MBUS 306: Managing Projects and Operations Master Syllabus
Course Instructor:
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Required Textbook
Heizer, Render, and Munson, Principles of Operations Management: Sustainability and Supply Chain Management, Pearson, Prentice Hall, 11th Edition, 2020.
Course Description
Course will be based on the concepts, principles and techniques for managing manufacturing and service operations. Quantitative / qualitative methods for improving management of operations will be covered. The course will include the four major decision-making areas of manufacturing and service operations: process, quality, capacity and inventory.
Operations management, as a field, is responsible for the production of goods and services in an organization. Operations encompass the bulk of most organizations with the largest portions of assets, working capital and human resources. Operations also has a significant impact on other areas of the company including marketing, finance, and accounting as well as an impact on the external customers of the firm. As such, performance of the firm will be largely determined by the operations area.
Course Objectives and Course Competencies
By the end of the course, the student will be able to:
- Develop tools to improve business processes in order to increase competitiveness.
- Understand the components of operations management and how they are related to other major business decision areas.
- Learn project management techniques.
- Apply decision-making tools such as control charts, quality tools, forecasting models and inventory models in both manufacturing and service applications.
- Understand how to use tools of quality and quality control to analyze variability in processes.
- Develop tools to analyze and manage efficiently the supply chain.
- Effectively communicate the results of business applications analyses.
Course Grade
Final course letter grade assignments:
| A | 93% and above | C+ | 78% - 79% |
| A- | 89% - 92% | C | 70% - 77% |
| B+ | 87% - 88% | D | 60% - 69% |
| B | 82% - 86% | F | below 60% |
| B- | 80% - 81% |
Course Requirements and Grading
- Students must be officially registered in this section to receive a grade. It is the sole responsibility of the student to verify their own registration status. (I will not verify your registration.) Specifically, you will not receive a grade if your name does not appear on the official class list. (Don’t wait until the end of the semester to be surprised.) Registration problems should be directed to the Registrar’s Office.
- Grading for the course will be based on total points earned by the end of the course. All exams are closed book. Use of the textbook, class notes, etc., is prohibited unless otherwise stated by instructor. Whole letters, with plus and minus, will be assigned as the final course grades.
- Final course letter grade assignments:
| Online Final exam | 50% |
| four homework assignments (7.5% each) | 30% |
| two case studies of world class industrial organization (10% each) | 20% |
| Total | 100% |
Learning Tools of the Course
Primary learning tools of the course include the following:
- Lectures - My teaching philosophy is dominated by the adage that ‘learning is an active process’. Lectures are ‘interactive’ in the sense that a constant questioning process takes place with responses expected. To be successful in learning the concepts, you must be actively engaged in the material.
- Exam - exam will be given, as announced. Exams are based upon the class lectures, textbook material, and discussion of the material covered during the course. All examinations are to be by individual effort as they will be graded. NO collaboration of any kind is permitted. See the honor code paragraph below. Any collaboration will be treated as an Honor Code violation.
- Homework and case study - To be successful in this course, homework will be an integral part of learning the course material. It is in the best interest of the student to complete each and every homework assignment. Case study is for the student’s benefit because it is a diagnostic tool by which the student may assess their understanding and performance analyzing a real world organization. Failure to do so will adversely affect performance and will negatively impact exam and course grades. Avoid falling behind. There will be mandatory individual homework assignments. Homework assignments will be posted on the website. Homework problems, both their assignment and solution, are the sole responsibility of the individual student.
Make-up Exam
Notice will be given before final exam; if you cannot take the final exam at the designated time, you must make arrangements with the instructor before the exam is given. Exams may be made up only under extreme emergencies AND at the sole discretion of the instructor. A penalty for lateness may be assigned. Missed exams will be assigned a score of zero.
Class Etiquette
Be courteous to and respectful in order that classmates enjoy learning experience.
Topics and Schedule
Some sections in text chapters will be skipped, as announced. Some material not contained in the text may be presented in class, as noted. The exam dates and the specific material coverage for each exam will be announced in class. For other important dates, consult the Spring 2024 Academic Calendar.
The tentative list of topics is given below. The list below follows the basic order and coverage of topics in the required text. The list is subject to change during the semester.
Tentative Course Topics (Based on Heizer, Render, and Munson textbook)
- This list is subject to changes based on class pace of learning
| Week 1 | |
| Chapter 1 | Operations and Productivity |
| Chapter 2 | Operations Strategy in a Global Environment |
| Week 2 | |
| Chapter 3 | Project Management |
| Week 3 | |
| Chapter 3 | Project Management (Continued) |
| Week 4 | |
| Chapter 4 | Forecasting |
| Week 5 | |
| Supplement to Chapter 5 | Sustainability |
| Week 6 | |
| Chapter 6 | Managing Quality, Six Sigma and Lean |
| Week 7 | |
| Chapter 11 | Supply Chain Management and Supplement about Analytics |
| Week 8 | |
| Mid-Term Exam | |
| Week 9 | |
| Bottleneck management | |
| Week 10 | |
| Chapter 12 | Inventory Management EOQ model |
| Week 11 | |
| Chapter 12 | Inventory Management POQ model |
| Week 12 | |
| Chapter 12 | Quantity Discounts |
| Week 13 | |
| Chapter 17 | Maintenance and Reliability |
| Week 14 | |
| Study guide and practice questions review in preparation for the final exam | |
| Week 15 | |
| Final Exam is available online. | |
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