24 Jan The Supply Chain Council

MBA6012 Operations and Supply Management

Week 1 Discussion

SCOR Model

The Supply Chain Council was formed to standardize the discussions and management of supply chain operations. It developed the Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) model to describe, model, and benchmark all operations within a supply chain. You can find information about the latest model (SCOR 11) on the Supply Chain Council Web site.

SCOR 11 differs from the previous model (SCOR 10) by elevating to a level of primary importance a process called “Enable,” which refers to what organizations must do to support the other primary processes. However, for the purposes of our discussion of supply chains, this new process is not of particular interest.

Briefly address each of the following bullets:

Read, from pages 9–12, the sections entitled “The Supply Chain Council” and “The SCOR Framework” in the book Supply Chain Excellence in South University’s online library. Discuss the SCOR model’s five functions (Plan, Source, Make, Deliver, and Return) that are shared by supply chains. Does every supply chain contain all of these five functions?

When producing goods, different production strategies, such as “make to order,” “make to stock,” “assemble to order,” or “engineer to order” can be pursued. However, when providing services (car washing, hair styling, etc.), not all of these strategies can be pursued. An organization cannot really “stock” services (in other words, you can’t have five car washes sitting on a shelf in the same way you can have five cans of soup sitting on a shelf). Do the stages of the SCOR model apply to operations in all of these areas (goods producing vs. service provision, and using any of the production strategies)? Search the Internet for a company and discuss which of these approaches (goods producing or service providing) and which of the production strategies the company’s operations fit in. Support your response on the basis of the SCOR model and your research.

In 2011, Japan experienced an earthquake, resulting in a tsunami. These natural disasters caused a great deal of damage and a significant loss of life. From a supply chain and operations management chain perspective, what were the implications for SCOR processes? Which of the SCOR model’s five processes discussed above would have been impacted by such an event? Should planning for future events like this impact the strategy of a company? Support your response with your research.

The final paragraph (three or four sentences) of your initial post should summarize the one or two key points that you are making in your initial response.

Your posting should be about 1 page (400 to 500 words) in length.

Justify your answers using examples and reasoning. Comment on the postings of at least two peers and state whether you agree or disagree with their views.

MBA6012 Operations and Supply Management

Week 2 Discussion

Program vs. Project

Briefly address each of the following bullets:

Is the process of designing a new product or service a project or a program? Explain your answer.

What are the different characteristics that must be kept in mind when you are designing for manufacturing (sometimes also called designing for manufacturability) and how do they differ from the characteristics that must be considered when you are designing for customers (sometimes also called “service design”)?

Select a company (other than the one that you analyzed in W1 Assignment 3) that produces a product or provides a service (do not select a company that only sells products or services produced by others, like Wal-Mart). Describe the company and whether this company produces a product or provides a service. Investigate and describe any information you can locate about how this company designs the process to produce its product or to provide its service.

The final paragraph (three or four sentences) of your initial post should summarize the one or two key points that you are making in your initial response.

Your posting should be about 1 page (400 to 500 words) in length.

Justify your answers using examples and reasoning. Comment on the postings of at least two peers and state whether you agree or disagree with their views.

MBA6012 Operations and Supply Management

Week 3 Discussion

Six Sigma

The importance of quality has now been recognized by businesses for decades. However, there are many philosophies and programs that have been proposed and used in the elusive quest for increased quality. One of the more recent (and more successful) attempts at formalizing the approach to quality improvement is the Six Sigma initiative that was developed at Motorola (and later adopted in many other companies).

Identify a company that uses the Six Sigma quality improvement program other than the ones discussed in the textbook or the lecture pages (also, do not use the same company that you analyzed in W1 project, and that you will be discussing again in W3 project). For this company, answer the following questions:

What element of the organization’s activities did they use Six Sigma to improve?

What caused the company to undertake the Six Sigma initiative?

What were the positive results caused by the implementation of Six Sigma improvement processes?

Were there any problems associated with attempting to implement Six Sigma within the organization (this does not occur in every organization)?

Based on your research about this company and the readings for this week, would you say that Six Sigma is an important area of quality management? If so, why? If not, why not?

The final paragraph (three or four sentences) of your initial post should summarize the one or two key points that you are making in your initial response.

Your posting should be about 1 page (400 to 500 words) in length.

Justify your answers using examples and reasoning. Comment on the postings of at least two peers and state whether you agree or disagree with their views.

MBA6012 Operations and Supply Management

Week 4 Discussion

Supply Chain Measurement

Briefly address each of the following bullets:

As suggested in the lecture pages for this week, there is a significant difference in measuring the performance of a supply chain from the perspective of the customer and from the perspective of the shipper. Describe the differences between these two perspectives in supply chain design. In other words, how could shippers and customers differ in what they considered a successful supply chain transaction?

How could supply chain partners measure (quantify) the performance of a supply chain? Explain why each measurement suggested is relevant to at least one of the supply chain partners.

Give an example of two or more companies that participate in a single supply chain. Describe which company (or companies) would want to require each measurement that you have proposed. Explain why there would be resistance from at least one of the companies to any suggestion to eliminate each of the supply chain measurements that you have proposed.

The final paragraph (three or four sentences) of your initial post should summarize the one or two key points that you are making in your initial response.

Your posting should be about 1 page (400 to 500 words) in length.

Justify your answers using examples and reasoning. Comment on the postings of at least two peers and state whether you agree or disagree with their views.

MBA6012 Operations and Supply Management

Week 5 Discussion

Forecast Determination

A company is considering what forecasting method to use for coming time periods. The company has used something of a qualitative (consensus-based) forecasting method in the past, and wants to know if a more formal, quantitative forecasting method would be appropriate for them. Consider the following data from recent time periods:

Time Period

Forecast

Actual Demand

Three quarters ago

225

230

Two quarters ago

240

270

Last quarter

275

295

This quarter

You will determine

?

Briefly address each of the following bullets:

Discuss what method of forecasting you view to be most appropriate given the data given above. Explain why you believe your chosen forecasting method to be the most appropriate.

Select an appropriate value for alpha, and calculate an exponential smoothing forecast for this quarter. Discuss the relationship between the alpha value that you selected and the forecast value that you calculated. In other words, if you had selected a lower value for alpha, how would the calculated value be different, and if you had selected a higher value for alpha, how would the calculated value be different?

Assume that, at the end of this quarter, we could report that the demand for this quarter was actually 275 (just like last quarter). Would this information cause you to rethink the alpha value that you selected? If so, how would it impact the value that you would have selected for alpha?

The final paragraph (three or four sentences) of your initial post should summarize the one or two key points that you are making in your initial response.

After multiple people have posted the alpha value that they selected and the forecast that they calculated, compare your calculated value with those of your classmates. Whose value was most accurate? Why do you think the person with the most accurate forecast had the most accurate forecast?

Justify your answers using examples and reasoning. Comment on the postings of at least two peers and state whether you agree or disagree with their views.

MBA6012 Operations and Supply Management

Week 1 Project

Relationship between Mission and Operations Strategy

Select a company of your choice and create a proposal describing the company. Include answers to the following questions in the proposal:

What line of work is the company in?

What products or services does the company provide?

What is the company’s mission statement?

Why did you choose this particular company? You are welcome to use your own company as long as you can remain objective through the course of the analysis.

From a strategy perspective, what is a corporate strategy?

From a strategy perspective, what is an operations strategy?

What is the operations strategy of the company that you have chosen?

How is the company’s mission statement related to its operations strategy?

Submission Details:

Submit your report in a three- to four-page Word document, using APA style.

Submit it to the Submissions Area by the due date assigned.

Name your document SUO_MBA6012_W1_ LastName_FirstInitial.doc.

MBA6012 Operations and Supply Management

Week 2 Project

Project Management Tools

This week’s readings discussed tools that are available for the planning and control of projects. These tools include WBSs, Gantt charts, and PERT/CPM networks.

In this assignment, you will design CPM and PERT networks to meet the requirements of an engineering firm. The firm needs solutions for the following problem:

One of the firm’s existing projects needs to be completed earlier than planned. Use the following data and the critical path and PERT methods to answer the questions that follow. Use the “most likely time” estimate (m) as the time estimate for the CPM analysis.

Activity

Immediate Predecessors

Times in Days

a

m

b

A

None

1

3

5

B

None

1

2

3

C

A

1

2

3

D

A

2

3

4

E

B

3

4

11

F

C, D

3

4

5

G

D, E

1

4

7

H

F, G

2

4

6

Draw the network.

Describe the critical path using the CPM approach.

Analyze what the estimated completion time using the CPM approach is.

Analyze what the estimated completion time using the PERT approach is.

Assess why the estimated completion times are not identical in the two approaches.

Under what circumstances would the CPM approach to developing a project plan be more appropriate? Under what circumstances would the PERT approach be more appropriate?

Submission Details:

Submit your report in a three- to four-page Word document, using APA style.

Submit it to the Submissions Area by the due date assigned.

Name your document SUO_MBA6012_W2_ LastName_FirstInitial.doc.

MBA6012 Operations and Supply Management

Week 3 Project

Product and Process Development

For this assignment, look at the company you began analyzing in Week 1 from the perspective of the manufacturing it does or service it provides.

First, discuss the following for your company:

Summarize the company’s product or service that you are analyzing, including a mention of whether or not the company deals only in products, only in services, or if they offer both.

Summarize the process by which these products are made or by which these services are provided (in other words, what is the process that is being used?). Be sure to mention whether or not changes to this process are needed when new products or services are introduced by the company.

Assess why the company does or does not outsource the manufacturing of its products or the provision of its services.

Then, complete the following tasks as part of your analysis:

Diagram the process that is currently in use by developing a process map for how the company manufactures the product or provides the service.

Justify areas of process improvement for the company based upon the process map.

Evaluate whether the company is a make-to-order, make-to-stock, assemble-to-order, or engineer-to-order company, explaining what it is about the company that makes them the type of company that you are describing them to be.

Submission Details:

Submit your report in a two- to three-page Word document, using APA style.

Submit it to the Submissions Area by the due date assigned.

Name your documents SU_MBA6012_W3_LastName_FirstInitial.docx.

MBA6012 Operations and Supply Management

Week 4 Project

Locations/Offshoring/Outsourcing

In this section of the course project, you will focus on location-related decisions taken by the company you have chosen and the company’s strategy to manufacture in-house or outsource the functions of the supply chain. This outsourcing may be tied to a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis and determination of core competencies.

Complete the following tasks:

Analyze the company’s decisions and strategy regarding site selection, outsourcing, and offshoring operations.

Evaluate the impacts of offshoring or outsourcing on quality and the supply chain.

Prepare the deliverables for this week to provide information on the following aspects of the company:

Locations

Offshoring

Outsourcing

Submission Details:

Submit your report in a three- to four-page Word document, using APA style.

Submit it to the Submissions Area by the due date assigned.

Name your document SUO_MBA6012_W4_ LastName_FirstInitial.doc.

MBA6012 Operations and Supply Management

Week 5 Project

Procurement/Supply Chain

This week, focus your analysis on the procurement or acquisition practices of the company you selected for the final project and the types of materials that the company uses. Also, analyze where those materials are sourced, how they are delivered, and what the overall supply chain operations of the company are.

Submit a report detailing the following:

Coordination of acquisition practices with actual product demand

Procurement practices

Inventory management (including whether the use of MRP would be appropriate)

Scheduling of production or service provision

Supply chain operations

Submission Details:

Submit your report in a two- to three-page Word document, using APA style.

Submit it to the Submissions Area by the due date assigned.

Name your documents SU_MBA6012_W5_LastName_FirstInitial.docx

MBA6012 Operations and Supply Management

Week 1 Knowledge Check

Question 1

The systemic approach to operations management converts inputs into outputs through a transformation process.

Question 1 options:

True

False

Question 2

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Question 2 options:

True

False

Question 3

Positioning an organization is unrelated to a SWOT analysis.

Question 3 options:

True

False

Question 4

To compete on quality, the entire company must focus on flexibility.

Question 4 options:

True

False

Question 5

To compete on cost or price, a company has to walk through the process and get rid of any non-value-added procedures.

Question 5 options:

True

False

MBA6012 Operations and Supply Management

Week 2 Knowledge Check

Question 1

Project management is a methodical approach toward managing projects and reviewing and improving products and services.

Question 1 options:

True

False

Question 2

At the beginning of a project, a project charter has to be developed and approved.

Question 2 options:

True

False

Question 3

The design of a service can be unrelated to the service the customer needs or wants.

Question 3 options:

True

False

Question 4

Capacity Planning is the process of determining how much capacity a company has at the present and how much capacity is needed in the future to meet customer demand.

Question 4 options:

True

False

Question 5

RCCP is a constrained approach to planning.

Question 5 options:

True

False

MBA6012 Operations and Supply Management

Week 3 Knowledge Check

Question 1

A process map provides a visual display of all of the activities in a particular process.

Question 1 options:

True

False

Question 2

Flowcharts are ineffective tools for evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of a series of processes

Question 2 options:

True

False

Question 3

Six Sigma usually uses the Define-Measure-Improve methodology

Question 3 options:

True

False

Question 4

Six Sigma can be used as a continuous process improvement and quality tool.

Question 4 options:

True

False

Question 5

Muther’s Grid is a tool for generating Six Sigma results in product quality.

Question 5 options:

True

False

MBA6012 Operations and Supply Management

Week 4 Knowledge Check

Question 1 Dr. Deming advocated the use of the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle.

Question 1 options:

True

False

Question 2 The term “supply chain” was coined in the early 1950s

Question 2 options:

True

False

Question 3 The center-of-gravity technique is used to identify where to place a facility.

Question 3 options:

True

False

Question 4 Site selection criteria should include construction costs, land costs (acquisition or rent), access to customers, and the availability of education and training facilities.

Question 4 options:

True

False

Question 5 Just-in-Time finds its origins in W. Edward Deming’s concept of the Toyota Production System, which he called Lean.

Question 5 options:

True

False

MBA6012 Operations and Supply Management

Week 5 Knowledge Check

Question 1 One quantitative method for determining the appropriate amount of inventory to acquire is known as the economic order quantity (EOQ).

Question 1 options:

True

False

Question 2 The inventory turnover ratio is also called “inventory turns”.

Question 2 options:

True

False

Question 3 The Theory of Constraints postulates that every system has a constraint, or a bottleneck, which restricts the flow through the system.

Question 3 options:

True

False

Question 4 In TOC, the drum is the inventory at the constraint to keep the constraint constantly operating.

Question 4 options:

True

False

Question 5

In forecasting, Error = Forecast sales/demand – Actual sales/demand

Question 5 options:

True

False