Define the product you will be offering at College Pretzel Company (CPC) in detail. Create any necessary documentation such as an engineering drawing or a bill of material for the product.

Discussion Question 1

OM is defined as “the set of activities that creates value in the form of goods and services by transforming inputs into outputs.”

Within an organization, OM is often seen as a cost center that does not generate revenue. As such, it is often difficult for a manager to justify investments within the OM function. If you were the operations manager, what kind of investments would you recommend to make your OM practice effective? Why? How would you justify these investments?

Justify your answers with examples and reasoning. Comment on the postings and views of at least two peers.

Discussion Question 3

Productivity is measured by the ratio of outputs to inputs. Some organizations use a partial measure of productivity to measure actual operations, such as a restaurant using number of customer meals per labor hour.

Assume that you are the operations manager of a local restaurant. You currently measure the following data:

Labor hours
Raw materials
Customer meals
Capital investments

Based on the above information, how would you measure productivity at the restaurant? Be sure to include single-factor and multifactor measures. What are some simple ways you would use to improve productivity? As an operations manager, why is productivity important to you?

Justify your answers with examples and reasoning.

W1 Assignment 3: What is Operations Management?

You have been asked to give a presentation on operations management practices regarding a specific product to a class at the local university.

Prepare a PowerPoint presentation of 10–12 slides addressing the following issues:

Product specifics and an overview of the organization
The essential elements of OM related to this product
Productivity measurement strategy for this product
Process strategy related to this product
Position of the product in the product life cycle
The OM strategy or issues related to the product based on the product
life cycle

Name your presentation: SU_MGT3059_W1_A3_LastName_FirstInitial.ppt.

W1 Assignment 4: Final Project

Operations Management Plan

You are currently considering expanding the business and need to develop a presentation to explain your business to potential investors. The investors are particularly interested in the operations management aspect of your business.

This Week

Develop a mission statement and strategy for CPC. The strategy should state how you expect to create a competitive advantage for CPC and the specific strategy that you will use for CPC.

Based on the facts given in the case, calculate the current productivity of the system. For this, you will need to calculate the number of pretzels that can be made each night.

In addition, discuss the operations decisions that need to be made during the company’s development.

Submit your answers in a three- to four-page Microsoft Word document.

W2 Assignment-1

Discussion Question 3

An economic downturn has an impact on everyone. The resulting financial crisis often leads to a decline in the real estate market and consumer spending.

Assume that you are the chief executive officer (CEO) of a large multinational company producing consumer products. How would the economic crisis affect the forecasts for your company? In your opinion, how can the forecast be adjusted, if at all, based on the crisis? What type of forecasting approach should the company use? Why? How would you determine the performance of the proposed forecasting approach?

Justify your answers with examples and reasoning. Comment on the postings of at least two peers.

Discussion Question 4

Forecasting is the art and science of predicting future events. Organizations are constantly creating forecasts for different uses within the organization. Besides setting production levels, what are some other uses of forecasts within the organization?

When an organization forecasts independent demand, it has the opportunity to take either an active role to influence demand or take a passive role and simply respond to demand.

In your opinion, under what circumstances would an organization choose to take an active or a passive role? Why? What strategies would supermarkets, airlines, hospitals, banks, and cereal manufacturers use to influence demand? Provide specific examples demonstrating why these organizations would choose such a strategy.

Justify your answers with appropriate reasoning. Comment on the postings of at least two peers.

W2 Assignment 2: Project Management

For an organization, a project schedule is given below. Assume that all times are in days.

Task

Predecessor

Normal Time

Crash Time

Crash Cost Slope

A

None

3

3

NA

B

A

2

2

NA

C

A

6

2

$600

D

A

5

5

NA

E

B

3

1

$600

F

C

2

2

NA

G

D

7

3

$600

H

F, G

4

4

NA

I

E

5

5

NA

J

H

4

4

NA

K

I, J

7

7

NA

Draw the activity on node (AON) project network using Microsoft Project or Visio. Perform a critical path analysis for the network and calculate

the earliest start (ES), earliest finish (EF), latest start (LS), and latest finish (LF) times. Calculate the slack time for each activity. Identify the critical path.

Assume that the organization will receive a $1,000 bonus for each day the duration of the project is shortened. The organization is also responsible for paying the crash cost associated with shortening the schedule.

To maximize the net profit, which task should you crash and by how much?

Submit your answers in a three- to four-page Microsoft Word document.

W2 Assignment 3: Final Project

Production Process

Based on the information provided in the case, create a table summarizing the steps for making one complete product (a box of six pretzels).

Identify any relationships—immediate predecessors—that are present.

Using this table, create a network diagram or Gantt chart detailing the production process for the following situations mentioning the time required to complete the order:

One order of 6 pretzels
One order of 12 pretzels
Two orders for 6 pretzels each

Discuss the impact on the above situations if you decide to hire any additional employees (add at least one more employee).

Based on the sales history, calculate the MAD and tracking signal for December 2008. What do these measures reveal about the accuracy of the forecast? Should you be concerned? Calculate a six month moving average forecast for January 2009.

What type of forecasting technique do you think is appropriate for use at

College Pretzel Company (CPC)? Would you need any additional information for calculating a forecast in the future?

Submit your answers in a three- to four-page Microsoft Word document.

W3 Assignment-1

Discussion Question 1

Since its release in 2001, the iPod has become a music player phenomenon.

In your opinion, how would the QFD approach have helped Apple in developing the iPod? What are the limitations of this approach?

Since its initial release, the iPod has gone through some major and minor product design changes. Many of the design updates were based on incrementalism, which is a frequent redesign throughout the product’s life.

What are the pros and cons of updating the product design based on incrementalism? Besides the iPod, identify at least two products that use this approach for product design.

Justify your answers using examples and reasoning. Comment on the postings of at least two peers.

Discussion Question 4

Many production facilities often operate below available capacity. In your opinion, why would a production manager choose to keep a capacity cushion? Is it possible to have a negative capacity cushion? Why or why not?

As a manager, how would you tie your capacity decisions to the mission and strategy of your organization? How would forecasting affect your capacity decisions? What information would you require to make a capacity decision?

Justify your answers using examples and reasoning. Comment on the postings of at least two peers.

W3 Assignment 2: Decision Making

HYY Consulting is a new venture that develops and markets products offered for sale in the Second Life marketplace. The company is currently located in Philadelphia and employs 150 people. Due to strong growth, the company needs additional office space. The company has the option of leasing additional space at its current location in Philadelphia for the next two years and then moving to a new building. Another option is moving the entire operation to a small rural town immediately.

If the company chooses the first option and leases new space at its current location, at the end of two years it can either lease a new building in Philadelphia or move to a small rural town.

The following are some additional facts about the alternatives and the current situation:

The company has a 75 percent chance of surviving the next two years.
Leasing the new space for two years at the current location in Philadelphia would cost $750,000 per year.
Moving the entire operation to a small rural town would cost $1 million. Leasing space in the small rural town would cost $500,000 per year.
Moving to a new building in Philadelphia would cost $200,000 and leasing the new building space would cost $650,000 per year.
The company can cancel the lease at any time.
The company plans to build its own building in five years, if it survives.

Assuming all other costs and revenues are the same no matter where the company is located, what should HYY Consulting do? Should the company lease additional space at its current location in Philadelphia for the next two years and then move to a new building? Why or why not? Should the company move the entire operation to a small rural town immediately? Why or why not?

Submit your answers in a four- to five-page

W3 Assignment 3: Final Project

Process Strategy

Define the product you will be offering at College Pretzel Company (CPC) in detail. Create any necessary documentation such as an engineering drawing or a bill of material for the product.

Identify the process strategy you will utilize at CPC and explain why this strategy is appropriate for your business. Create a process flow chart for CPC. Identify opportunities to improve the system and provide specific suggestions to make this improvement.

Based on the current system, answer the following questions:

What is the current capacity—number of orders that can be completed in one night?
How much time will it take to complete an order? How much available time do you have each day? What is your time utilization based on the above?
If you charge $3 per 6 pretzels and fixed costs are $10 per day, what is your
break-even point in dollars?