3 credits
Fall 2025 Lecture Upper Division
The course examines key concepts in the planning, control, and improvement of processes in manufacturing and service operations. Specific topics covered in the course include: (i) Product/service characteristics that provide value to customers and competitive priorities, (ii) Role of processes and key operations choices to support the competitive priorities, (iii) Process analysis and scheduling, (iv) Throughput principles to deal with adverse impacts of process uncertainties and bottlenecks, (v) Managing capacity and lead times, (vi) Throughput principles to deal with wastes and errors, including the Toyota Production System and Lean Operations, and (vii) Coordinating material/order flows in supply chain - MRP, and Resources and Production Planning - Aggregate Production Planning. The class uses a combination of lectures, cases, simulations, outside speakers, experiential exercises, and student presentations. An important component of the course is a hands-on exercise where students in teams of seven or eight design and run a production process to meet demand for a quality-conscious customer. The teams then present the lessons learned to the class.
Learning Outcomes1Learn the details of production planning, master scheduling, materials planning, short range capacity planning, production floor execution, and quality control.
Prerequisites
Restrictions
made by Purdue students.