Part 1:
You have heard that many companies use Operations Management (OM) tools. You asked your supervisor what he thought about this. Your supervisor requested that you research the idea and present it at the afternoon manager's meeting to see if it is something valuable to use. He had asked that you make sure to find examples of other companies that benefited from their use.
Research at least one company that relies heavily on OM tools. Some possible examples are: United Airlines, American, Federal Express, General Electric, Ford, GM, the Department of Defense (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Mars, Inc., Pugeot - Citroen, Schindler Elevator, Syngenta (seed corn supplier), Jan de Wit Company (floral distributor), NBC television network, Jeppesen (aviation tools and publications), Air New Zealand, Fingerhut, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and Samsung Electronics. Investigate what operations management tools they have developed over time to help them gain a competitive advantage over their competitors. Where appropriate, identify the general type of tools which they are using.
Your findings should include at least the following:
1. Name of the organization
2. Location of the headquarters
3. The source of your information (articles/websites/pages)
4. One or more significant operations management initiatives
5. What benefits are already being realized?
Part 2:
At the monthly meeting, one of your coworkers stated that "Using the right analysis tool will compensate for inexperienced managers." How would you reply to your coworker?