Logistics and operations management

PROF. VALERIA BELVEDERE; PROF. GERALD REINER

COURSE AIMS The course aims at outlining the contribution of logistics and operations management to corporate competitiveness. During this course students will learn how and why the design of the product itself and of its production process can drive such performances as quality, speed, flexibility and cost-effectiveness, which most organizations rely on to achieve and sustain their market success. The course will first focus on product design, discussing the main practices and tools that can lead toward a more effective and efficient new product development process. Namely, the course will focus on those practices suitable for managing the trade- off between product’s innovativeness and its efficient production. Then, the course will address the design, management and improvement of the production process. Building on the strategic alignment approach, students will learn how to choose appropriate priorities in the design and management of the operating system of a company. Then, they will learn how to carry out an assessment of its current performance and to identify improvement priorities. Lastly, the course will address the most relevant practices suitable for achieving improvement targets. Preliminaries: Students must be familiar with the basics of corporate strategy and organization.

COURSE CONTENT  The strategic role of Innovation and Operations in manufacturing and service companies  Overview of the New Product Development Process: main stages and managerial approaches  “Design for” techniques  Production processes’ typologies  Overview of the design decisions of an operating system  Process analysis  Technology as a lever for process innovation  Process improvement. Overview of the most relevant approaches:  Lean Management  Six Sigma  Theory of Constraints  Supply Chain Management  Sustainable Operations Management

READING LIST Attending students A list of mandatory and optional readings will be available after each class on the Blackboard. Non attending students J.R. MEREDITH-S.M. SHAFER, Operations Management – fourth edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2011.

TEACHING METHOD The teaching method will be highly interactive. For each core topic of the course a case- study or a simulation will be used, according to a “learning by doing” approach. Furthemore, site-visits to companies as well as the presence of guest speakers will let the students directly experience the implementation of up-to-date practices and to discuss them with executives from both operations departments and innovation/design ones.

ASSESSMENT METHOD Attending students The final grade will be determined as follows:  70%: grade of the final written exam, which will consist of both open questions and multiple-choice ones;  30%: grades of the groups’ assignments. Non-Attending students Final wrtitten exam, which will consist of both open questions and multiple-choice ones referred to the textbook.

NOTES The course will be taught in English.