Boston College

Carroll School of Management

Operations Management

OPER7720 Operations Management Professor Hossein Safizadeh (SAFI)

Spring 2017 352C Fulton Hall, Ext. 20476
Email: safizade@bc.edu
Office Hours: T & Th. 1:30 -3:00 and by
appointment

Course Description

This course discusses the economic rationale for selecting, organizing, and coordinating resources
in order to produce goods or deliver services. It focuses on the design and effective integration of
supply chain processes that support a companys business strategy. The course offers a blend of
theory and practice in the filed of operations management. At the same time, it emphasizes the
role of analytic models in making operations decisions. The pedagogy entails lectures, readings,
and discussion of case studies. Prerequisite: Introduction to Statistics

Objectives & Pedagogy

The primary objectives of this course are twofold. First, it will examine a number of fundamental
operations management concepts that profoundly affect a companys competitiveness in both
manufacturing and service industries. Second, it will discuss how quantitative techniques could
be used for analyzing the operations decisions.

Generally speaking, the operations function deals with the acquisition of resources, the choice of
technology, and all the activities that directly relate to the production of goods or delivery of
services. The course emphasizes the importance of achieving consistency across the operations
decisions so that they collectively support a firms business strategy.

A key decision for aligning the operations decisions with a firms business strategy is the
overarching design of the production (transformation) process, i.e., "process choice". We will
begin the course by exploring how the homogeneity of customers tastes and preferences affects
the production volume, which in turn would influence the process choice decision. We will then
discuss how the process choice serves as an anchor for making all the other operations decisions.
Topics included are operations strategy, process design, constraint and capacity management,
quality management, process layout, sales and operations planning, inventory management,
supply chain management, and lean systems.

In recent years, the Internet and globalization have dramatically affected how companies
structure and manage their operations function. Specifically, the strategic direction of the
operations function has shifted in three ways. First, the Internet has improved t h e coordination
of supply-chain activities across the globe, thus facilitating real-time collaboration among
companies and people working at distant locations. Whether through ownership, partnership,
or outsourcing, many companies have found it beneficial to perform parts of their operations
outside their home countries.
Second, in addition to fostering the development of countless new services, the Internet has
changed the way most services are conceived, designed, and delivered. Technological
advances have made it possible f o r t h e customers to take an active part in the service delivery
process. The role of customers as co-producers is changing the way companies design and
manage their service delivery process.

Third, the field of operations management is at the forefront of a growing concern about
sustainability and green production. Manufacturers have come under pressure to redesign their
products so that they contain more recyclable materials. At the same time, they are expected to
revamp their production processes in order to cut greenhouse gas emissions and reduce pollution.

The instruction consists of multiple chapters from two textbooks, lectures, articles, case studies,
videos, and practice problems. I have assigned practice problems in relation to the quantitative
topics we discuss in class but will not collect them. Nor will I use the class time to go over
homework problems. Work out the problems on your own and compare your answers with those
in the Solutions Manual. If after reviewing the solution you still remain puzzled and would need
further clarification, please see me during my office hours.

You should be prepared to discuss case studies on their due dates. A number of factors influence
your participation grade. First, your comments should be timely and relevant. It must be evident
that you are following the flow of discussions and have good listening skills. Second, your
comments should demonstrate that you have a solid grasp of the issues involved. Third, your
suggestions should be logical and, when necessary, supported by an appropriate analysis. Last,
your comments should build on the overall flow of arguments and help move along and facilitate
the discussion. The number of times that you participate is not important. I value the quality of
your contributions. I take attendance and your participation grade will suffer when you miss class
meetings.

Please be on time. If you happen to arrive late, please wait and join us during the session
break.

Performance Evaluation

Two non-comprehensive exams account for 85 percent of your course grade. Attendance and
class participation make up the remaining 15 percent.

Mid-term Exam 40%

Final 45%
Class participation 15%

The midterm exam is scheduled for April 6.

I will assign course grades according to the following scale:

93% and above A

90 92 A-
87 89 B+
83 86 B
80 82 B-
70 79 C
Less than 70 F
I grade on a curve and will adjust the scores if the class average falls below 82%. I do not give
extra credit work to make up for low grades. Exams are made up of problems and multiple-choice
conceptual questions. Conceptual questions cover my lectures, textbook materials, and assigned
articles. In regard to the problems on the exams, you will be responsible only for the types of
problems that we solve in class.

Textbook, Additional Readings, and Cases

I have designed a custom textbook for the course. It incorporates different chapters from two
textbooks: Operations Management: Processes and Supply Chains, by Krajewski, Ritzman, and
Malhotra, 11th Edition, Addison Wesley, 2015 and Operations Management, by Heizer and
Render 11th Edition, 2014.

Because hard-copy textbooks have become too expensive, the textbook for the course is available
in digital format for $113.66. You may order a hard copy but it will cost you more.

Please copy the link below and insert it as URL in your browser to purchase access to the course
materials. If you already have a Pearson user account, sign-in with your username/password; if
you do not, you will be asked to create a Pearson account prior to purchasing the course
materials.

https://register.pearsoncmg.com/reg/include/consent.jsp;jsessionid=MVSbY2TbPBf2xJ0pJXdryX
TvtWJ0zXLfnyhPDpLn1phLD1k21m71!1243493026?originalDest=/reg/buy/buy1.jsp?productID
=587568

Each student must purchase his/her own access to the course materials.

The custom textbook also contains the following articles and case studies.

Readings:

1. Four Ways to Reinvent Service Delivery, (Ramdas, K. Teisberg, E. and A. Tucker, Harvard
Business
Review, December 2012).

2. F. Frei, Breaking the Trade-off Between Efficiency and Service, Harvard Business Review,
November 2006.

3. A. Raman, Health Cares Service Fanatics, Harvard Business Review, May 2013

Case studies:

American Connector, HBS

Cincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical Center, HBS

Sports Obermeyer Ltd., HBS

Web Resources

The syllabus, solutions to problems in the back of chapters, slides of my lectures, and other
course materials are posted on Canvas.

Schedule of Topics & Required Readings & Assignments

March 14

Introduction, Using Operations to Compete, Process Strategy

Readings: Text: Chapter 1

Article: What Is Hot in Manufacturing Technology (Canvas)

How to Revitalize US Manufacturing (Canvas)

Assignment: Chapter 1: Problems 1-4 and 7

March 16

Process Strategy and Process Analysis

Readings: Text: Chapter 2

Articles 1 and 2
Article: The Economics of a $6.75 Shirt (Canvas)
Article: A New Approach to New Product Development (Canvas)
March 21

Layout Strategies, Capacity Management

Readings: Chapter 3 and 4

Chinas Troubling Robot Revolution (Canvas)

Assignment: Chapter 3: Problems 12, 14, and 17

Chapter 4: Problems 6, 9, and 10

March 23

Constraint Management and Waiting Line Analysis

Readings: Text: Chapter 5 and 6

Chapter 6 (Skip Line Balancing, p. 11-17)

Assignment: Chapter 5: Problems 6, 9, and 10

 Chapter 6: Problems, 1, 2, 3
March 28

Case Discussion: American Connector

Quality Management

Readings: Text: Chapter 7

Article 2

March 30

Quality Management Continued

Assignment: Chapter 7: Problems 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, and 18, and 22 (plotting not required.)

April 4

Cass Discussion: Cincinnati Children Hospital

Quality Management Continued, Review session

April 6

Mid-term Exam

April 11

Project Management

Readings: Text: Chapter 8

Assignment: Chapter 8, Problems: 6, 7, 15, 19, and 21

April 18

Project Management Continued

Forecasting

Readings: Text: Chapter 9

Assignment: Chapter 9: Problems 7, 8, 9, 12, and 13 (Use Excel or other programs for
doing regression analysis.)
April 20

Forecasting Continued

Supply Chain Design, Supply Chain Integration

Readings: Text: Chapters 10 and 11

April 25

Case Discussion: Sports Obermeyer

Inventory Management

Readings: Text: Chapters 12 and 13

Chapter 12: Problems 10, 12, 15,16, 17, 19, and 20

Chapter 13: Problems 2, 4, 5, 7, and 9

April 27

Inventory Management continued, Lean Systems, Course Overview

Readings: Text: Chapter 14

Final Exam: Thursday, May 4 at 8:30 AM.

 Questions for Case Studies

American Connector (A)

1. How serious is the threat of DJC to American Connector Company?

2. How big are the cost differences between DJCs plant and ACCs Sunnyvale plant? Consider
both DJCs performance in Kawasaki and its potential in the United States.
3. What accounts for these differences?
4. How much of the difference is inherent in the way the two companies compete?
5. How much is strictly due to differences in the efficiency of the operations?
6. What should American Connectors management at the Sunnyvale plant do?

Cincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical Center

1. What are key differences between process improvement in healthcare organizations versus in
manufacturing organizations? How should these differences impact CCHMCs approach to
improving quality?

2. What do you think about CCHMCs improvement teams policy of transparency? Are they
being too open with their performance data?

3. Consider Exhibit 3 and Figure D. Which problem would you recommend they address first?
Why?

4. Moving forward, what would you recommend Kotagal do to sustain the hospitals
improvement efforts?

Sport Obermeyer, Ltd.

1. Using the sample data given in Exhibit 10, make a recommendation for how many units of
each style Wally Obermeyer should order during the initial phase of production. Assume that
all 10 styles in the sample problem are made in Honk Kong, and that Obermeyers initial
production commitment must be at least 10,000 units. (Ignore price differences among styles in
your initial analysis.)

2. What operations changes do you recommend to Wally to improve performance?

3. How should Obermeyer management think (both short-term and long-term) about sourcing in
Hong Kong versus China?