Course-PM

TEK195 TEK195 Manufacturing strategy lp4 VT22 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Technology Management and Economics

 

Contact details

Examiner:

Mirka Kans. Phone: 031-772 1352. E-mail: mirka.kans at chalmers.se

Teachers:  

Dan Paulin. Phone: 031-772 8413. E-mail: dan.paulin at chalmers.se

Mirka Kans. Phone: 031-772 1352. E-mail: mirka.kans at chalmers.se

Peter Almström. Phone: 031-772 1283. E-mail: peter.almstrom at chalmers.se

Guest lecturers might be added continuously during the course.

Support staff:

Ann-Sofie Ullenius. Phone: 031-772 6945. E-mail: ann-sofie.ullenius at chalmers.se

 

Course aim and learning objectives

The main aim of the course is to provide you, the students, the opportunity to develop your knowledge of how to design, manage and improve operations processes.

The starting point will be to analyze operations by means of its operations strategies. Having done that, possible differences between the present status of operations and the intended status can be detected. Finally, different improvement approaches will be discussed.

Having successfully completed the course, each of you students, should be able to:

• Show understanding of how to use manufacturing strategy as a guidance for the organization's operational activities and business strategy improvement.
• Apply conceptual tools and models for analysing manufacturing strategy and enhancing the operations performance.
• Recognize the impact of manufacturing on sustainability andmanufacturing can contribute to a sustainable society
• Show understanding of how digitalisation, in the context of Industry 4.0, may influence the operations strategy and processes.
• Formulate an improvement plan for strategic manufacturing strategy alignment.

 

Schedule

The detailed schedule is available on the course webpage in Canvas under “Modules/Schedule” and in the course calendar.

Please note that possible changes to the preliminary schedule will only be made on the course webpage, not in TimeEdit.

Preliminary schedule: TimeEdit

 

Course literature

The course literature consists of a textbook (to be used throughout this course), articles and case descriptions.

Additional literature may be used and will be announced at Canvas in due time.

Textbook

The main course book is available at Cremona/Store:

• Slack, Nigel & Lewis, Michael (2020), Operations Strategy 6^th ed, Pearson Education, UK, ISBN: 978-1-292-31784-7

Seminar articles (available through Chalmers Library)

Literature Seminar 1: Operations Strategy

• Boyer, K.K., Lewis, M.W.  (2002). Competitive priorities: investigating the need for trade-offs in operations strategy. Production and Operations Management, 11 (1) (2002), pp. 9-20.
• Sull, D., Sull, C., Yoder, J. (2018). No one knows your strategy - not even your top leaders. MITSloan Management Review, Research Highlight, February. available at: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/no-one-knows-your-strategy-not-even-your-top-leaders/ (Links to an external site.)

Literature Seminar 2: Strategic alignment

• Hudson Smith, M., and Smith, D. (2007), Implementing strategically aligned performance measurement in small firms, International Journal of Production Economics, Vol. 106, pp. 393-408
• Trevor, J., Varcoe, B. (2017) How aligned is your organization? Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, p2-6. Available: https://hbr.org/2017/02/how-aligned-is-your-organization (Links to an external site.)

Literature Seminar 3: Operations’ Systems Improvement

• Langstrand, J., Drotz, E. (2016). The rhetoric and reality of Lean: a multiple case study. Total Quality Management, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp. 398 –412, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14783363.2015.1004307 (Links to an external site.) 
• Netland, T. H., & Aspelund, A. (2013). Company-specific production systems and competitive advantage: A resource-based view on the Volvo production system. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 33, No. 11/12, 1511–1531. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-07-2010-0171 (Links to an external site.)

Literature Seminar 4: Business Process Outsourcing

• Boffelli, A., Fratocchi, L., Kalchschmidt, M., & Silva, S. C. L. da C. e. (2021). Doing the right thing or doing things right: what is better for a successful manufacturing reshoring? Operations Management Research, 14(1/2), 1–16.
• Lacity, M. C. Willcocks, L. P. (2013). Outsourcing Business Processes for Innovation. MIT Sloan Management Review, Research feature, March, available at: Outsourcing Business Processes for Innovation (mit.edu).

Case descriptions

To be announced

 

Course design

In this course, several different learning activities are included; Lectures, exercises, literature seminars, case seminars, consultation sessions, and individual written exam. Below you will find a description of the learning activities "Lectures", "Exercises" and "Consultation sessions". Descriptions of individual written exam, literature seminars and case seminars can be found under "Examination".

Lectures

Lectures are voluntary. They will be organized as a traditional overview of the lecture topic interweaved with group discussions on the topic. It is highly recommended that each participant has studied the material in advance to be able to contribute to the group discussions, and to enhance the opportunity for learning.

Exercises

Exercises are voluntary. Here, shorter case descriptions and/or assignments are analysed and discussed in groups as opportunities for applying theoretical concepts introduced during lectures. It is highly recommended that each participant has studied the material in advance to be able to contribute to the group discussions, and to enhance the opportunity for learning.

Preparation time

Scheduled preparation time is available for the student groups to prepare before literature and case seminars. The groups decide upon the time and place for preparations, but are encouraged to use the scheduled times.

Consultation sessions

Consultation sessions are voluntary. Here, you will have scheduled opportunities to consult with members of the teaching team on seminar preparation or topics related to the course.

 

Changes made since the last occasion

Several changes has been made to the course since last year.

First, a group project has been removed from the course.

Second, literature seminars will cover fewer papers than last year.

Third, the number of exercises has been increased in order to create more learning opportunities focusing on applying concepts covered in the course,

Fourth, two case seminars have been introduced in order to create learning opportunities on applying complex concept combinations to more accurately reflect actual professional decision making situations.

Five, opportunities for consultation with teaching staff has been added in order to enable individual learning opportunities.

These changes will also impact the examination in the course to focus on individual examination where higher order skills of reflection, analysis, synthesis and evaluation are sought for, rather than the former group based examination focusing on analytical skills combined with individual examination focusing on lower order  levels of knowledge and comprehension skills.

 

Examination form

You can obtain a maximum of 50 points from compulsory examination activities, and 4 points from voluntary activities.

To pass the course:

• A total minimum of 22 points is necessary.
• A minimum of 20 points obtained from the individual written exam is necessary.
• Attendance in compulsory activities (seminars) is necessary.

A total score of 22-32 points will result in grade Pass (3).

 A total score of 33-43 points will result in grade Pass with credits (4).

A total score of 44 points or more will result in grade Pass with distinction (5).

Updated grading principles (as per 22-06-22):

To pass the course:

A minimum of 20 points obtained from the individual written exam is necessary.
Active attendance in compulsory activities (seminars) is necessary.
A total score of 20-29 points will result in grade Pass (3).

 A total score of 30-39 points will result in grade Pass with credits (4).

A total score of 40 points or more will result in grade Pass with distinction (5).

 

The following parts are included in the examination:

Individual written exam (max 50 points)

• The exam will be run as an individual home exam, consisting of essay questions.
• The individual home exam will be available in Canvas from May 25th, 2022 at 8:00.
• The deadline for uploading your individual answer will be May 31^th, 2022 at 18.00. All answers will be checked for plagiarism, and all suspicious answers will be reported to Chalmers Disciplinary Board.
• You need to obtain at least 20 points on the written exam to pass the course.

• Examples of exam questions will be uploaded in Canvas. More information about the exam will be provided during the course and in the closing lecture.

Literature seminars (participation is compulsory)

The course includes four compulsory literature seminars, where relevant research articles are being presented and discussed. The articles should be studied by everyone in advance to ensure a high quality discussion around the material. Missing a compulsory seminar needs to be compensated by interviewing classmates, and writing an extended seminar reflection (1000-1200 words) to be handed in via Canvas before the exam week. Missing a compulsory literature seminar will also result in a lost opportunity to gain a bonus point from that seminar (for more details on bonus points, see the section "Bonus Opportunity").

Case seminars (participation is compulsory)

The course includes two compulsory case seminars, where cases are being analysed, solved and discussed. The case material should be read by everyone, and analysed and solved in groups in advance, to ensure a good discussion around the material. Missing a compulsory seminar needs to be compensated by interviewing classmates, and writing an extended seminar reflection (1000-1200 words) to be handed in via Canvas before the exam week.

Bonus opportunity: Literature seminar reflections (max 4 bonus points; max 1 bonus point per seminar)

Following each literature seminar (no later than 3 working days after the seminar is held), every student can upload individual personal reflections on the content on Canvas (400-600 words. excl references).

The personal reflections should be reflections, and not just summaries. They should demonstrate that you have understood the content in each article, but focus mainly on combined (synthesised) reflections on the articles including own thoughts on the topic! Good reflections, well developed, and clearly providing own thoughts will be rewarded with one bonus point (per seminar).

All reflections will be checked for plagiarism, and all suspicious answers will be reported to Chalmers Disciplinary Board.