Operations Management: Amazon Warehousing Management Essay

Assessment
The purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate your understanding of how
the organisation sets itself up to deliver customer requirements. You are
required to conduct research on an organisation that offers a range of services
or products (or a single service or product) and select an operation of your
chosen organisation. The scope of the operation under study should be
reasonably wide, or you may not be able to provide sufficient discussion for the
following questions. This will require a substantial research effort (e.g. field visit,
interview, study of literature, etc.). Write a report addressing the following:
1. Briefly explain the operation you are studying, and its associated processes.
Boundary of the operation under study should be well defined and justified.
Also discuss the strategic implications of the operation (i.e. what are the
current customer expectations of the organisation and why it is worth
studying).
[10% marks]
2. Provide an annotated input-transformation-output diagram of the operations
system showing the primary, secondary and tertiary inputs and outputs.
Explain your analysis.
[10% marks]
3. Draw a process map to outline the process steps of the operation you are
studying. Discuss each process step of your diagram in detail (e.g.
resources required or time spent at each step), and indicate clearly the flow
from one symbol to another symbol. Provide a definition of the symbols you
used.
[20% marks]
4. Identify one or a range of operational issues that your chosen operation is
currently facing and discuss its implications for the organisation’s strategic
objectives. Aspects you might consider include better managed inventories,
quality control, queuing theory, capacity planning, forecasting demand,
supplier integration, and design of service and process.
[30% marks]
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5. Discuss challenges that rapid technological development e.g. Internet and
mobile technologies placed on your chosen operations?
[15% marks]
6. Make recommendations to improve the operation. Suggested improvement
options should be based on the above analysis. You may redraw the
process map to aid you in your discussion.
[15% marks]
Note:
(i.) Reading beyond the course materials and text is vital. Use of tables and
diagrams to illustrate your analysis is encouraged.
(ii.) The maximum word length for the coursework is 3000 words including
reference list, diagrams and tables but not appendix. It should be word
processed and formatted for A4 paper (including title page).
(iii.) You must submit an electronic copy of the assignment to the Turnitin
through Blackboard. Full submission details can be found in the MSc
Handbook.
Unit Textbook
Recommended textbook:
• Slack N, Alistair Brandon-Jones A and Johnson R (2019), Operations
Management, 9th edition, FT Prentice Hall
Other good textbooks on Operations Management include:
• Slack N, Chambers, S, Johnston, R and Betts, A (2009), Operations
and Process Management: Principles and Practice for Strategic
Impact, 2nd edition, Financial Times Prentice Hall
• Greasley, A (2009), Operations Management, 2nd edition, John Wiley
& Sons
• Johnston, R, Chambers, S, Harland, C, Harrison, A & Slack, N, (2003),
3rd Ed, Cases in Operations Management, Harlow, Pearson
• Hill, T. and Hill, A. (2009), Manufacturing Operations Strategy, 3rd
edition, Palgrave Macmillan
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• Lysons, K. and Farrington, B. (2012) Purchasing and Supply Chain
Management, 8th edition, Prentice Hal, Pearson, Harlow
It is a good idea to browse different authors to find one that writes in a style
you find accessible. Slack is generally regarded as one of the leading authors
in the subject, and my personal recommendation would be for one of the first
two listed.
Any of these books will provide a good source of reading to deepen your
knowledge of the various topics we cover. However, you are also expected to
research independently, particularly in relevant peer-reviewed journals