Production & Operations Management

This subject is not offered in 2014.

Approximately 2.5 hours of personal study per hour of class time is required to achieve a satisfactory level of performance.

Entry into the Master of Enterprise.

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.

• Take-home exam, due on the Tuesday after the delivery (20%)
• 1,500 word assignment, due four weeks after the delivery (30%)
• 3,000 word field project, due eight weeks after the delivery (50%).

Course materials are provided to all participants

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On successful completion of this subject students should have enhanced their skills in:

• Ethical behaviour in leadership and organisations
• Analysis and problem solving
• Capacity for intellectual curiosity, creativity and independent thought
• Communication of key ideas and theories within the discipline areas
• Capacity for effective teamwork and collaboration
• Information retrieval and application in relation to practical problems.