Operations and Supply Chain Management MSc

​This module will provide a study of the key principles, systems and techniques used to assure effective supply chain management. The module covers an extensive range of subjects including logistics, information management, inventory management, partnerships and information technology.

This module will demonstrate how operations management can influence and shape competitive strategy. Specific topics include the examination of modern business drivers and competitive performance (time compression, responsiveness, waste elimination etc.), the achievement of competitive advantage through operations management, globalisation and supply chains, agility and ECR examples and operations performance measurement. Leading-edge operational practice is analysed within each topic covered.

​Services are an increasingly visible and important facet of everyday life. The UK economy is described as a service economy, and effective service operations management is of critical importance now to public, private and third sectors alike. This module will familiarise students with the concepts, principles, practices and problems typically associated with service operations. Service operations management covers the full lifecycle of service planning, building and operation and is concerned with the continued provision of service quality in the face of changing circumstances, such that customer value expectations continue to be met. The module will focus on key service operations best-practices and provide students with an overview of prevailing theoretical debates. Contemporary research in public and third sectors will be used to provide real-world perspective on key principles.

This module will give students an understanding of the role of modelling and simulation in the development and improvement of business processes in a commercial environment. Important elements include analytical techniques of systems, statistical aspects of modelling and system dynamics. Extensive use will be made of a variety of commercially available modelling and simulation tools such as Matlab and Witness.

This module will give the student a critical awareness of the management approaches and technologies used in the development and delivery of digital business and AI solutions. This will include types of digital businesses and their innovation, management approaches, data related technologies, emerging AI and machine learning technologies for digital businesses.

Project management has cemented its position as a key management paradigm, enabling organisations to efficiently achieve their goals in a constantly changing business environment complicated by risks, uncertainties and competitor pressures. The global economy implies yet another level of complexity inherent to the management of large-scale geographically distributed project teams. This module introduces cutting-edge principles and best practices of project management and discusses how they relate to the competitive product development. This module provides students with the necessary tools, techniques, and analytical skills required to strategically manage new and existing projects within the current uncertain business environment. The module seeks to provide participants with a broad understanding of the key project management elements such as: project scheduling, resource budgeting, quality assurance, and risk management / mitigation, all of which provide measurement of institutional project performance. It addresses the principal techniques used to identify, assess, measure, control and manage projects and their associated risks.

The module aims to provide unique exposure to current business opportunities, challenges and developments associated with running or expanding digital business enterprises. It introduces students to the key aspects of big data management and examines how big data can drive decisions and actions, both operational and strategic.

Maritime logistics is resulting from the convergence of ‘maritime transport’ and ‘logistics and supply chain management’. The underlying concepts of maritime logistics are value-adding and integration. This module is designed to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the key issues in maritime-associated transport chains and the principles, tools and techniques to tackle these issues mainly from the quantitative/analytical perspective. This module complements EBUS609 Logistics and Physical Distribution, which mainly takes the qualitative perspective. The module will be delivered using lecture, group discussion, case study, journal article discussion, and computing practice, and will be assessed using coursework (lab report and essay).

Purchasing has a critical role as a boundary-spanning function, through which it contributes to an organisation’s strategic success. This module will provide students with an integrative understanding of the role and objectives of the purchasing function and its complex inter- and intra-organisational relationships that contribute to sustained commercial success and maximisation of competitive advantage. Specific topics include the critical evaluation of purchasing strategies, tools and constraints including sourcing, supplier development and supplier-client relationships. The module also explores issues relating to contracts, including tendering, bidding and order management processes, as well as the legal, commercial and socio-economic implications of purchasing strategies.

This module will provide students with an understanding of the components of a contemporary lean operations strategy and the benefits and challenges of applying lean principles within business operations. Students will be introduced to the philosophies/principles of lean thinking and will gain a working knowledge of the supporting tools and techniques used. The module provides students with opportunities to address lean principles, and apply and evaluate lean tools and techniques.

This module will provide students with a thorough grounding in contemporary logistics operations and business management. Specific topics include intermodal operations, transportation selection, warehousing and distribution management, 3PLs, tendering for contracts, reverse and green logistics services, port centric maritime logistics, the concept of adding value in logistics and optimising logistics operations.

This module will focus on introducing strategies, approaches and technologies of enterprise systems, e.g. ERP systems, and the actual ERP system implementation with use of SAP S4/HANA.

The module provides students with knowledge of enterprise system architecture and technologies in general, and roles and functions of enterprise systems and business information management for digital business and supply chain management in particular. The module will introduce the development history, functional characteristics and real cases of enterprise information systems in a digital business and supply chain environment, e.g. applications based on SAP, Oracle, etc.

The module also helps students to understand how enterprise systems and business information management functions are integrated into real-time supply chain management and business networks from the experience of SAP S4/HANA implementation. Through this learning, students will get the chance to understand how data is managed on SAP S4/HANA, understand how business process is integrated, automated and optimised on this system, and how machine learning and AI-based tools are embedded in ERP systems.

The module aims to introduce techniques for big data analytics and their applications for very large datasets in different organisations and settings. In particular, it familiarises students with existing platforms and software tools used for big data analytics and develops core skills and expertise needed by data scientists for processing and visualising big data. It also establishes the importance of big data science for business intelligence and describes major opportunities and limitations for running or expanding digital business enterprises.

This module provides a critical understanding of the role of sustainability in supply chain management. The module develops a strategic perspective of supply chain management and illustrates how sustainable practices need to be imbedded within the strategic sourcing process. Using a concept known at the ‘supply wheel’ the module explores every aspect of strategic supply management, taking students through a logical thinking process to enable them to analyse, decide on strategic direction and understand the problems and issues around implementation.

On completion of the module, students will be equipped with a toolkit of methods to enable them to understand and evaluate the impact of sustainability issues on supply chain management across the manufacturing and service sectors.

This module is delivered in twelve three-hour lectures which are predominantly case based. The lectures will be highly interactive, students will be expected to work on case studies during the lecture and to contribute to class discussions. This will enhance their understanding of the materials and build confidence and presentation skills. In addition, there will be support from electronic materials, such as podcasts and video summaries of lectures. The module will use a core text book and supplement this material with current academic and practitioner based thinking on the various subject areas discussed.

The aim of this module is to give the student a comprehensive understanding of the processes involved in developing a digital business strategy, leveraging the transformative capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Important elements include an examination of the approaches to strategy formulation, an evaluation of the emergent digital business models, business process re-design for digital business, digital business applications and technologies, and managing and planning for digital business with a particular emphasis on harnessing AI technologies to optimise operational efficiency and drive strategic agility. Extensive use will be made of case study material to illustrate real-world applications of digital strategies enhanced by AI.

This module will support students to develop complementary sets of skills for strategic analysis and assessment of businesses through both teamwork and individual action, conducting independent theoretical and practical research to address set questions in areas related to operations, technology, supply chain and project management within an academic framework, and for developing a strong conviction of contemporary management challenges in business networks. The module will offer students the opportunity to engage with a range of key topics and activities related to strategic thinking, business analysis, benchmarking and teamwork, where they will handle an engaging business project in a simulated environment as well as process data from real world cases. The module will provide learning of the process of analysis and assessment of businesses from both theoretical and practical aspects, and gives the student the opportunity to exercise efficient project management.

Comprising two elements: research methods introduces students to the principles and practices of researching and writing dissertations and results in an agreed outline plan of work for the dissertation and a completed literature review. The dissertation, itself, will be undertaken over the summer period and will involve the implementation of the research work plan and the completion of a 15,000 word dissertation.