OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

and
PRINCIPLES OF BUSINESS OPERATIONS

11th September 2011

Examination Paper

Answer ALL questions

Time: 3 hours

This is an OPEN BOOK Examination.

Candidates are allowed to bring in and refer to their course text books for
referencing purposes only.
 ANSWER ALL FIVE QUESTIONS

Marks
Case Study

Imagine that you are the owner of a small building company employing 7 people: a site manager, 2 bricklayers,
a plumber, an electrician, a joiner and a painter/decorator. All other workers that are needed from time to time
for other building related activities are sub-contracted by your company as and when needed.

You have recently been approached by a customer who owns a plot of land and has asked you to design and
build a house for them to their own, as yet undetermined, specification.

Note – all the questions in this examination are based on the above scenario.

QUESTION 1

Considering your knowledge of Customer Benefit Packages and Service Delivery Strategies…

a) What might be the Customer Benefit Package that you as the owner of a small building business 10
will offer to your client? Explain and justify your decisions.

b) What might be the key aspects of “Service Encounter Design” to support your answer to part a) 10
above?

Total 20 Marks

QUESTION 2

From your knowledge of supply chain management…

Discuss how issues of supply chain management are important to and might affect the house design and 20
construction. Use specific examples to illustrate your answer.

Total 20 Marks

QUESTION 3

Quality is one of the five key performance objectives…

Explain how quality could be determined and measured in the house design and build project. Give 20
examples and justify your decisions.

Total 20 Marks

QUESTIONS CONTINUE ON NEXT PAGE

Page 2 of 3

Operations Management MB September 2011 Final NCC Education 2011

and Principles of Business Operations
 Marks
QUESTION 4

Consider capacity planning and control in relation to the house design and build project.

a) Discuss the capacity issues that the Site Manager might face over time. 10

b) What control measures might be relevant to the overall project? Justify your answers. 10

Total 20 Marks

QUESTION 5

From your knowledge of Product/Process Design…

a) Discuss the steps involved in designing the layout for the house design. 10

b) What factors do you think influence the way in which building materials are manufactured or 10
processed? Apply business operations management theory to your answer and clearly state any
assumptions you make.

Total 20 Marks

END OF PAPER

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Operations Management MB September 2011 Final NCC Education 2011

and Principles of Business Operations