Practice Operations Summary Report

How To Write The Paper
You will need to spend some time thinking about how you will organize the paper and then how to create a presentation that will clearly summarize and support the paper. You need to write this paper in APA-format (Links to an external site.). You already know how to do this.
In addition to the sections listed below, you must have a title page and a citations page. You should have at least seven citations referenced. Your book and your Practice Operations student manual are two references so you need to find at least five (5) more. They should be from reputable resources: peer-reviewed articles are great, well-respected journals, books, etc. can be referenced. Websites and blogs may be referenced but be sure they are reputable and can withstand scrutiny.
Methods to search for reputable sources for citations
While you may use your favorite internet search engine (Google, Bing, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Safari, etc.), your My Ivy account has a “Library” link. Through that Library you can search for reputable articles.
Also, you will find contact information for your librarians at your campus. Contact them and ask for help. Before you contact them, be sure to choose from the lists above what it is you want to research.
Your book has references in each chapter to other books, studies, articles, etc.. These may be great resources you can use for your paper.
*** A good rule of thumb is to find three (3) times as many resources as you need. Thus, for the five (5) additional sources beyond your book and the Practice Operations student manual, you need to find 15 publications, from which you will choose the five (5) that best represent the information you want to utilize. ***
The executive summary takes the place of the abstract.
The paper should be broken down into six (6) sections (in addition to the title and citations pages), as follows:
Section 1: Practice Operations Executive Summary.
In this section you will summarize the role of the Operations Manager in Practice Operations. You will succinctly describe your overall role as Operations Manager and how you could or did impact your firm’s overall metrics (GA, NW, OT%, Rep, and even Account Balance). This will take some organization, critical thinking, and an ability to synthesize and summarize (succinctly) all of the skills and areas of knowledge you addressed / applied / learned through Practice Operations. You could take the list above and prioritize them. You could group them. You could write some notes to yourself about each. You could think about how you currently, or in the past, apply these skills. There are a number of ways to think about and organize this section. Study the following ideas, questions, and thought-starters to help you in your research, organization, and actual writing of the paper and presentation:
1. What aspects in the skills / area list seem to be like those one would see in an actual operation? Which do not?
2. If you think of a different kind of operation, a restaurant for example, would you still have to understand and apply these skills / areas? Why or why not? Other examples include hospital emergency rooms, a large retail store such as Kroger or Walmart, software development, financial services, and more.
3. The metrics Goal Achieved, Net Worth, On-Time Percentage, Reputation, and Account Balance are used to assess a student’s performance in the simulation. Chart each area of the facility (you can use this ppt file to capture your thoughts
Actions
) and ask how each area of the operation affects each of these outcomes and how? For example, the Reputation score is a function of quality of product delivered, if the product is delivered to the customer on time, and customer service. In order to achieve the maximum customer satisfaction score for quality, our material quality must be 10 points or higher than the customer’s expected quality. Also, if we do not get the material from the supplier in time to produce and ship it, we will not ship on time. This will affect reputation (and perhaps shipping costs). So we know that how we order materials is important to reputation.
4. Are there products we should try to produce? Why? If we assume we do not want to produce unprofitable products, what other situations exist where we might not want to bid on a product or to produce and ship it?
5. Hiring, training, and, potentially, laying off people is a serious subject. What affects a decision to hire a particular individual? When would or should we train someone? Are there areas where training has little or no impact? Are there areas where training has a large impact? How do star levels affect an area? Are there times you might hire someone knowing you might have to or are likely to lay them off later?
6. Is there an optimal level for each machine in production? What are some of the reasons we would buy or upgrade a machine? Would cost avoidance of a new machine purchase or machine upgrade be a factor in determining which products we would like to produce?
7. Is it wise to sacrifice one metric (OT %, for example) in order to maximize profit?
8. What affect does the actual customer base in Practice Operations have on our decisions and final results? Why and how?
9. How important are suppliers to our own operation? In what ways? How does one balance material cost, quality, and reliability?
10. How well can we truly forecast our operation demand? Are forecasts in PO worth buying? Why or why not? What about other forecasting or predicting considerations?
11. When would you buy materials ahead of actually winning a bid?
12. How often did or should you revisit capacity throughout the operation?
13. Is it worth, in Practice Operations, to attempt to prioritize on material used for products to manage our product portfolio or to decide upon which products we should bid?
14. How would we contrast this batch / job shop set up compared to producing utilizing Lean Thinking concepts? What are some barriers in the way the operations are set up or in the way the simulation is set up and controlled to Lean Production concepts? How? Why?
15. How closely does Practice Operations resemble “reality”? (Example: Expedited shipping and its related costs and impact on capacity)
16. How does Practice Operations stray or not reflect “reality”? (Example: In reality, shipping early to a customer may be just as bad for the customer as shipping late)
17. Forecasting is nothing more than an (hopefully) educated guess about future demand. How important is forecasting to an organization? What are ways many firms use to mitigate wild changes in actual vs. forecasted demand? What can be done in this regard in Practice Operations?
18. Inventory in Practice Operations is penalized by holding costs in both receiving and shipping. What might be some of the cost drivers that cause us to have holding costs? In other words, what impact does too much inventory or over-production have on an operation?
19. For the most part, in Practice Operations, achieving the simulation’s goal (Goal Achieved{GA}) has a large affect on the final score. The only way to obtain the highest GA score is to achieve the goal for that module. For example, in POM6 one has to complete the required number of turns. We will only be concerned with POM6 with respect to this report. Net Worth has a higher impact on our final score provided to us by the simulation than do Reputation or On-Time Percentage. On time percentage affects Reputation. Delivered quality affects Reputation. Customer Service (the star level of the Bidding staff) affects Reputation. Obviously one must achieve the goal or the final Weighted Score (WS) will be low.
Assuming we achieve the goal of the module, should Net Worth be weighted higher than On-Time Percentage and Reputation? If the weights are 50%, 20%, 15%, and 15%, respectively (GA, NW, OT%, Rep), do you think that is what it should be in “real life”?
One could, for example, say Goal Achieved is equivalent to having a certain level up time or availability. If machines are broken, trucks unavailable, people are sick or otherwise not at work, materials are not available, etc. the operation cannot function effectively. In a restaurant, almost the exact same issues could occur as in Practice Operations. This is true for a hospital, software design firms, etc.. So, GA could be a reasonable measure. That is, if we do not manage our resources properly, we will not be able to provide the customer what they want and nothing else will much matter.
So, given that, what should be the relative weight in how we judge ourselves with respect to the other metrics (NW, OT%, Rep)?
20. Supply chain management is a very complex subject encompassing a wide variety of functions, jobs, people, organizations, etc.. If you were to analyze the suppliers in Practice Operations, would you give them the same relative “grades” as do the designers of the simulation? For example, Owens Textiles is shown to have low prices, medium quality, and low reliability. Red Maple Fabrics is shown to have medium prices, medium quality, and medium reliability. Did you find yourself opting for the same suppliers over and over again, or did you vary from whom your procured material? What considerations did you use when purchasing material? Did these considerations change over time? Did these considerations change as a function of some aspect of that upon which you bid (for example, tight lead time from customer and high quality requirements)? Did lead time affect your decisions (amount of time the supplier was given to deliver the material)? Quality? Price / cost? Did you take advantage of discounts and how did that affect your decisions?
21. Practice Operations never introduces new designs, equipment or material obsolescence, wage increases, customers who take precedence due to contractual obligations, downtime, personnel problems, or many other issues which an operations manager will face. How do these issues change what one might see in “real life”?
22. You previously completed a number of analyses and projects including, but not limited to, supplier ranking, material profitability, machine purchase and upgrade ROI and analysis, capacity planning, human resource planning and training analysis, shipping capacity, and product management. Review those assignments and reflect on them.
These are but a few of the points and but a few of the questions one could ask about Practice Operations. Again, in this section you will summarize the role of the Operations Manager in Practice Operations as succinctly but thoroughly as possible.
As a rule of thumb, this section should be from three to seven (3-7) paragraphs. Not fewer than three (3) paragraphs and no more than seven (7) paragraphs. Each paragraph should have at least three (3) sentences or they are likely to be too light on content and depth.
Section 2: The Five (5) Functional Areas of Practice Operations
In this section you should describe each of the five (5) areas in operations and the important aspects of each, as it relates to Practice Operations and your role as an Operations Manager. The five (5) areas from Practice Operations are: Human Resources, Bidding, Receiving, Production, and Shipping. Review the two (2) lists from the Executive Summary to help you with this section. In the Executive Summary you succinctly described your overall role as Operations Manager and how you could or did impact your firm’s overall metrics (GA, NW, OT%, Rep, and even Account Balance). In this section, for each area, describe your role and the important aspects of the area and what you consider to be the optimal environment for each area and any roadblocks, challenges, barriers, etc. to optimal performance. What strategies worked? What did not? Thinking of all of the questions, skill areas, etc., what considerations are important? Which are not important? What is possible and what is impossible?
You do not have to directly answer any of the above questions but utilize them to help you succinctly but thoroughly describe the role and decision making impact of the Operations Manager for each functional area, along with important considerations, affect on the metrics, etc..
Section 3: Your Scores in Practice Operations
For each module you received a Weighted Score (WS). This WS is based on the four (4) metrics: Goal Achieved, New Worth, On-Time Percentage or Timeliness, and Reputation Score (GA, NW, OT%, Rep, respectively). The WS is also a function of how well you did compared to other students.
First, list your best and worst scores (WS, GA, NW, OT%, Rep) for POM6. It is assumed you completed at least two rounds of POM6 50 turns and one round of POM6 96 turns.
Second, in three to five (3-5) paragraphs explain why you think you achieved the scores you did. What did you learn from one round of the simulation to another? What worked? What did not work? What changed, if anything, between one round and another in the simulation itself? What are your thoughts about the metrics themselves? Are they good or bad, right or wrong, too few or too many, weighted properly or not weighted properly, etc.? Explain.
Section 4: Learning Materials and Practice Operations
Part 1: Refer to the Course Study Materials Skills and Areas of Knowledge listed above. For each, write a (very) brief definition or description. Imagine you are trying to explain to someone who might be interested in the subject what they might learn.
Part 2: Explain how you would relate each area of learning in Practice Operations. You may find no application of a concept to Practice Operations (e.g. Process Selection and Facility Layout) because these are pre-selected and unchangeable. However, you can describe the types of processes and the type of layout and how the choices affected the simulation and make a recommendation to either change to something different / better or to keep it as is.
Section 5: Your Major Takeaways, A-Ha’s, Learning, etc.
In this section use the 5 paragraph theme model of thinking and pick three (3) Major Takeaways from Practice Operations with respect to Operations Management. Many 5 paragraph themes are short. This should not be, and may, in fact, be more than five (5) paragraphs. The idea is to have a mini-abstract, a body expanding on that abstract, and a summery. This is somewhat of a paper-in-a-paper. Each Major Takeaway should be given a great deal of thought.
Some thought starters are: What did you learn in this course that you did not know before? What did you learn that strongly reinforced something you already knew? What surprised you? What do you wish you knew before you started POM6? What do you think you know now that may impact your career and make you a better operations or supply chain manager? How does Practice Operations and the other course material relate to each other? How do each relate to “the real world”? What area of operations management excite you?
This will be your summary of what you learned in the class and how you would apply it in the “real world.” It is also okay to say that you have no idea how to apply what you learned or that you cannot. However, be very careful here. In either case you need to use solid logic and reasoning and justify your position. In the case where you state you cannot utilize what you learned you need to be able to fully justify and defend your position.
So you understand, I see a great deal of applicability of the Practice Operations simulation to many different work environments, and not just manufacturing. As an example, a restaurant is a factory of sorts. Many of the same types of operations and decisions as experienced in the POM’s would apply there, and to many other situations.
However, I am not so naïve or pig-headed as to believe I know everything there is to know. While I may know and have experience in many aspects of operations and supply chain management, I consider myself a perpetual student and life-long learner with respect to these subjects. Therefore, I am fine with contradictory statements and ideas as long as they are founded in reason, logic, research, and applicable experience.
Section 6: Final Summary
Reflect back over the rest of your paper. If someone were to ask you to describe your experience in this course, and especially as it relates to Practice Operations, what would you tell them?
The summary should contain three to five (3-5) paragraphs and could essentially reflect the Executive Summary but in a more narrative or reflective way. A good rule of thumb is to write the body of the paper and then go back and write the Final Summary and then the Executive Summary. The Executive Summary should tell the reader, in a more factual and scholarly way, what they will be reading and learning. The Final Summary will tell the reader what they read and learned, but in a more narrative, or perhaps story-telling way.

Last Completed Projects