DALMINE
Overview
Date/time interval
Syllabus
Course Objectives
Operations Management (OM) is considered as the process of planning, implementing and improving a manufacturing system. The production of goods or the supply of services requires a complex series of transformation processes: from the procurement of raw materials, the manufacturing of components, the assembly of the finished products, to the distribution of the products along the supply chain until the sale to the customer. OM is in charge of coordinating all these separate processes in the most effective and efficient way.
In this context, the OM course (6 CFU module) aims to provide students of the graduate program in Management Engineering with an understanding of the issues related to the management of Operations and to apply Operations Management concepts, methodologies, and tools to optimize the manufacturing processes in terms of continuous improvement.
By the end of the course, students will:
- Understand the main concepts related to Business Process Management
- Understand and apply methods and tools to analyse, model and simulate operations processes and evaluate improvement scenarios: BPMN 2.0, Value Stream Mapping, Discrete event simulation
- Understand and apply the main lean production concepts and techniques: 5S, SMED, Jidoka, TPM, Heijunka, Kanban.
The course contributes to the educational goals of the graduate programs of the technological-industrial area, in particular regarding process analysis and operations management in industrial companies.
Course Prerequisites
Basics of Production Management.
Teaching Methods
Lectures aim to introduce and discuss the methods and the principles of management outlined in the objectives of the course.
The course material consists mainly of the slides available on the course page on the e-learning portal. The slides are complemented with further readings from the recommended books in the bibliography. The slides serve as a support to the classroom discussion: therefore, during the discussion in the classroom, further details not present on the slides may be provided.
During the semester, seminars held by industrial experts will be organized in order to improve the comprehension of the theoretical concepts and understand how they can be applied in a real environment. For the same purpose, an industrial visit will be organized.
The password to access the material published on the course e-learning portal is communicated during the first lecture of the course. If unable to attend the first lesson, please contact the professor by e-mail.
Assessment Methods
The evaluation consists of a written exam (approximately 1,5 hours long) and an oral exam. The written exam usually includes 10 true or false questions, 1 or 2 essay questions and 2 exercises. The written exam mark can be up to 30/30. During the exam is forbidden to use the lecture material (notes, books, slides, etc.). If the mark of the written exam is at least 18/30, students are allowed to attend the oral exam. The oral test will have a maximum grade of 30/30, through the development and discussion of a case study related to the main topics of the course. The text of the assignment will be provided to the students during the semester. The home take assignment must be prepared in groups of max 3 people. The assignment discussion takes place in ad hoc sessions organized during / at the end of the semester (in this case the evaluation mark is valid for 1 year) or during the oral sessions that take place after having successfully passed the written exam. Usually, the oral discussion is organized 1 week after the written exam. The discussion lasts around 30 minutes for each assignment. The assignment is evaluated with a mark. The final mark of the oral exam is given by the arithmetic average of the assignments’ marks. If the oral examination is failed, the result of the written exam is cancelled.
HOME-TAKE ASSIGNMENT The home-take assignment is related to a specific part of the course. The home-take assignment can be discussed in a special session organized during/at the end of the semester or during the oral exam. The students are required to provide a presentation for the assignment and to upload it on the e-learning portal one week before the written exam. The students cannot upload the assignment after the deadline. The calendar with the deadlines will be uploaded to the e-learning portal. The assignment preparation favours the acquisition of the course concepts through their application to real cases and numerical examples; it also fosters the acquisition of communication and team-working skills. The assignments evaluation marks are published on the e-learning portal.
The final result is the average of the grades of the written and oral exams.
The exam structure is the same for attending and non-attending students. The final mark of the integrated exam is calculated as an arithmetic average of the marks.
Contents
Operations Strategy
- Define and explain the importance of Operations strategy
- Align Operations strategy with business objectives
Business Process Management (BPM)
- Describe the fundamental concepts of Business Process Management
- Apply a systemic approach to managing business processes
- Use methodologies and tools to qualitatively and quantitatively analyze Operations processes
Process Modeling
- Describe methods and techniques to model Operations processes
- Identify critical points and inefficiencies in processes
- Use BPMN to represent processes
- Use VSM to represent processes
Discrete Event Simulation
- Introduce discrete event simulation
- Apply methods and tools to simulate processes
- Use simulations to optimize workflows and evaluate performance
Principles of Lean Production
- Describe the fundamental concepts and principles of Lean Production
- Eliminate waste and continuously improve processes
- Apply lean principles to optimize processes
Kaizen
- Define and explain the general concepts of Kaizen
- Implement the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) and SDCA (Standardize-Do-Check-Act) cycles for continuous improvement
- Manage ideas, promote versatility and multi-skilling in Kaizen practice
Lean Production: Value Stream Mapping and Optimization Techniques
- Use Value Stream Mapping to analyze and optimize value streams
- Apply SMED (Single-Minute Exchange of Die), 5S, TPM (Total Productive Maintenance), and Autoquality techniques to optimize processes
Production Indicators
- Define and use production indicators
- Measure Operations performance through key indicators
- Use indicators to monitor progress and make decisions
Online Resources
More information
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