Topic

Description of Topic

Requirements for each Topic

1. Company Information (10pts)

Provide general statistics, history, management, headquarters, divisions and interesting facts about the company.

(10pts) General Company Information: The student included adequate information about the company (history, mission, the executives, where the headquarters are located, which populations the company serves, and interesting facts about the company)

2. Product (20pts)

List all products (width, length, depth) provided, and the lifecycle of the company’s industry. For the individual product(s) that you observed on the tour , discuss the lifecycle of and the management implications; the customization decision (Make-to-stock (or standard), Assemble-to-order (or option), Make-to-order (or custom))

(2pt) Product offerings: Products (which includes goods and services) offered by the company are listed and organized by:

a) The general product categories

b) The types of products in each category

c) The variations of each product in each category

(4pt) Classify the lifecycle of the industry (introduction, growth, mature, or decline)

(2pt) Include the sales data to support your lifecycle claim for this industry.

(2pt) Discuss managerial implications for the industry being in this stage of its lifecycle.

(4pts)
Choose one specific product
that the company provides. Classify the lifecycle as either introduction, growth, mature, or decline for
this product.

(2pt) Include the sales data to support your lifecycle claim for
this product.

(2pt) Discuss managerial implications for
the product
being in this stage of its lifecycle.

(2pt) Discuss the customization decision (either make to assemble, make to order, or make to stock) for this individual product.

Note that sections 3 – 7 must be completed from the perspective of the individual product that you chose in section 2.

3. Operational Strategy (20pts)

Discuss the company’s operational strategic performance dimensions. Provide the diagram template (provided to you as part of the first project) and discuss the order winners, qualifiers, and metrics. Remember that a company will have at most three order winners. When thinking about order winners ask yourself, “Why would I shop there or use those services?” Remember that different products might have templates that look different from one another. 

(10pt) Is the operational strategic performance dimension template included and is completed in entirety.

(2pt) The industry and firm metrics are accurate.  

(4pt) Order winners and order qualifiers chosen for the company are correct and there are no more than three order winners due to order winner tradeoffs. 

(4pt) Discuss how the order winners (identified from section 2) correlates in with the customization decision (either make to assemble, make to order, or make to stock) for this individual product.

4. Value Chain (20pts)

Create the Value Chain and Identify the core competence. You must use the Value Chain template.

(10pt) The value chain template is included in your report and has sufficient detail. 

(2pt) In the value chain diagram the support activities cut across the primary activities.

(2pt) The student clearly identified the activities as either strengths or weaknesses. 

(2pt) The student clearly identified the “T”, or strongest support and primary activities in the value chain.

(2pt) The student clearly identified the core competence from the value chain

(2pt) Discuss the connection between the core competence and the order winner(s) (identified in section 3). Ex. If the company is competing on cost (i.e. low prices), maybe they use a JIT system to manage the costs of inventory, as well as other activities.

5. Process (20pts)

For the individual product(s) that you observed on the tour, create the process flow chart and discuss the process strategy used (ex. intermittent vs mass production).

(14pts) You did include a diagram of the process flow chart, and it includes sufficient detail and is correct. Remember that a decision node has to have at least two arrows coming out of it. 

(2pts) The student included the corresponding legend, and the various icons that would have been identified in the legend are included in the process flow chart. 

(4pts) Discuss the process strategy used (intermittent, mass production, or mass customization of the product/service). 

6. Layout (10pts)

Discuss the layout strategy used (ex. Assembly line vs process layout). Try to document how many activities are performed at an individual workstation, if any, to analyze the efficiency of the process and address issues such as bottlenecks and throughput.

(4pts) Discuss the layout design used (that is, is the layout considered a process, product, or fixed position layout)?

(6pts) Efficiency of the process and addressing plant layout issues: Why is the layout you identified a more efficient layout than another layout for this company and
how a company would address inefficiencies
(such as bottlenecks for the assembly line)?

7. Quality (10pts)

Discuss how the company defines quality, manages quality, implements quality policies, and addresses quality issues.

(10pts) Discuss how the company defines quality, manages quality, implements quality policies, and addresses quality issues.

8. Supply Chain (20pts)

Draw the supply chain for the firm and include a discussion regarding where the firm gets it materials from and where and to whom it sells the products. Remember that different products have different supply chains so make sure you have your specific product in mind when drawing the supply chain. Additionally, discuss the type of technology the firm uses to support its supply chain management and operations? Document the technology that is used in the manufacturing process (level of automation), RFID, Kanban, etc.

(10pts) The drawing of the supply chain is included and it is not an image cut and pasted from the Internet, but created by the student. 

(4pts) The student includes sufficient detailed description (min 100 words) of all of the various tiers, or lack thereof in the supply chain (such as possible manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, and retailers), such as how many, where they are located, etc. The supply chain discussion should not discuss the process within the company, but discuss the firm’s role in the holistic view from the raw materials to getting the product to the consumer.

(6pts) The type of technology the firm uses to support its supply chain management (and its operations) is included.

9. Summary (70pts)

Write a 300 to 400 word essay regarding the visit & what you learned. If desired, you can submit this section in a separate Word document, or use one or more slides in your presentation.

(50pts) You submitted an essay that is insightful and reflective

(20pts) The summary is between 300-400 words.