ASHFORD BUS 644 Entire Course (Operations Management)

ASHFORD BUS 644 Entire Course
(Operations Management)
Business – General Business
Ethical Issues and Operations. Ethical behavior is a corporate issue that affects the
company’s bottom line. How do ethical issues impact organizations and
operations? Include an example seen in the workplace, in the news, etc. that
relates to real-life situations. Your initial post should be at least 200-250
words.
Business Processes. Why are the following business processes important? Which
process do you feel is most important? Explain your reasoning.
a. Strategy development
b. Product development
c. Systems to produce goods and services

d. Order fulfillment
Your initial post should include
real life situations and be at least 200-250 words.
Midas. Read the “Midas” case study in Chapter 2 of your text.
Answer questions 1through 4 in a two- to- four page paper in accordance with APA
guidelines as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Your paper should be in
paragraph form (avoid the use of bullet points), and supported with the
concepts outlined in your text. Provide at least two scholarly sources from the
Ashford University Library or other external sources, excluding the textbook.
Do not include the original questions of the assignment in the paper.
a. What are the anticipated impacts
upon operating efficiency? How would you attempt to minimize the negative
impacts?
b. Should some operating practices
be changed to accommodate the tune-ups?
c. Should input be gathered from the
shop owners? If so, what?
d. If Midas decides to launch this
new program, how should it begin?
Carefully review the Grading Rubric
for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.
Productivity. Many times trade-offs are necessary to increase
productivity. What are important trades-offs involving the inputs to
productivity? Your initial post should include real life situations and be at
least 200-250 words.
Product Design and Quality. What important organizational activities enable a firm to
build quality into its products? Explain each of these along with its benefits.
Your initial post should include examples and be at least 200-250 words.
Memorial Hospital. Read the “Memorial Hospital” case study in Chapter 4 of
your text. Answer questions 1- 4 in a two- to- four (2-4) page paper in
accordance with APA guidelines as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Your
paper should be in paragraph form (avoid the use of bullet points), and
supported with the concepts outlined in your text. Provide at least two
scholarly sources from the Ashford University Library or other external
sources, excluding the textbook. Do not include the original questions of the
assignment in the paper.
a. Discuss some ways that a hospital
might measure quality.
b. What are the potential costs of
quality for Memorial Hospital? How could the value of a human life be included?

c. Are there any ideas or techniques
from TQM that Janice could use to help Memorial focus on providing quality
health care?
d. What measures could Memorial use
to assess the quality of health care it is providing?
Carefully review the Grading Rubric
for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment
Suppliers. Should a firm attempt to have fewer or more suppliers?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach? Your initial post
should be 200-250 words.
Forecasting Methods. Read Problem 6 in Chapter 6 of your textbook. Calculate
and answer parts a through d. Include all calculations and spreadsheets in your
post. Explain why the moving average method was used instead of another
forecasting method. What might be another forecasting method that could prove
to be just as useful? Your initial post should be 200-250 words.
Outsourcing. Outsourcing, especially to low labor-cost countries, has
grown substantially. What are the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing?
Include and describe a product or service of a specific low labor-cost country
as an example. Include a recommendation/conclusion based on the research.
Answer the question in a two to four (2-4) page in accordance with APA
guidelines as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Provide at least two (2)
scholarly sources from the Ashford Library or other external sources, excluding
the textbook. Your paper should be in paragraph form (avoid the use of bullet
points), and supported with the concepts outlined in your text. Do not include
the original questions of the assignment in the paper.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric
for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.
Process Selection: Product Design
and Capacity. How is process selection related to
product design and capacity determination? Your initial post should be 200-250
words.
Monique Food Processing Company and
Capacity. Read Problem 6: The “Monique Food
Processing Company” in Chapter 8 of your text.
Monique Food Processing Company
produces light snacks that can be heated in a microwave. The following steps
are included in the process: Steps
Description
Capacity (Units/Hour)
Beck Manufacturing and Plant
Capacity. Read the “Beck Manufacturing” case
study in Chapter 8 of your text. Answer questions one through three in a two-
to- four page paper in accordance with APA guidelines as outlined in the
Ashford Writing Center.
a. Calculate the capacity of each
machine center and the capacity of the system.
b. If Beck wants to expand capacity,
where should he focus the company’s efforts? How much extra capacity can he get
without causing another operation to become the bottleneck?
c. How may Mr. Beck expand capacity
without purchasing new equipment? Be specific.
Your paper should be in paragraph
form (avoid the use of bullet points), and supported with any formulas,
calculations, and concepts outlined in your text. Do not include the original
questions of the assignment in the paper.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric
for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.
Materials Requirements (MRP)
Inventory and Customer Service.
Explain how MRP can decrease a company’s inventory while improving its customer
service level. Include a real-life example. Your initial post should be 200-250
words.
Perpetual versus Periodic
Inventory Systems. Describe the perpetual and the periodic inventory
systems. How are they different? Are there circumstances in which one system is
better than the other? Include real-life examples. Your initial post should be
200-250 words.
Alliance Supermarket and
Point-of-Sale (POS) Systems. Read the
“Alliance Supermarket” case study in Chapter 10 of your text. In a two- to-
four page paper, answer questions 1 & 2 in accordance with APA guidelines
as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
Alliance Supermarkets
Alliance Supermarkets has been using
a point-of-sale (POS) system for some time to track its inventory. The system
uses a laser scanner to read the universal product code (UPC) on each item at
the checkout container. The UPC is a number that uniquely identifies the
product on which it appears. Currently, Alliance is using the UPC information
to update inventory records for each item. Although the system has greatly
improved the company’s ability to replenish inventory promptly, the company
still has some problems. For example, sudden changes in demand for a particular
item can catch the company by surprise as it bases inventory replenishment on
historical demand patterns. Further, demand patterns and preferences may vary
from one store to another depending on the customers served by each, but the
inventory system groups all demand information together and treat each store
equally. Finally, the manufacturers that make the products stocked by Alliance
Supermarkets are always pressuring Alliance to help them target appropriate
customers for special promotions and sales.
The chief information officer (CIO)
of Alliance realizes that much more could probably be done with the data
collected from its POS system. For example, the company could analyze the
relationship between each product’s sales and weather patterns. It is even
possible to analyze an individual customer’s buying habits and identify
instances when a customer may be persuaded to try a different brand of a
certain product.
Suppose you have been asked to study
this situation and suggest possible new and innovative uses for the information
generated by the POS system. Ideally, these ideas should help Alliance better
serve its customers by ensuring that adequate quantities of each item are
available, that costs are kept low, and that customers are made aware of new
products that may interest them.
a. What information may help
Alliance reduce costs while providing better service?
b. If purchase information can be
obtained on individual customers, what new approach could be used by Alliance?
Your paper should be in paragraph
form (avoid the use of bullet points), and supported with the concepts outlined
in your text. Do not include the original questions of the assignment in the
paper.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric
for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.
Just-in-Time (JIT) Inventories. Choose companies or industries for which JIT would be
totally inappropriate? Explain your reasoning with examples in 200-250 words.
Scheduling Procedures. Categorize different scheduling procedures for various
types of service operations, such as restaurants, hospitals, and airlines. Your
initial post should include explanations and examples and be 200-250 words.
Focus of the Final Paper
Read the “Space Age Furniture
Company” case study in Chapter 9 of your text. Answer the following questions:
and include any MRP calculations.
1. What options are open to Coral to
address this problem?
2. How would reducing the minimum
quantity of subassemblies help?
3. What are the costs of carrying
excess items in inventory at each stage?
4. What is the trade-off between
overtime costs and inventory costs?
5. Which type(s) of production
processing – job shop, batch, repetitive, or continuous – is the primary mode
of operation? Explain.
6. In what ways could management
keep track of job status and location during production?
7. Can you suggest any changes that
might be beneficial to the company or add value for the customer? What are
they?
The purpose of the Final Case is for
you to culminate the learning achieved in the course by describing your
understanding and application of knowledge in the field of operations
management. The paper should integrate Readings and Resources and class
discussions into work and life experiences. It may include explanation and
examples from previous events as well as implications for future applications.
Guidelines for Writing the Final
Paper
Readdress the concept and the
experience with critical thought. That is, what is your response to the
content, either positive or negative, and then defend your position. If
multiple options/alternatives/positions are present and are being rejected you
must also defend the reasons for rejecting an option.