MGMT 372 Operations Management I

Spring Term 2006

Instructor: José H. Ablanedo
Office: 326 North Hall
Phone: 915 1576
(May 11)

E-mail: jablanedo@bus.olemiss.edu
Class Hours: 6:00-8:45 p.m. Thursday (Tupelo)
Office Hours: 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Monday and Wednesday
Other times by appointment – use email to set a time

The official information for Mgmt 372 course including grades will be posted on Blackboard. You are
responsible for reading the “Announcements”, “Assignments”, and any other information concerning this
course; check your Blackboard account daily.

Textbook: Operations Management, 8th edition, by Jay Heizer and Barry Render.
Prentice Hall, (ISBN 0-13-185755-X).

Online Resources:
http://www.prenhall.com/heizer/
Support material accompanying your textbook. It includes study guide, modeling exercises, practice
problems, and video clips.

Course Description:
MGMT 372 course introduces the general concepts of production operations management
and techniques commonly used for the design, analysis, and optimization of operating
systems with a focus on modeling, problem solving, and decision making. This course
also covers primary aspects of technology typically used in a business organization to
create products and services, and communicate information.
Operations management is an exciting field of management that has a profound effect on the efficiency and
productivity of both manufacturing and services including banking, accounting, and industrial engineering.
This class will help you develop skills in quantitative problem solving that can be used in your everyday
life. When you finish this course, you will be able to better understand what goes on behind the scenes
when you place an order through eBay or buy a customized Dell Computer over the Internet.

Overview and Purpose

Operations Management (OM) is a dynamic discipline. It involves the integration of
numerous activities and processes to produce products and services in a high competitive
and global environment. The core activities and strategic issues facing business
organizations today include: forecasting, capacity and layout planning, facility location,
allocating resources, designing products and services, scheduling activities, and assuring
and improving quality. The planning and optimization of such activities requires the use
of appropriate strategies, efficient analytical methods, and tools of operations
management.
The aim of this course is to examine operations management in an integrated perspective
of the various functional areas, their interactions and interdisciplinary, and provide an
appropriate understanding and use of quantitative methods utilized in operations
management. Modeling, use of quantitative methods, software tools for problem solving,
and decision making in an operations management environment will play an important
role in this course. We will also discuss the topic of management of technology in terms
of its application to products, services and information, and its role in creating a
competitive advantage.

Prerequisite:
BUS 301, ECON 230 or equivalent statistics course.

Teaching Method

Lectures
Important material from the textbook and some outside sources will be covered in class.
You should plan to take careful notes as not all material can be found in the texts or
readings. Discussion is encouraged about the topics being covered.

Assignments
Problems, cases, and readings will be periodically assigned as homework. These
assignments have a primary goal of developing students' critical thinking, analytical
reasoning, and problem solving skills. This will be accomplished through discussing
exercises on the various topics as well as exercises on modeling and problem solving.
Homework will not be collected nor graded. However, you can expect to see similar
problems in quizzes and exams. So doing the homework helps you better prepare the
quizzes and exams. The solutions of homework problems will be posted in Blackboard.
You should try to do the homework problems step-by-step without checking the solutions
in advance. Merely reading the solutions without actually solving the problems will
NOT do you any good in quizzes and exams.

Quizzes
There are two types of quizzes: in-class and on-line. The main purpose of in-class
quizzes is to evaluate students' understanding of the ongoing lectures. They may be held
without notice and only cover the current lectures. There are not make-up in-class
quizzes unless there is a doctor excuse to support your claim.
The on-line quizzes will be held in Blackboard. They cover all class materials including
lectures, textbook, and assignments. The schedule of the on-line quizzes will be
announced in advance. You should do the on-line quizzes alone. You are not allowed to
discuss or disclose the quizzes with others (no matter they have taken the quizzes or not)
until the solutions are posted. Any assistance from others during the quizzes is regarded
as cheating, a severe behavior of academic dishonesty. Make-up quizzes are NOT
available if you miss an on-line quiz.

Intermediate Exams
This is an in-class exam. It covers the class materials and chapters in the textbook taught
up to the date of the last class before the exam.

Final Exam
This is a final comprehensive exam covering all the class lecture materials and chapters
in the textbook taught during the semester. This final exam is optional.

Examination Schedule:
Exam 1: Thursday, February 16
Exam 2: Thursday, March 30
Exam 3: Thursday, May 4
Final: Thursday, May 11 (7:30 p.m.) NOTE: THE FINAL IS OPTIONAL

Grading Policy:
The grade for the course will be based on the scores obtained in the intermediate exams,
quizzes, possibly a final exam, and the attendance. The final exam is optional and its
score will replace the lowest score over all the examinations.
Your final numerical grade is computed as follows:

75 % Exams (The best three examination scores)

20 % Quizzes
5% Attendance

Grades will be assigned using the following scale:

A 90+
B 80-89
C 70-79
D 60-69
F 59 or less

Note: There is no curves, bonus points, extra credit, etc.

Course Policies:
Statement of Academic Integrity
The School of Business Administration upholds honor and academic integrity in all of its teaching,
research, and service activities. All business faculty, staff, and students are charged with the
responsibility to behave with personal and professional integrity and to refrain from dishonorable
conduct.

1. Missed Classes
You are expected to come to class, pay attention, and take good notes. If you miss the class, it is your
responsibility to obtain notes from your classmates or contacting me during my office hours.

2. Missed Exams
A missed exam will result in a score of 0 (zero) for that exam, and THERE ARE NO MAKEUP EXAMS.
However, if you miss one of the intermediate exams, you still have the possibility of doing a final exam in
substitution of the Only ONE Missed Exam (see grading policy for details). Please note the final exam
will be comprehensive covering all materials in the class.

3. Returned Exams
Graded exams will be returned during the following class. Do not discard them once you have looked at
them – they may come handy if there is a discrepancy later on.

4. Academic Dishonesty
Plagiarism and cheating are serious offensive and will be punished according to the M Book.

5. Need for Assistance

If you have any conditions, such as a physical learning disability, which will make it difficult for you to
carry on the class, and if you require academic accommodations, please visit the Office of Student
Disabilities Services as soon as possible.

Note: This is a tentative syllabus and subject to change during the semester.

Course Outline:

Lecture Discussion HW Description

Chapter 1: Operations and
p. 21: 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.12,
1 Productivity
#1 1.13, 1.14
(January 19) Chapter 2: Operations Strategy
p. 48: 2.1, 2.4
in a Global Environment
p. 685: A.3, A.4, A.5, A.6
2 Quantitative Module A: p. 687: A.14, A.15, A.16
#2
(January 26) Decision-Making Tools p. 688: A.17, A.18
On-line Quiz 1
3 p. 91: 3.3, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.11, 3.12,
Chapter 3: Project Manager #3
(February 2) 3.14, 3.15, 3.16
p. 93: 3.17, 3.22
4 Chapter 3: Project Manager
#4 p. 281: 7.5, 7.6, 7.10
(February 9) Chapter 7: Process Strategy
On-line Quiz 2
5 Examination 1
(February 16) (Ch. 1, Ch. 2, Ch. 3, Ch. 7, and Module A)
p. 302: S7.5, S7.6, S7.7,
Supplement 7: Capacity
6 S7.8, S7.11
Planning #5
(February 23) p. 330 : 8.3, 8.4, 8.6, 8.9,
Chapter 8 : Location Strategies
8.16, 8.20 On-line Quiz 3
7 Quantitative Module B: Linear p. 713: B.1, B.2, B.3, B.6,
#6
(March 2) Programming B.7, B.8, B.10, B.11, B.12,
8 Quantitative Module B: Linear p. 716 B.17, B.21, B.22, B.23,
#7
(March 9) Programming B.24, B.26 On-line Quiz 4
March 13-17 Spring Break
p. 506: 12.5, 12.6, 12.7,
9 Chapter 12: Inventory 12.15, 12.17, 12.18,
#8
(March 23) Management 12.24,12.25, 12.26, 12.35,
12.37 On-line Quiz 5
10 Examination 2
(March 30) (Supplement Ch. 7, Ch. 8, Ch. 12, and Module B)
11 Chapter 11: Supply-Chain p. 452: 11.2, 11.3, 11.6,
#9
(April 6) Management 11.8, 11.9, 11.10
12 Supplement 11: E-Commerce p. 469: S11.1, S11.2, S11.4,
# 10
(April 13) and Operations Management S11.7 On-line Quiz 6
Chapter 14: Material p. 579: 14.1, 14.2, 14.3,
13
Requirements Planning (MRP) # 11 14.8, 14.9, 14.23, 14.24
(April 20)
and ERP
Chapter 14: Material
14
Requirements Planning (MRP) On-line Quiz 7
(April 27)
and ERP
15 Examination 3
(May 4) (Ch. 11, Supplement Ch. 11, and Ch. 14)
Final Examination at 7:30 p.m. (Comprehensive)