MBA Update: Operations and Supply Chain Management

I finished my latest two classes in the MBA program in October. One class was on operations and supply chain management.

Course Description

This course provides students with a fundamental understanding of manufacturing and service operations and their role in the organization and in the supply chain. Operations is THE central function of any enterprise. Without operations, businesses have nothing to offer, organizations have nothing to do. Efficient, smooth-running, responsive operations are a great competitive weapon in the battlefield for market share and customer loyalty. All other functions are shaped by and to some extent shape operations.

Goals

• Understand the process for making rational productions and operations management decisions within a systems framework, under uncertainty, and considering POM relationships with other functional areas of the total enterprise or supply chain.
• Use appropriate methods to monitor and control production and service processes within an entire organization.
• Become acquainted with the methodology needed for understanding variation in production and service processes, and of the importance of managing variation, in order to improve these processes in analytic studies.

Books and Case Studies

Harvard Business Publishing Core Curriculum:

• Designing, Managing, and Improving Operations
• Managing Inventory
• Process Analysis
• Strategic Sourcing
• Managing Quality
• Forecasting

Darden Publishing: Introduction to Supply Chain Management

Samsung Electronics Case Study

A Few Lessons

• Processes and Operations
• Designing, Managing, and Improving Operations
• Managing Quality
• Quality Management Tools
• Forecasting for Planning and Management
• Managing Inventory
• Strategic Sourcing
• Supply Chain Management

The final paper was on the difference between responsive supply chains and efficient supply chains.

I started an online MBA at Montclair State University in January 2017 and will graduate in February 2019.