No extensions will be granted.  Students who have not submitted the task prior to the deadline will be awarded a mark of 0 for the task, except for cases in which an application for special consideration is made and approved.

Assessment Details

Class Test: A 60 minute closed-book Class Test . The test will be multiple choice / true-false, short answer and quick calculation type questions and focus on chapters 1,4,10 and 15 of the textbook.

Individual Assignment: An individual assignment will be handed out in week 1. The assignment will comprise a number of short essay and quantitative questions relating to the material covered in chapters 1-17 of the text. Students are encouraged to complete the questions progressively as the theory is covered each week in class.

Group Assignment: You may use any industry/sector that you like, however each group must do a different industry/sector, so therefore the first group to nominate an industry will be allocated to it. Examples of industry/sectors include:-

• The “information” or telecommunications industry

• Any FMCG or retail industry

• The medical or pharmaceutical industry

• The legal, financial or education services industry

• The automotive industry

• The hospitality industry

• Any other manufacturing or service industry/sector

  The primary focus of the project should be on understanding how the value chain operations employed by enterprises within these industries creates value through effective management of intra and inter‑enterprise relationships, the creative and innovative utilisation of current and emerging technologies, and the organisation’s interpretation of process and knowledge management. You should aim to compare and contrast two companies that operate within the industry, at different ends of the volume-variety spectrum, in terms of their application of the operations management theory discussed in this course. Initially you should consider the industry value chain and then focus on the value chain of the organisations of your choice.

Typical issues for discussion may include (but should not be limited to):

• What is the transformation process that occurs in the industry?

• How does the industry add value, via its value chain?

• How do different players compare in terms of the 4 V’s and their strategic objectives?

• What are the important design issues and how is the design process undertaken?

• How is capacity measured? How is capacity variations dealt with?

• What is the supply network and how is it designed. What are the major supply network issues?

• Does the industry have to deal with forecasting, planning and control issues and if so how is this done?

• Has the industry adopted lean and/or six sigma philosophies and if so how. If not how could it adopt these philosophies?

In limiting research to publicly available material (desk research using secondary sources), the objective is to demonstrate to students the wealth of available information, if one only knows how and where to look.

It is expected you will produce a practical report that relates the theory of the text to your chosen industry. The submission should be between 2,000 and 3,000 words, clearly argued and supported by the current theoretical literature. It must be referenced properly (using the Harvard Style of referencing) to indicate research as well as critical thinking skills.

The emphasis here is on participants developing or honing their skills at clearly and succinctly synthesising material from a variety of sources and expressing this in their own words, in written form. Reports should reflect the participant's own writing style and avoid the use of extensive quotations. Where direct quotations are unavoidable, they must be fully acknowledged (including page number).  Finally, the report should be an interesting and informative read, providing useful insights for practicing managers.

Classes

• 3 hours face to face lecture, 13 x 3 hour classes and 120 hrs self study
• The timetable for classes can be found at: http://www.timetables.mq.edu.au/
• Lecture attendance is mandatory
• Students will complete and submit all assignments on the due dates and sit the final exam to complete the unit satisfactorily.

Required and Recommended Texts and/or Materials

Participants will be expected to read widely and develop their general research skills (not just use the Internet).  Many of the issues covered in the topics can be found in business or academic Journals, newspapers and or business periodicals such as the Asia Wall Street Journal, Far East Economic Review, Australian Financial Review, Business Review Weekly, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian, etc.  A good starting point to source articles is the reference section of relevant journal articles.

The recommended textbook for this unit is:

Slack. N, Brandon-Jones A. and Johnston, R,

Operations Management

Pearson Education, 7th edition. 2013, ISBN: 978-0-273-77620-8

See also http://www.booksites.net/slack

You may also get a copy of 5th or 6th Editions. If you choose not to purchase the textbook you should pay close attention to all class sessions and the associated power point slides and readings. This will provide you sufficient information to have the opportunity for a minimum pass grade in the course. The textbook is also available in the library and the key chapters are Ch 1,4,10 and 15.

In support of the lecture materials a selection of additional readings will be made available to the students. These articles represent a starting point for reading and research for each lecture topic and will be provided in accordance with the lecture needs. You will need to consult additional reference material to satisfactorily complete the assignments due in this unit.

Technology Used and Required

Laptop or Tablet Computer to play Supply Chain Game .

Unit Web Page

Course material is available on iLearn https://ilearn.mq.edu.au

This unit uses research from external sources.

This unit gives you practice in applying research findings in your assignments.

Additional Readings

The following additional readings supplement the text book and will be provided through eReserve.

Course Notes Class 1:

• Hall, R.W (2000) “Distributed Excellence and the Dell Model”, Association for Manufacturing Excellence, Target Vol 16, Number 2
• Sull D and Turconi S (2008) “Fast Fashion Lessons” Business Strategy Review Summer 2008

Course Notes Class 2:

• Smith, Preston G : Fast Cycle Product Development , Engineering Management Journal v2 n2 June 1990.(Note: A Classic)
• Gerst R. (2004) “The Little Known Law”, Six Sigma Forum Magazine (February 2004)

Course Notes Class 3:

• Shapiro B.P, Rangan V.K, Sviokla J.J (1992) “Staple yourself to an order” HBR (July –August 1992)  (Note : A HBR Classic!)

Course Notes Class 4:

• Buchanan M,(2005) “Supermodels to the Rescue”, Strategy and Business Magazine Issue 38

Course Notes Class 5:

• Lee H, Padmanabhan V, Whang S., “The Bullwhip Effect in Supply Chains”, Sloan Management Review , Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 93–102
• Narayanan V.G and Raman A (2004) “Aligning Incentives in the Supply Chain” HBR (November 2004)

Course Notes Class 6:

• Bhatia,N Drew J. (2006) “Applying lean production to the public sector” McKinsey Quarterly (June 2006)

Course Notes Class 7:

• Nolan T.W and Provost L.P (1990) “Understanding Variation” Quality Progress (May 1990) (Note : A classic on variation in systems)