Final Exam
Pick a company with which you are familiar either by working for it or by a close family member working for it.
Write a paper about it with the following sections: NOTE: NOT ALL SECTIONS ARE MANDATORY. Some
sections may not apply to the business you choose. THESE
QUESTIONS SERVE AS A GUIDE. There is no expected
format or specific number of questions to answer.
1. Introduction – Give a brief overview of the company including its product or services, location (That around
Washington D.C area), history.
2. Product – Describe the product or product mix or service in more detail.
a. If a product, show a picture or diagram and/or an assembly drawing. Include a bill of materials or assembly chart
if appropriate. If you have a product mix, show a typical product or a few typical products.
b. If a service, a flow chart may be appropriate or the flow chart may fit better in the process section.
c. What created the opportunity for your product or service?
d. Do you make or buy your product or service? (Yes, services can be purchased –think temporaries, independent
truck drivers, etc.) Explain.
e. What issues are involved in the design of your product or service? Environmental issues, robust design, value
analysis, modular, manufacturability, etc.
f. Where is the product or service in its life cycle?
3. Process – Give an overview and flow diagram of the process. Point out any bottlenecks in your process.
a. Discuss issues that apply to your process if it is to produce a product. If you discuss fixed costs and variable costs,
do not give me actual numbers but give them as a percentage of the total cost or some other appropriate measure.
b. If a service, discuss customer interaction and process strategy
c. Discuss any environmental issues involved in your process.
d. Discuss technology used in your process.
e. Discuss the information systems that support your process.
f. Any ideas to improve the process?
4. Location – Explain why your business is located where it is. Discuss issues pertinent to its location.
5. Human Resources – What is your company’s human resource strategy? What are the constraints?
a. Does your company have a stable workforce or does it chase demand?
b. Describe work scheduling at your business.
c. Discuss job design at your company. You should illustrate with an example. In your example, talk about the core
job characteristics and how they are met by the example job. Discuss job enlargement, rotation, enrichment,
empowerment, and/or teams if applicable.
d. Discuss teams as they apply to your business.
e. Any ideas to improve the business in the area of Human Resources?
7. Supply-Chain Management –
a. What is the supply chain strategy for your company?
b. How is vendor selection/purchasing handled?
c. Discuss how the supply chain is managed.
d. Discuss materials management/distribution.
e. Is e-commerce applied in any form?
8. Discuss Quality at your business.
a. Any ideas to improve the business in the area of Quality? 9. Summarize by linking these strategies to your mission and goals. You may make recommendations for
improvements.
Your paper does not need to cover all of these topics. Your essay should be double-spaced, 10 or 12 pt font, 1 inch
margins. I would expect that this would take a minimum of 6 pages and a maximum of 10.
The grade considers grammar and spelling. Hints for a better grade:
– Make recommendations to improve the business using the concepts we learned in class
After we cover an OM topic, write that section of your paper. You can use the time at the end of the
term to revise and edit your work.
Choose a small company if possible. This is a tactical paper. If you choose a large national or
international company, it is hard to know the details of the operations or to make improvement
recommendations.
If you choose a large company, such as Walmat, comment on a specific section, business unit or team.
For example, choose the Walmart returns department in the Leesburg store.
Any OM topic in the textbook is open for discussion in the paper, even if we did not cover it in class.
For example, Process Design or JIT delivery may be discussed.
