OPIM 3104, section 02
Operations Management:

            Concepts and Techniques to help you

           NOT waste money in almost any business

It's funny, but if you don't know the right mathematics, you could just be wasting money.
How do you decide where to locate your facilities? How do you choose the right supplier?
How do you manage a project to keep it on schedule and finish on time?
When you are presented with cost data for these kinds of problems in real life,
it would be nice to know a few tricks to help you make better decisions.
 
A breakthrough in how resources are managed or a money-saving variation on a repeated process
is often the core reason why one company succeeds and another doesn't.
Advances in Operations Management have also bailed companies out of dire straits.
 
In this class we learn some problem solving techniques which have been used by businesses
to NOT waste money.
The techniques are mathematical, and we will often use MS Excel to help us compute our solutions.
 
 
 Schedule, Slides, Assignments, Grading

          Instructor

          [UCONN] [OPIM]


Course Requirements and Grading Policy

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Required text: J. Heizer and B. Render. Operations Management. Pearson / Prentice-Hall. Custom edition from the Co-op bookstore. Do not get a version associated with another professor from the bookstore.

 (The tenth edition of this book is an acceptable alternative, but do NOT get the same authors' Principles of Operations Management.)

Computer requirements: A laptop is required, and you are required to be able to run Microsoft Excel (version 2007 is recommended, or later if desired)

Also, you will need to install the Excel OM Software which you can download using the student resource pack attached to the book (or purchased separately.) To do so, first follow these instructions from the publisher (pearson.pdf) which also include some additional instructions from me after you have successfully logged onto MyOMLab.

Grading:

There will be two exams and a non-cumulative final exam. (See tentative schedule below.)

Homework problems will be assigned and discussed in class but will not be graded. It is however, strongly recommended that each student complete each homework in preparation for the quizzes, which will be graded. These quizzes will be based directly on recent homework assignments and will usually be announced in advance.

The lowest quiz score will be dropped, allowing some leeway for absentees. In the case of an excused absence (with a note from a doctor) a replacement quiz may be given at the discretion of the instructor.

Students are encouraged to work in small groups on homework problems, but each student will take his or her own quiz. Thus, there is no point in having someone else do your homework for you.

Class participation will be evaluated by the instructor. Unless I know you are someone who regularly misses class without an explanation, or does not pay attention or participate when in class, you should receive full credit for class participation.

Here is the breakdown of how grades will be evaluated:

  • First examination: 25%

  • Second examination: 25%

  • Final examination: 25%

  • Quizzes: 20%

  • Class participation: 5%

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Tentative Schedule                                             Back to Top, Slides, Assignments, Grading

  Date   Custom Chapter  Tenth Edition Chapter     Excel Work
Jan. 17 Operations and Productivity  Ch. 1  
Jan. 19 Operations Strategy Ch. 2  
Jan. 24 Decision Making Tools Module A OM124
Jan. 26 " " OM126
Jan. 31 Forecasting Ch. 4  
Feb. 2 " " OM22
Feb. 7 Layout Strategies Ch. 9  
Feb. 9 "   OM29
Feb. 14 Review Word List  
Feb. 16 First Exam  
Feb. 21 Project Management Ch. 3  
Feb. 23 "    
Feb. 28 Transportation Models Module C  
Mar. 1 Aggregate Planning Ch. 13  
Mar. 6 " "  
Mar. 8 " "  
Mar. 20 Managing Quality // Process Strategy Ch. 6 // Ch. 7  
Mar. 22 Review    
Mar. 27 Second Exam    
Mar. 29 Linear Programming Module B  
Apr. 3 (Class Canceled)    
Apr. 5 Linear Programming Module B  
Apr. 10 " "  
Apr. 12 Inventory Management Ch. 12  
Apr. 17 Waiting Line Models Module D  
Apr. 19  JIT  Ch. 16  
Apr. 24 Supply Chain Mgmt. // Auctions Ch. 11 // Class Notes  
Apr. 26 Review    

 Final:             TBA

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Lectures Slides (MS PowerPoint )                                         

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Slides                          Custom Chapter                               Tenth Ed. Chapter Number

Lecture 1                      Operations and Productivity                Chapter 1

Lecture 2                      Operations Strategy...                         Chapter 2

Lecture 3                      Module: Decision Making Tools          Module A

Lecture 4                      Forecasting                                         Chapter 4

Lecture 5                      Layout Strategies                                Chapter 9

Review                         Outline of material for the first exam

 


Assignments                                                        

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Assignment 1, prepare for quiz on Tuesday, January 31st, based on the following problems from "Module: Decision Making Tools": A.2, A.4, A.13, A.19, A.20.

Look at a Sample Quiz. (This was given as a makeup quiz and was thus longer than the quiz given in class.)

Assignment 2, prepare for quiz on Tuesday, February 7th, based on problems from "Forecasting": 4.6 b(ii)-b(v) & c, 4.8 a-d, 4.13, 4.14, 4.24, 4.28. In addition, for 4.28, use the seasonal factors to predict the number of guests in Winter '10 and in Summer '11.

Assignment 3, NO QUIZ but complete by Tuesday, February 14th to go over during the review, problems from "Layout Strategies": 9.2, 9.4, 9.6, 9.12, 9.14, 9.16acd, 9.18. For the first three, be able to compute an optimal layout using the ExcelOM macro, in addition to the questions they ask. Look at a Sample Quiz.

 

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Academic Dishonesty
Behavior that appears to be cheating cannot and will not be tolerated and will be punished appropriately (from earning NO CREDIT on an examination to a failing grade in the class.)

Behavior that appears to be cheating should be prevented by students and/or reported to the instructor.

For every quiz and test there will be at least two different versions, and different versions will be printed on different colored paper, allowing the instructor to visually verify that adjacent students take different versions. This is designed to nulllify any benefit of looking at an adjacent student's answers. However, if a student is foolish enough to write down an answer that could only apply to a different version of the quiz/test, that student will automatically recieve a failing grade on that quiz/test.

School of Business Academic Honesty Statement.


Disclaimer: The instructor reserves the right to amend, adjust, or otherwise modify this course outline at any time during the course. The students will be notified in a timely fashion of any modification, by email or announcement in class.