case study of operations management

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• Prof. Charles H. Fine
• Prof. Tauhid Zaman

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• Sloan School of Management

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• Social Science

Introduction to Operations Management

Cases and readings.

The required readings for this course include:

• Cases listed in the Cases/Readings column below
• Goldratt, Eliyah M., and Jeff Cox. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement . 2nd revised ed. North River Press, 1992. ISBN: 9780884270614.
• [MSD] = Cachon, Gerard, and Christian Terwiesch. Matching Supply with Demand: An Introduction to Operations Management . 3rd ed. McGraw-Hill, 2012. ISBN: 9780073525204.

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Operations Management Case Studies

Operations Management

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Walmart’s Operations Management: 10 Strategic Decisions & Productivity

Walmart Inc.’s operations management involves a variety of approaches that are focused on managing the supply chain and inventory, as well as sales performance. The company’s success is significantly based on effective performance in retail operations management. Specifically, Walmart’s management covers all the 10 decision areas of operations management. These strategic decision areas pertain to the issues managers deal with on a daily basis as they optimize the e-commerce company’s operations. Walmart’s application of the 10 decisions of operations management reflects managers’ prioritization of business objectives. In turn, this prioritization shows the strategic significance of the different decision areas of operations management in the retail company’s business. This approach to operations aligns with Walmart’s corporate mission statement and corporate vision statement . The retail enterprise is a business case of how to achieve high efficiency in operations to ensure long-term growth and success in the global market.

The 10 decisions of operations management are effectively addressed in Walmart’s business through a combination of approaches that emphasize supply chain management, inventory management, and sales and marketing. This approach leads to strategies that strengthen the business against competitors, like Amazon and its subsidiary, Whole Foods , as well as Home Depot , eBay, Costco , Best Buy, Macy’s, Kroger, Alibaba, IKEA, Target, and Lowe’s.

The 10 Strategic Decision Areas of Operations Management at Walmart

1. Design of Goods and Services . This decision area of operations management involves the strategic characterization of the retail company’s products. In this case, the decision area covers Walmart’s goods and services. As a retailer, the company offers retail services. However, Walmart also has its own brands of goods, such as Great Value and Sam’s Choice. The company’s operations management addresses the design of retail service by emphasizing the variables of efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Walmart’s generic strategy for competitive advantage, and intensive growth strategies emphasize low costs and low selling prices. To fulfill these strategies, the firm focuses on maximum efficiency of its retail service operations. To address the design of goods in this decision area of operations management, Walmart emphasizes minimal production costs, especially for the Great Value brand. The firm’s consumer goods are designed in a way that they are easy to mass-produce. The strategic approach in this operations management area affects Walmart’s marketing mix or 4Ps and the corporation’s strategic planning for product development and retail service expansion.

2. Quality Management . Walmart approaches this decision area of operations management through three tiers of quality standards. The lowest tier specifies the minimum quality expectations of the majority of buyers. Walmart keeps this tier for most of its brands, such as Great Value. The middle tier specifies market average quality for low-cost retailers. This tier is used for some products, as well as for the job performance targets of Walmart employees, especially sales personnel. The highest tier specifies quality levels that exceed market averages in the retail industry. This tier is applied to only a minority of Walmart’s outputs, such as goods under the Sam’s Choice brand. This three-tier approach satisfies quality management objectives in the strategic decision areas of operations management throughout the retail business organization. Appropriate quality measures also contribute to the strengths identified in the SWOT analysis of Walmart Inc .

3. Process and Capacity Design . In this strategic decision area, Walmart’s operations management utilizes behavioral analysis, forecasting, and continuous monitoring. Behavioral analysis of customers and employees, such as in the brick-and-mortar stores and e-commerce operations, serves as basis for the company’s process and capacity design for optimizing space, personnel, and equipment. Forecasting is the basis for Walmart’s ever-changing capacity design for human resources. The company’s HR process and capacity design evolves as the retail business grows. Also, to satisfy concerns in this decision area of operations management, Walmart uses continuous monitoring of store capacities to inform corporate managers in keeping or changing current capacity designs.

4. Location Strategy . This decision area of operations management emphasizes efficiency of movement of materials, human resources, and business information throughout the retail organization. In this regard, Walmart’s location strategy includes stores located in or near urban centers and consumer population clusters. The company aims to maximize market reach and accessibility for consumers. Materials and goods are made available to Walmart’s employees and target customers through strategic warehouse locations. On the other hand, to address the business information aspect of this decision area of operations management, Walmart uses Internet technology and related computing systems and networks. The company has a comprehensive set of online information systems for real-time reports and monitoring that support managing individual retail stores as well as regional market operations.

5. Layout Design and Strategy . Walmart addresses this decision area of operations management by assessing shoppers’ and employees’ behaviors for the layout design of its brick-and-mortar stores, e-commerce websites, and warehouses or storage facilities. The layout design of the stores is based on consumer behavioral analysis and corporate standards. For example, Walmart’s placement of some goods in certain areas of its stores, such as near the entrance/exit, maximizes purchase likelihood. On the other hand, the layout design and strategy for the company’s warehouses are based on the need to rapidly move goods across the supply chain to the stores. Walmart’s warehouses maximize utilization and efficiency of space for the company’s trucks, suppliers’ trucks, and goods. With efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and cost-minimization, the retail company satisfies the needs in this strategic decision area of operations management.

6. Human Resources and Job Design . Walmart’s human resource management strategies involve continuous recruitment. The retail business suffers from relatively high turnover partly because of low wages, which relate to the cost-leadership generic strategy. Nonetheless, continuous recruitment addresses this strategic decision area of operations management, while maintaining Walmart’s organizational structure and corporate culture . Also, the company maintains standardized job processes, especially for positions in its stores. Walmart’s training programs support the need for standardization for the service quality standards of the business. Thus, the company satisfies concerns in this decision area of operations management despite high turnover.

7. Supply Chain Management . Walmart’s bargaining power over suppliers successfully addresses this decision area of operations management. The retailer’s supply chain is comprehensively integrated with advanced information technology, which enhances such bargaining power. For example, supply chain management information systems are directly linked to Walmart’s ability to minimize costs of operations. These systems enable managers and vendors to collaborate in deciding when to move certain amounts of merchandise across the supply chain. This condition utilizes business competitiveness with regard to competitive advantage, as shown in the Porter’s Five Forces analysis of Walmart Inc . As one of the biggest retailers in the world, the company wields its strong bargaining power to impose its demands on suppliers, as a way to address supply chain management issues in this strategic decision area of operations management. Nonetheless, considering Walmart’s stakeholders and corporate social responsibility strategy , the company balances business needs and the needs of suppliers, who are a major stakeholder group.

8. Inventory Management . In this decision area of operations management, Walmart focuses on the vendor-managed inventory model and just-in-time cross-docking. In the vendor-managed inventory model, suppliers access the company’s information systems to decide when to deliver goods based on real-time data on inventory levels. In this way, Walmart minimizes the problem of stockouts. On the other hand, in just-in-time cross-docking, the retail company minimizes the size of its inventory, thereby supporting cost-minimization efforts. These approaches help maximize the operational efficiency and performance of the retail business in this strategic decision area of operations management (See more: Walmart: Inventory Management ).

9. Scheduling . Walmart uses conventional shifts and flexible scheduling. In this decision area of operations management, the emphasis is on optimizing internal business process schedules to achieve higher efficiencies in the retail enterprise. Through optimized schedules, Walmart minimizes losses linked to overcapacity and related issues. Scheduling in the retailer’s warehouses is flexible and based on current trends. For example, based on Walmart’s approaches to inventory management and supply chain management, suppliers readily respond to changes in inventory levels. As a result, most of the company’s warehouse schedules are not fixed. On the other hand, Walmart store processes and human resources in sales and marketing use fixed conventional shifts for scheduling. Such fixed scheduling optimizes the retailer’s expenditure on human resources. However, to fully address scheduling as a strategic decision area of operations management, Walmart occasionally changes store and personnel schedules to address anticipated changes in demand, such as during Black Friday. This flexibility supports optimal retail revenues, especially during special shopping occasions.

10. Maintenance . With regard to maintenance needs, Walmart addresses this decision area of operations management through training programs to maintain human resources, dedicated personnel to maintain facilities, and dedicated personnel to maintain equipment. The retail company’s human resource management involves training programs to ensure that employees are effective and efficient. On the other hand, dedicated personnel for facility maintenance keep all of Walmart’s buildings in shape and up to corporate and regulatory standards. In relation, the company has dedicated personnel as well as third-party service providers for fixing and repairing equipment like cash registers and computers. Walmart also has personnel for maintaining its e-commerce websites and social media accounts. This combination of maintenance approaches contributes to the retail company’s effectiveness in satisfying the concerns in this strategic decision area of operations management. Effective and efficient maintenance supports business resilience against threats in the industry environment, such as the ones evaluated in the PESTEL/PESTLE Analysis of Walmart Inc .

Determining Productivity at Walmart Inc.

One of the goals of Walmart’s operations management is to maximize productivity to support the minimization of costs under the cost leadership generic strategy. There are various quantitative and qualitative criteria or measures of productivity that pertain to human resources and related internal business processes in the retail organization. Some of the most notable of these productivity measures/criteria at Walmart are:

• Revenues per sales unit
• Stockout rate
• Duration of order filling

The revenues per sales unit refers to the sales revenues per store, average sales revenues per store, and sales revenues per sales team. Walmart’s operations managers are interested in maximizing revenues per sales unit. On the other hand, the stockout rate is the frequency of stockout, which is the condition where inventories for certain products are empty or inadequate despite positive demand. Walmart’s operations management objective is to minimize stockout rates. Also, the duration of order filling is the amount of time consumed to fill inventory requests at the company’s stores. The operations management objective in this regard is to minimize the duration of order filling, as a way to enhance Walmart’s business performance.

• Reid, R. D., & Sanders, N. R. (2023). Operations Management: An Integrated Approach . John Wiley & Sons.
• Szwarc, E., Bocewicz, G., Golińska-Dawson, P., & Banaszak, Z. (2023). Proactive operations management: Staff allocation with competence maintenance constraints. Sustainability, 15 (3), 1949.
• Walmart Inc. – Form 10-K .
• Walmart Inc. – History .
• Walmart Inc. – Location Facts .
• Walmart’s E-commerce Website .
• Copyright by Panmore Institute - All rights reserved.
• This article may not be reproduced, distributed, or mirrored without written permission from Panmore Institute and its author/s.
• Educators, Researchers, and Students: You are permitted to quote or paraphrase parts of this article (not the entire article) for educational or research purposes, as long as the article is properly cited and referenced together with its URL/link.

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Case Studies in Operations Research

Applications of Optimal Decision Making

• © 2015
• Katta G. Murty 0

Department Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA

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• Presents a broad range of case studies suitable for modeling courses for OR students
• Additional materials posted on the book's Springer.com webpage to allow students to solve problems using the case studies
• Contributing authors among the most prominent in the field
• Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: International Series in Operations Research & Management Science (ISOR, volume 212)

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Table of contents (22 chapters)

Front matter, intelligent modeling essential to get good results: container storage inside a container terminal.

Katta G. Murty

Diesel Locomotive Fueling Problem (LFP) in Railroad Operations

• Bodhibrata Nag, Katta G. Murty

Organizing National Elections in India to Elect the 543 Members of the Lok Sabha

Procurement, production and marketing at supply-driven milk and milk products cooperative.

• Omkar D. Palsule-Desai, Katta G. Murty

DSS (Decision Support System) for Allocating Appointment Times to Calling Patients at a Medical Facility

• Adel Alaeddini, Katta G. Murty

Transportation–Location Problem for a Solar Stove Distributing Nonprofit Organization

• Gemma Berenguer, Amber Richter, Zuo-Jun (Max) Shen

Designing Earth Dams Optimally

• G. S. R. Murthy, Katta G. Murty, G. Raghupathy

Optimal Scheduling of a Multiunit Hydro Power Station in a Short-Term Planning Horizon

• Alberto Borghetti, Claudia D’Ambrosio, Andrea Lodi, Silvano Martello

Optimizing the Design of Water Distribution Networks Using Mathematical Optimization

• Cristiana Bragalli, Claudia D’Ambrosio, Jon Lee, Andrea Lodi, Paolo Toth

Wood Inventory Management in Paper Industry

• G. S. R. Murthy, A. L. N. Murthy, Katta G. Murty

Optimizing the Design of Heat Exchanger Networks in Crude Oil Refineries

• Majid M. Al-Gwaiz, Katta G. Murty

Optimizing the Allocation of Cuboidal Boxes to Cuboidal Compartments for Storage in a Warehouse

Optimal intake and routing of floating oil rigs in the north sea.

• Dag Haugland, Bjørn Peter Tjøstheim

Addressing the Peak Power Problem Through Thermal Energy Storage

• Wesley Cole, JongSuk Kim, Kriti Kapoor, Thomas Edgar

Optimal Flight Planning for a Jet Aircraft

• Harris McClamroch, Taeyoung Lee

Freight Transport by Rail

• Katta G. Murty, Bodhibrata Nag, Omkar D. Palsule-Desai

Cutting Stock Problems in the Paper and Sheet Metal Industries

• G. S. R. Murthy, Katta G. Murty

Inventory Management in Blood Banks

• Harshal Lowalekar, N. Ravichandran

Assembling Cells in Wet Cell Traction Batteries that Power Forklifts

• Case Studies
• Decision Making
• Mathematical Modeling
• Mathematical Programming
• Operations Research
• Optimization Models

About this book

This textbook is comprised of detailed case studies covering challenging real world applications of OR techniques. Among the overall goals of the book is to provide readers with descriptions of the history and other background information on a variety of industries, service or other organizations in which decision making is an important component of their daily operations. The book considers all methods of optimum decision making in order to improve performances. It also compares possible solutions obtained by different approaches, concluding with a recommendation of the best among them for implementation. By exposing students to a variety of applications in a variety of areas and explaining how they can be modeled and solved, the book helps students develop the skills needed for modeling and solving problems that they may face in the workplace. 

Each chapter of " Case Studies in Operations Research: Applications of Optimal Decision Making" also includes additionaldata provided on the book’s website on Springer.com. These files contain a brief description of the area of application, the problem and the required outputs. Also provided are links to access all the data in the problem. Finally there are project exercises for students to practice what they have learnt in the chapter, which can also be used by instructors as project assignments in their courses. 

Editors and Affiliations

About the editor, bibliographic information.

Book Title : Case Studies in Operations Research

Book Subtitle : Applications of Optimal Decision Making

Editors : Katta G. Murty

Series Title : International Series in Operations Research & Management Science

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1007-6

Publisher : Springer New York, NY

eBook Packages : Business and Economics , Business and Management (R0)

Copyright Information : Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Hardcover ISBN : 978-1-4939-1006-9 Published: 09 December 2014

Softcover ISBN : 978-1-4939-4355-5 Published: 30 April 2017

eBook ISBN : 978-1-4939-1007-6 Published: 08 December 2014

Series ISSN : 0884-8289

Series E-ISSN : 2214-7934

Edition Number : 1

Number of Pages : XXIV, 543

Number of Illustrations : 70 b/w illustrations, 93 illustrations in colour

Topics : Operations Research/Decision Theory , Operations Research, Management Science

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Operations strategy case studies

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A leading US non-profit health insurer focused on service as a key differentiator. It wanted to gain insight into current operational performance, and develop customer-centric capabilities like self-service and digital competency. PwC's Strategy& was engaged to evaluate and address gaps in customer and member engagement.

Leveraging our health insurance expertise, proprietary market research databases, and best practices to help the client develop its differentiated customer-centric capabilities, we identified quick wins included outsourcing of manual activities, automation of macros/scripting, and standardization of call center work-from-home policies. We delivered a plan to enhance workforce management, consolidate provider data claim, and move to pre-pay policy. Additional recommendations addressed network rationalization, timely issuance of ID cards, and reducing SG&A expenses.

The project identified $25M investment in provider engagement, flexible network design, personalized member service, and real-time enrollment to achieve the desired differentiating capabilities.

Innovation and product development

A global chemicals specialty company with multiple business units and several existing embedded R&D teams was challenged by stagnating growth in difficult market conditions and the client was seeking to reinvigorate the portfolio. The client sought to consolidate R&D capabilities and establish a corporate innovation function to coordinate and drive its long-term R&D agenda and drive growth.

Strategy& was asked to design the innovation operating model, define the collaboration with business units, and develop a concept for R&D partnerships and venturing to drive growth.

We established a target operating model, refocused product innovation into clusters and developed a venturing approach. The client experienced a significant upswing in R&D productivity, new record numbers of patents filed, and breakthroughs innovations in a number of focus areas. Overall, improved R&D coherence led to 13% direct top line growth and 15% EBITDA improvement.

Strategic supply management

A global lighting company with over $5B sales revenue across more than 130 countries was faced with tremendous market disruptions resulting from the transition from traditional lighting to LED. To successfully play in this significantly different market, the company sold off its traditional business and refocused on the technically driven, fast-cycled LED business. To enable this, the client had to adopt new business models. Within this context, the procurement function had to undergo a major transition towards strategic supply management to effectively support the businesses going forward.

Strategy& supported the client in identifying the new requirements resulting from the changed business models, developing the procurement transformation program based on prioritized 4-6 focus areas (e.g. SRM, Supplier and Innovation Scouting), including appropriate KPIs, and designing a comprehensive change management concept and roadmap to ensure engagement and buy-in from the client team.

The transformation delivered significantly improved service levels for the BUs based on nine key strategic supply management capabilities and an adapted operating model with an improved split of roles and responsibilities between corporate headquarters and business units.

Competitive manufacturing

A global product company with $10B sales revenue across more than 130 countries was suffering from a highly complex manufacturing footprint which was not aligned with the client’s main markets. The client was losing sales and profitability due to high order fulfillment cycle times, high manufacturing costs, and low productivity performance in its key operations.

Strategy& designed the global manufacturing footprint strategy based on clearly defined customer and market requirements. As a consequence, the team agreed to realign the operations footprint from 23 to 15 operations by implementing a more balanced global footprint closer to key customers and/or distribution centers.

The transformation delivered shorter order fulfillment cycle times while simultaneously reducing manufacturing costs by up to 10% and improving overall productivity and flexibility. These results led to a gross margin improvement by 5%.

Capital assets

A leading oil field services and equipment company’s financial performance was lagging its peers, and the company had committed to a 3% improvement in North American net margin. Management believed there was an opportunity to improve the effectiveness of their >$1B equipment maintenance spend, but was unclear on where and how to achieve savings.

Strategy& helped the client pinpoint inefficiencies in their maintenance operating model, shifting from a highly reactive and siloed operation to an integrated team using advanced techniques to deliver maintenance when and where needed based on data. The changes were substantial as the client reorganized to break down functional barriers and create a maintenance process focused on customer performance.

Results were impressive — the maintenance transformation program was implemented at the top 80% of locations by revenue, resulting in a ~2% boost to net margins. It also drove a 20% reduction in maintenance cost, 50% reduction in maintenance related downtime, and improved customer service.

General and administrative (G&A) operations

The securities servicing division of a global banking group sought to address business challenges like reduced productivity, sub-optimal operating model for its Center of Excellence (CoE), lack of process standardization, cost escalation, process fragmentation, and duplication. Strategy& was asked to help in accelerating execution and benefits delivery through process optimization, offshoring and redesign of operating model.

Strategy& developed initial hypothesis through a detailed current state analysis, using both quantitative and qualitative tools, and conducted workshops to identify quick win opportunities. We proposed a redesigned operating model for the CoEs, and suggested in-depth implementation plan to drive the changes.

The project identified potential cost saving of $10M per annum and recommended lean FTE allocation across locations. The project also identified opportunities to achieve process efficiency and provided detailed target state structure of the CoE, including team size, shift patterns, and processes performed.

Enterprise-wide operational excellence

A leading tier-1 automotive supplier for the production and processing of rubber, plastics and metal with $680MM. sales revenue faced significant growth rates, but structures, process efficiency and financial performance did not follow accordingly and significant refinancing/cash flow complications evolved.

Strategy& was tasked with reshaping the company starting from product-market-strategy, developing the organizational structure and optimizing the entire process and operations landscape. An overall restructuring concept based on two pillars was developed: 1) Urgent short-term actions focusing on firefighting to ensure customer satisfaction and 2) sustainable long-term measures facilitating the optimization of the company’s footprint, product creation process, sales initiatives as well as lean production initiatives and the definition of an overall production system.

Continued success of these measures was ensured through the implementation of a common reporting structure and escalation process to track progress and define counter measures in case of deviations. The highly successful project identified cost saving initiatives worth more than $135MM. and had the client achieving EBIT margins of 6-8% during the project.

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Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies of 2021

Two cases about Hertz claimed top spots in 2021's Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies

Two cases on the uses of debt and equity at Hertz claimed top spots in the CRDT’s (Case Research and Development Team) 2021 top 40 review of cases.

Hertz (A) took the top spot. The case details the financial structure of the rental car company through the end of 2019. Hertz (B), which ranked third in CRDT’s list, describes the company’s struggles during the early part of the COVID pandemic and its eventual need to enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

The success of the Hertz cases was unprecedented for the top 40 list. Usually, cases take a number of years to gain popularity, but the Hertz cases claimed top spots in their first year of release. Hertz (A) also became the first ‘cooked’ case to top the annual review, as all of the other winners had been web-based ‘raw’ cases.

Besides introducing students to the complicated financing required to maintain an enormous fleet of cars, the Hertz cases also expanded the diversity of case protagonists. Kathyrn Marinello was the CEO of Hertz during this period and the CFO, Jamere Jackson is black.

Sandwiched between the two Hertz cases, Coffee 2016, a perennial best seller, finished second. “Glory, Glory, Man United!” a case about an English football team’s IPO made a surprise move to number four.  Cases on search fund boards, the future of malls,  Norway’s Sovereign Wealth fund, Prodigy Finance, the Mayo Clinic, and Cadbury rounded out the top ten.

Other year-end data for 2021 showed:

• Online “raw” case usage remained steady as compared to 2020 with over 35K users from 170 countries and all 50 U.S. states interacting with 196 cases.
• Fifty four percent of raw case users came from outside the U.S..
• The Yale School of Management (SOM) case study directory pages received over 160K page views from 177 countries with approximately a third originating in India followed by the U.S. and the Philippines.
• Twenty-six of the cases in the list are raw cases.
• A third of the cases feature a woman protagonist.
• Orders for Yale SOM case studies increased by almost 50% compared to 2020.
• The top 40 cases were supervised by 19 different Yale SOM faculty members, several supervising multiple cases.

CRDT compiled the Top 40 list by combining data from its case store, Google Analytics, and other measures of interest and adoption.

All of this year’s Top 40 cases are available for purchase from the Yale Management Media store .

And the Top 40 cases studies of 2021 are:

1.   Hertz Global Holdings (A): Uses of Debt and Equity

2.   Coffee 2016

3.   Hertz Global Holdings (B): Uses of Debt and Equity 2020

4.   Glory, Glory Man United!

5.   Search Fund Company Boards: How CEOs Can Build Boards to Help Them Thrive

6.   The Future of Malls: Was Decline Inevitable?

7.   Strategy for Norway's Pension Fund Global

8.   Prodigy Finance

9.   Design at Mayo

10. Cadbury

11. City Hospital Emergency Room

13. Volkswagen

14. Marina Bay Sands

15. Shake Shack IPO

16. Mastercard

17. Netflix

18. Ant Financial

19. AXA: Creating the New CR Metrics

20. IBM Corporate Service Corps

21. Business Leadership in South Africa's 1994 Reforms

22. Alternative Meat Industry

23. Children's Premier

24. Khalil Tawil and Umi (A)

25. Palm Oil 2016

26. Teach For All: Designing a Global Network

27. What's Next? Search Fund Entrepreneurs Reflect on Life After Exit

28. Searching for a Search Fund Structure: A Student Takes a Tour of Various Options

30. Project Sammaan

31. Commonfund ESG

32. Polaroid

33. Connecticut Green Bank 2018: After the Raid

34. FieldFresh Foods

35. The Alibaba Group

36. 360 State Street: Real Options

37. Herman Miller

38. AgBiome

39. Nathan Cummings Foundation

40. Toyota 2010

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Cases in Operations Management Building Customer Value Through World-Class Operations

• Robert D. Klassen - University of Western Ontario, Canada
• Larry J. Menor - University of Western Ontario, Canada
• Description

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I will uses the case studies for the course and have given the details to our library to order. The cases are very good. Thanks, Qeis Kamran

First of all I'd like to say this book is an excellent book in the field, as cases books for academic education are very rare. But the only reason why I did not adopt is because that this book needs updating. The latest version was published in 2006 and a lot has happended in the field since then.

Very good book giving detailled information about all aspects of OM. Bit too heavy for my student groups but no fault of the author.

Good range of case studies presented although the two column page layout seems very old fashioned in its style.

• strong decision orientation of real-world cases
• clear development of the linkages between business processes and customer value
• diversity of international case settings 
• mixture of cases, simulations and in-class exercises

Sample Materials & Chapters

Chapter 1. Developing World-Class Operations

Chapter 3. Planning and Control

Chapter 5. Quality

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Case Study In Operations Management

2011, Journal of Business Case Studies (JBCS)

This case study is conducted within the context of the Theory of Constraints. The field research reported in this document contains information specific to the telecommunications industry. An examination of the history, organization design, problems and solutions for one telecommunications company are undertaken from the perspective of academic work in the Theory of Constraints. The information included in this document was developed through interviews with four senior managers including the President, the Chief Technology Officer, a Vice President and a department manager. Their responses were the basis of identifying problems and undesirable effects. The undesirable effects were diagramed in six UDE clouds dealing with the following issues: 1- unclear vision from management to employees; 2- supplier; 3- market; 4- the price and regulation environment; 5- production; and 6- bureaucracy. These undesirable effects were logically examined until a single cloud depicting the core confli...

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In today’s economic climate, many organizations struggle with declining sales and increasing costs. Some choose to hunker down and weather the storm, hoping for better results in the future. However, layoffs and workforce reductions jeopardize future competitiveness. However, organizations that have implemented the Theory of Constraints (TOC) continue to thrive and grow in difficult times, continuing to achieve real bottom line growth, whether by improving productivity or increased revenues. In this paper, the organization dealing with the furniture manufacturing has been studied and the main constraints for the maximum throughput are identified by applying a thinking process tool called as “Theory of Constraints” (TOC). The Drum Buffer Rope (DBR) has been applied for capacity planning and the time for each identified processes is calculated and workload for each work center is calculated. Then the capacity constraint machine is identified. The proper solution has been provided to o...

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Theory of constraints (TOC) is a technique that produces solutions for every kind of bottleneck in a short time. The philosophy of the theory is to determine the weaker part of the process chain and to eliminate this constraint point by taking action. After improvement, the next weaker part of the process chain is determined, and so on, for continuous improvement. The main goal is to apply improvement actions continuously to reach an excellent system structure. This paper describes how the five main steps of the theory of constraints were applied to eliminate waste at a supplier firm in Turkey..

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Purpose: The theory of constraints (TOC) drum-buffer-rope methodology is appropriate when managing a production plant in complex environments, such as make-to-order (MTO) scenarios. However, some difficulties have been detected in implementing this methodology in such changing environments. This case study analyses a MTO company to identify the key factors that influence the execution of the third step of TOC. It also aims to evaluate in more depth the research started by Lizarralde et al. (2020) and compare the results with the existing literature. Design/methodology/approach: The case study approach is selected as a research methodology because of the need to investigate a current phenomenon in a real environment. Findings: In the case study analysed, the protective capacity of non-bottleneck resources is found to the key factor when subordinating the MTO system to a bottleneck (BN). Furthermore, it coincides with one of the two key factors defined by the literature, namely protec...

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Technology in Operations

Transformation that sticks, what’s your goal today, improve capital productivity, transform products and sourcing efficiency, drive impact in production networks, elevate experiences, learn more about the impact of digital transformation for operations, technology in action, go & see, innovation & learning centers, mckinsey academy, global lighthouse network, technology partners.

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enVista assisted a major client in streamlining operations by following a blueprint to success

Editor’s note:  Vertical focuses on specific verticals within the supply chain, highlighting the latest trends and news. It appears on the fourth Monday of each month. This month, we are looking at food and beverage. If you are interested in future topics, you can see a full list of upcoming topics on our  Editorial Calendar .

When a regional, West Coast fast-food restaurant wanted to collapse two of its warehouses into a newly built facility in Chino, California, it faced the challenge of streamlining operations. Project management and governance, implementing best practices, and enabling the necessary IT capabilities were just a few of the issues that arose.

The chain also wanted to implement Körber’s Warehouse Advantage warehouse management system (WMS) in the new facility since it was familiar with the system, which was operating in two additional locations. More support was needed, however, to make this a reality.

“Every project that we get is different. That said, over the past 22 some years we’ve been doing this, we have recognized it’s really important to have a methodology and ensure when we take on these projects, there is a method to the process and all the I’s are doting and the T’s crossed.”

Enter enVista . The end-to-end supply chain consulting firm has a long history of working with Körber, along with many other solutions providers, and seemed a good fit to see the project through to completion. enVista would provide testing, documentation, go-live support and overall product management.

“Every project that we get is different,” explained Amit Kirpalani, vice president of supply chain solutions at enVista. “That said, over the past 22 some years we’ve been doing this, we have recognized it’s really important to have a methodology and ensure when we take on these projects, there is a method to the process and all the I’s are doting and the T’s crossed.”

The case study

The fast-food chain had already completed an initial WMS design for the facility which enVista reviewed. The client wanted confirmation its design met industry and organizational best practices and would meet the needs of associates in the warehouse and across the business environment.

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enVista engaged with the clients warehouse workers, looking for any gaps in the design. A review of technology and automation to be deployed—and what was already deployed—was conducted to ensure a smooth integration, and a review of the current state processes was undertaken to ensure the new WMS would be able to accommodate and enhance them.

“We’re looking at current state, pain points and what are the areas [to address],” Kirpalani said. “We want to be able to work with the client to design that future state. And that future state is part of the current state, but also addressing pain points. We put together what the future state looks like and then we” connect with the vendor to make sure the system can address the needs.

Once the overall needs were identified, enVista analyzed the WMS design to ensure it met those needs and provided feedback to the client. This allowed adjustments to be made before implementation.

Following completion of the design and analysis, enVista went to work creating technical documentation and a “description of operations” document, the latter was for a high-level audience within the warehouse that detailed how the WMS would be leveraged from an operational impact perspective.

Regression testing, end-to-end testing, user-acceptance testing, and field-acceptance testing all followed.

“If you haven’t locked down the design in the design phase, you are never going to be successful in the testing phase,” Kirpalani said. “We are very picky about making sure we follow the process.”

Once all the testing was complete, enVista handled the master data migration and provided 24/7 go-live support as the plan was implemented. enVista continued to offer its expertise to supplement Körber’s support team moving forward.

“The workforce adapts to better if it comes from one of their own and it allows them to be sustainable in the long term. We are there when the actual training happens. The trainer that we train is really the one giving the training, but we are in the classroom. That allows us to make an assessment of [the trainer’s ability].”

That is an important part of the process, but one that Kirpalani said is not a long-term process. In fact, enVista utilizes a “train the trainer” approach.

“The workforce adapts to better if it comes from one of their own and it allows them to be sustainable in the long term,” Kirpalani said. “We are there when the actual training happens. The trainer that we train is really the one giving the training, but we are in the classroom. That allows us to make an assessment of [the trainer’s ability].”

Kirpalani made two points about the enVista process. First, the testing process is vital, but it is not to ensure everything works, instead, enVista tests “to break the system, not to pass the system.”

“I think it is a sense of appreciation for that level of due diligence because anything you catch at testing is 10 times more painful at go-live,” Kirpalani said.

Second, the design process needs to address future needs. In the case of this fast-food company, they have several facilities. Once the system is up and running in one, if the design was handled correctly, the company would likely be able to handle rollout in additional facilities. enVista is, of course, available should the need arise.

The ultimate goal is to standardize as much as possible and many clients are not standardized, which makes scaling difficult.

“When we go into design, we are not just looking at that first site, we are looking at a global design that works at all sites,” Kirpalani said. “By the time we are done with site one and site two, there are hundreds of people that have the [experience] to [scale across other sites].”

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Streamlining processes and standing up HR operations with PwC’s Total Workforce Management solution

From acquisition to autonomy: how a tech company transformed its workforce

• May 29, 2024

A regional tech company faced the challenge of establishing a new company after an acquisition, while also scaling its workforce. To avoid costly transition services agreements (TSAs) and preserve deal value, it needed a rapid HR system separation. The company worked with PwC to swiftly move its enterprise-wide HR operations to SAP and stand up its own system. The solution provides unprecedented visibility across the organization and empowers leadership to make data-driven decisions that improve employee experience.

Regional Tech Company

time and pay accuracy after converting enterprise data from legacy systems over to SAP

faster than industry standard timeline to implement SAP SuccessFactors and Fieldglass for 6,000+ employees and contractors

HR TSAs required post-divestiture, despite accounting for HR and tax nuances in 35 states and 25+ employee unions, which helped preserve deal value

A human-led, tech-powered workforce transformation enables transparency and helps build trust with stakeholders

PwC shares the path to operational efficiency

What was the challenge.

The challenge was managing rapid change amid a complex acquisition . The client needed to physically separate the HR, payroll and operations systems of its newly acquired company to avoid relying on the former owner’s tech infrastructure via costly TSAs.

Speed was key. The goal was to stand up the new systems as quickly as possible without a significant impact on either company’s daily operations, which span 35 states. Simultaneously, the team also had to onboard thousands of employees overnight, causing a rapid scaling of the HR organization.

Describe the solution delivered by the PwC community of solvers

PwC’s Total Workforce Management solution powered by SAP was chosen to streamline HR processes and manage all related operations. This comprehensive, cloud-based HR suite integrates modules like S/4HANA, SuccessFactors and Fieldglass to efficiently handle talent management, learning, recruitment, timekeeping, finance (including financial planning and analysis) and contractor management. The automation tools and data cleansing enabled a smooth transition under a tight deadline, along with accurate financial data posting and streamlined payment processing for both contractors and over 25 employee unions across the business.

Transitions of this magnitude typically take at least 12 to 15 months, but PwC did it in 9 months. The client now has great operational efficiency and workforce management capabilities.

How does the solution blend the strengths of technology and people?

Despite the time constraints, PwC quickly implemented Total Workforce Management and the Experience Suite framework . This is a digital SuccessFactors-driven solution that provides tools to enhance employee upskilling, labor sourcing and localized people management. The solution simplified governance, improved visibility and empowered smarter decisions as the organization grew. Within the Experience Suite, you could see exactly what the system build would look like via a test environment, incorporating standardized practices to meet the deadline as an independent company.

Where or how did innovation and unexpected ways of thinking come into play?

PwC’s Experience Suite framework provided a practical and efficient approach to setting up a new system. This included leading practices and pre-built models based on PwC’s extensive experience with SAP SuccessFactors and Fieldglass implementations. It streamlined project management, reduced decision-making time and minimized complexities. PwC’s fit-to-standard approach also helped provide a standard system setup and HR enhancements to simplify the implementation process. The team’s innovative solutions truly made a difference in the workforce transformation journey.

Get more on this topic

How expediting transition service agreement exits can unlock deal value

Total Workforce Management powered by SAP

Experience Suite framework

HR transformation: embrace the future  

Gain competitive advantage by moving your HR and its processes to the cloud.

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With a bachelor’s degree in business or a Master of Business Administration (MBA) , you can expect to take courses in finance, marketing, management, accounting, entrepreneurship, and business strategy, and build up expertise in one or more areas.

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What is a bachelor’s degree in business.

A bachelor's degree in business is an undergraduate program that involves studying marketing, finance, accounting, management, economics, and entrepreneurship, among other subjects. It’s a well-rounded degree that emphasizes skills such as critical thinking, communication, innovation, and leadership, all of which can lead to versatile careers across many industries. Learn more about whether a business degree is worth it .

What is an MBA?

A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a graduate program in business and management that emphasizes leadership and managerial skills. In an MBA program, you'll learn fundamentals such as finance, marketing, and organizational behavior, while building skills in communication, leadership, and strategic thinking, among other areas. Learn more about why getting an MBA can be a worthwhile endeavor.

How do I choose the best online business degree for my goals?

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Earning your business degree from a leading university on Coursera means experiencing greater flexibility than in-person degree programs, so you can learn at your pace around your other responsibilities.

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Cotti Foods Streamlines Real Estate Operations for Faster Growth with Leasecake

June 4, 2024

The Customer

Cotti Foods  began in 1967 with the purchase of one Taco Bell restaurant in Southern California. Since then, Cotti has grown with the addition of Wendy’s in 2014 and Pieology in 2015, and today is a leading mulit-unit franchisee operating 106 Taco Bell restaurants, 122 Wendy’s restaurants and 5 Pieology restaurants across 6 states.

The Challenge

With such a vast footprint, efficient real estate management is crucial for sustained growth and profitability. Several years ago, Cotti Foods found itself facing a significant challenge: the implementation of ASC 842. This accounting standard necessitated complex lease calculations, a task that CFO Scott Miller deemed burdensome and prone to error. Recognizing the need for a streamlined solution, Cotti Foods began exploring lease management systems to simplify this process and mitigate risk.

The Solution: Leasecake

After evaluating several options, Cotti Foods selected Leasecake as their  lease and location management platform . The decision was driven by the system’s intuitive interface, robust features, and ability to standardize, simplify, and automate many of the back office real estate processes that were too time consuming for the team to handle manually while growing rapidly. 

The Results

Since adopting Leasecake two years ago, Cotti Foods has experienced tangible benefits across its real estate management operations. 

“Before Leasecake, we relied on landlords to prompt lease renewals, but now we’re proactive, controlling CPI calculations and ensuring accuracy,” said Scott Miller, CFO, Cotti Foods. “This technology has streamlined processes, giving us more control and reducing time to close leases.”

From simplifying ASC 842 compliance to empowering proactive lease negotiations, the platform has become an indispensable tool for driving efficiency, standardization, and scalability. With Leasecake, Cotti Foods is well-positioned to navigate the complexities of real estate management and continue its expansion with confidence.

“We love Leasecake because it helps to reduce risk. We don't miss lease options which can come back and bite us, because we know about them all ahead of time.”

Scott Miller, CFO, Cotti Foods

Benefits of Leasecake

• Seamless Audits:  Leasecake’s platform facilitates smooth audits by providing auditors with transparent access to lease calculations and data. This transparency not only expedited the auditing process but also instilled confidence in the accuracy and reliability of financial reporting.
• Improved Efficiency:   The platform’s comprehensive functionalities streamlined lease administration, enabling the team at Cotti Foods to work more efficiently and effectively.
• Risk Reduction:  By centralizing lease data and automating critical tasks, Leasecake helped Cotti Foods minimize risk. The platform ensures timely notifications of lease options, preventing missed opportunities and potential liabilities.
• Proactive Lease Management:  Prior to adopting Leasecake, Cotti Foods lacked a formal process for lease renewals, relying instead on landlords to initiate discussions. With Leasecake, the company adopted a proactive approach, leveraging CPI calculations and taking control of lease negotiations. This proactive stance empowers Cotti Foods to optimize lease terms and mitigate costs effectively.
• Time and Cost Savings : Utilizing Leasecake has not only reduced risk but also saved valuable time and resources for Cotti Foods. By automating calculations and standardizing processes, the company can allocate resources more efficiently and focus on strategic initiatives to drive growth.

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