Production & Operations Management

This subject is not offered in 2013.

Estimated total time commitment of 120 hours.

For the purposes of considering requests for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.
The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

Topics include the role of operations; the link between strategy and operations; productivity; decisions in the operations area; planning and control of inventory, projects and the transformation process including Total Quality management, Just-in-Time, kanban and 'lean production' systems. Students will understand the principles and practice of factors which influence the capacity to compete effectively in manufacturing and service operations

Students who successfully complete this subject should:
• The overall framework of operations management as part of organisational strategy.
• How to plan capacity and facility usage.
• The managerial issues involved in introducing new projects.
• The different concepts of flexibility in service and manufacturing enterprises.
• How to generate different manufacturing strategies.
• The relationships between the manufacturing strategy of the enterprise and the competitive strategy for the business as a whole.
• The role of quality in the operations process.
• The implications for management of the differences between the various methods of organising manufacturing eg batch production, jobbing, continuous production and large project manufacturing.
• The functions within operations management in service and manufacturing industries, eg supplier management, inventory control, design, production planning, workflow management and customer service.

• One-hour test (20%)
• Assignments of not more than 1500 words (30%)
• Field project investigation report of 3000 words (50%)

Course materials are provided to all participants

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

Students who successfully complete this subject should understand:

• The overall framework of operations management as part of organisational strategy
• How to plan capacity and facility usage
• The managerial issues involved in introducing new projects
• The different concepts of flexibility in service and manufacturing enterprises
• How to generate different manufacturing strategies
• The relationships between the manufacturing strategy of the enterprise and the competitive strategy for the business as a whole
• The role of quality in the operations process
• The implications for management of the differences between the various methods of organising manufacturing eg batch production, jobbing, continuous production and large project manufacturing
• The functions within operations management in service and manufacturing industries, eg supplier management, inventory control, design, production planning, workflow management and customer service