Operations and
Quality
Individual
Assignments
Classes 1
through 4
Class 1 ---- Class 2 ---- Class 3 ---- Class 4
Class 1 / Rapid
Fire Fulfillment
In your
paper address these questions:
·
What
is Zara’s strategy regarding utilization of manufacturing capacity and labor,
and various types of inventories?
·
How
does Zara differ from other competitors regarding how it is organized? Why is Zara
organized the way that it is?
·
Discuss
the advantages and disadvantages of Zara’s strategy and how it differs from
other prevailing strategies?
·
To
what extent does the strategy work and under what conditions would you
recommend that other companies use the Zara model?
Class 2
/ Breaking
the Tradeoff Between Efficiency And Service
In your paper address these questions:
·
What underlying issue(s) create the situation where a trade-off between
efficiency and service is called for?
·
How does variability affect services more than manufacturing operations?
·
Discuss the logic underlying the various options portrayed in the box
"Overcoming the trade-off"
·
Choose an example from you experience and evaluate it in terms of the
type(s) of variability and using the cost/quality trade-off, the way the
organization in question addressed the solution.
Class 3
/ When Your Contract Manufacturer Becomes Your Competitor
·
To what extent are contract manufacturers a risk to OEMs?
·
Discuss some of the strategies mentioned in the paper for OEMs to deal
with this risk, and evaluate how effective you think they are.
·
Choose a product that is a "private label" brand made by a
contract manufacturer and contrast it with a "standard brand" product
of the same type along cost, quality, and other dimensions that you feel are
relevant.
Class 4 / Fixing Health Care from the
Inside, Today
In your paper address these questions:
·
The article at times emphasizes implementing common problem-solving
processes, rather than common solutions.
Discuss each regarding the pros and cons. Why is the "process" approach more
effective?
·
What are some "negatives" about a "work around
culture" of problem solving? How
does applying some of the TPS concepts address there?
·
The article discusses the Model Line Approach. What is it and describe briefly how you might
apply it at an organization where you work or with which you are familiar?