6 ECTS credits
167 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1021594BNR for all students in the 1st semester at a (B) Bachelor - advanced level.

Semester
1st semester
Enrollment based on exam contract
Impossible
Grading method
Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
Can retake in second session
Yes
Enrollment Requirements
Students who want to enroll for this course, must have obtained at least 30 ECTS-credits on bachelor level.
Taught in
English
Faculty
Faculty of Social Sciences & SolvayBusinessSchool
Department
Business Technology and Operations
Educational team
Philippe Lebeau (course titular)
Arne Vanhoyweghen
Soukaina Bayri
Activities and contact hours
24 contact hours Lecture
27 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
116 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
Course Content

This series of lectures and exercises deals with operations and logistics management and the decision support systems that can be used in this area. Operations management is the business function responsible for planning, coordinating, and controlling the resources needed to produce a company's products and services. The logistics function has to provide the different resources at the right time on the right place. The overall aim is to advocate principles and to recommend tools for investigating managerial decision problems via so-called prescriptive models with the ultimate goal of providing decision makers with means for finding good solutions to realistic decision problems. In this course, the role of operations and logistics in an organization is described, along with the strategic, tactical and operational decisions that are made. The history and current trends of operations management are discussed and the link towards practice is kept very close by inviting guest speakers from the field.

Course material
Handbook (Required) : Operations Management, An integrated approach, Reid, Dan R.; Sanders, Nada R., 7de, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 9781119668176, 2020
Digital course material (Required) : Extra study material during the course, Canvas
Additional info

A fee of approximately 30 euros per student will be charged for participation in the business game “The Fresh Connection”.

Teaching methods
- Lecture: collective contact-dependent moments during which the lecturer engages with learning materials
- Seminar, Exercises or Practicals (Practical): collective or individual contact-dependent moments during which the students are guided to actively engage with learning materials
- Independent or External Form of Study (Self): independent study

This description of the teaching methods is indicative, in order to assess the expected study load.

Lecture: 24 hours (8 x 3 hours)

  • Includes theory sessions and guest lectures

Practical: 27 hours (9 x 3 hours)

  • 6 exercise sessions
  • 3 sessions for coaching and feedback related to the business game “The Fresh Connection”

Self: 116 hours

  • Reading and studying the course material during the semester:
    • 3 hours per lecture: 24 hours
    • 3 hours per exercise session: 18 hours
  • Playing the business game “The Fresh Connection”:
    • 3 hours per round (6 rounds): 18 hours
    • Preparing the group report: 16 hours
  • Preparing the exam: 40 hours

 

Learning Outcomes

General competences

GENERAL COMPETENCES
After following this course, students should be able to define all fundamental concepts in operations management and logistics. They can make strategic, tactical and operational decisions in this domain. Students can solve realistic problems related to demand forecasting, inventory management, sales and operations planning, material requirements planning, statistical quality control, facility layout, job scheduling, capacity planning and facility location decisions, using the tools and models taught in the course. They should also have insight in how particular concepts are influencing the sustainability of the whole supply chain.

TEAM WORK
In the business game “The Fresh Connection”, groups of 4 students run a virtual company and learn to cooperate to achieve a common goal. Next, the students submit a group report related to this business game.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 75% of the final mark.
Practical Exam determines 25% of the final mark.

Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Written Exam with a relative weight of 75 which comprises 75% of the final mark.

    Note: Written closed-book exam which covers the content discussed during the lectures, exercise sessions and guest lectures. The exam may consist of multiple choice questions, open questions and exercises. Marks on multiple choice questions will be corrected for guessing.

Within the Practical Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Practical Exam with a relative weight of 25 which comprises 25% of the final mark.

    Note: Group report related to the business game “The Fresh Connection”. The individual contribution of students is taken into account through peer assessment.

Additional info regarding evaluation

Participation in both the Written Exam and the Practical Exam (i.e. playing the business game and submitting the group report) is required to succeed for this course. The mark for the group report is maintained in case of a second-chance exam. The business game can only be played in the first semester according to a fixed schedule.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark
The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context

This offer is part of the following study plans:
Bachelor of Business Economics: Business and Technology
Bachelor of Business Economics: International Business
Master of Electromechanical Engineering: Vehicle Technology and Transport (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Electromechanical Engineering: Sustainable Transport and Automotive Engineering