Production and Operations management

Teacher(s)

Agrell Per Joakim; Catanzaro Daniele;

Language

English

Prerequisites

The prerequisite(s) for this Teaching Unit (Unité d’enseignement – UE) for the programmes/courses that offer this Teaching Unit are specified at the end of this sheet.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	This course provides an introduction to production management and operations. At the end of the course, students must: • be able to make the parallel between an issue of life and a problem of management of production and / or operations; • know the ins and outs of such problems; • master the basic techniques applicable to such problems; • be able to choose and apply the technique the most appropriate, • be able to make a decision on their final decision. Particular attention will be paid to the development of a rational and structured problems and the collection of links between the various problems of production management and operations.

Content

This course provides an introduction to production management and operations. At the end of the course, students must:

• be able to identify, structure and formulate common operations management problems;
• identify the decision making level for such decisions;
• master the basic techniques applicable to such problems;
• be able to choose and apply the most appropriate technique;
• be able to make a final decision.

Particular attention will be paid to the development of a rational and structured problems and the collection of links between the various problems of production management and operations.
CONTENT management of production and operations can be broadly defined as all the techniques and methods to organize all the activities of a person, service or company. The course revolves around the following elements: •

• Features of the products / services and processes; •
• Planning of production activities in the long, medium and short terms; •
• Inventory management and demand forecasting; • 
• Scheduling and sequencing

Teaching methods

The course is based on:

• regular lectures with classical exercises
• exercise sessions to master methods and tools
• modules taught along the “problem based learning”.

Each module is centred on a body of knowledge in operations management and on a real-life business case that will be tackled, in groups, by the students.  

• The lectures will provide the fundamentals that allow the practical case to be solved.
• During the tutorials and the exercise sessions, the students work in groups in order to solve the practical case.
• Instructors are available during these periods for developing the required modelling skills, for answering questions about the underlying theories and for providing hints in order to solve the case.
• Each case leads to the delivery of a written report and an oral defense.

Evaluation methods

The final grade is equal to

• the individual exam grade if below 9/20;
• the weigthed sum of the individual exam grade (50%) and the average case grade (50%).

The individual exam is closed-book and written, two sheets of personal notes are allowed.
The case grade is a group grade. It is based on the written report and on the oral defense of the case.
In case of a remake exam in September, the case grade is valid (if >9/20) for the current and following year, else the written exam corresponds to 100% of the grade. 

Online resources

All slides, notes, cases and communication about the class and the tutorials are provided on the Moodle site for the class.

Bibliography

Anupindi, Chopra, Deshmukh, Van Mieghem, Managing Business Process Flows. Prentice Hall, 2013 (or later)

Faculty or entity

ESPO