MSING715: Operations and Technology Management

Introduction

Operations management is the design and management of the processes that transform
inputs into finished goods or services. Operations is one of the primary functions of a firm similar to Finance or Marketing. This course provides a foundation for understanding the operations of a firm by exploring a simple question: How companies actually do things? The course will focus on operations in a wide variety of industries including manufacturing, technology, healthcare, hospitality, retailing, transportation, etc. Topics that will be covered in this course include:

  • Operations and technology strategy
  • Forecasting
  • Production planning and scheduling
  • New product development
  • Supply chain management

In each section, we will first introduce basic analytical tools and techniques to understand operations problems, and then demonstrate methods of managing that aspect of operations from a strategic view, typically using case studies.Note that this module is not intended to be a general “Introduction to Management” course, but rather specifically focuses on managing the “Operations” aspect of a firm.
Prerequisites.  Although this module does not have any prerequisite courses, there will be high degree of numbers-based work on the module. So students are expected to have good quantitative skills and familiarity in math based work.
MSING715 Operations and Technology Management course outline 2010/11
MSING715 / Page 2

Objectives

Our objective in this course is to provide students with the skills necessary to understand and critically analyze a firm's operating performance and practices. The main goal is to introduce the “operations view” of a firm which includes the process of producing and delivering a product or a service.  At the end of the course, students will be conversant in the language of business operations, and they will be able to use both quantitative and qualitative tools to analyze basic operations issues. They will understand the "physics" of material, work and information flows within companies, and they will learn how the design and management of a firm's processes interact to determine a firm's cost structure and its ability to compete effectively in terms of non-cost measures such as quality, variety and speed.