Week One

Wednesday - Lesson 01

An organizational strategy does two things: satisfy customers and generate profits. In this lesson, you'll learn all about the strategic planning process and see how corporate, business, and manufacturing strategies all come together. This lesson will also explore the elements that make up manufacturing strategy and discuss manufacturing strategy alternatives.

Friday - Lesson 02

Discover that managing inventory is similar to walking on a high-wire at the circus. If you lean too much to the left or right, you'll fall into the safety net. The same applies to inventory. If you decrease it too much, you can't supply customers. If you increase it too much, you create excess inventory. One of the goals of this course is to help you keep enough inventory to make everyone happy. To achieve this, this lesson will discuss the purposes and types of inventory, and how to apply costs to them.  

Week Two

Wednesday - Lesson 03

A wise person once told some one that managing inventory was as easy as ABC. Since that person was struggling to meet inventory goals, he/or she didn't believe him. But he was right. In this  lesson, you'll learn how the ABC classification can enable you to get on top of your inventory game. This lesson will also take time to examine the economic order quantity (EOQ) approach to balancing inventory costs.

Friday - Lesson 04

Lean manufacturing is intriguing because it is both a philosophy (a way of thinking) and a methodology (a way of doing things). This lesson will talk about lean manufacturing basics, examine its benefits, and discuss the mechanics. It will touch on many of the highlights of lean manufacturing including kanbans, pull system, quality at the source, group technology, and mixed-model scheduling.

Week Three

Wednesday - Lesson 05-

This lesson will continue to paw through the lean manufacturing toolbox to find out what is still needed to be examined. It will also discuss how many firms struggle with lean manufacturing because they don't follow a sound implementation process. You'll see what it takes to implement and successfully use lean manufacturing, and discover the role that suppliers play in it.

Friday - Lesson 06

This lesson will examine the world of quality. It will look at why quality is important, define it, discuss what makes up a quality philosophy, and examine quality objectives. Next, it will examine total quality management (TQM) and get acquainted with its concepts. Finally, the lesson will cover Six Sigma—discussing its define, measure, analyze, improve, and control (DMAIC) structure that gives it its power and purpose.

Week Four

Wednesday - Lesson 07

An organization won't get too far with lean manufacturing and quality if it doesn't have people who display the right attitudes and behaviors. So, this lesson will examine total employee involvement (TEI) as a means of achieving organizational excellence. It will discuss the nature of TEI, look at its origin, identify the benefits, and review management's responsibility. You'll learn the mechanics of TEI and identify what it takes to propose ideas and make suggestions. Then the lesson will wrap things up by considering what it means to be a team and by going through the stages of team development.

Friday - Lesson 08

This lesson will tackle the theory of constraints (TOC). TOC is a relatively new arrival to supply chain management. Although it has a unique identity, TOC shares concepts with lean manufacturing and Six Sigma. It will cover the nature and history of TOC, how to define a constraint, and see how TOC uses financial and operational performance measurements. You'll discover some new terms such as drum, buffer, and rope, and tools such as the reality tree and the evaporating cloud. You'll also find out how to implement TOC and see how it compares to lean manufacturing.

Week Five

Wednesday - Lesson 09

Statistical process control (SPC) has helped many firms enhance quality. It preceded Six Sigma in terms of applying statistical methods to understanding and improving quality. This lesson will look at its origins and examine how it's used. Next, it will switch gears and explore two ways to create a quality system: International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA). While both were created in 1987, they differ in their approach and also, their focus—one is international while the other is used only in the United States. By the end of the lesson, you'll understand why firms that embrace SPC, ISO, and the MBNQA outperform those that don't.

Friday - Lesson 10

Learn all about technology and how it affects manufacturing operations. You will discover the nature of technology and determine how to implement it. This lesson will look at a number of technologies including computer aided design (CAD), computer aided manufacturing (CAM), computer integrated manufacturing (CIM), flexible manufacturing system (FMS), and bar coding.

Week Six

Wednesday - Lesson 11

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) and distribution resource planning (DRP) are powerful software choices. While ERP has made a few software companies wealthy, many firms struggle with its implementation and use. Nevertheless, ERP is one of the most visible industrial software products in the world. By contrast, DRP is not as visible, especially as stand-alone software. This lesson will look at the origin of ERP, its challenges, and a plan for implementing it. Then it will review DRP and use a case study to illustrate how it works.

Friday - Lesson 12

Finding the right facility, and designing and implementing a layout are essential to making sure you have sufficient capacity. So the final lesson will take a detailed look at these issues. To help you make the right choices, this lesson will look at the factors that you need to consider and examine tools that will help you with the process.

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