Faculty of Creative Industries and Business
Department of Management and Marketing (DoMM)
New Zealand Diploma in Business
Course Handbook
APMG NZ632 Operations Management(OM)
Lecturer Nick Kearns
Office: 054 - 2014
Phone: 815 4321 Extension 7053
Email: nkearns@unitec.ac.nz
APMG NZ 632 | UNITEC Institute of Technology | Department of Management and Marketing
PREFACE
This course is an introduction to the many activities involved in designing, producing and
delivering the product(s) of a business. All businesses have an operations function, and the
success of the business is closely linked to the efficiency of their operations management.
Decision making about what resources to use, how much production or service capacity is needed,
and where to locate the business are all operations management tasks. Managers also decide
whether the business is to be a “make-to-stock” (just-in-case) or a “make-to-order” (just-in-time)
company.
Operations Management (OM) is like the oil in an engine as it touches all parts of the organisation
in some way. The knowledge and skills required to be an Operations Manager are diverse and
result in a very capable person within the business, once mastered. Some business disciplines are
more narrowly focused than OM, (such as accounting – dealing only with money flows) but just as
OM reaches all parts of the business, so the subjects studied in OM also cover many different
parts of the business.
It is possible to learn this knowledge in a number of different sequences, or order, and at different
levels. This course has seven learning outcomes covering just some of the total body of
knowledge in this discipline; the additional knowledge is introduced in higher level courses.
We will be introducing many tools of OM during the course to give you some idea of the work, and
in all the classes we will try and apply our learning to real situations. Your input from any relevant
work experiences is very welcome to these class discussions. We will learn more from each other
than from the textbook.
Why do this course ? ‘University research’ has shown that COO ( chief operating officers) are paid
more than other ‘C’ level executives, and are also more likely to move into the CEO role than CIO,
CFO, CMO, etc.
Your depth of learning will mostly depend on your degree of participation. Enjoy the course and
the experience.
APMG NZ 632 | UNITEC Institute of Technology | Department of Management and Marketing
1 COURSE CONTACTS
Lecturer: Nick Kearns
Telephone: 815 4321 Ext 7053
Office: Building 054 room 2012
Email: nkearns@unitec.ac.nz
Key Staff

Sukesh Sukumaran, Head of Department: Management & Marketing (DoMM), Tel. 815
4321, Ext 8635, ssukumaran@unitec.ac.nz

Dr. Liz Rainsbury Head of Department: Accounting & Finance, Tel. 815 4321, Ext 8803,
erainsbury@unitec.ac.nz

Maura Kempin Programme Leader — BBus, Tel. 815 4321, Ext 8811. bbspls@unitec.ac.nz
mkempin@unitec.ac.nz in association with

Ken Newlands Associate Chair Business Undergrad Programme Committee –BBus, Tel
8154321, Ext 7601 bbspls@unitec.ac.nz knewlands@unitec.ac.nz

Nadesa Goundar Programme Leader —NZDipBus Tel. 815 4321, Ext 7097
ngoundart@unitec.ac.nz

Ravi Bhat Programme Leader — Dip Mgt/. GDipBus, Lecturer Department of
Management & Marketing Tel. 815 4321, Ext 7046 ahat@unitec.ac.nz

Jeff Marriott, Programme Leader – Mbus, Tel 815 4321, Ext 8131 jmarriott@unitec.ac.nz

Ngaire Molyneux Lecturer/Maori Advisor Tel. 815 4321, Ext 7065,
nmolyneux@unitec.ac.nz

Malama Saifoloi Lecturer/Pacific Advisor, Tel. 815 4321, Ext 7030 msaifoloi@unitec.ac.nz,

Manjula Kambalapuram Programme Administrator - BBus, GDipBus, DipProfAcc /
GCertPA, GDipPA, Tel. 815 4321, Ext 8622, mkambalapuram@gw.unitec.ac.nz

Tissy Mathew Programme Administrator MBus Tel 8154321 Ext 8614 tmathew@unitec.ac.nz
Key Contacts

Support Centre / Counselling Service, B28 Tel. 815 4321, Ext 7248 or 8160

Maia Māori Development Staff, Pukenga B171 Tel. 815 4321 Ext 7093

UBS Bookstore, Tel. 815 4321 Ext 7490 or DD 8155400

Te Puna Ako -Learning Support Centre, Tel. 815 4321 Ext 8611

Unitec Library Front Desk, Tel. 815 4185

Pacific Centre for Teaching, Learning and Research, Tel. 815 2949

Student Loans & Allowances Administrators Jacky Brodie Tel. 815 4321 Ex 8244

Ed Collective at Unitec (Formerly USU) contacted@edcollective.org.nz
APMG NZ 632 | UNITEC Institute of Technology | Department of Management and Marketing
2 COURSE AIMS
Students will understand functions of operations management and apply techniques to
ensure efficient and effective production of goods and services. A feature of the course is
the use of computers to solve problems. We will be learning to do this using EXCEL
throughout the course.
Learning objectives for the course are:
1.
Students will analyse the nature of contemporary operations management and the
role of the operations manager.
2.
Students will explain quality management, and apply quality management
techniques to improve operations in a given situation.
3.
Students will select appropriate facilities and processes to ensure efficient provision
of goods and/or services.
4.
Students will discuss performance management and determine appropriate
operational performance measures and controls.
5.
Students will understand capacity management, apply techniques relating to
resource planning, and recommend appropriate actions in a given situation.
6.
Students will apply an understanding of supply chain management, inventory
management and materials management to given situations.
3 TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR THIS COURSE
The two aims of the course are to start you learning a skill set that is a useful starting toolkit
for OM (Table 1 below). We will not be able to cover all these skills but you may do so in
independent study and I am happy to support you in this. We will use MS Excel quite a bit
for the toolkit as calculations and graphs are helpful in OM decision making. You will be
coached into this, so even if you have never used Excel before, you will be OK.
The other aim is to introduce you to the general concepts and theories of OM.
Table 1: Skills and supporting concepts in APMG632
SKILLS
CONCEPTS
1. Breakeven analysis
2. Crossover analysis
3. Capacity measures & calculations
4a. Forecasting calculations
4b. Forecasting error calculations
5a. Aggregate planning -transport
method
5b. Bill of materials
5c. Order scheduling
5d. Johnsons rule
FC, VC, TC, TR, output, assumptions
Three processes (FC, VC, TC), TR, solving equations
design, effective, actual, efficiency -definitions and ratios (as %)
Moving average, weighted moving average, exponential smoothing,
MAD, MSE, MFE, MAPE
Production cost (normal overtime, subcontract), holding cost,
capacity, demand)
Parents&children charts, exploded views
lead time, gross & net requirements
task time, work stations, work station balancing
Network, EST, EFT, LST, LFT, float time, critical path, crashing the
critical path.
BAC, EAC, BCWS, BCWP, ACWP, SV, PV, PC,
mean, median, mode
std. dev., variance,
labour, capital, multifactor
centre of gravity, factor ranking
6a. Critical Path Analysis
6b. Earned Value analysis
7a. Measures of central tendency
7b. Measures of spread -Taguchi, SPC
8. Productivity definitions and measures
9. Location analysis
Teams R Us
We will be exploring a group approach to completing our assessments this semester. You
will all be completing individual work, and will be marked on your own work, but during the
classes we will give every student the benefit of discussing their own work with the class.
We will do this is several ways:
1.
Think, Pair, Share, Feedback - In this activity we will work quietly on our own
assessment for approximately 10min,(think) and then talk over with one other
student for approx 10 min (pair) what we have come up with. Each student in the
pair can help by giving new ideas/input, improving the original ideas through
criticism, making suggestions, etc.
After that each student will have two minutes to present what they have gained
from the discussion and three minutes Q&A from the class as a whole.
2.
Fishbowl discussion- There will be several times when I will ask for a comment from
each student as we go around the class about a topic. This may happen with
everyone at once, or it may be staged over a short section of the lecture.
3.
Team Based Learning (TBL) – We will be using the flipped classroom and team based
learning as a method. You will be required to come to class prepared through
reading some parts of the textbook.
In class there will be five things that happen based on that reading.
1.
Individual readiness assurance test (IRAT). This test is 15 multichoice questions,
which you will do by yourself.
2.
Team readiness assurance test (TRAT). You will repeat exactly the same test as part
of a team and try to learn from each other.
The team results will be used to improve your individual results as the top team each
week will get an extra 2 marks for each of their individual scores.
The team answers may also include a range of answers instead on just one. (More on
this in class).
3.
Teams will also be able to appeal any answers that they think deserve marks. (More
on this process in class).
The final score for each individual from the IRAT and modified by TRAT will be the
quiz score that goes to your final course mark. (There will be six quizzes with each
one weighted at 5% of the course mark).
4.
Any gaps in knowledge that are shown up by the test scores / or though questions
from the class will be covered in a short lecture. (Not all of the course content will be
covered in the TBL method. Some lecturing and workshops sessions in class will be
needed.)
5.
There will be team tasks on applying / working with the knowledge that has been
developed through reading / testing / talking over with your team. This will lead to
deeper levels of learning.
Research shows that Team Based Learning is a good way to learn, and students generally
find TBL classes more fun.
4. ASSESSMENTS
Assessment
Weighting
Due Date
Assignment 1 (six quizzes)
30%
Fridays of week 2, (Aug 7) / week 4,
(Aug 21) / week 6, (Sept 4) / week 8
(Sept 18), / week 10 (Oct 16), / week
12 (Oct 30)
Assignment 2 (team project)
40%
Friday November 6
Assignment 3
30%
Friday November 13
ALL assessments must be attempted and submitted to pass this course.
The assessments are all available on the APMG632 moodle page, here –
5. COURSE TOPICS:
Planned Order of Topics (This is the plan but it may change)
WEEK
TOPICS
1 / 31 July
Course Intro / Intro to TBL / Assessment outline / etc
2 / 7 Aug
Facilities & Processes – intro. / Operations strategy
Aug 7: Quiz 1 (5%)
Intro to Team Project (assessment 2) / Project Management
Intro to Ops Mgt
3 / Aug 14
Facilities & Processes - goods & services design
4 / Aug 21
Facilities & Processes – IRAT / TRAT / case studies / location
analysis / process selection
ASSESSMENT DATES
Aug 21: Quiz 2 (5%)
Facilities & Processes
Team project
5 / Aug 28
Capacity Management – Forecasting / Errors
6 / Sept 4
Capacity Management - IRAT / TRAT / case studies /
calculations / chase & level strategies
Sept 11: Quiz 3 (5%)
Capacity Mgt
Team project
7 / Sept 11
Capacity Management / MRP / Queuing & scheduling
Performance Management - IRAT / TRAT / case studies
8 / Sept 18
9 / Sept 25
Performance Management / IRAT / TRAT / case studies
Sept 18: Quiz 4 (5%)
Team project
Performance Mgt
Performance Management - measures & control
MID SEMESTER BREAK (Sat 26 Sept – Sun 11 Oct)
10 / Oct 16
11 / Oct 23
Quality Management - IRAT / TRAT / case studies
Oct 16: Quiz 5 (5%)
Approaches to quality
Quality Mgt
Quality Management -seven tools of TQM / Supply Chain
Management
Team project
12 / Oct 30
Supply Chain Management - IRAT / TRAT / case studies
Oct 30: Quiz 6 (5%)
Supply Chain Mgt
13 / Nov 6
14 / Nov 13
Supply Chain Management
Nov 6: Team Project
(40%)
Nov 13: Test (30%)
6. WORKLOAD AND TIME COMMITMENT
The table below shows the NZQA information the course (shaded area) and how Unitec delivers this
course to you (unshaded area).
You are expected to complete approx. 12 hours each week in addition to attending class, as part of
normal coursework (162 hours / 13 weeks = 12.46)
As%
As hrs
Own
time
Class time
(1) Nature of OM
10
20
16
(3) Facilities&Processes
20
40
(5) Capacity Mgt&Planning
20
(4) Performance Mgt
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Classes
Weeks
4
1.2
1
32
8
1.2 - 4.0
2,3,4
40
32
8
5.0 – 7.6
5,6,7
15
30
25
5
7.6 – 9.2
7,8,9
(2) Quality Mgt
15
30
25
5
9.2 – 10.8
10,11
(6) Supply Chain Mgt
20
40
32
8
10.8 – 13
11,12,13
(+1)
totals
100
200
162
39
13
7. TEXTBOOK:
OM5 by David A. Collier & James R. Evans published by Cengage Learning.
8. REQUIREMENTS TO PASS A COURSE:
On the New Zealand Diploma in Business the following grade-mark correspondences apply:
Grade
Mark
A+
85 to 100
A
75 to 84
B+
70 to74
B
60 to 69
C
50 to 59
D
40 to 49
E
0 to 39
(W Withdrawn / P “Pass” Courses (cross credited or Assessment of Prior
Learning))
Requirement to pass a course is achievement of a minimum 50% across assessment items.
8
POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
This course is subject to the rules and regulations, policies and procedures set out in the
NewZealand Diploma of Business Handbook, available from the moodle page for NZ Dip
Bus, or by following the link below.
http://moodle.unitec.ac.nz/mod/resource/view.php?id=97402
9 LECTURES AND CONDUCT:
NB: Unitec is required by law to record and report to the immigration department on the
attendance of any student present in New Zealand under a Student Visa. Therefore if you are
attending Unitec on a Student Visa you must attend all lectures.
1. Students are strongly encouraged to attend every session. Punctuality is an important courtesy
for lecturers and students and is, of course, a mandatory requirement in the business
environment. You willalso miss out on TBL marks through being absent without a good reason
2. Email me beforehand if you have to miss a class.
3. An attendance register will be taken at the end of each class to monitor the attendance of each
student for administrative purposes.
4. Lecture sessions for non-blended learning students will be the primary time discussions and will
include discussion about the assessments/assignments. Please ensure that before coming to the
lecture sessions and tutorials that you are prepared. Read the relevant chapters (at least) the
night before lectures. Prepare questions and/or case examples you would like to discuss. We
expect you to be up to date on current industry developments.
6. Our lecture sessions should be fun and interactive - please feel free, and welcome, to
participate in any discussion and debate. We want to hear your views!
7. In grading all assessments, consideration may be taken into account of students who do not
regularly attend lectures.