Course Descriptions
Course catalog descriptions for courses offered in all currently published terms.
 

Operations and Management Science
Department Chairperson: Duenyas, Izak
Department Website: http://www.bus.umich.edu/Academics/Departments/OMS
 
 
OMS 502 Applied Business Statistics
  2.25 hours Core Terms Offered: F12(A)
  Course Prerequisites: No credit in TO 501 
  Advisory Prerequisites: College algebra 
   
  Applied Business Statistics --- This course covers probability, sampling distributions, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, correlation, and simple and multiple regression analysis. Business applications are used to illustrate these concepts. The course requires familiarity with the statistical analysis package of MS Excel.
 
 
OMS 505 Business Fundamentals Bootcamp
  1 hours Core Terms Offered: W12
   
  Business Fundamentals Bootcamp --- The objective of the course is to familiarize the MSCM students with the core business fundamentals. Various core business functions are covered in several modules, delivered by faculty from respective areas. The intention is that the MSCM students will develop business literacy and develop a basic understanding of other business functions and their role in operations and supply chain management-the focus of the MSCM degree.
 
 
OMS 518 Linear Programming I
  3 hours Elective Terms Offered: F12, W12
  Advisory Prerequisites: MATH 217, 417, or 419 
  Cross-listed with: MATH 561, IOE 510 
   
  Linear Programming I --- Formulation of problems from the private and public sectors using the mathematical model of linear programming. Development of the simplex algorithm; duality theory and economic interpretations. Postoptimality (sensitivity) analysis application and interpretations. Introduction to transportation and assignment problems; special purpose algorithms and advanced computational techniques. Students have opportunities to formulate and solve models developed from more complex case studies and to use various computer programs.
 
 
OMS 548 Integrated Product Development
  3 hours Elective Terms Offered: F12
  Advisory Prerequisites: Instructor consent 
   
  Integrated Product Development --- This is a Tauber Institute sponsored elective
open to all graduate students. The course is structured so that students form into teams of four, each with mixed disciplinary backgrounds spanning business, engineering and art/architecture. A product category is announced, and each team acts as an independent firm competing in that product market. This is, each team must independently work through an integrated exercise of market research, product design, product development and manufacture, pricing, forecasting, inventory policy and competition with their product against other firms in both a web-based competition and a physical trade show.
 
 
OMS 552 Operations Management
  2.25 hours Core Terms Offered: W12(A)
  Course Prerequisites: No credit in TO 551 
   
  Operations Management --- All value in society is generated by transforming one set of things into other, different things. Without such transformations, there would be no wealth creation and no rationale for business. Operations management is the design and management of those transformation processes. In this course, we will provide a framework for systematically examining and understanding operation management issues. We will also expose you to a few of the most important tools and practices that are useful in managing manufacturing and service production systems.
 
 
OMS 566 Applied Regression and Data Analysis
  1.5 hours Elective Terms Offered: W12(A)
  Advisory Prerequisites: OMS 502 or equivalent 
   
  Applied Regression and Data Analysis:

The course considers procedures for data collection, effective analysis, and interpretation for management control, planning, and forecasting. The course stresses the capabilities and limitation of statistical methods together with the considerations necessary for their effective application and correct interpretation. The course focuses primarily on multiple regression models, which includes weighted least squares, analysis of variance, and analysis of covariance. Readings, cases, examples and exercises are drawn from diverse areas of business, including finance, marketing research, accounting, economics and general management.
 
 
OMS 567 Data Mining and Applied Multivariate Analysis
  1.5 hours Elective Terms Offered: W12(B)
  Advisory Prerequisites: OMS 501 or 502 or equivalent 
   
  Data Mining and Applied Multivariate Analysis --- Innovations in information technology has resulted in data intensive, managerial environments. A virtual flood of information flows through systems, such as enterprise resource planning and the Internet. What to do with all this data? How can it be transformed into actionable information? The objective of this course is to introduce business leaders to powerful methods for understanding and obtaining managerial insights from multivariate data. The course is designed for both managers who have direct responsibility for producing analyses and for managers who have to interact with area experts who produce the analyses. The methods include data reduction techniques - principle component analysis, factor analysis, and multidimensional scaling; classification methods - discriminate analysis and cluster analysis; and relational methods - multivariate regression, logistic regression, and neural networks. Emphasis is place on the application of the method, the type of data that it uses, the assumptions behind it, and interpreting the output. User friendly and powerful statistical software will be used.
 
 
OMS 572 Applied Business Forecasting I
  1.5 hours Elective Terms Offered: F12(B)
  Advisory Prerequisites: OMS 502 
   
  Applied Business Forecasting I --- Students acquire hands-on experience with building and applying forecasting models to actual data on sales, inventories, income, earnings per share, and other variables widely encountered in business. Understanding practical issues of data acquisition, data analysis, and presentation to management in both oral and written form are emphasized. Problems of trend and seasonal forecasting in marketing, production and finance (other fields are considered, as is short-term forecasting with exponential smoothing.) The course features problem sets, cases, and a capstone case at the end of the term, done by teams.
 
 
OMS 582 Action Learning Projects in Operations, Procurement, and Supply Chain Management
  7.5 hours Elective Terms Offered: F12
  Course Prerequisites: TO 551 or 552 or 591 or 605 
   
  Action Learning Projects in Operations, Procurement, and Supply Chain Management --- This course provides an opportunity for students to deepen their knowledge in operations, procurement and supply chain management through action learning projects. Students will address a major operations or supply chain problem in a company through a 14-week action learning project. The course is taught in cooperation with AT Kearney, and students will also be provided guest lectures (by AT Kearney and Fortune 500 company executives) on how to approach consulting in operations and supply chain and on recent developments in these areas from different industries.
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OMS 593 Operations Management
  2.25 hours Core Terms Offered: P12
  Advisory Prerequisites: Global MBA Student 
   
  Operations Management --- This course introduces the basic concepts and issues in managing production systems. Readings, problems and cases are used. Major topics covered are quality assurance, line balancing, project management, production planning and scheduling and inventory control.
 
 
OMS 595 Applied Business Statistics
  2.25 hours Core Terms Offered: W12(B)
  Advisory Prerequisites: Global MBA student only 
   
  Applied Business Statistics --- This course covers probability, sampling distributions, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, correlation, and simple and multiple regression analysis. Business applications are used to illustrate these concepts. The course requires familiarity with the statistical analysis package of MS Excel.
 
 
OMS 605 Manufacturing and Supply Operations
  3 hours Elective Terms Offered: W12(A), W12
  Advisory Prerequisites: OMS 551 and 552 
  Cross-listed with: MFG 605 
   
  Manufacturing and Supply Operations --- This course is the basic concepts and techniques of operations and inventory management. The foundation of the course is a system of manufacturing laws collectively knows as "Factory Physics". These laws relate various measures of plan performance such as throughput, cycle time, work-in-process, customer service variability, and quality, in a consistent manner and provide framework for evaluating and improving operations. Concepts and methods are examined via exercises and case studies.
 
 
OMS 616 Project Management
  1.5 hours Elective Terms Offered: W12(B)
  Advisory Prerequisites: OMS 551/552 
   
  Project Management --- This course focuses on strategies and tools useful in management of non-repetitive business activities. Examples of such activities include construction, new product development and market introduction, consulting engagements, and organization restructurings. Tools to be introduced include work breakdown structure, network representation, PERT/CPM models and analysis, Gantt charts, time and cost models, PM software, and probabilistic analysis. Strategy considerations covered will include dealing with uncertainty, resource constraints, dealing with shared and requested vs. dedicated and commanded resources, and milestone management.
 
 
OMS 618 Supply Chain Analytics
  3 hours Elective Terms Offered: W12
   
  Supply Chain Analytics --- This course introduces students to decision support models (using optimization and simulation techniques) that are most frequently used in logistics and supply chain applications. The specific topics will include:
1) The role of decision support tools in dealing with a spectrum of supply chain problems.
2) Effective communication of suggested solutions, and
3) Specific models and techniques, including:
a) DC location and network design
b) Optimizing inventory levels in distribution network
c) Forecasting
d) Aggregate planning and resource allocation decisions
e) Product Changes / Economies of Scale
f) Integrating supply chain and demand management (benefits and costs of delayed differentiation, mass customizations)
g) Computation of transfer prices
h) Revenue Management
i) Estimation of product and customer costs to determine total landed cost
 
 
OMS 620 Supply Chain Management
  3 hours Elective Terms Offered: F12, W12
  Advisory Prerequisites: OMS 551/552 
  Cross-listed with: MKT 640 
   
  Supply Chain Management --- This course aims to develop an understanding of key devices of supply chain performance and their interrelationship with firm strategy. Special emphasis is given to tools and skills necessary to develop solutions for a variety of supply chain design problems and inter-firm and intra-firm coordination issues.
 
 
OMS 621 Logistics
  2.25 hours Elective Terms Offered: W12(B)
  Advisory Prerequisites: OMS 301 or 501 or 502 or 595 or 618; can be taken concurrently 
   
  Logistics --- This course refers to the planning, implementation and control of the efficient forward and reverse flow and storage of goods, services, and information between the point of origin and point of consumption. This course trains students in the various aspects of logistics management. Primary topics include the management of inventory, facilities, warehousing and transportation, with in-depth study of these individual elements as well as examination of integrated logistics strategy and network design. Other topics with ancillary coverage include sustainability in logistics, international logistics and globalization, competition and co-ordination, role of information flow and IT, etc.

Instruction will be by a combination of lectures, case studies and numerical assignments. Students will also run computer simulations of a logistics system, as well as learn to use a commercial logistics planning software. Guest lectures and a facility tour may also be included. The aim is to train students to perform and manage logistical functions within an organization, as well as assess and design the overall logistics strategy of the organization.
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OMS 623 Information Technology Strategy in Supply Chain and Logistics
  1.5 hours Elective Terms Offered: F12(B)
  Cross-listed with: BIT 623 
   
  Information Technology Strategy in Supply Chain and Logistics --- Digital technologies have permeated every aspect of modern business. The capacity to execute any business model rests heavily on the approach taken by firms in organizing their information architecture. This course will explore the role of information architecture on Supply Chain and Logistics functions. We will discuss the dominant technologies traditionally used in planning, forecasting, scheduling and managing supply chains. We will then explore the emerging new technologies such as SOA ( Service Oriented Architecture) that enable firms to innovate in their business models through dynamic engagement with their supply partners in an evolving global supply networks. Class discussions and case studies will include technology and business process choices in new product development, design, MRP, ERP, distribution and logistics.
 
 
OMS 624 Strategic Sourcing
  2.25 hours Elective Terms Offered: F12(A)
   
  Strategic Sourcing --- Strategic sourcing in the collaborative and structured process of critically analyzing an organization's spending and using this information to make business decisions about acquiring commodities and services more effectively and efficiently.

The steps in a strategic sourcing process are:
1. Assessment of a company?s current spend (what is bought where?)
2. Assessment of the supply market (who offers what?)
3. Development of a sourcing strategy (where to buy what while minimizing risk and cost)
4. Identification of suitable suppliers
5. Negotiation with suppliers (products, prices)
6. Implementation of new supply structure
7. Track results and restart assessment (continuous cycle)

This course will provide you a framework for thinking about strategic sourcing and tools to effectively implement the strategic sourcing process.
 
 
OMS 690 Projects in Healthcare
  3 hours Elective Terms Offered: W12
  Course Prerequisites: No credit in TO 490 
  Advisory Prerequisites: Permission of instructor 
   
  Projects in Healthcare --- Projects in Healthcare is a project-based course. The course
instructors will design projects in collaboration with clinicians at the UM Medical Center. Projects will be chosen to meet significant needs in the hospital and to satisfy constraints of being well-defined, feasible for our clinical collaborators, and appropriate given the students' abilities and required levels of confidentiality and patient care. Student teams will progress through four stages with their project, with a hard-copy deliverable at the end of each stage. The stages are problem identification, concept generation and selection, concept implementation, and concept validation.
 
 
OMS 701 Topics in Global Operations
  3 hours Elective Terms Offered: F12
   
  Topics in Global Operations --- The course begins with an overview of operations in the context of corporate strategy. This is followed by a series of modules dealing with various topics of importance in operations, such as lean production systems, supply chain management, design for manufacturability, facilities planning, the environmental, legal, and ethical issues in operations, and product design. Students learn how all these aspects of operations interconnect and how they may apply to Tauber team projects.
 
 
OMS 703 Tauber Institute Team Project
  1.5 - 3 hours Elective Terms Offered: F12(A), W12(B)
  Advisory Prerequisites: Must be enrolled in TMI program 
   
  Tauber Institute Team Project --- This course is a paid, multi-disciplinary team project under faculty direction at an industry site. The projects are highly challenging operations-related assignments with both business and engineering aspects. Students may choose from a wide selection of projects, ranging from high-level strategic analysis and positioning, to detailed work flow issues for a specific product line. After a successful summer on site, Tauber students present project results at an all-day conference known as Spotlight.
 
 
OMS 735 Special Topics in Supply Chain Management
  1.5 hours Elective Terms Offered: F12(B)
   
  Special Topics in Supply Chain Management --- This course will address current topics of interest to supply chain professionals. As such the content of the course may vary in subsequent years depending on current events and emerging issues. Several of the topics will involve external guest speakers. Sample topics include:

1. Sustainability and Supply Chains (e.g., Reverse Logistics, Closed-Loop Supply Chains, Carbon foot-print)
2. Supply Chain Risk and Security
3. Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethical Issues in Supply Chain Design
4. Globalization of Supply Networks (e.g., China Factor)
5. Supply Chain Relationships and Policy Implications (e.g., retail industry practices in Category Managements, use of slotting fees, etc. Some of these practices have anti-trust implications and FTC always keeps a close watch.
6. Infrastructure issues in Supply Chain ?country specific issues on role of infrastructure (roads, railways, and ports) and supply chain competitiveness
7. Special challenges in managing Supply Chains across various verticals (e.g., SCM issues differ across automotive, hi-tech, pharmaceutical, retail and students need to be sensitive to these differences.
 
 
OMS 750 Independent Study Project
  1 - 3 hours Elective Terms Offered: F12, P12, W12, M12, S12
  Advisory Prerequisites: Graduate standing 
   
  Independent Study Project --- Independent study projects, supervised by faculty, are available to graduate business students in good academic standing. To select a project, students should consult the appropriate professor about the nature of the project and the number of credit hours the work would earn. Students earn one to three credit hours per project and may elect only one study project in a term. Graduate business students should consult their program bulletins for information
regarding total number of projects and credits that can be applied to their degree. To register for a project students must submit an approved Independent Study Project application, available online.