Course Project Guidelines and Suggestions
Below are some suggestions to get you to start thinking about the course project. The requirement is only 6-10 pages of typed write-up. The syllabus states no more than 10 pages, which is do not exceed. Graphs, charts and spreadsheets should be in the exhibit and is not considered as part of the write-up. The format needs to be as follows in three parts: (1) State the business problem and define data requirements, (2) conduct both quantitative and qualitative analysis using one or more tools (in one or more chapters) that you have learned in this course, (3) draw conclusions and provide recommendations. Please read the course syllabus section about the course project also.
Grading will be focused on: General Format and Organization – 20%, Clearly Defined Business Problem(s) and Data Formulation – 30%. Correct, Comprehensive and Creative Application of Operations Management Techniques from our class – 30%, Conclusions and Specific Recommendations – 20%. You can have teams of 1 to 3 people. Coordination of group members’ work will have to be done via online methods. The proposal is OPTIONAL. I will review and provide comments if you want me to. I will also let you know if you are on the right track. The complete project is due on December 7, 2021 for the Tuesday class.
The following are ONLY suggestions. There are literally an unlimited number of possible project ideas. Project ideas are only limited by your imagination. I will be posting complete project scenarios that you can use if you decide not to come up with one of your own.
1. There were three delicatessens that I used to frequent near the Walnut Creek BART station. Each one had their unique layouts in terms of how many stations there were serving different item, whether you make your own or someone make the sandwich for you, other foods served in other stations if customers wanted something else (burrito, soups, drinks, salad, etc.) and cashier station. Each one had its own unique line setup. One had a setup where you weigh your own salad or sandwich and if you guessed it right, you get a free meal. One had an L-shaped line where customers can go to different stations and bypass the line if you do not want a full meal. One had a U-shaped line where there are no self-serve options. I could turn this into a process and layout problem, where I combine the best features of all three lines and come up with my own super-efficient line based on cycle time and takt time analysis. I would calculate the waiting times and determine my staffing compared to the existing operations. I would provide a layout and a process flow chart and demonstrate why certain stations are arranged in sequence and others are not. This does not have to be limited to delicatessens. It can be any business that you are familiar with. It can be any similar operations that you have seen in the past (car service shops, copy centers, retail stores, restaurants, drive-through). If you were running this business, how would you set it up operationally and why would you setup the way you did. Talk about what business goal can be achieved (decrease waiting times, minimize the number of employees, etc.). Based your results on productivity, efficiency and benchmark against the other operation that you are comparing with.
2. Similar to Example 6.6 on page 158-159, analyze the constraints of a business operation taking into account customer demand and balancing staffing needs with acceptable waiting times. Try to balance the line to minimize customer waiting times and employees’ idle times. Imagine you are starting a new business that has a few steps (hopefully more than three as shown in the book) in the operation and each step may require different skills and thus may need different operators. Based on the average processing times, effective capacities, and labor costs at each step, come up with various scenarios and recommend one best setup. Remember this needs to be based on meeting the rate of customer demands per hour. Calculate the profitability of the recommended staffing at each step with the revenue and costs shown for each alternative proposal. Use graphs and charts to illustrate your recommended setup.
3. Develop a forecast model (time-series or casual) using the techniques learned in Chapter 9. Derive or find one to two years of historical data to use for the forecast model. Discuss why the particular model was chosen. Discuss the trend and seasonality of the forecast. Compute the seasonality index and determine what impact seasonality has on the forecast. Choose a few of the forecast accuracy indexes and apply it to determine your forecast errors. What other additional adjustments are needed? Review adjustments not taken into account in the historical data (new store openings, marketing promotions, store closures, etc.) and factor them into the forecast model. Example 9.8 on page 285 to 288 is a good reference for a forecasting project.
4. Think of a project that you are embarking on. This needs to be a project that has multiple steps with time durations and precedence relationships between steps. Construct a Gantt chart and a network diagram using the Critical Path Method. Make sure you describe each task, list the duration of the tasks and set up the precedence relationships between certain tasks if they exist. Perform a forward pass and then a backward pass for the network diagram. Isolate the critical path and determine if there is any way to shorten the duration of the whole project by shortening the duration of certain tasks on the critical path. Present the different options and choose the one that cost the least, but still meets the due date.
5. Similar to the Pagoda.com case study, compare keeping an operation in-house vs. outsourcing to a third party. Include personnel costs, equipment costs, office supplies, space occupancy, supervisors and managers. If you outsource, what costs are unavoidable and what costs are avoidable? Add a weighted points evaluation system to determine if there are other qualitative variables you should consider besides cost. Formulate a conclusion based on the results of the cost analysis and weighted points evaluation system. Should the company outsource or keep the operation in-house? Add any performance measurements that you would include if you decide to outsource the operation.
6. This project centers the discussion around strategies that a company has taken and will require more thoughts around how to fulfill the requirements listed at the beginning of this email. Be careful not to start comparing two or more companies based on their financial performance or marketing strategies. Remember that this is an operations course and this project is about “applying” the operations strategies that you have learned. Using Chapter 2 as the guide, pick two or more companies (or one company and its peers/competitors) to do a comparison about their operations strategies along each of the performance dimensions discussed. Remember to discuss trade-offs, core competencies, order winners and order qualifiers. Evaluate each company’s choice on the right mix of structural and infrastructural elements and its understanding of the performance dimensions valued by customers. Include all the performance dimensions discussed in our class. Similar to the Delta example discussed, you have to offer concrete actions that each company have taken that exhibit their focus on each performance dimension. Critique their choices and discuss the relative success of their chosen operations strategies.
The post Course Project Guidelines and Suggestions Below are some suggestions to get you appeared first on PapersSpot.
