Operations Management Syllabus Course ... - University of Iowa

Syllabus 

Operations Management 

06N:229 

Fall 2004, 3 s.h. 

Barrett Thomas 

Contact Information 


Office: W272 PBB 

Hours: By Appointment Phone: (319) 

335-0938 

E-mail: barrett-thomas@uiowa.edu 

MANAGEMENT SCIENCES 

University of Iowa 

Location: S210 PBB 

Hours: 

Phone: (319) 335-0858 

Course Information 

Sections coverd by this syllabus: 

Type Sec. # Time & Location 

Sec EXR W107 PBB 06:00-09:20 Tuesday 

Instructor 


Prerequisites: 06N:216 

Goals and objectives 

Operations Management is concerned with the planning and decision-making activities associated 

with the management of an organization's operations; that is, managing what the firm does. The 

organization may be either a provider of services, a goods producer, or a combination of both. The 

basic goals of this course are: (1) to help the student gain an exposure to the spectrum of 

operations management planning and decision-making activities, (2) to help the student to obtain 

insights into the basic trade-offs associated with operations management decisions, (3) to introduce 

a variety of tools and techniques for helping operations managers implement their decisions and 

reach their goals. 

Assigned Readings 

Book: Krajewski and Ritzman, Foundations of Operations Management, 1/e, Prentice-Hall, 2003. 

Coursepack: http://www.xanedu.com/login?PackId=219007. 

Supplemental Resources 

Course lectures, examples, supplemental reading, data files, and other course materials will be 

available for download on the Blackboard (https://bb6.uiowa.edu/) course website. 

Document generated on Aug 24, 2004, by Professor's Assistant. Learn more at http://wo.its.uiowa.edu/pa/. 

Copyright© 2001 The University of Iowa. All rights reserved.

Syllabus: Operations Management 

Course Policies 

Evaluation of Student Performance/Course Requirements 

The approach to the course includes both lecture and case analysis. The course materials have 

been carefully selected to illustrate the basic concepts of operations management as they apply to 

a variety of organizations. Please note that the assigned readings should be completed before the 

class. 

Furthermore, because these readings may be quite useful in formulating recommendations, they 

should precede case analysis whenever applicable.Since the course makes extensive use of cases, 

the discussion between you and your classmates will form a major source of concepts. Thus, class 

participation is an important element in the learning process. All students are expected to be 

prepared to participate in the discussion. Note that attendance is necessary for participation, but 

does not substitute for active participation. Questions are encouraged at any time. 

Case Analysis 

Students are required to analyze cases in groups of size 3 to 5. In most instances, a set of case 

questions will be supplied for each case used in the course. Case reports will be prepared for 

Natural Blends, Excel Logistics, and the Hewlett Packard cases. Case reports should be prepared 

in accordance with the format provided below. Due dates are provided in the schedule below. 

Case Reports 

Each case report will be typed and no more than 5 pages in length excluding attachments. Case 

reports must be turned in before the start of the class in which the case is discussed. No case 

report will be accepted after the class in which the assignment is due is completed. Each report 

should answer the assigned case questions. The answers to these case questions should be 

integrated into the summary and not treated as a list of answers as one would do with a homework 

set. Additional guidelines will be given when the first executive summary is assigned. 

In preparing the case report, make sure that you clearly address what the problem is that you are 

solving. However, you can assume that the reader is familiar with case details, and consequently, 

you do not need to explain who the company is, where they are located, etc. Your case report must 

contain a detailed analysis of the problem, and most importantly, your recommendations must be 

supported by this analysis. Feel free to make logical or supportable assumptions. If the assumption 

seems to have a significant impact on your recommendation, consider what would happen if that 

assumption was not true. 

In your case report, refrain from "consultant speak." For example, avoid statements such as, 

"Company X should use better forecasting." In fact, every company can use better forecasting. If 

you want to recommend better forecasting, demonstrate how to do the better forecasting (e.g. what 

model should be used, what data, and then perform the analysis). Essentially, avoid the mistake of 

saying what should be done and then not doing what should be done. As another example, 

consider the recommendation, "Company X should implement a continuous review inventory 

system in order to reduce inventory." If you make this recommendation, make sure that, in your 




analysis, you have compared the performance of a continuous review inventory system with 

Company X's current system and have demonstrated the improved performance. Additionally, make 

sure that you reference the analysis in making your recommendations. 

Finally, case reports will be graded both on the response to the provided questions, the 

persuasiveness of your arguments, and the style and clarity of the writing. 

Homework 

Homework will be assigned as the semester progresses. You are encouraged to do homework in 

groups to help understand the concepts from class, but homework assignments will not be graded. 

Exams 

There will be two in-class quizzes during the course. I also reserve the right to add a take-home 

portion to any quiz. These quizzes are open book and open notes. However, you are expected to 

complete the quizzes entirely on your own without the aid of input or discussion from other people. 

The academic integrity policy, as dictated below, will be strictly enforced. 

Grading 

Each student's final grade will be based on the following items: 

In-class quizzes 50%, 

Case Reports 45%, 

Participation 5%. 

Assignment of final grades will be done based on the student's rank within the class and the 

occurrence of natural "breaks" in the overall rankings. Tippie School of Management guidelines 

suggest that an appropriate grade distribution would include less than 50% A's, greater than 50% 

B's, and all other grades at the instructor's discretion. Please note that these guidelines do not 

exclude the possibility of grades lower than a B. 

If there are disputes with the grading of any assignments, each student has exactly 1 week from 

when the assignment is returned to the class to return the assignment to the instructor with a cover 

sheet indicating the specific question and issue of concern. Grades can be raised, lowered, or not 

altered as a result. 

Policy on Make-up Exams 

All case reports are "take-home" assignments and will due at least one week from the date 

assigned. Consequently, no late assignments will be accepted, and no "make-up" assignments will 

be allowed. In the case of in-class quizzes, I realize that you may be required to miss a class as the 

result of work-related travel. In this travel causes you to miss a quiz, please contact me before hand 

in order to reschedule the quiz. No other excuse for a missed quiz will be considered. 

Attendance Policy 

Since students in this class are, in general, both working full-time jobs and taking the class, it is 

reasonable that work related activities (notably travel) may require you to miss a scheduled class. 




However, because classroom learning is an important component of this MBA course, missing 

more than two classes would be detrimental to your class experience. If you are currently 

scheduled to miss more than two scheduled classes, consider re-arranging your schedule or 

dropping the course. All known religious holidays will be accommodated. If you observe a holiday 

that needs accommodation, please see me early in the semester so that we can take the 

appropriate steps to handle the conflict. 

Plagiarism Policy 

Because I regard this class as I would any job responsibility, it seems prudent to clarify in advance 

the policy on academic integrity. Given the professional nature of the MBA program, it is unlikely 

that a student in this class would turn in work which is not his or her own. However, if I determine 

that any assignment, project, paper or test was not written solely by the student(s) whose name(s) 

appears on the project, or material taken from other sources is not appropriately cited, the 

student(s) involved will not pass this course and may be subject to program-level discipline. 

Decisions on these matters may be appealed to the MBA Committee. The University of Iowa MBA 

Honor Code, as well as the definition of academic misconduct, can be found in the Tippie school of 

Management Student Policies and Procedures Manual. 

Accomodation of Students with Disabilities 

If you have a disability that may require some modification of seating, testing, or any other class 

requirement, please let me know as soon as possible so that appropriate arrangements can be 

made. Similarly if you have any emergency medical information, or if you need special 

arrangements in the event the building must be evacuated, please let me know. As a reminder, the 

Office of Student Disability Services is also available to assist you. This office is located on the Iowa 

City campus at 3100 Burge Hall, and can be reached at 319-335-1462. Further information is 

available at http://www.uiowa.edu/~sds. 




Course Timeline 

Day 

Topic 

08/24/04 Lecture 1: 

Introduction to 

Operations 

Management, 

Process 

Management 

08/31/04 Lecture 2: Capacity 

Planning 

09/07/04 Lecture 3: 

Simulation; Waiting 

Lines 

09/14/04 Lecture 4: Statistical 

Process Control 

09/21/04 Lecture 5: Location 

09/28/04 Lecture 6: Quiz 1 

in-class; Lean 

10/05/04 Lecture 7: Project 

Management; 

Forecasting 

10/12/04 Lecture 8: Inventory 

Management 

10/19/04 Lecture 9: 

Newsvendor Models 

10/26/04 Lecture 10: Beer 

Game 

11/02/04 Lecture 11: Supply 

Chain Management 

11/09/04 Lecture 12: Course 

Wrap-up 

Event 

KR: p. 1 - 25, 35 - 45; DL: "What is the Right Supply Chain for 

Your Product?", "Deep Change" 

KR: 156 - 170, 181 - 189; CP: Benihana of Tokyo; DL: "Cabinet 

Decisions: . . ." 

CP: Natural Blends; DUE: Natural Blends Case Report 

KR: p. 126 - 138; CP: Manzana Insurance; DL: "Running a 

Hospital Like a Factory, in a Good Way" 

KR: p. 204 - 223; CP: Hank Kolb; Excel Logistics DL: "Where's 

the Beef? . . ."; DUE: Excel Logistics Case Report 

KR: p. 435 - 453; DL: "Decoding the DNA of the Toyota 

Production System"; "Bumpy Road: . . ." 

KR: p. 62 - 77, 288 - 311; CP: Enterprise Resource Planning: 

Technology Note; DL: "Rocket Science Retailing is Almost Here - 

Are You Ready?" 

KR: p. 324 - 347; DL: Gantt-Chart Wedding 

KR: p. 88 - 97, 101 - 104; DL:The Newsvendor Model; 

"Newsvendors Tackle the Newsvendor Problem"; CP: Webvan 

DL: "The Bullwhip Effect in Supply Chains" 

KR: p. 258 - 282; CP: Hewlett-Packard Co. : Deskjet Printer (A), 

Hewlett-Packard Co. : Deskjet Printer (B); DUE: Hewlett-Packard 

Executive Summary; DL: "Three Countries, One Dishwasher"; 

"Style and Substance: Tiger's New Threads" 

Quiz 2 in-class

Operations Management Syllabus Course ... - University of Iowa

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