Operations Management
33:623:386:01 and 02
Spring 2006

All class policies subject to change at instructor's discretion.

Quick Overview:

  • Time:

Sections 01 and 02: Monday/Wednesday 1:40 – 3:00 and 3:20 - 4:40 PM

  • Place:  Beck 252.  On January 24 and March 28 only, classes will meet in the Levin 005 computer lab instead of in Beck.
  • Instructor: Benjamin Avi-Itzhak
  • E-mail: aviitzha@rutcor.rutgers.edu
  • Class website: http://rutcor.rutgers.edu/~aviitzha/DMBA/index.html
  • Office: 250 J. H. Levin Building, Livingston Campus.
  • Telephone: (732) 445-5643; also (732) 445-3183 for urgent calls.
  • Office hours: Monday and Wednesday 11:15-12:15 AM.
  • Text: There is no regular textbook for the class, only a course pack.

o        The course pack is available for purchase in the Livingston bookstore and is entitled "Operations Management 33:623:386 Spring 2005 Edition, Compiled and Edited by Jonathan Eckstein".  The cover has a picture of a factory at night next to some water, and most of the lettering is red.  Please bring the textbook to all classes except exams.

  • Software: Excel, and the Solver and YASAI add-ins. 
  • First meeting: Wednesday, January 18, 2006.
  • Common final exam:  TBA
  • Other Sections: All other sections will use the same textbook, follow the same basic curriculum, and take the same final exam.

Course Content:

The core of this course is mathematical and simulative ways of approaching planning and decision-making problems that arise frequently in certain business contexts.

This "mindset" is called Management Science (MS) or Operations Research (OR). Basically, the MS/OR approach involves forming (imperfect) models of business situations, analyzing these models, and then deciding on some "optimal" course of action.  A key concept in this approach is to separate the solution of the decision problem into two steps, first mathematical modeling, and then solution of the resulting abstract model.  In this class, we will leave solution of the model up to existing computer software.

MS/OR is most helpful in situations where quantitative information is plentiful and there are relatively few intangible or psychological considerations, making it easier to produce accurate quantutative models. It is also particularly beneficial when the decision or planning situation is complex, making it hard for managers to simply "eyeball" the decision or "fly by the seat of their pants." Such situations arise most often at the operational level of the management hierarchy, and progressively less often at the higher levels (tactical and strategic). Hence the application to operations management. "Operations management" courses at some other schools may deal more with qualitative generalities of managing business operations; this course basically focuses on the quantitative tools needed for such management.

General Information:

  • Attendance: Regular attendance is essential and will be informally monitored. In severe weather, please check the class website -- if at all possible, I will post any class cancellation or schedule change information there as soon as I can.  You can also monitor the Rutgers main website, WCTC AM 1450, or Rutgers INFO AM 530 for possible university closing information.
  • E-Mail List:  I may use Rutgers' RAMS e-mail system to post important information such as class cancellations or homework problem corrections and hints.  Please check your e-mail regularly for class announcements -- it will be your responsibility if you miss one of these announcements.  RAMS uses whatever e-mail Rutgers has on file for you, which is usually your "eden" e-mail account.  If you prefer to receive e-mail at another address, you must do one of the following two things.
  • Questions: Are encouraged during class and office hours, and via e-mail.
  • Exams: There will be two in-class midterm exams and a final. All exams will be closed book. For the midterms, you can bring a one-page "cram sheet" in your own handwriting (both sides of the paper are allowed). A two-page cram sheet (also in your own handwriting, both sides of the paper allowed) is permitted for the final. All sections of this course will have a common final exam. The final distribution of letter grades should depend on the section's final exam performance, as compared to other sections. The final will be "cumulative", covering all topics in the course.
  • Homework: I am planning on 11 homework assignments. Typically, homework assignments will be handed out on Monday, and due in class the following Monday.  There is zero credit for late homework (although I may make exceptions in documented cases of genuine medical or family emergency). I will drop your lowest two assignment scores in computing your overall homework performance, with late or missing assignments counting as a score of zero.  This policy effectively allows you to skip one or two homework assignments without penalty.  However, I would definitely recommend against skipping homeworks early in the term, or planning in advance skipping more than one homework.  Most homework problems will involve computer work.
  • Collaboration and Cheating: You are allowed to seek or give help to other students on homework assignments. However, I have found it critical for the learning process that you hand work through the problems yourself and hand in your own work.  Otherwise, you will probably "crash and burn" on the exams. No collaboration of any kind is permitted on exams.
  • Computer Lab:  All software needed for this course is installed in the computer lab in the Levin building basement.
  • Using non-lab computers:  You may use the Levin computer lab, other university clusters, or your own computers.  If the Solver does not appear on the "Tools" menu in Excel, you may have to go to "Add-ins" and check the box marked "Solver".  If Solver is not installed on your computer, you can install it from the Microsoft Office CD-ROM (you are out of luck if you have a "pirate" version of Office with no installation CD-ROM).  On computers outside the lab, you will probably have to download the YASAI add-in from its website.
  • Textbooks:  See "Text" under "Quick Overview" above.
  • Bringing Books to Class:  Bring the course pack to all classes, except exams.
  • Grading: No letter grades are assigned to individual assignments or exams, only numeric scores from 0 to 100. My plan is that your course grade will be based on your aggregate score, calculated by combining your scores on all written class work according to the following weights:
     
    • 20% First midterm
    • 20% Second midterm
    • 40% Final
    • 20% Homework (excluding your two worst scores)
    • If your final is higher than your lower midterm, then the final counts 50%, and the lower midterm only 10%

I then rank students according to these aggregate scores, and assign grades by class rank, with some subjective judgment applied to borderline cases. Thus, the grades for all your class work are jointly "curved" once at the end of the course.  Homework scores in this class have historically tended, with a few exceptions, to be in the 90's and vary much less than exam scores. In the past, getting an above-average grade (A or B+) in the class requires doing 9 of the 11 homework assignments and getting a suitably above-average grade on at least two of the three exams. I reserve the right to make changes to the grade calculation scheme.

·The homework assignments are a significant amount of work, and I often get complaints that they count for so little a percentage of the grade.  Regrettably, since I allow collaboration on homework, and the homework grades tend to vary relatively little (average homework scores are well into the 90's most semesters). In the past, I have run into problems when I place more emphasis on homework in the grading scheme.  Think of the homework as a critical part of the learning process:  I evaluate that learning process mainly by exams, but you learn mainly by the homework (provided you don't abuse your freedom to collaborate).  Do not count on high homework scores to boost your overall grade.  You can damage your course letter grade by poor or missing homework assignments, but historically, with almost all homework grades being in the 90's, you cannot typically lift your class rank very much through homework.

Projected Syllabus

For 10 classes, we will study a variety of applications of something called linear programming.  We will spend 5 classes on a related topic called (mixed) integer programming.    Finally, we will spend 10 classes on elementary probability modeling, using simulation as our main analytical tool.

Detailed schedule, subject to change: