2021 Faculty Courses School of Engineering Department of Industrial Engineering and Economics Graduate major in Industrial Engineering and Economics
Operations Management
- Academic unit or major
- Graduate major in Industrial Engineering and Economics
- Instructor(s)
- Sadami Suzuki
- Class Format
- Lecture
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - 5-6 Tue / 5-6 Fri
- Class
- -
- Course Code
- IEE.C430
- Number of credits
- 200
- Course offered
- 2021
- Offered quarter
- 2Q
- Syllabus updated
- Jul 10, 2025
- Language
- Japanese
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
This course focuses on concepts, techniques and tools to design, analyze and improve operational performance of an organization with an emphasis on solving problems in supple chain management. Topics cover historical view of operations management, production and inventory management system, Just in time; JIT, theory of constraints; TOC, factory physics, bullwhip effect and information sharing. Students are required to form teams and conduct group work to set the problem and "deep" analyses on it as well as making presentation.
This course intend to learn fundamental knowledges and skills to achieve efficient and effective operations management.
Course description and aims
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
(1) understand the fundamentals of operations management
(2) understand the various methodologies of operations management and how to implement them
(3) lean the methodology of logical thinking for problem solving
Keywords
Supply chain management, Just-in-Time; JIT, Theory of Constraints; TOC, Factory Physics, Bullwhip effect, Domino Effect, SCM performance
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
Give a lecture and discussions on each topic.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Orientation | Understand course overview |
| Class 2 | Historical View of Operations Management (1) PUSH Control | Understand the basic concept of standard and its development in Push Control Systems |
| Class 3 | Historical View of Operations Management (1) PULL Control | Understand the basic concept of kaizen and continuous improvement in Pull Control Systems |
| Class 4 | TOC; Theory of Constraints (1) Drum-buffer-rope; DBR and five focusing steps | Understand the TOC's management philosophy based on total optimization |
| Class 5 | TOC; Theory of Constraints (2) Thinking Process and Current reality tree; CRT | Understand the TOC's problem solving methodology |
| Class 6 | Group work (1) Determine a topic | Determine a topic of group work |
| Class 7 | Group work (2) | Group work |
| Class 8 | Supply Chain Management (1) Bullwhip Effect | Understand the effect and limitation of information sharing among the supply chain |
| Class 9 | Supply Chain Management (2) Double Marginalization | Understand the impact of multiple decision makings in supply chain |
| Class 10 | Supply Chain Management (3) CAO, CRP, VMI, CPFR | Understand how to utilize the final customer demand information in supply chain |
| Class 11 | Japanese Management Systems | Understand the strength and weakness of Japanese Management System like JIT |
| Class 12 | Factory Physics | Understand the attitude toward the variety and resiliency of supply chain |
| Class 13 | Cross National Comparison on SCM performance | Consider the competitive advantage in a global environment |
| Class 14 | Presentations of group work | Presentations and Q&A |
Study advice (preparation and review)
To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.
Textbook(s)
Provide handouts for each topic
Reference books, course materials, etc.
Goldratt, E.M. The Goal, North River Press; ISBN-13: 978-4817195388
Goldratt, E.M. It's Not Luck, North River Press; ISBN-13: 978-0884271154
Enkawa, Takao et al. Strategic SCM; Tokyo Nikka giren syuppansha; ISBN-13: 978-4817195388
Miyakawa, Kimio et al. Management Information System, Tokyo: Chuokeizai-sha; ISBN-13: 978-4502091704 (Japanese)
Evaluation methods and criteria
Final report, group work and presentation
Related courses
- IEE.C303 ： Production Management
Prerequisites
Nothing in Particular