Operations Management

The operations function is responsible for designing, managing and improving the processes that create and deliver an organisations products and services. It therefore has a direct and significant impact on the competitiveness and success of the organisation. Upon completion of this project, you will have gained a deeper understanding of how the goals and objectives of an operation are realized in the way it creates products and services. You will also gain a better understanding of how suitable process improvements can be identified, implemented and assessed by scrutinising the essential process flow measures. The project will draw upon the skills, concepts and models addressed throughout the module and apply them in a real-world setting.

For the coursework, select an organisation of your choosing. This may include an organisation you are or have been working in as well as organisation known from news media or industry reports. Provide a brief introduction of the competitive landscape of this organisation and briefly summarise its operations strategy by drawing upon its strategic positioning and operational effectiveness (25% of the report). Afterwards, identify one major challenge in the operations of the selected organisation. Discuss in detail how this challenge affects the process flows within the operation and its ability to excel in terms of throughput, average flow time and average inventory (50% of the report). Provide specific recommendations on how the organisation can overcome the identified challenge and improve its operations performance (25% of the report). Support your recommendations by a rigorous analysis of the identified options and referencing relevant research and industry reports. For the report, you also may want to add and introduction section with a general overview and a conclusion section that summarises your findings.

With this course work you should

• Conduct research and synthesise the relevant information;
• Identify and use appropriate analytical concepts and frameworks from the module;
• Develop a systematic recommendation for the identified operations challenge;
• Communicate clearly and present your work to professional standards.