OM 303 Production/Operations Management. Nanjing Bistro Case Analysis

Have decided to consult with Chinese restaurant named “Nanjing Bistro”, offers traditional Chinese foods, like stew and fried. The location of Nanjing is on 11213 Lee Hwy, fairfax.

OM 303 Production/Operations Management COURSE PROJECT: PROPOSAL, REPORTS, PRESENTATION 

COURSE PROJECT OVERALL INSTRUCTIONS

  Your team has just launched a consulting company and seeks its first client to improve one particular operation in their business/organization. As consultants, you will study the operation and associated decisions, analyze the processes and procedures (i.e., how operational activities are carried on and/or how decisions are made), and suggest improvements. The quality of your work for the first client is extremely important for your future business. As your first hands-on experience, this project will enable you to develop and hone your skills in working with a real organization, and to find a solution to a real operations problem. Your recommendations to the client should be built on sound, factual, and scientific analyses of their operations. In that respect, you are encouraged and expected to use qualitative as well as quantitative tools that you learn in your OM 303 course and outside studies. Your instructor is happy to give you advice and feedback in your project any time during the semester. He has already prepared the following guidelines.

  Desired project output: In your presentation and written report, you will:

  1) Describe the organization.

2) Describe the current process.

3) Discuss how the organization (if at all) measures the performance of their current operations.

4) Discuss potential areas for improvement (i.e., what is the "problem"?).

5) Describe how you collected information and data.

6) Analyze your client's problem using the information and data available to you. Explain clearly how you carry out the analyses.

7) Identify and describe two to three additional operational performance metrics appropriate for this organization and its process(es).

8) Recommend three different ways to improve the process. Clearly define each alternative solution/recommendation. Explain the pros and cons of each of the alternatives. Choose one of the alternatives as your final recommendation. Justify your final recommendation with scientific facts and figures.

9) Discuss how the process performance is expected to change after your recommendation is implemented.

10) Discuss the pros, cons, and limitations of your analysis and approach to problem solving.

11) Propose areas for future/further improvement.

Timing: You need to begin working on this project early since it is expected to be thorough, detailed, and performed as a cooperative effort with the workers and leaders in the organization you are studying. You may need to visit facilities of the unit you are consulting for, interview employees, gather qualitative and quantitative information (including large datasets if available), and conduct in-depth analyses, preferably, using tools you learn in this class.

Quality of a project:

The quality of your project depends on many factors, including but not limited to, the client and operation selected, ability to collect and analyze data, operations focus (as opposed to focusing on activities/decisions typically associated with other business functions), ability to correctly use the tools and methods learnt in class to provide creative solutions to the client, your ability to professionally communicate your work orally and in writing, and in a timely manner! Deliverables: You will deliver your project in four phases: a written project proposal, a draft final paper, an in-class project presentation, and a final written project report. Guidelines on each deliverable are provided in the remainder of this document. Important dates: See the syllabus for due dates of the Proposal, Reports, and Presentations. PROJECT PROPOSAL (5 points) Your project proposal will be written as a business memo that targets the client organization. The business memo should not exceed two pages. The proposal will introduce your consulting team to the client and show the client which aspect of production and operations management in that organization you plan to analyze and why you think you can improve their operational performance. Resources for writing business memos are available through the Center for Business Communication (CBC). Below are the guidelines for you to prepare a sound project proposal. 1. Client selection: Choose an organization which is open to sharing information and data with you, or where you can freely gather information and data. In your proposal, briefly introduce the organization, in no more than one paragraph. You do not need access to actual financial data. 2. Project topic: Choose one specific operation in that organization, something that should be characterized by an actual process. A process is defined as collection of tasks, connected by flow of goods, people, or information that transforms inputs to more valuable outputs. For your project, choose an operation associated with the production of a good, delivery of a well-defined service, and/or decision making. Two examples are provided below. • Example-1: Ticket sales at [your client] is one particular operation at this organization (i.e., your focus is on processes that enable ticket sales). • Example-2: [your client] is a service-based business; as consultants, you can focus on how various decisions are made regarding customers or products (i.e., your focus becomes the "process of decision making"). In your proposal, introduce the operation in one paragraph and explain why you have selected that particular operation. You will later introduce and describe the process associated with this operation in your project presentation and project report. Here is an overview of the key  Production & Operations Management concepts we will learn this semester; this may be useful for you to select your topic: 3. Project outline: After a brief introduction of the client and a description of your project topic, your proposal will provide an outline of your final project report. This outline should include a discussion of: a) Who the team members are, what their background, experience, and skills are, and how they will contribute to the project b) How the team plans to gather data and collect information (this is really important) c) How the team plans to analyze the information and data to suggest improvements d) what the current performance measures at this organization and operation are (if any),e) two to three additional performance outcomes/measures that would be appropriate for this operation (e.g., cost reduction, decreasing delays, increasing customer satisfaction, decreasing employee turnover rate, reducing response time, decreasing stock-out rate, increasing efficiency, increasing productivity, decreasing the amount of waste, etc.).

NOTE: Before submitting the proposal, your instructor must approve the topic and it is a good idea to get the approval of the organization to complete a class project about their operations and processes.

Submitting your proposal:

You must submit your proposal on Blackboard. One file per team is sufficient but each student must submit the file on their Blackboard. The file you submit to Blackboard must be in Word format (.doc or .docx), use 12-point font, 1-inch margins, and double spacing. Name your file “Team X_ Proposal_Company name Y where X = Team Name and Y is your clinet company (e.g., TeamAvengers_Proposal_Brion’s Grill Your project proposal grade: Your project proposal is worth 4 points (4% of your overall grade) and will be graded on the following scale: • your ability to complete each step in the guidelines [2.0 points] • professionalism and clarity of your writing [1.0 point] • following submission guidelines [1.0 point] ATTENTION: You do not get credit for the project proposal unless all of your team members agree that you have contributed significantly to its preparation. If you have any concerns about your team dynamics and/or the relative contribution of your team members to the project deliverable, contact your instructor ASAP. PROJECT PRESENTATION (8 points) Presenting your work to your client is an important step in delivering your project. It gives you a great opportunity to showcase your problem-solving and presentation skills. Each team will get 12 minutes to present their findings to the professor and fellow students in a business meeting format (i.e., sitting down at a table and discussing the findings and solutions rather than a formal stand-up presentation) Assume the audience has leadership and decision-making roles at the client organization. You will prepare your presentation to convince the client that improvements in their processes are possible, that you have analyzed their processes carefully and in detail, and that you have concrete suggestions on how to improve performance. In your presentation, you will follow the outline below:

1) Introduce the organization and the project topic.

2) Describe the process.

3) Define the problem (i.e., what was wrong with the operation).

4) Introduce the current and suggested measure(s) of performance.

5) Describe how you gathered information and data.

6) Explain how you analyzed the data and used the tools you learned in class.

7) Recommend ways to improve the process, identify the alternatives, and the final recommendation.

8) Discuss the expected change in performance after your recommendation is implemented.

9) Discuss the pros, cons, and limitations of your analysis and approach to problem solving.

10) Use multi-media content (video, podcast, etc.) as a part of your presentation.

Submitting your Presentation: You must submit your proposal on Blackboard. One file per team is sufficient but each student must submit the file on their Blackboard. The file you submit to Blackboard must be in Word format (.doc or .docx), use 12-point font, 1-inch margins, and double spacing. Name your file “Team X_ Presentation_Company name Y where X = Team Name and Y is your clinet company (e.g., TeamAvengers_Presentation_Brion’s Grill Your project presentation grade: Your project presentation grade constitutes 8 points (8% of your overall grade) and will be graded as follows: • your ability to complete each step in the guideline above [5 points] • your professionalism in presenting the material and the quality of your responses to questions from the audience and/or your instructor [2 points] • your ability to present the material within the time allotted. [1.0 point] ATTENTION: You do not get credit for the project presentation unless all your team members agree that you have contributed significantly to its preparation. If you have any concerns about your team dynamics and/or the relative contribution of your team members to the project deliverable, contact your instructor ASAP. PROJECT REPORTS (Preliminary Report = 5 points; Final Report = 5 points) The last deliverable in your project is a written report, consisting of a preliminary (draft) and final report both written as professional consulting products. Your target audience is your client. Guidelines on writing a consulting report are provided on Blackboard. Below are additional guidelines for your report. The suggested length of the final report is 12-15 pages, double-spaced (about 3,500-4,000 words).  • All tables and figures should be included in the report either in the main body of the text or as Appendices. Appendices do not count towards the page limit. Note that charts, graphs, tables, and pictures are a good way to convey information. • A cover and title page (not included in the page limit) should identify the team members, each with an email address. • You must address all the points listed in the Desired Project output section; see page 1. Submitting your report: You must submit your proposal on Blackboard. One file per team is sufficient but each student must submit the file on their Blackboard. The file you submit to Blackboard must be in Word format (.doc or .docx), use 12-point font, 1-inch margins, and double spacing. Name your file “Team X_ PrelimReport(or FinalReport)_Company name Y where X = Team Name and Y is your clinet company (e.g., TeamAvengers_PrelimReport_Brion’s Grill

Your project report grades: Your project reports constitute 3 points (Preliminary Report) and 7 points (Final Report) respectively (7% of your overall grade) and will be graded as follows: • Presentation, format, clarity of the report, and following the submission guidelines [10%] • Addressing the issues listed in Desired project output [50%] • Depth of analysis [10%] • Depth and creativity of your suggestions, findings, and observations [10%] • Correctness and suitability of methodology and tools used to analyze the problem [10%] • Strength of the operations management perspective (i.e., the focus of the project should be on operations management rather than other business functions). [10%] ATTENTION: You do not get credit for the project reports unless all your team members agree that you have contributed significantly to their preparation. If you have any concerns about your team dynamics and/or the relative contribution of your team members to the project deliverable, contact your instructor ASAP.