Operations management
Assume the role of a manager in the operations function of the manufacturing organisation – Rare disease drug production site.
In the most recent top management meeting, the outgoing CEO requested that you write a comprehensive report (of no more than 2500 words) introducing the operations function to the incoming CEO, who is new to the organisation.
She specifically requested that your report consists of three parts.
Part 1 (1000 words)
An overview of operational activities, including:
the type of transformation processes that the organisation performs (including a summary of the order qualifiers and order winners of the resulting products/services)
the key performance objectives of operations
the type of processes and layouts from the perspective of the trade-off between volume and variety
the process technologies that are currently being used in the organisation
the nature of the demand that the organisation faces and the strategy for matching it with the supply
the role of the company and the degree of collaboration in the wider supply chain.
Part 2 (500 words)
An articulated explanation of how the operations function contributes to the value creation process of the organisation from at least three distinct perspectives.
Draw on the value-creating perspectives including:
value chains (Michael Porter’s)
value-based management
systems thinking
real options theory
bureaucratic theory.
Part 3 (1000 words)
Provide a summary of the core challenges that the operations function faces, why it faces these challenges and, based on that summary, a well-argued proposal for one improvement accompanied by a strategy for implementation.
