Operations Management

Assignment
Instructions
1. This assignment is worth 15 points
2. The assignment will be uploaded on October 31.
3. Submission Dates: Nov 01 – Nov 10 EOD
4. Negative two points for every day late – starting Nov 10, EOD
5. Type your answers & submit as a PDF document
6. Each question must be started on a new page.
7. The report will have a cover page. This page will contain the Team Name and the list
of team members along with their Student ID.
8. Ensure there is no plagiarism. (There may be solutions floating around on the
Internet, but they may not be solutions to the data given in the assignment.)
9. The teams have already been formed on Taxila. And the details have been shared
with you. (It will be shared again when the assignment is uploaded.)
10. Only one team member must upload the report on Taxila
Once that happens, the upload facility for other team members is disenabled.
11. There is an issue where one TM or more do not contribute to the assignment. The
remaining TMs should email Prof Pradeep Dubey and me with a copy to the particular
TM mentioning this. The TM will be removed from the group and should contact the
concerned faculty for further steps.
 Southwestern University
Southwestern University (SWU), a large state college in Stephenville, Texas, 30 miles southwest of
the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, enrols close to 20,000 students. In a typical town–gown
relationship, the school is a dominant force in the small city, with more students during fall and spring
than permanent residents.
A longtime football powerhouse, SWU is usually in the top 20 in national rankings. To bolster its
chances of reaching the elusive and long-desired number one ranking, in 2009, SWU hired the
legendary Phil Flamm as its head coach.
One of Flamm’s demands on joining SWU had been a new stadium. With attendance increasing,
SWU administrators began to face the issue head-on. After 6 months of study, much political arm
wrestling, and some serious financial analysis, Dr. Joel Wisner, President of SWU, had reached a
decision to expand the capacity at its on-campus stadium.
Adding thousands of seats, including dozens of luxury skyboxes, would not please everyone. The
influential Flamm had argued the need for a first-class stadium, one with built-in dormitory rooms for
his players and a palatial office appropriate for the coach of a future NCAA champion team. But the
decision was made, and everyone, including the coach, would learn to live with it.
The job now was to get construction going immediately after the 2015 season ended. This would
allow exactly 270 days until the 2016 season opening game. The contractor, Hill Construction (Bob
Hill being an alumnus, of course), signed his contract. Bob Hill looked at the tasks his engineers had
outlined and looked President Wisner in the eye. “I guarantee the team will be able to take the field on
schedule next year,” he said with a sense of confidence. “I sure hope so,” replied Wisner. “The
contract penalty of $10,000 per day for running late is nothing compared to what Coach Flamm will
do to you if our opening game with Penn State is delayed or cancelled.” Hill, sweating slightly, did
not need to respond. In football-crazy Texas, Hill Construction would be mud if the 270-day target
was missed.
Back in his office, Hill again reviewed the data (see Exhibit 1) and noted that optimistic time
estimates can be used as crash times. He then gathered his foremen. “Folks, if we’re not 75% sure
we’ll finish this stadium in less than 270 days, I want this project crashed! Give me the cost figures
for a target date of 250 days—also for 240 days. I want to be early, not just on time!”
Fast-Forward 5 years
The popularity of the football program under its new coach Phil Flamm surged in each of the 5 years
since his arrival at the Stephenville, Texas, college. With a football stadium close to maxing out at
54,000 seats and a vocal coach pushing for a new stadium, SWU president Joel Wisner faced some
difficult decisions. After a phenomenal upset victory over its arch-rival, the University of Texas, at
the homecoming game in the fall, Dr. Wisner was not as happy as one would think. Instead of ecstatic
alumni, students, and faculty, all Wisner heard were complaints. “The lines at the concession stands
were too long”; “Parking was harder to find and farther away than in the old days” (that is, before the
team won regularly); “Seats weren’t comfortable”; “Traffic was backed up halfway to Dallas”; and on
and on. “A college president just can’t win,” muttered Wisner to himself.
At his staff meeting the following Monday, Wisner turned to his VP of administration, Leslie
Gardner. “I wish you would take care of these football complaints, Leslie,” he said. “See what the real
problems are and let me know how you’ve resolved them.” Gardner wasn’t surprised at the request.
“I’ve already got a handle on it, Joel,” she replied. “We’ve been randomly surveying 50 fans per game
for the past year to see what’s on their minds. It’s all part of my campuswide TQM effort. Let me tally
things up and I'll get back to you in a week.”
When she returned to her office, Gardner pulled out the file her assistant had compiled (see Exhibit 2).
“There’s a lot of information here,” she thought.
Discussion Questions
Refer Exhibits 1 & 2 for the questions 1 through 5.
1. Determine the critical path [2 Points]
2. How long is the project expected to take? [1 Point]
3. What is probability of finishing in 280 days? [3 Points]
4. How to crash the project to 250 days? And what is the cost of doing so? [1 Point]
5. How to further crash the project to 240 days? [2 Points]
Refer Exhibit 3 for the following questions.
6. Ignore the open-ended responses and focus on the closed-ended questions. Construct a table
that assigns a score to the responses for each item (second column) in the survey data. Sort
the table in increasing scores. [1 Point]
7. We want to understand the complaints. Develop the Pareto Chart based on the open-ended
comments. (You need to group the comments. First, where possible, map the comments to
the categories listed against the closed-ended questions. Those which cannot be matched to
these categories, construct new categories.) [3 Points]
8. Any comments on your results in Q6 and Q7? [1 Point]
9. Consider a dissatisfied fan. Develop a fishbone diagram based on the main issues listed in
your pareto chart. [1 Point]
 Exhibit 1: Southwestern University Project
Activit Description Predecessor(s Optimisti Most Likely Pessimisti Crash
y ) c c Cost /
Day
A Bonding, insurance, — 20 30 40 $1,500
tax structuring
B Foundation, A 20 64 78 3,500
concrete footings
for boxes
C Upgrading skybox A 60 60 90 4,000
stadium seating
D Upgrading C 30 50 100 2,000
walkways,
stairwells, elevators
E Interior wiring, B 25 30 35 9,500
lathes
F Inspection E 0.1 0.1 0.1 0
approvals
G Plumbing D, F 25 30 35 2,500
H Painting G 10 20 30 2,100
I Hardware/AC/metal H 20 25 60 2,100
workings
J Tile/carpet/windows H 8 10 12 6,000
K Inspection J 0.1 0.1 0.1 0
L Final detail I, K 20 25 60 4,500
work/cleanup
Crash time: Shortest duration required to complete an activity

Exhibit 2: The AON Network (The Precedence Diagram)

Exhibit 3: Fan Satisfaction Survey Results ( N = 250)
Responses to closed-ended questions
Grade
Category Item A4 B3 C2 D1 F0
Parking 90 105 45 5 5
Parking & Traffic
Traffic 50 85 48 52 15
Seating Seating 45 30 115 35 25
Tickets Ticket Prices 105 104 16 15 10
Season ticket Pricing 75 80 54 41 0
Concession Stands Prices 16 116 58 58 2
Selection of Food/Drinks 155 60 24 11 0
Speed of Service 35 45 46 48 76
Open-Ended Comments on Survey Cards
 Parking a mess  More hot dog stands  Put in bigger seats  My company will buy
 Add a skybox  Seats are all metal  Need better seats a skybox— build it!
 Double the parking  Need skyboxes  Expand parking lots  Tickets overpriced
attendants  Seats stink  Hate the hard seats  Want softer seats
 Everything is okay  Lines at the concession  Hot dogs cold  I’ll pay for a skybox
 Too crowded at the stands are awful  $3 for a coffee? No  Seats too small
concession stands  Seats are way!  Everything is great
 Seats too narrow uncomfortable  Get some skyboxes  Build new stadium
 Great food  Get a new stadium  Love the new uniforms  No complaints
 Stadium is ancient  Student dress code  Took an hour to park  Dirty bathroom
 Seats are like rocks needed  More concession  I’m too old for bench
 Not enough cops for  I want cushioned seats stands seats
traffic  Students too rowdy  Better seats  Lukewarm coffee
 Not enough handicap  Parking terrible  Seats not comfy served at game
spots in parking lot  Hire more traffic cops  Toilets weren’t clean  Bigger parking lot
Respondents (250) Number
Alumnus 113
Student 83
Faculty/Staff 16
None of the above 28