ISCOM 305 Complete Course

Week 1

Individual Employee Data Collection Training

Your boss has asked you to help new employees understand uses of data in systems-operation management and the various statistical process controls they will experience on a daily basis.

Create a 10- to 15-slide Microsoft PowerPoint presentation in which you describe 5 to 7 of the following terms:

Core competencies

Division of labor

Key performance indicators

Operations management

Positioning

Productivity

Supply chain management

Strategy

Value chain

Control chart

Control limits

Process capability

Range

Sample

Statistical process control

Tolerance

Discussion Questions

What is the transformation process? Can the transformation process be applied to both goods and services? How might data be used during the process?

Using quantitative tools is one way to manage data. What kind of solutions may be derived using various statistical process controls (SPC)? Why is SPC training important to both company employees and managers?

Why are timeliness, accuracy, and relevance important in gathering and analyzing data? How might data shape operations management?

Week 2

Learning Team Parker Earth Moving Company Consulting: Session 1

You are part of a team of industry experts belonging to a reputable consulting firm. Parker Earth Moving Company (PEMC) has asked your team to analyze its system operation management to improve its process. Your team must conduct a series of consulting sessions for PEMC in which you must make recommendations to improve the companys process.

Resource: Parker Earth Moving Company Consulting: Customer Needs located on the student website under Week Two

Analyze the data in the scenario to determine the specific needs of the customer. The scenario is found on the student web page in the course materials.

Address the following in your analysis.:

The needs of the customer through the data provided in the scenario

How subcontractor A and subcontractor B meet the needs of the customer

Hint:

1. Analyze the data means just that, use your analytical skills to do something with the data, do not just repeat it back. Repeating known facts back will waste your word count.

2.This is not a clear cut case, if it was, they would not need consultants. A solution may not seem apparent. Be sure to consider your profit margins.

3.Look ahead at next weeks Team Assignment and prepare here. If your analysis is not strong this week, you will need to complete a more solid one for next week. Do it right the first time.

Can members of your team be working week 3 plus in this week?

Discussion Questions

Describe inventory and provide some examples. How does inventory affect a firms financial performance?

What are the different types of inventories maintained by a typical business entity? What is the significance of inventory regarding customer service levels? What are some of your experiences with inventories from the customer service perspective? How would you improve those inventories?

What is the Economic Order Quantity technique and what are the basic assumptions the model formula follows? What are some different companies that could benefit from using this type of inventory management and why?

Week 3

Individual Taylor Incorporated Inventory Management Challenge

Resource: Taylor Incorporated Inventory Management Challenge located on the student website under Week Three

Create an 8- to 10-slide Microsoft PowerPoint presentation with speaker notes about inventory to present to the president of Taylor Inc.

Complete the elements of inventory management and the EOQ components of the presentation.

Address the following requirements:

Describe elements of inventory management.

Describe the meaning of the category of inventory and explain why it is critical to manage each element.

Explain why accurate forecasting is so important to sales enhancement, customer satisfaction, and cost control.

Identify the number of units to purchase for the new distance measurement device based on the economic order quantity.

Identify the number of orders per year that must be made to take advantage of the economic order quantity.

Learning Team Parker Earth Moving Company Consulting: Session 2

Your team has been asked to evaluate the existing inventory management strategy at Parker Earth Moving Company to find how the company may optimize its operational performance. The company has also asked for a recommendation of which subcontractor to employ.

Resource: Parker Earth Moving Company Consulting: Operational Performance located on the student website under Week Three

Read the scenario for more information regarding the situation.

Write a 350- to 500-word executive summary of your evaluation in which you address the following points:

What are the inventory reorder points and the quantities per order?

What problems exist in the current operational strategy?

Explain your rationale for selecting subcontractor A or subcontractor B. How does the selected subcontractor optimize operational performance?

How would you plan around an emergency, such as a natural disaster? If a hurricane disrupted the supply of raw materials and the work-in-process inventory needed to produce finished goods, how would you modify the reorder points and quantities per order and why?

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

Discussion Questions

Hello Everyone, a number of quality-management philosophies hold that prevention costs are the most critical quality-related costs. What is the logic behind this premise? Would you apply this logic as an operations manager? Explain why or why not.

What is quality management? Why is it important for every manager to understand? How might a quality-management program affect productivity?

What are the major elements of project management? Describe the role of the project manager in conjunction with project control. What are the requisite skills that the project manager must possess?

Week 4

Individual Widget Production

Taylor Inc. manufactures widgets. There is a particular assembly line for Widget X. This assembly line includes the assembly of various raw materials, subassemblies, and packing of the finished widget. Currently, approximately 27% of the total labor time is utilized in walking by assembly line personnel to obtain the needed parts required to accomplish their assigned tasks. The average hourly cost, including all benefits, is $43 per hour. Seventeen people are required on the assembly line. Lifting containers that weigh approximately 42 pounds is required in several of the respective tasks. The current output of finished widgets is 208 per 8-hour shift. The company incurs an average of four workers compensation claims per year in back injuries due to lifting. An average claim equals $109,000 and the employee is out for an average of 280 hours. The injured worker must be replaced to sustain production. By improving the physical layout, productivity may be improved and workers comp claims reduced. Two layouts have been proposed.

Alternative One reduces wasted motion (walking) to 1% of total labor used on the assembly line. Physical lifting is reduced to no more then 12 pounds. Six people will be required on the assembly line. Productivity in finished goods per 8-hour shift will increase to 392. It is anticipated that workers comp claims will be reduced to .3 per year; however, a capital investment of $1.3 million is required in robotics and mobile storage carts. Useful life of the equipment is 7 years.

Alternative Two reduces wasted motion to 7% of total labor time while physical lifting is reduced to no more then 23 pounds. Nine people are required to staff the assembly line. Productivity will be 288 widgets per 8-shift. Workers comp claims are estimated at 1.9 per year. Capital investments are $967,000 with a useful life of 5 years for the equipment.

Evaluate Taylor Inc. operations-management processes to help them maximize labor productivity based on the scenario above. Management for Taylor Inc. would also like you to suggest alternative management techniques to improve productivity.

Write a 350- to 500-word executive summary that provides justification for the particular alternative you select. As part of your justification, provide

A cost-benefit matrix that compares the alternatives.

The effects the alternative will have on productivity.

Possible benefits of using a network strategy to streamline operational procedures.

Note: The lowest cost alternative may not be the best alternative.

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

Learning Team Parker Earth Moving Company Consulting: Session 3

Parker Earth Moving Co. has experienced a reduction in their market share because of foreign competition.

Resource: Parker Earth Moving Company Consulting: Business Process Recommendations located on the student website under Week Four

Read the scenario and apply the current principles of system operations management to help Parker Earth Moving Co. be more competitive.

Create a 300- to 500-word memo that contains recommendations to improve the companys business process.

Address the following requirements:

Recommend ways to implement revised business practices and processes that will achieve profitability for Parker Earth Moving Co.

Describe how your recommended revised business practices and processes will affect the company.

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

Discussion Questions

How might materials requirement planning (MRP) be applied to the surgery suite of a hospital, scheduling university classes, a chain of restaurants, and hotel renovations?

What are the strategic goals of supply chain management and how does procurement, transportation, and distribution affect these goals?

What is the purpose of sales and operations planning? How does the stop process enter into the planning process? What value is it to organizations?

Week 5

Individual Operational Components Paper

Taylor Inc. is interested in providing in-house professional development for the company. You have been selected to explain operational components to employees. The material you produce will be used in the management training.

Create a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation with speaker notes that explains the operational components of planning, sourcing, making, and delivering.

Describe the importance of sales, operations, and resource planning for the supply chain.

Explain why it is critical to have an accurate sales forecast.

Include examples.

Cite your sources consistent with APA guidelines.

Learning Team Parker Earth Moving Company Consulting: Session 4

Parker Earth Moving Co. has asked your team to provide recommendations for potential technologies they may use to improve their business process.

Currently, their information technology department is out-of-date, not involved in the business process, and does not serve a major purpose. The department manager is also unfamiliar with the latest technologies.

Resource: Parker Earth Moving Company Consulting: Technology Recommendations located on the student website under Week Five

Read the scenario to determine a viable information technology solution for Parker Earth Moving Company.

Write a 350- to 500-word memo that contains recommendations to improve the companys information technology resources.

Address the following issues:

How technologies are currently used in operations management

The evolution of information technology in operations management (Hint: Can you present this information without it affecting word count?)

What technology resources used to be available and what is available today (Hint: Can you present this information without it affecting word count?)

Potential problems managers would experience by adapting to new technology (Hint: Which ones apply to PEMC?)

Recommend technologies PEMC may use to improve their business process

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

Discussion Questions

What are three of the primary obstacles encountered by the management team in adopting and installing a new information technology system? How might these obstacles be overcome?

We have seen many changes and innovations in the application of technology to operations management in recent years. Using information from your readings, identify the three most significant advancements in technology. Explain your choice of significant advancements.

Financial justification of a new information technology system is difficult at best because many of the advantages are intangible. Routine capital budgeting often overlooks six areas of cost savings or revenue-enhancement factors that are realized with new technology. What are four of these factors? Why are these factors important?