Operations Management

Catalog description

Operations managers, ranging from supervisors to vice presidents, are concerned with the production of goods and services. More specifically, they are responsible for designing, running, controlling and improving the systems that accomplish production. This course is a broad-spectrum course with emphasis on techniques helpful to the practice of management at the analyst level. Its goal is to introduce you to the environments, to help you appreciate the problems that operations managers are confronted with, and provide you with the tools to address these problems. Operations Management spans all value-adding activities of an organization including product and process design, production, service delivery, distribution network and customer order management. As global competition in both goods and services increases, a firm's survival depends upon how well it structures its operations to respond quickly to changing consumer needs. Thus, it is essential for all business managers to acquire an understanding of operations management to maintain their competitive advantage. This course provides students with the basic tools needed to become an analyst in Supply Chain and Operations Management. This course provides an overview of Process analysis, Capacity management, Queuing system, analysis, Forecasting, Quality management, Material Requirements planning, Inventory management, and Supply Chain management. The emphasis of the course is on both real world applications and technical problem solving. Several manufacturing and non-manufacturing environments will be discussed explicitly, like health care, insurance, hotel-management, airlines and government related operations. Also we will explore the interface of operations management with other functional areas such as marketing, finance, accounting, etc. This coursework includes individual and group assignments, case analyses and experiential learning through simulations and educational games. Prereq: For Master of Supply Chain Management students only.