned
Individual
Individual
For details, see “Written Assignments/Projects and Exam[s]: Descriptions”, p. 5.
Course Material
Required reading for this course includes the following customized textbook, which is available for
purchase from the York University Bookstore (http://bookstore.blog.yorku.ca).
Inventory Management Customized Text for SB/OMIS 4550, McGraw-Hill, (Abbreviated TEXT
herein.)
• Chapters in the Custom text are taken from Ross, Westerfield, Jordan, Roberts, Pandes, &
Holloway, Fundamentals of Corporate Finance, 11ce (abbreviated RWJR, herein) and
Stevenson, Mottaghi, & Bakhtiari, Operations Management, 7ce (abbreviated SMB, herein)
Lecture Notes
Copies of lecture PowerPoint slides and other notes will be available on Canvas. You are expected to
download the lecture note files prior to class and bring them to class. This will allow you to focus on what
is being discussed in class, and reduce the time spent note-taking.
You are granted a single use right to use these materials. You may also conserve computer and network
resources by downloading the files once on behalf of a group of classmates in this section and
OMIS 4550 R p. 3
photocopying the slides. You may not distribute these slides or reproduce them in any other way.
Photocopying copyright materials is illegal.
Notation - As you might expect, different textbooks use different symbols and notations. Therefore, my
lecture notes will reflect the notation I am used to using. Unless I state otherwise, you are free to use the
notation that best suits your purpose.
Course Website: I will be using Canvas. Check it frequently.
Course materials, such as lectures, PowerPoint slides, tests, course notes, outlines, and similar materials,
are protected by copyright. As creator of those materials the instructor(s) is the exclusive copyright owner.
You may take notes and make copies of course materials for your personal use. However, you may not
reproduce or distribute the course materials (e.g. uploading that content to a commercial website)
without my express written permission.
Third party copyrighted materials (such as book chapters, journal articles, music, videos, etc.) have either
been licensed for use in this course or fall under an exception or limitation in Canadian Copyright law.
Copying this content for distribution may lead to a violation of Copyright law.
Calculators and Computer Use
It is assumed that you have a good, non-programmable business or financial calculator and a good working
knowledge of Microsoft ExcelTM or similar spreadsheet software.
Student Preparation for Class and Class Participation: Expectations
Missing Classes
Attending every class is expected. However, there are valid reasons for not coming to class. If you need
to miss class due to illness or an emergency, please contact me via email as soon as possible. If you have
an important religious observance or other scheduled conflict that requires you to miss class, you must
contact me via email in advance, in accordance with University policy. When there is a legitimate,
scheduled reason to miss a scheduled class, assignments must be submitted electronically, in advance.
Students are still responsible for learning the material.
E-mail protocol:
As I teach different courses and sections, it is essential that the following e-mail protocol be observed:
• E-mail me from a York (Schulich – username@schulich.yorku.ca; or yorku – username@yorku.ca) email account or an email account that you have registered with the university that I can verify using
the classlist utility. I will not respond to emails sent from an account that I cannot verify is yours.
• Use my amarshal@yorku.ca e-mail address only
• On the subject line, provide your course code and section (e.g., OMIS4550)
• To receive a response to your e-mail, sign your e-mail with your full name and student number
• Consolidate your queries into a single e-mail.
• Provide your attempted solution to exercises and problems when seeking help.
When replying with history, keep history SHORT!
OMIS 4550 R p. 4
Class-by-Class Syllabus
Topics, readings, and other preparations for every class are listed below
Note: If any changes in this schedule become necessary, notifications will be posted on Canvas,
and when changes need to be announced between classes, an email will be sent to students’ email
accounts, notifying them of the change.
DATE/WEEK
Jan 9
(1)
Jan 16
(2)
Jan 23
(3)
Jan 30
(4)
Feb 6
(5)
Feb 13
(6)
Feb 20
Feb 27
(7)
Mar 6
(8)
Mar 13
(9)
Mar 20
(10)
Mar 27
(11)
TOPIC(S)/ASSIGNED READING(S)/ASSIGNED WORK DUE
Course Overview
Lecture: Sales and Operations Planning and its relationship to Working Capital
Management, Forecasting
Read: RWJR, Ch 18 (TEXT #2)
Lecture: WCM I – Cash, Marketable Securities, Cash Cycle, Liquidity
Read: RWJR, Ch 18/19 (TEXT #2/#3)
Case Discussion: Piepkorn Manufacturing (Minicase at end of Ch. 20, TEXT 4)
Case Discussion: Toronto Toy (A), 2025 (on Canvas)
Lecture: WCM II – Accounts Payable, Short-Term Financing, Managing Credit
Read: RWJR, Ch 20 (TEXT #4)
Case Discussion: Horniman Horticulture (TEXT #10)
Lecture: Inventory Management & Models
Read: RWJR, Ch 20.7, 20.8, (TEXT #4) SMB, Ch 12 (TEXT #5)
Case Discussion: Deutsche Brauerei (TEXT # 11)
Lecture: Single Period Model; Yield Management
Read: SMB, Pages 164-168 (Part of TEXT #5)
“Managing Inventories: The Newsvendor Problem” (TEXT #13)
Case Discussion: Music Today (TEXT #12)
Lecture: Single Period Model - Supply Chain Cooperation
No Class – Reading Week
Case Discussion: The Fine Line (Canvas)
Lecture: Aggregate Planning I – Basic Strategies and Heuristics
Read: SMB, Ch 13 (TEXT #6)
Case Discussion: Passover in Costa Rica (TEXT #14)
Lecture: Aggregate Planning II – Using LP for Optimizing Aggregate Plans
Read: SMB, Ch 13 (TEXT #6)
Case Discussion: Kota Fibre (TEXT #15)
Lecture: Material Requirement Planning
Read: SMB, Ch 14 (TEXT #7)
Case Discussion: Wally’s Wakeboards (Canvas)
Lecture: Scheduling & Priority Rules
Read: SMB, Ch 16 (TEXT #8)
Markham Requirement
Manufacturing
(Canvas)
Case Discussion: Materials
Planning
at A-Cat Corp. (TEXT #17)
Case Presentations – I
Apr 3
(12)
Case Presentations – II or Toronto Toy (B), 2025
Apr 10
Case Take Home Final Exam Due
OMIS 4550 R p. 5
Written Assignments/Projects and Exam[s]: Descriptions
Due Date
Various, As assigned Case Submissions
Each student will be assigned two (2) cases from the cases that will be discussed
in class, Weeks 3 through 10, the first in weeks 3-6, the other in weeks 7-10.
The written submission is to be submitted online 15 minutes prior to classtime,
and via hardcopy at the end of class. These cases will be done in pairs. Each is
worth 15%, which is 10% for the written submission and 5% for leadership
during the class discussion.
Notwithstanding that there may be specific questions in some cases, you are
expected to use a case study approach and use these questions to guide your
thinking and analysis.
The written submissions will:
1. use the standard title page posted on Canvas
2. be no longer than 2 pages of discussion
3. have a maximum of 10 pages of exhibits
4. wide exhibits should be landscaped, with (folded) legal or tabloid paper
encouraged (When landscaped, turn 90° counter-clockwise)
5. Font size: 12
No late cases will be accepted.
Value: 2 x 15% = 30%
March 27
April 3
Case Presentations
Students will be assigned to groups to present a case analysis to the class. These
cases are not in the TEXT; students assigned these cases will be provided a link
where the cases can be bought. Each presenting group will also submit a written
submission. Details will be posted later.
Value 20%
April 10
Case Take-home Final Exam
There will be a take-home final exam based on a comprehensive case
Value 30%
Throughout the
duration of the
course
Discretionary/Participation
After each class, I will record everyone’s contribution on a 0 to 4 scale:
0 – absent
1 – present, but no contribution
2 – some contribution
3 – strong contribution, and
4 – outstanding contribution
The emphasis is on (1) quality and (2) good classroom citizenship (e.g., giving
others a chance) and not quantity.
To facilitate this, I will be asking that you sit in the same seat every class, as I will
be maintaining a seating plan with your pictures.
Submission of a case synopsis, via Canvas, may potentially increase a student’s
participation performance for that class.
Value: 20%
OMIS 4550 R p. 6
General Academic Policies: Grading, Academic Honesty, Accommodations and Exams
Grades at Schulich are based on a 9-value index system. The top grade is A+ (9) and the minimum passing
grade is D (2). To keep final grades comparable across courses, the average course grade within a section
of an undergraduate course is normally between 5.5 and 7.0.
Grades of cases and presentations will be reported numerically, but will be based on the letter grade
ranges, shown below. Specific numeric values will reflect gradation within the broader letter grade
categories.
Participation will be recorded at the end of each class, using the scale on the previous page. At the end
of the term, the non-zero values will be averaged. An average of 2.0 with no missing classes will translate
to 75%, 3.0 to 85%, and 1.0 to 65%. To get the participation grade, this percentage will be multiplied by
(12-A)/12, where A is the number of unexcused absences. Submission of a case synopsis, via Canvas, may
potentially increase a student’s participation performance for that class.
Overall grades will be translated to letter grades for reporting purposes using the following scale:
Grade
Range Meaning
A+ 90 to 100 Exceptional
A
80 to 89 Excellent
B+ 75 to 79 Very Good
B
70 to 74 Good
C+ 65 to 69 Competent
C
60 to 64 Fairly Competent
D+ 55 to 59 Passing
D
50 to 54 Barely Passing
F
0 to 49 Failing
For more details on the index, grading policy, and grade point average (GPA) requirements, see the
student handbook.
Academic honesty is fundamental to the integrity of university education and degree programs, and
applies in every course offered at Schulich. Students should familiarize themselves with York University’s
policy on academic honesty, which may be found on the Schulich website:
http://schulich.yorku.ca/current-students/academic-honesty/
Accommodations. For accommodations sought due to exam conflicts, religious reasons, unavoidable
absences or disabilities, please refer to the Student Handbook or contact Student Services.
For counseling & disability services, contact Student Services or see http://www.yorku.ca/cds/.
If you are unable to attend class when a case submission or presentation is to be made, you will need to
obtain an Attending Physicians Statement. This does not apply to missing a class during which you would
only be graded on participation, when an email would suffice.
http://www.registrar.yorku.ca/pdf/attending-physicians-statement.pdf.
OMIS 4550 R p. 7
Quick Reference: Summary of Classes, Activities and Deliverables
Quick-Reference Schedule
Date Week TOPIC(S)/CASES ASSIGNED
Jan 9
1 Course Overview - Inventory Concepts
S&OP and WCM, Cash Flow Forecasting
Jan 16
2 Cash, Marketable Securities, A/R Management
Piepkorn Manufacturing Working Capital Mgmt **
** Minicase at end of Chapter 20
Jan 23
3 Case: Toronto Toy (A), 2025
A/P, Short-Term Financiang and Managing Credit
Jan 30
4 Case: Horniman Horticulture
Inventory Management & Models
Feb 6
5 Case: Deutsche Baurerei
Single Period Model, Yield Management
Feb 13
6 Case: Music Today
Single Period Model, Supply Chain Cooperation
Feb 20
No Class – Reading Week
Feb 27
7 Case: The Fine Line
Aggregate Planning - I
Mar 6
8 Case: Passover in Costa Rica
Aggregate Planning - II - Optimization Models
Mar 13
9 Case: Kota Fibre
Material Requirement Planning
Mar 20 10 Case: Wally's Wakeboards
Scheduling
Mar 27 11 Case: Markham Manufacturing (if needed)
Case Presenations - I
Apr 3
12 Case Presenations - II or Toronto Toy (B), 2025
Apr 10
Take Home Final Exam
TEXT Ref
2
2/3
4
Canvas
4
10
4/5
11
5
12
Canvas
6
14
6
15
7
Canvas
8
Canvas
OMIS 4550 R p. 8
Notes: