Dr. John Butler
Visiting Assistant Professor of Information and Operations Management
Office: GWH 550
Phone: 504-865-5442
e-mail: jbutler5@tulane.edu

Office Hours:  Tuesday and Thursday from 2:00 – 3:00 pm and by appointment (please e-mail your appointment requests by email and provide a few alternative time suggestions).

Texts:

1. Operations Management for Competitive Advantage, Chase, Jacobs, Aquilano, Eleventh Edition, 2006, McGraw Hill.
2. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement, E.M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox.

Course Description:
Businesses create competitive advantage through excellence in operations management.  In this class we will study several key topics concerning management of production of goods and services.  We will need a review of statistics to better understand forecasting and ways of dealing with uncertainty in inventory control, project management and statistical quality control.  We will approach the class under the broad umbrella of supply chain management and start with a look at the reasons for and ways of balancing inventories.  We will emphasize the importance of product design, process selection, and layout decisions.  We will learn how to utilize the information in a bill of materials to create material requirements plans, what to expect in a just in time production environment, and how to make decisions whether to produce in-house or outsource.  Throughout the semester we will achieve a balance between understanding the strategic/tactical issues and learning the methodologies that help us optimize day to day decisions.

Integrity Ground Rules:
The provisions of the Freeman School Code of Academic Integrity (see BSM Handbook) apply to all work submitted for a grade in this course.

Disability:
Any student with a disability should request accommodations through the University’s Office of Disability Services (ODS) as soon as possible.  Unless you deliver the approved accommodation form to me, I will not know about your needs and will have no basis for providing the needed accommodations.

Grading:

	Percentage
Assignments 1-4 (individual)	20%
Book Quiz on The Goal	5%
Tests 1 & 2	60%
Final Project (team)	10%
In-class participation	5%

All testing is in-class and closed book.  You may only take a test at the assigned date and time for your section.  There will be no make-ups during the semester; all make-ups will take place during the Final Exam period.

Assignments:
Assignments are a good way to study for the tests.  You may seek help as you solve the assignments and study in teams, but turn in an individual copy for grading purposes.  I will not accept team or late assignments (due the beginning of the class as posted in the schedule).  I will drop your lowest assignment grade at the end of the semester.

Book Quiz:
This is an in-class closed book (and a very easy) quiz to understand your comprehension of the Goal.  The quiz will be at the start of the class before the general discussion of the book.  If you miss this quiz you will make it up during the first exam.

Tests:
Two tests are scheduled as shown in the tentative class schedule.  The Max(Test1,Test2) will be given a weight of 33%; Min(Test1,Test2) will be given a weight of 27%.  It is in your best interest to take the tests as scheduled.  If you miss a test during the semester you will take a make-up test during the scheduled final exam period, not earlier.  There will be no exceptions.  There will be no need to bring any doctor’s reports or any other valid excuse if you miss only one test.  If you miss both tests you’ll need to seek permission to take the make-up tests.

Final Project:
The teams will be assigned by the instructor early in the semester.  You will choose a business and learn how this business applies the concepts we’ll be studying throughout the semester.  If any concept is not relevant to the particular business you choose, you’ll be free to find examples from the Wall Street Journal or any other source.  Further guidelines are provided at the end of this syllabus.

In-class participation:
Your attendance and cooperation during the in-class exercises will determine 5% of your final grade.

The following table provides the preliminary guidelines for assigning your letter grade.  There will be a curve only if necessary and only after all work is completed.  There will not be a reverse curve.
 

Grade	A	A-	B+	B	B-	C+	C	C-	D+	D	D-
	4.00	3.67	3.33	3.00	2.67	2.33	2.00	1.67	1.33	1.00	0.67
Cutoff Percentage	95%	90%	87%	83%	80%	77%	73%	70%	67%	63%	60%

TENTATIVE Course Schedule and Downloadable Powerpoint Files
Click here for Tuesday/Thursday Classes
Click here for Wednesday Evening Class

FINAL PROJECT

Use single spaced, Times New Roman 12 font with 1” margins, include page numbers in the document and the Table of Contents, and submit electronically.

Table of Contents
Executive Summary
A. Introduction to the Company (Products, Markets)
B. Competitive Priority Analysis (Relative positioning on price, quality, speed of delivery/delivery reliability, product variety/customization, order winners/qualifiers—Chapter 2)
C. Supply Chain of the company (Identification of the key suppliers, and customers, relative power positioning of the company in its supply chain, recent outsourcing/vertical integration/global sourcing/supplier management/mass customization experiences or considerations, functional versus innovative products, efficient versus responsive supply chain—Chapter 10)
D. Project Management in the Company (ask the Review and Discussion questions 1 and 2 on page 97, and report the answers—Chapter 3)
E. Process Analysis (Identify the process flow structure and layout type of the company, ask where the company is on the product process matrix, ask how the company could improve its processes and/or layout, and identify what is meant by improvement (Better quality? Faster production? Increased productivity?)—Chapter 6, Technical Note 6, and Chapter 7)
F. Quality Management (Is the company ISO 9000 certified, what are some of the quality related performance measures used, how does the company assess and assure quality, which quality tools are used, is statistical process control applied, if so provide some details, is the interviewee familiar with six sigma concepts, are there any green or black belts in the company, is there an ongoing six sigma project—Chapter 8, and Technical note 8)
G. Alignment of Supply and Demand (What rules/forecasting procedures are used to manage demand, push or pull system, if push system is used what is the current status of supply versus demand balance—Chapter 13)
H. Lean Production (Evidence and/or applicability of just-in-time principles, the nature of relationships with suppliers, would lean be hard to implement—Chapter 12)
I. Inventory Management (How does ABC inventory analysis apply in this company, how does the company manage its inventories, what procedures are applied, how does the inventory levels compare to the best in class in this industry, how many SKUs, current service levels, target service levels, current safety stock, target safety stocks, current inventory turnover, target inventory turnover—Chapter 15)
J. Material Requirements Planning (How does the company handle MRP, what software is used—Chapter 16)
K. Theory of Constraints (What is the bottleneck for the company, is it well-identified and is it optimized—The Goal)
L. Potential Improvement Projects (Your contribution based on your assessment of the company)
M. Conclusions
Bibliography and/or References
Appendices