B2083: Operations Management

The Assignment Question:

This assignment is based on the context of a small but growing company which has, to this point, had limited formal application of OM approaches.

The TEA DROPPER was founded in 2022 by four friends from Edinburgh, who create and sell crafted tea products. They began trading in January 2023, selling only two products directly to hotels and restaurants. They have quickly built their business and now have 29 staff and sell through a further three routes to market (online shop, retail, and wholly owned tea shops).

The ‘TEA DROPPER’ has experienced significant growth in sales, believing that through its core strengths: Super Premium Quality products & Strong branding / Customer Brand awareness that it has real potential to further penetrate the market.  However, during this period of growth, the founders have become increasingly aware of internal mistakes, external complaints, and a strong feeling of frustration from their staff about the level of planning and organisation in their wholly owned operating plant.

The TEA DROPPER grew from a micro business that was characterised by informality, which meant that any OM issues and needs were dealt with primarily as they emerged.  One of the founders has some limited OM experience and has so far been taking the lead on decision-making. OM principles and practices have not been formally built into ‘what they do and how they do it’.

The owners now realise that this is a crucial point in the company’s development and have decided to seek assistance in understanding how the design and planning of their operations can help in arresting the difficulties they have already experienced and position themselves to be in a much better condition to grasp the market opportunities for growth, that they passionately believe exist for the company in the current and future market.

You have been employed as an Operations Management consultant to the ‘TEA DROPPER’, and you are requested to:

• analyse and evaluate the current operating practices, approach to quality & production planning, inventory management, capacity planning, risk management and customer fulfilment.
• provide a set of practical recommendations that will help ‘tea dropper’ gain an appropriate and robust control of their operations.
• integrate insights drawn from current best practice and OM theory.

To complete this study, you will be provided with:

• a Word file containing detailed background information on the company and its current situation.
• an Excel file containing data on the tea dropper’s operations management and performance, including sales, production performance, inventory data, customer service levels and dashboard KPI’s that highlight performance levels and overall effectiveness.

It is essential to note that for this assignment, OM principles that engage with both Word and Excel files must be applied to help answer the assignment question. (Data analysis must be part of your answer.)

Your assignment must be written in a report format and should specifically contain the following four sections.

• Section 1: Introduction (15%)
• Section 2: Operations Design, Location, Flow and Performance (35%)
• Section 3: Demand, Capacity, and Inventory (35%)
• Section 4: Conclusions (15%)

Indicative Answer, Advice and Structure

In this assignment, marks for overall quality of presentation, communication and use of sources will be applied in the above categories.

This report should be presented in an appropriate and professional style with a coherent structure, logic and connected line of analysis, evaluation, and reasoning. The structure and indicative content of the report should be based upon the following main sections:

Full reference details must be included in respect to the academic literature and all other sources of information used (reference to and use of material from such sites as ESSAY.com, Google, YouTube, or Wikipedia is NOT acceptable).

Provenance of submitted work:

Students are reminded of the purpose of lectures. Whether delivered in a lecture hall or as an electronic recording, the lecture’s purpose is not to provide ‘reliable answers’, but to guide students to appropriate literature where reliable answers may be found. The content of lectures may NOT, therefore, be ‘lifted’ and used by students in the completion of their submissions, nor should the lecturers themselves be cited on the basis of what they have presented in class (of course, their published work may be cited in the normal manner).

Recorded lectures and PowerPoint slides from ‘live’ lectures are made available to you on the module’s Canvas site so that you may view them again and benefit afresh from their guidance, not so that they may be used ‘as a source’ for submitted work.

 Marking Criteria

QMU Undergraduate Grade Descriptors

Grade A* 80% and above Outstanding performance, exceptionally able – pass

• Articulates an outstanding understanding and interpretation of the relevant information, key theories and concepts presented by the assessment.
• Demonstrates outstanding knowledge of appropriate reading through extensive references to appropriate scholarly sources.
• Shows outstanding problem solving, creativity, originality, critical thinking, analysis, and evaluation.
• Presents outstanding discussion in a logical, connected, and progressing structure, and valid conclusions.
• Displays an outstanding ability to appraise evidence and synthesise concepts, knowledge, and theory.
• Shows an outstanding reflexive awareness of value judgements and assumptions embedded in the subject or discipline.

Grade A 70-79.9% Excellent performance – pass

• Articulates an excellent understanding and interpretation of the relevant information, key theories and concepts presented by the assessment.
• Demonstrates an excellent knowledge of appropriate reading through frequent references to appropriate scholarly sources.
• Shows excellent problem solving, creativity, originality, critical thinking, analysis, and evaluation.
• Presents excellent discussion in a logical, connected, and progressing structure, and valid conclusions.
• Displays an excellent ability to appraise evidence and synthesise concepts, knowledge, and theory.
• Shows excellent reflexive awareness of value judgements and assumptions embedded in the subject or discipline.

Grade B 60-69.9% Very good performance – pass

• Articulates a very good understanding and interpretation of the relevant information, key theories and concepts presented by the assessment.
• Demonstrates a very good knowledge of appropriate reading through references to appropriate scholarly sources.
• Shows very good problem solving, creativity, originality, critical thinking, analysis, and evaluation.
• Presents very good discussion in a logical, connected, and progressing structure, and valid conclusions.
• Displays a very good ability to appraise evidence and synthesise concepts, knowledge, and theory.
• Shows very good reflexive awareness of value judgements and assumptions embedded in the subject or discipline.

Grade C 50-59.9% Good performance – pass

• Articulates a good understanding and interpretation of the relevant information, key theories and concepts presented by the assessment.
• Demonstrates good knowledge of appropriate reading through some references to appropriate scholarly sources.
• Shows good problem solving, creativity, originality, critical thinking, analysis, and evaluation.
• Presents a good discussion in a logical, connected, and progressing structure, and valid conclusions.
• Displays a good ability to appraise evidence and synthesise concepts, knowledge, and theory.
• Shows a good reflexive awareness of value judgements and assumptions embedded in the subject or discipline.

Grade D 40-49.9% Satisfactory Performance – pass 

• Articulates a satisfactory understanding and interpretation of the relevant information, key theories and concepts presented by the assessment.
• Demonstrates satisfactory knowledge of appropriate reading through some references to appropriate scholarly sources.
• Shows satisfactory problem solving, creativity, originality, critical thinking, analysis, and evaluation.
• Presents a satisfactory discussion in a logical, connected, and progressing structure, and valid conclusions.
• Displays a satisfactory ability to appraise evidence and synthesise concepts, knowledge, and theory.
• Shows satisfactory reflexive awareness of value judgements and assumptions embedded in the subject or discipline.

Grade E 30-39.9% Unsatisfactory performance – fail.  

• Articulates partial understanding and interpretation of the relevant information, key theories and concepts presented by the assessment.
• Demonstrates partial knowledge of appropriate reading through limited references to appropriate scholarly sources.
• Shows insufficient problem solving, creativity, originality, critical thinking, analysis, and evaluation.
• Presents limited discussion of logical, connected, and progressing structure with incomplete conclusions.
• Displays a limited ability to appraise evidence and synthesise concepts, knowledge, and theory.
• Shows insufficient reflexive awareness of value judgements and assumptions embedded in the subject or discipline.

Grade F 0-29.9% Unsatisfactory performance – fail.  

• Articulates little or no understanding and interpretation of the relevant information, key theories and concepts presented by the assessment.
• Demonstrates little or no knowledge of appropriate reading or references to appropriate scholarly sources.
• Shows ineffective or no problem solving, creativity, originality, critical thinking, analysis, and evaluation.
• Presents ineffective or no discussion of logical, connected, and progressing structure with incomplete conclusions.
• Displays little or no ability to appraise evidence and synthesise concepts, knowledge, and theory.
• Shows little or no reflexive awareness of value judgements and assumptions embedded in the subject or discipline.

B2083 – Operations 2022 – Student Data-2 (1) B2083 – Assignment 1 – Tea Dropper Pack-2 B2083 – Assignment 1 – Diet 1-3