BEng Mechanical Engineering

This Management unit introduces students to Operations Management and its importance to the success of an organisation. Students will learn about the design and management of the processes, resources and systems that are required to deliver products and/or services to customers. Most engineers will work within organisations and consequently need to understand how their role contributes to the effective delivery of products and services to customers. The unit encourages you to consider your potential employment as a professional engineer within various operations within organisations.

Develop an understanding of how a company operates through organising and managing its staff, processes, information and materials to deliver products and services to its customers;

To examine the external and internal influences on a company which will shape its future strategy including globalization, social responsibility and sustainability;

To consider how the students’ role as professional engineers within a business contributes to the effective delivery of products and services to customers.

Apply different communication models to facilitate effective discussions on complex engineering operations matters with technical and non-technical audiences.

Apply risk management tools and techniques to identify and analyse operations risks (including security risks), and recommend appropriate mitigating measures.

Develop reliable solutions for complex operations problems to improve customer satisfaction and business performance, while optimising scarce resources, ensuring quality, reducing occupational health and safety incidents, and protecting the environment. 

Apply knowledge of engineering management principles, business contxt, change management, applicable legal considerations such as intellectual property and copyright.

Discuss the role of quality management systems and continuous improvement in the context of complex operations. 

Apply the principles discrete event simulation and digital twinning to model complex industrial operations, while understanding the strenghts and limitations of the applied techniques. 

Apply the principles of process reliability, availability and maintainability to select appropriate components, equipment and process configuration in engineering operations including the optimisation of their supply chains. 

Discuss the impacts of engineering operations on the environment and consider solutions to promote sustainable development goals. 

Note that the order/mode of presentation of the individual sessions shown below might change from year to year.

1. Introduction to operations management

This lecture serves as an introductory session, providing you with an overview of the role operations management plays within companies and its implications for the work that engineers do. The lecture further broadens the way we view organisations to consider the external influences that help shape and even disrupt the things we do in companies.

2. People and operations

People are a vital resource to any business. You will examine people management issues, with a particular focus on resource deployment and development strategies and tactics.

3. Communication skills for operations management

Communicating with people within and outside a business is an essential part of operations. This lecture discusses critical issues surrounding communications skills in delivering the operations function.

4. Strategy in Operations management

No business organisation works in isolation. This session broadens the way we view organisations to consider the external influences that help shape, and even disrupt, the things we do in companies. Please go into the folder to access the lecture materials.

5. Design thinking and innovation

The 21st century has seen the rising importance of creativity and innovation in business. In this session, you will find out how design thinking, creativity and innovation can contribute to the success of business operations. We will discuss approaches to improving creativity and innovation in business.

6. Process thinking and operations performance

You will learn about the design of operations, taking into account the criticality of planning and control techniques to ensure that the time, cost and quality performance targets are adhered to.

7. Plant simulations Laboratory This computer-based laboratory session provides hands-on experience of industrial plant design, operations, product delivery and the issues associated with real-life operations management. The software used here is designed by Siemens and is currently used for operations simulations in a variety of civil, mechanical and aerospace organisations.

8. Continuous improvement in operations

This lecture demonstrates how the operations function can be improved continuously. You will be introduced to the concepts of performance measurement and management frameworks, the role of key performance indicators, the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle, various tools and techniques used in improving operational performance, and total quality management.

9. Supply chain management

Products and services are delivered to consumers and end-users through increasingly complex, multi-layer supply chains. This session explains the key concepts in managing modern day supply chains.

10. Intellectual Property and licensing Businesses exist, in part, to make money from the activities that they do. This session explains methods of commercial protection and exploitation of intellectual property (IP) such as inventions and designs using Patent, Trade Mark, Copyright, Registered Design and licence agreements.

11. Sustainability in operations management Sustainability concepts emerged in response to concerns related to air and water pollution, and natural resource scarcity owing to overuse and population growth. Since then, there have been global trends of integrating principles of sustainability into all sectors of the economy including their operations, activities, transactions, and services. 

12. Tutorial/Revision week/MOCK examination.

Exam - via script viewing

Feedback on all correct answers have been incorporate into Blackboard along with the questions, which is automatically visible to the students once the test marks are released 2 days after the test

Operations management. Slack, Nigel, Pearson, 2022

Key Themes in Energy Management: A Compilation of Current Practices, Research Advances, and Future Opportunities. Akilu Yunusa-Kaltungo, Springer International Publishing AG, 2024