Students should select an organisation (which you have access to) and work throu gh thefollowing questions relating

to operations within the organisation. Studen ts should write areport (using the headings below as a guide) discussing the ope rations of the organisation,and making recommendations for improvement. We have suggested some questions to consider under each heading but these are no texhaustive topics (and you may discuss other things you see as being important) . We wouldadvise that you adopt a reasonably formal style and structure for your report. Include anexecutive summary and conclusions and recommendations.Student s should note that they do not need to look at an entire company but instead may decide to focus on a particular business unit or operation. For example the grou p want to lookat a large international company but only have access to one part of the organisation thisis perfectly acceptable (but you may wish to discuss thi s with your lecturer/counsellor beforestarting).Operations Strategy Discuss the operations strategy of your chosen organisation. Does your chosenorganisation ha ve a clear operations strategy? How does the operationsstrategy support or compl ement the business strategy? How has the operationsstrategy developed and change d in recent years? If the organisation doesn thave an operations strategy can you help them broadly define an operationsstrategy or give them guidance on what the y should do to develop one?Product & Service DesignDiscuss the products and serv ices offered by your chosen organisation. Do theytarget the same markets or do t hey have different offerings catering to differentmarkets? What operations chall enges does the product/service mix pose? Canyou see evidence of effective screen ing processes? How good is theorganisation at developing products and services? If appropriate discuss theproduct or service design process. Who else is involve d in product and servicedesign (e.g. suppliers, customers, retailers)? Do they m easure the impact of design and new product development?Process DesignDiscuss th e processes within your chosen organization. From your reading of chapter 4 of t he Operations Management course notes and other backgroundreading, consider whet her or not alternative approaches might lead toimprovements in the performance o f the organisation. After reading chapter 7,can you comment on the layout of ret ail outlets or manufacturing facilitiesbelonging to the organisation? How would you go about helping the organizationto make improvements? Can you comment on th e use of technology?Planning & Control Outline the types of short and long term planning that are carried out in theorganisation. Is demand dependent or indepen dent? How appropriate is their approach to forecasting? How could they improve? Critically discuss theorganisation s approaches to scheduling, loading and sequenc ing whereappropriate. If appropriate discuss capacity management. How does theor ganisation cope with fluctuations in demand? What alternatives might be opento t hem? Is technology used to support these activities? Do you think there isadequa te feedback and control?Innovation and improvement How does the company encourag e innovation? Is innovation something that ismanaged? Outline some of the tools for improvement that you wouldrecommend as being appropriate for your organisati on and explain how theycould be implemented. Would you say the organisation is l ean or agile? Supply ChainOutline the supply chain of the organisation (or part of it), includ ing purchasing,physical distribution management and materials management. How is IT used tosupply chain management? Outline how the supply chain might be improv ed.Quality Management Discuss the costs of quality as they apply in your chosen organisation. How arequality problems diagnosed? How could the company improve t heir approach toquality management? Does the organisation have a formal quality system?Would this be appropriate?Before getting started on your assignment, a fe w things to consider .You might feel tempted to answer some of the questions based on common sense but I wouldurge you not to do this. We are looking for you to d emonstrate achievement of the learningoutcomes for this module (through the assi gnment). Please do keep this in mind and try todemonstrate understanding and app lication of theory, tools and techniques covered during thelectures (and from di rected reading).The maximum word count can be calculated as follows (+/- 10%):In dividual assignment = 2,500 words2 people in group 2,500 plus 1250 = 3750 words3 people in group 2,500 plus 1250 plus 625 = 4,375 words4 people in group 2,500 p

lus 1250 plus 625 plus 312 = 4,687 words