I. Background:
Operations Management (OM) is an important aspect of business (Slack et al, 2013; Greasley, 2013; Patton et al, 2011). Both service and manufacturing organisations use OM to ensure they are competitive and assist in providing and maintaining good levels of customer service (Johnson et al, 2012). Developing a system of an organisations operation can be advantageous both for both the customer and organisation (Bamford and Forrester, 2010). Subsequently, once a system has been developed and understood it should be possible to determine why the system works well, or not well, and to recommend possible production related improvements that will assist both parties concerned.II. Task:
In this assignment you need to analyse a production system (service or manufacturing based) with which you are familiar. The assignment should address the following questions:
The analyse should focus principally – but not limited – to the functions of the operations in the chosen process
2. Provide a detailed illustration of the key operations involved within your chosen production system presenting a logical operational flow.
drawing a diagram with the main operations in the process and when this is clear you can move on to the other points
3. From the illustration in point two, identify two points where the organisations delivery system may fail to align its operational performance measures, clearly demonstrating your reasoning and understanding behind this.
4. Discuss how a lean approach could be utilised in the production system to potentially reduce the failings discussed in point three.
5. Identify three key findings discussing the extent to which the lean approach chosen may assist the production system with aligning its operational performance measures.III. Format:
1- It should be in a report format, being clearly structured using headings, sub-headings etc.
2- It should be presented using Times New Roman (TNR) 12 font, 1.5 line spacing, and it should be 3,000 words in length. The word count is from the introduction to the end of the conclusion section.
3- You must cite all sources on which you have relied, for example textbooks, journal articles, web pages etc. Please use the Harvard Bibliographic referencing system (Harvard Anglia 2008 style) or (APA style).
4- Please I want this work to be free plagiarism.
IV. Note:
1. Please answering all the questions that addressed in the task.
Might seem obvious, but … it is not. For this particular assignment, with several points clearly identified, they should be easier to follow. Make sure you structure the paper accordingly and address the key points.
You must endeavour to use theory explicitly at all stages, but do not spend too much time describing a theory. While you must be explicit about the theories, models, techniques etc. that you use, you can assume that the reader is familiar with them. What the reader requires is evidence of your ability to understand and apply the theory, and learn from in order to support the development of your findings and/or ideas.
2. Please use a wide literature research (through many in-text references).
Is something that with experience in the field related to the course material sometimes have difficulty with. Simply knowing things from your experience is not enough for a good demonstration of understanding. You have to support your analysis with references to the literature as much as possible.
3. You have complete freedom in the choice of the case study company.
The only limitation I would set is the size of the company. For example, one could not properly discuss the distribution aspect of MacDonalds due to the shear size and complexity involved. Remember that the purpose this assignment is to demonstrate understanding of the discussed concepts. If half the paper is spent describing the company and the processes involved, then there is little remaining for addressing the actual points. One could, for example, limit the discussion to the manufacturing of the food in one MacDonalds shop, instead. This limited scope would allow for a clear discussion addressing all points. You may use International brands as well. Just be sure that you can capture clearly the entire process under the tasks section (point 2).
4. Please do use diagrams, illustrations, tables, graphics etc. wherever these are helpful, and remember that these do not count towards your word limit.
If you do use these, please do not put them in the appendices if they are part of your discussion. Appendices are the appropriate places to put supporting material, however, remember if the reader is satisfied with the main points of your discussion; the supporting information within the appendices may not even be reviewed.
Here are some examples of good uses:
When using a case-study company, instead of placing a 600 words description of the company in the body of the paper, I recommend including only a few sentences that only present the information needed for understanding the analysis, while the long description is placed in the Appendix for the interested reader.
If you have an example table of more than 3 lines (for example, a risk register), then you can place the full table in the Appendix, whereas the body only keeps 2-4 lines that demonstrate the use of that tool.
In general, any material that does not directly contribute value to the paper should be considered for the Appendix section.V. Outline the assignment:
It should follow the following formatting and structuring rules:
1. Abstract section.
2. Introduction – Keep this one short (less than a page). It should set the context of the paper, define the scope of the analysis and give an indication of the structure used.
3. Body of the paper with clear section headings.
4. Conclusion summarizing the main points of the analysis and expressing the understanding gained at the end of the research and report.
5. Appendix sections as needed. The Appendix sections are not included in the word count (3000 words), but they are also not considered as part of the analysis, so you have to be careful about using them.
6. List of References.VI. Marking Criteria
Your assignment will be marked against the following criteria:
1. Evidence of your ability to use Operations Management (OM) theory in order to help you think in a critical way, and to develop an understanding of how key operational decisions are made within the chosen production system. (20%)
2. Evidence of your understanding of how different OM and Lean approaches could contribute to addressing the aim of your assignment. (20%)
3. Evidence of your understanding of the strengths and weaknesses inherent in various OM and Lean approaches in your chosen production system. (15%)
4. Evidence of your understanding of the limitations placed upon the OM and Lean options available to your chosen production system. (20%)
5. Your ability to convey your conclusions and recommendations in a reasoned, supported and credible manner. (15%)
6. Accurate grammatical and economical use of English. A good presentation standard using the report format. Appropriate citation of sources using the Harvard Bibliographic Referencing System. (10%)
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