Production Operations Management

Synopsis: (Edit)

This course provides a broad coverage on production and operations management concepts, issues, and techniques from both strategic and operational perspectives.  It covers topics such as productivity, competitive strategies, operations and project scheduling, product and process planning/design, plant layout, capacity planning, inventory management, aggregate planning, material requirement planning (MRP), job design, maintenance and lean operations. The focus is on analysis and integration of various techniques for solving POM problems.

Course Outlines:

  • Introduction: organising to produce goods and services, the evolution (cost, quality, customisation and globalisation), productivity measurement
  • Global environment : Missions and strategies, competitive advantages (differentiation, cost, response), product life cycle (PLC), global operations strategy.
  • Managing projects: planning, scheduling, and controlling; work breakdown structure, critical path method,CPM, PERT, variability and project crashing.
  • Product design: PLC and strategy options, product development system, QFD, issues in product design, documents for production, design for sustainability, regulations and industry standards.
  • Process design:  four process strategies (process, repetitive, product, mass customisation), process comparison (crossover chart),  process analysis and design (diagrams and charts), production technology, production for sustainability
  • Plant layout and capacity planning: types of layouts (fixed position, process layout, repetitive and product layout), relationship chart, work cell, assembly line balancing, demand and capacity considerations, cycle time, takt time, bottleneck analysis and theory of constraints.
  • Inventory management: type of inventory, ABC analysis, inventory costs, models for independent demand, EOQ, ROP, POQ, probabilistic models and safety stock
  • Aggregate planning and Materials Requirements Planning (MRP): capacity and demand options, methods for aggregate planning (graphical methods, transportation method), master production schedule, dependent demand,  MRP structure and planning sheet.
  • Short term scheduling: assignment methods, sequencing jobs (FCFS, SPT, EDD, LPT), Johnson’s rule, Gantt charts.
  • Job design and work measurement: human resource strategy, labor planning, job design, method analysis, labour standards (time studies and standard times)
  • Maintenance and Reliability : The strategic importance of maintenance and reliability, types of maintenance, Total Productive Maintenance.
  • Just in Time, Lean Operations and TPS
  • Selection and integration of POM techniques and tools – group  project (written report and oral presentation)