Maryland International College

School of Graduate Studies

Operations Management Assignment (50%)

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Full Name (including your Grandfather’s name) :……………………………………

General Instruction

1. Cheating is strictly forbidden.

2. Submission deadline: August 1/2021
3. Send your answers via the email: micmbaom@gmail.com

Good Luck!!
Pick a company with which you are familiar (preferably the one you wrote about for your first
paper), either by working for it or by a close family member working for it. Write a paper about it
with the following sections:

1. Introduction - Give a brief overview of the company including its product or services,
location, history.
2. Product - Describe the product or product mix or service in more detail.
a. What created the opportunity for your product or service?
b. Do you make or buy your product or service? (yes, services can be purchased think
temporaries, independent truck drivers, etc.) Explain.
c. What issues are involved in the design of your product or service? Environmental
issues, robust design, value analysis, modular, manufacturability, etc.
d. Where is the product or service in its life cycle?
3. Process - If your process is very complex, give an overview. Point out any bottlenecks in
your process.
a. Is your process product focus, repetitive, process focus or something else. Explain.
b. If a service, discuss customer interaction and process strategy
c. Discuss any environmental issues involved in your process.
d. Discuss technology used in your process.
e. Discuss the information systems that support your process.
f. Give a history of improvements to your process (e.g. look at lean manufacturing).
g. Discuss any issues that pertain to capacity. What determines capacity for your
process? How do you deal with uneven demand?
4. Location - Explain why your business is located where it is. Discuss issues pertinent to its
location.
5. Layout - What type of layout (the production flow) does your company have? What is the
rationale behind the layout? Show a diagram. How can it be improved?
6. Human Resources - What is your company’s human resource strategy? What are the
constraints?
a. Does your company have a stable workforce or does it chase demand?
b. Describe work scheduling at your company.
c. Does your company have work classifications? If so, describe.
d. Discuss job design at your company. You should illustrate with an example. In
your example, talk about the core job characteristics and how they are met by the
example job. Discuss job enlargement, rotation, enrichment, empowerment, and/or
teams if applicable.
e. Give an overview of compensation and incentives at your company. This does not
mean to give numbers which are confidential. It does mean to describe whether
employees are compensated by the hour, piecework, commission, knowledge, or
salary and whether there is an incentive plan such as profit sharing or gain sharing.
Does the compensation/incentive plan motivate the employees? Critique the plan.
f. What does your company do to fit the job to the worker (ergonomics)?
g. Describe your company’s safety program.
h. Discuss working conditions at your company.
i. Does your company use visual signals/aids for communication as described in the
visual workplace section? If so, describe.
7. Supply-Chain Management –
a. What is the supply chain strategy for your company?
b. How is vendor selection/purchasing handled?
c. Discuss how the supply chain is managed.
d. Discuss materials management/distribution.
e. Is e-commerce applied in any form?
8. Summarize by linking these strategies to your mission and goals. You may make
recommendations for improvements.