No industry has faced more competitive markets in the U.S. than  textiles. The import of foreign textiles made using cheap labor has  decreased profit margins for U.S. companies for years, and many have  left the industry.  In this discussion you will get the opportunity to  “run” production operations of a textile company in a simulation  scenario. Don’t be afraid of this opportunity, rather you should embrace  it.
This scenario illustrates the complexities typically associated with  decision-making in a production department. The problems you will be  faced with are complex, requiring the active involvement from multiple  functional areas to fully understand the nature and scope of the  problem, explore viable alternatives, commit to a solution, and then  implement, monitor, and make necessary changes to achieve desired  outcomes. As an operations professional, you’re responsible for  executing due diligence when determining whether or not to support or  put forward proposals and new ideas. These proposals can be as simple as  modifying existing processes or as complex as expanding the company  through “organic” or “inorganic” growth strategies. You need to be able  to weigh decisions against existing realities while taking into  consideration future uncertainties.

Unit Learning Outcomes

1. Demonstrate the impact of operations management on the competiveness and productivity of an organization. (CLO 1 and 2)
2. Construct a production strategy based on customer demand. (CLO 3 and 4)
3. Synthesize operations and customer satisfaction data. (CLO 5 and 7)
4. Calculate productivity metrics for an operational scenario using Microsoft Excel. (CLO 4)

Directions

Accessing McGraw-Hill Connect

Be sure that you have purchased and registered your McGraw-Hill Connect account prior to completing this assignment. See the Textbook and Materials page for more information.
Follow these steps to view the scenario.

Initial Posting

Go to McGraw-Hill Practice Operations to view the scenario.

1. Click the “McGraw-Hill Connect” tab in the course navigation menu.
2. Click the McGraw-Hill Practice Operations link.

Students are to complete Module 1, The Production Process  (Scenario) in Practice Operations. Based on their observations in this  scenario, and upon a careful review of the available literature, the  student is to consider him or herself to be the Chief Operations Officer  (COO) of Kibby and Strand, the company in the scenario.
The CEO has noticed fluctuations in production under the different  shift production managers during the past 6 months. She wants you, the  COO, to document the key factors a production manager needs to consider  when scheduling production in the organization and to prepare a  PowerPoint presentation to be briefed at the next production manager  meeting.  She wants the presentation to include possible reasons for the  variations and how each can be addressed.
Students are to create their PowerPoint based on knowledge learned in the Scenario, and post it in the discussion.
Instruction Guidance: It would be prudent to  consider content covered in chapters 1 and 2 of the textbook; however,  there are many other useful resources available on the Internet and in  the literature to support the construction of your action plan.
This PowerPoint should be attached to the unit discussion thread.  There is no minimum or maximum in terms of the word count; however, the  response should explicitly address all required components of this  discussion assignment. The document should be prepared consistent with  the APA writing style (6th edition) and reflect higher level cognitive processing (analysis, synthesis and or evaluation).