20 Aug Q1.1 You are interviewed for the OM manager job in a small manufacturing company producing car components. Can you tell the CEO how you will contribute to her business on this post?

Q1.1 You are interviewed for the OM manager job in a small manufacturing company producing car components. Can you tell the CEO how you will contribute to her business on this post?

Q1.2 What is the process view of OM and how will the view help manage an airport in the future?

Q1.3 “OM concepts that were developed from the traditional manufacturing context are less useful in service operations”. Do you agree with the above statement? If yes, why? If no, why you don’t?

Q2.1 How can the Hayes and Wheelwright framework be used to explain operations’ contribution to the

overall competitiveness of a company?

Q2.2 Identify three generic operations performance objectives and explain critical trade-offs between these objectives. Support your answer with examples.

Q2.3 How to formulate operations strategies with the help of generic performance objectives?

Q3.1 Identify three types of operations systems along the volume-variety spectrum, and discuss their implications for layout decisions, technology requirements, staff training and product design.

Q3.2 Why do companies engage with global network operations? Support your answer with examples.

Q3.3 What are the essential elements of the concept of global network operations? How can these elements be used to guide decision making for manufacturing in the future?

Q4.1 Explain the concept of capacity management and provide three methods of managing demand-supply mismatches. Support

your answer with examples.

Q4.2 Identify three sequencing rules for operations planning and control and discuss how to choose between them.

Q4.3 Why is supply chain management important? How can supplier selection and relationship management benefit a focal company?

Q5.1 Explain the concept of servitisation and discuss how a company can improve its innovation capabilities through

servitisation.

Q5.2 Identify three essential elements of innovation and explain how these elements can be managed in a structured way. Support your answer with examples.

Q5.3 How can companies adopt the concept of Concurrent Engineering (Collaborative Engineering/Global Engineering Networks) to enhance their innovation performance?

Q6.1 Identify three core concepts of lean operations and elaborate their relevance to a manufacturing example and a service example.

Q6.2 “In a lean initiative, we should not focus on specific waste elimination tasks without having a synchronised flow of

value creation processes.” Do you agree with the above statement? If yes, why? If no, why not?

Q6.3 How can the concept of KAIZEN be used to achieve continuous improvement in lean operations? Support your

answer with examples.

Q7.1

Explain the concept of flexibility in operations

management and identify key dimensions of supply chain

flexibility.

Q7.2 How can managers cope with uncertainty for flexible operations? Support your answer with a manufacturing

example and a service example.

Q7.3 “Managers can adopt the concepts of agility and leanness at the same time in a supply chain.” Do you agree with the above statement? If yes, how? If no, why not?

Q8.1 Discuss implications of the triple bottom line (TBL) framework in sustainable operations.

Q8.2 How can managers cope with trade-offs between the environmental and economic performance requirements of sustainable supply chain management?

Q8.3 How can managers achieve green operations through building capabilities in supply chain flexibility? Support your answer with examples.