This article presents a project that uses a business context to introduce students to a multiphase approach to analytics while relying primarily on an introductory Excel course for prerequisite knowledge. A range of analytics techniques--including Excel Pivot tables and charts, regression trend lines, and linear programming--are combined into an…

Within the classroom it is often difficult to convey the complexities and intricacies that go into making sales and operations planning decisions. This article describes an in-class simulation that allows students to gain hands-on experience with the complexities in making forecasting, inventory, and supplier selection decisions as part of the…

Inventory management is widely researched and the topic is taught in business programs across the spectrum of operations and supply chain management. However, the concepts are notoriously difficult for students to practice once they finish school and become managers responsible for inventory control. This article explains the structure and details…

Operations and Supply Chain Management (OSCM) courses may cover supply chain strategies, supply chain classification, and supply chain performance. Familiarity with various manufacturing and logistics firms would help students to better understand such topics. Information on the Dow Jones Industrial Average indexed firms and top 50 supply chain…

This teaching brief describes a three-echelon supply chain simulation that involves complex decision making in a dynamic environment. Using a team-based logistics simulation operating on a live commercial-software application (SAP ERP) as a foundation, a supplemental exercise is proposed for deeper learning of transportation and logistics aspects…

The newsvendor problem is a classic problem of decision making under risk that is taught in traditional Operations and Supply Chain Management classes as a single-period inventory problem. We discuss the following three pedagogical points of interest to any instructor tasked with teaching this topic: a) why the newsvendor model is relevant in this…

Instructors look for ways to explain to students how supply chains can be constructed so that competing suppliers can work together to improve inventory management performance (i.e., a phenomenon known as co-opetition). An Excel spreadsheet-driven simulation is presented that models a complete multilevel supply chain system--customer, retailer,…

The purpose of this article is to describe an internet-based mass customization assignment in Operations Management/Supply Chain Management classes where students utilize the Web site of a company that offers a customized product. Students evaluate the user interface, judge the value proposition of the product they demonstrate, and discuss issues…

"The Bicycle Assembly Line Game" is a team-based, in-class activity that helps students develop a basic understanding of continuously operating processes. Each team of 7-10 students selects one of seven prefigured bicycle assembly lines to operate. The lines are run in real-time, and the team that operates the line that yields the…

In managing business process flows, safety stock can be used to protect against stockouts due to demand variability. When more than one location is involved, the concept of aggregation enables the pooling of demands and associated inventories, resulting in improved service levels without increasing the total level of safety stock. This pooling of…