BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
International Business School
Operations Management
Bus 272a, Spring 2014
GENERAL INFORMATION
(Preliminary Syllabus – Subject to Change)
Schedule:
Monday and Wednesday, 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm. Room: Pollack 001
Instructors:
Brad Morrison will teach the course.
Brad Morrison
Lemberg 251
Phone: (781) 736-2246
Email: bmorriso@brandeis.edu
Description:
Operations management is the management of business processes - the recurring
activities of the firm. The course aims to (1) familiarize students with the
problems and issues confronting operations managers, and (2) provide
language, concepts, insights, and tools to deal with these issues in order to
gain competitive advantage through operations. The course will explore how
different business strategies require different business processes, and
conversely, how different operational capabilities support different
strategies to gain competitive advantage. Topics may include inventory
management, capacity management, cycle time management, supply chain
management, quality management, and process management and improvement, as
well as recent developments such as lean or world-class manufacturing,
just-in-time operations, time-based competition and business re-engineering..
Pre-requisites: There are no pre-requisites for the course.
Mathematics: The level of mathematics proficiency needed for this class is roughly equivalent
to that attained through the study of high school algebra. The course aims to
develop intuition and business acumen, but rigorous, quantitative analysis will
be needed at times. Students will need to use spreadsheets (e.g., Excel) for
some assignments.
Office hours:
My doors are always open to students, or make an appointment by email.
2
Grading
Emphasis:
Class participation:
Case Write-ups, Assignments, and OM Simulation:
Mid-term Examination
Factory tour and exercise write-ups
Process Improvement Project and Vignette
15%
35%
30%
15%
10%
Disability:
If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis
University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this
class, please see me immediately. Please keep in mind that reasonable
accommodations are not provided retroactively.
Academic
Integrity:
You are expected to be familiar with and to follow the University’s policies on
academic integrity (see http://www.brandeis.edu/studentlife/sdje/ai/). Instances
of alleged dishonesty will be forwarded to the Office of Campus Life for
possible referral to the Student Judicial System. Potential sanctions include
failure in the course and suspension from the University.
Course Requirements
The course integrates three parallel streams of learning activity: case preparation and classroom
discussion, readings including the core textbook, and homework assignments. Much of what
should be learned in this class takes place outside the classroom, in homework assignments and
through group discussion. Students are required to hand in their written assignments in groups
and are encouraged to use these groups to discuss case preparation. Each group should have
three members and must plan to stay together for the entire semester.
Assignments
The course aims to engage you in the issues, to teach you ways to think about and analyze
operational problems, and to prepare you to be effective managers. The course assignments are
designed in support of these objectives. The readings and assignments will generally require an
average of about three hours of preparation per class meeting. If you find yourself averaging
more than three hours of preparation per session, please let us know. Some case preparations,
notably National Cranberry, may take considerably more than three hours. This will, however,
be made up by some other classes that ask for less preparation.
Class Discussion
A typical class session starts with the instructor asking one or more students to begin the
discussion by addressing specific questions. You should have no difficulty in handling such a
lead-off request if you have thoroughly prepared the case or reading. After a few minutes of
initial analysis and recommendations, the discussion will be opened to the rest of the class.
As a group, we will try to build a meaningful analysis of the situation and address the problems
and issues it presents. We will also talk about the implementation of recommendations we
develop. Criteria that might be used for judging effective class participation are:
1. Relevance,
2. Insightfulness (in analysis, observation, or questions),
3
3. Constructiveness in the context of the class discussion flow,
4. Depth of analysis,
5. Clarity and brevity.
In-class contribution will consist mainly of voluntary contributions, although I may call upon
students, usually to answer opening questions. (Although cold calling may increase anxiety,
“supportive” cold calling encourages you to be better prepared for class and as a result improves
the overall class discussion.) A thorough preparation of the assigned materials is all that is
necessary for such leadoff questions. If you feel uncomfortable with being called on in class
please let me know in advance.
Case Write-Ups
Case analysis and write-ups, done in groups, will be required for several designated cases. Each
case write-up should address key questions in the case, which will sometimes be provided by the
instructor. In preparing your presentation, please adhere to the following guidelines:
⇒ Be concise and well-structured: Recommendations should be summarized on one page (you
may add exhibits).
⇒ Be to the point: Know that you write to someone who knows the facts of the case; focus on
your explanation, and making a clear case for, your recommendations.
⇒ Be punctual: Late submissions will be penalized.
More information regarding case write-ups will be provided when the first case is assigned.
Texts and Readings
Course Reading and Exercise Materials:
1. Managing Business Process Flows, 2nd Edition, by Anupindi, Chopra, Deshmukh, Van
Mieghem and Zemel. Prentice Hall, 2006.
2. Several cases available from HBS Publishing will be required. Students may purchase
these cases from the HBSP site for this course. Further instructions for downloading will
be available when these cases are needed. Additional readings will be handed out on an
occasional basis.
3. Some cases will be posted on LATTE. The CRU Computer Rental (Kellogg Case) can
be downloaded from http://www.prenhall.com/anupindi. Go to the web site, click begin, go
to student resources, find the case and download it.
4. Chapter 6 Supplement: Linear Programming, from Stevenson, William J., Operations
Management, 8th Edition, 2005. (Available online directly from McGraw-Hill.)
5. The Goal by Goldratt and Cox. Publisher: North River Press, 2nd edition, 1992.
6. Littlefield Simulation, a web-based simulation exercise. Students will be required to
purchase a license from Responsive Learning Technologies to use the simulator for a
class exercise and assignment. Purchase information for access codes will be provided in
class.
7. Supplemental reading to support the Process Improvement Module. Details will be
provided in class.
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8. Students may be required to purchase bus passes for transportation to our factory tours.
The Goal is written as a novel, making for light reading, and some sections are quite
entertaining. Nevertheless, it is 337 pages long, so you are encouraged to start reading now.
Suggested Readings
These readings are not required, but you may find them interesting. The books are non-technical
in nature.
1. The Machine that Changed the World: The Story of Lean Production by James P. Womack,
Daniel T. Jones and Daniel Roos, Harper Perennial, 1991.
2.
Clockspeed, by Charles H. Fine, Perseus Books, 1998.
3. Plant and Service Tours in Operations Management by Roger W. Schmenner, Fourth
edition, Macmillan Publishing Company, 1994.
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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT Bus 272a S14
DRAFT SYLLABUS
DETAILS OF THE SYLLABUS WILL CHANGE.
THIS VERSION IS AN OUTLINE OF TOPICS WE WILL COVER.
Date
Due
Class
Module and Description
1/13
M
1
Introduction
Operations Management: What and
why?
1/15
W *
2
Strategy and process spectrum
1/20 - 27
1/29
W *
2/3
M
3
4
2/5
W
5
2/10
M
6
2/12
W
7
2/17-19
2/24
2/24
W *
W
8
2/26
M
9
3/3
M
10
3/5
3/5
M *
W
11
3/10
M
12
3/12
3/13
W
Th *
13
No Class
Strategy and process spectrum
Process Analysis & Applications
Process measures & Little’s law
Process flow analysis
Flow time & capacity analysis
Inventory Management
Inventory basics & economies of
scale
No Class - Winter Break
Problem Set I Due
Introduction to the Economic Order
Quantity
Dealing with uncertainty
Safety stock and levers for
improvement
Optimal Service Levels
The Newsvendor Model
Problem Set II Due
Operations Management in Action
(TBD)
Review of Process Analysis and
Inventory Management
Mid-term Examination
5:00 pm - Registration Deadline
Littlefield Operations Management
Exercise
Required Readings
Read: MBPF: Chapters 1 and 2
Case: Shouldice Hospital Limited
Case: Wriston Manufacturing
Read: MBPF: Chapter 3
Read: MBPF: Chapter 4
Case: CRU Computer Rental
Read: MBPF: Chapter 5
Read: The Goal (up to p 161)
Case: Cal’s Calzones
Read: MBPF: Chapter 6
Read: MBPF: Chapter 6
Read: MBPF: Chapter 7
Read: MBPF: Chapter 7
Possible extended session
Prepare: Assigned Questions
Failure to register by the deadline will
result in a grade of zero for the
assignment.
6
3/13
Th
3/17
M
3/18
Tu
3/19
3/20
W
3/24
3/24
3/27
14
15
*
M
16
3/26-4/1
4/2
*
4/2
W
17
4/7
M
18
4/9
4/9
W *
W
19
4/14
M *
20
4/16-21
4/23
W *
21
4/28
M
22
TBD
TBD
*
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
23, 24
25, 26
Littlefield Operations Management
Exercise, Part 1 Begins
Decision Analysis in Operations
Formulating Linear Programs
Littlefield Operations Management
Exercise, Part 1 Ends
Solving Linear Programs
Littlefield Operations Management
Exercise, Part 2 Begins
Littlefield Part 1 Write-up Due
Applications of Linear Programs
Littlefield Operations Management
Exercise, Part 2 Ends
No Class
Littlefield Part 2 Write-up Due
Applications: Process Improvement
Process Evaluation and Re-design
Tools of Process Mapping
Operations in Action
In-Class Exercise
Problem Set III Due
Managerial Challenges in Operations:
Making Things Happen
Applications: Supply Chain
Management - Global Issues
No Class - Spring Break
Process Improvement
Vignette Presentations Group I
Process Improvement
Vignette Presentations Group II
Extended sessions for exercises
Factory Tour(s)
Reading: Stevenson Excerpt
Reading: John Pinot’s Winery
Reading: Stevenson Excerpt
Case: CVS
Reading: Supplement, TBD
“IKEA’s global sourcing challenge:
Indian rugs and child labor”
Some minor assignments that will be required submissions are not listed here.
Shouldice Hospital Capacity Analysis, Due January 15
Wriston Case Memo, Due January 29
Problem Set I, Due February 24
Problem Set II, Due March 5
Mid term Examination, March 12
Littlefield Part 1 Write-up, Due March 24
Littlefield Part 2 Write-up, Due April 2
Problem Set III, Due April 9
Process Improvement Vignette, Due April 23 (Group I) or April 28 (Group II)
Attendance at the last class is mandatory
Scheduling of factory trips is in process. A brief write-up analyzing the factory
operations will be required.