This document provides an overview of the course content for BUS 644 Entire Course. It lists the weekly discussion questions, case studies, and assignments that cover topics such as operations management, productivity, quality, suppliers, forecasting, capacity, inventory systems, and scheduling. The course utilizes discussion boards, case study analyses, and a final paper to evaluate concepts relating to business processes, ethical issues, product design, healthcare quality, and more.

1. BUS 644 Entire Course (Ash Course)
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BUS 644 Week 1 DQ 1 Ethical Issues and Operations
BUS 644 Week 1 DQ 2 Business Processes
BUS 644 Week 1 Midas Case Study
BUS 644 Week 2 DQ 1 Productivity
BUS 644 Week 2 DQ 2 Product Design and Quality
BUS 644 Week 2 Memorial Hospital Case Study
BUS 644 Week 3 DQ 1 Suppliers
BUS 644 Week 3 DQ 2 Forecasting Methods
BUS 644 Week 3 Outsourcing
BUS 644 Week 4 DQ 1 Process Selection Product Design and Capacity
BUS 644 Week 4 DQ 2 Monique Food Processing Company and
Capacity
BUS 644 Week 4 Beck Manufacturing and Plant Capacity
BUS 644 Week 5 DQ 1 MRP Inventory and Customer Service
BUS 644 Week 5 DQ 2 Perpetual versus Periodic Inventory Systems

2. BUS 644 Week 5 Alliance Supermarket and Point-of-Sale (POS)
systems
BUS 644 Week 6 DQ 1 Just-in-Time (JIT) Inventories
BUS 644 Week 6 DQ 2 Scheduling Procedures
BUS 644 Week 6 Final Paper (Space Age Furniture Problem)
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BUS 644 Week 1 DQ 1 Ethical Issues and Operations
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Week 1 DQ 1 Ethical Issues and Operations
Ethical Issues and Operations. Ethical behavior is a corporate issue
that affects the company’s bottom line. How do ethical issues impact
organizations and operations? Include an example seen in the workplace,
in the news, etc. that relates to real-life situations. Your initial post
should be at least 200-250 words.
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3. BUS 644 Week 1 DQ 2 Business Processes
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Week 1 DQ 2 Business Processes
Business Processes. Why are the following business processes
important? Which process do you feel is most important? Explain your
reasoning.
a. Strategy development
b. Product development
c. Systems to produce goods and services
d. Order fulfillment
Your initial post should include real life situations and be at least 200-
250 words.
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BUS 644 Week 1 Midas Case Study

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Week 1 Midas
Midas. Read the “Midas” case study in Chapter 2 of your text. Answer
questions 1through 4 in a two- to- four page paper in accordance with
APA guidelines as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Your paper
should be in paragraph form (avoid the use of bullet points), and
supported with the concepts outlined in your text. Provide at least two
scholarly sources from the Ashford University Library or other external
sources, excluding the textbook. Do not include the original questions of
the assignment in the paper.
a. What are the anticipated impacts upon operating efficiency? How
would you attempt to minimize the negative impacts?
b. Should some operating practices be changed to accommodate the
tune-ups?
c. Should input be gathered from the shop owners? If so, what?
d. If Midas decides to launch this new program, how should it begin?
Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to
evaluate your assignment.
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5. BUS 644 Week 2 DQ 1 Productivity
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Week 2 DQ 1 Productivity
Productivity. Many times trade-offs are necessary to increase
productivity. What are important trades-offs involving the inputs to
productivity? Your initial post should include real life situations and be
at least 200-250 words.
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BUS 644 Week 2 DQ 2 Product Design and Quality
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6. Week 2 DQ 2 Product Design and Quality
Product Design and Quality. What important organizational activities
enable a firm to build quality into its products? Explain each of these
along with its benefits. Your initial post should include examples and be
at least 200-250 words.
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BUS 644 Week 2 Memorial Hospital Case Study
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Week 2 Memorial Hospital
Memorial Hospital. Read the “Memorial Hospital” case study in
Chapter 4 of your text. Answer questions 1- 4 in a two- to- four (2-4)
page paper in accordance with APA guidelines as outlined in the
Ashford Writing Center. Your paper should be in paragraph form (avoid
the use of bullet points), and supported with the concepts outlined in
your text. Provide at least two scholarly sources from the Ashford
University Library or other external sources, excluding the textbook. Do
not include the original questions of the assignment in the paper.
a. Discuss some ways that a hospital might measure quality.

7. b. What are the potential costs of quality for Memorial Hospital? How
could the value of a human life be included?
c. Are there any ideas or techniques from TQM that Janice could use to
help Memorial focus on providing quality health care?
d. What measures could Memorial use to assess the quality of health
care it is providing?
Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to
evaluate your assignment
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BUS 644 Week 3 DQ 1 Suppliers
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Week 3 DQ 1 Suppliers
Suppliers. Should a firm attempt to have fewer or more suppliers? What
are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach? Your initial
post should be 200-250 words.

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BUS 644 Week 3 DQ 2 Forecasting Methods
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Week 3 DQ 2 Forecasting Methods
Forecasting Methods. Read Problem 6 in Chapter 6 of your textbook.
Calculate and answer parts a through d. Include all calculations and
spreadsheets in your post. Explain why the moving average method was
used instead of another forecasting method. What might be another
forecasting method that could prove to be just as useful? Your initial
post should be 200-250 words.
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BUS 644 Week 3 Outsourcing

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Week 3 Outsourcing
Outsourcing. Outsourcing, especially to low labor-cost countries, has
grown substantially. What are the advantages and disadvantages of
outsourcing? Include and describe a product or service of a specific low
labor-cost country as an example. Include a recommendation/conclusion
based on the research. Answer the question in a two to four (2-4) page in
accordance with APA guidelines as outlined in the Ashford Writing
Center. Provide at least two (2) scholarly sources from the Ashford
Library or other external sources, excluding the textbook. Your paper
should be in paragraph form (avoid the use of bullet points), and
supported with the concepts outlined in your text. Do not include the
original questions of the assignment in the paper.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to
evaluate your assignment.
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BUS 644 Week 4 Beck Manufacturing and Plant Capacity
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10. www.bus644.com
Week 4 Beck Manufacturing and Plant Capacity
Beck Manufacturing and Plant Capacity. Read the “Beck
Manufacturing” case study in Chapter 8 of your text. Answer questions
one through three in a two- to- four page paper in accordance with APA
guidelines as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
a. Calculate the capacity of each machine center and the capacity of the
system.
b. If Beck wants to expand capacity, where should he focus the
company’s efforts? How much extra capacity can he get without causing
another operation to become the bottleneck?
c. How may Mr. Beck expand capacity without purchasing new
equipment? Be specific.
Your paper should be in paragraph form (avoid the use of bullet points),
and supported with any formulas, calculations, and concepts outlined in
your text. Do not include the original questions of the assignment in the
paper.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to
evaluate your assignment.
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11. BUS 644 Week 4 DQ 1 Process Selection Product Design
and Capacity
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Week 4 DQ 1 Process Selection Product Design and Capacity
Process Selection: Product Design and Capacity. How is process
selection related to product design and capacity determination? Your
initial post should be 200-250 words.
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BUS 644 Week 4 DQ 2 Monique Food Processing
Company and Capacity
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12. Week 4 DQ 2 Monique Food Processing Company and Capacity
Monique Food Processing Company and Capacity. Read Problem 6: The
“Monique Food Processing Company” in Chapter 8 of your text.
Monique Food Processing Company produces light snacks that can be
heated in a microwave. The following steps are included in the
process: Steps
Description
Capacity (Units/Hour)
1
Prepare food
200
2
Measure and place in plastic pouch
175
3
Prepare cardboard box
200
4
Insert pouch into box
300
5

13. Shrink-wrap box
200
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BUS 644 Week 5 Alliance Supermarket and Point-of-Sale
(POS) systems
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Week 5 Alliance Supermarket and Point-of-Sale (POS) systems
Alliance Supermarket and Point-of-Sale (POS) Systems. Read the
“Alliance Supermarket” case study in Chapter 10 of your text. In a two-
to- four page paper, answer questions 1 & 2 in accordance with APA
guidelines as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
Alliance Supermarkets
Alliance Supermarkets has been using a point-of-sale (POS) system for
some time to track its inventory. The system uses a laser scanner to read
the universal product code (UPC) on each item at the checkout
container. The UPC is a number that uniquely identifies the product on
which it appears. Currently, Alliance is using the UPC information to
update inventory records for each item. Although the system has greatly

14. improved the company’s ability to replenish inventory promptly, the
company still has some problems. For example, sudden changes in
demand for a particular item can catch the company by surprise as it
bases inventory replenishment on historical demand patterns. Further,
demand patterns and preferences may vary from one store to another
depending on the customers served by each, but the inventory system
groups all demand information together and treat each store equally.
Finally, the manufacturers that make the products stocked by Alliance
Supermarkets are always pressuring Alliance to help them target
appropriate customers for special promotions and sales.
The chief information officer (CIO) of Alliance realizes that much more
could probably be done with the data collected from its POS system. For
example, the company could analyze the relationship between each
product’s sales and weather patterns. It is even possible to analyze an
individual customer’s buying habits and identify instances when a
customer may be persuaded to try a different brand of a certain product.
Suppose you have been asked to study this situation and suggest possible
new and innovative uses for the information generated by the POS
system. Ideally, these ideas should help Alliance better serve its
customers by ensuring that adequate quantities of each item are
available, that costs are kept low, and that customers are made aware of
new products that may interest them.
a. What information may help Alliance reduce costs while providing
better service?
b. If purchase information can be obtained on individual customers,
what new approach could be used by Alliance?
Your paper should be in paragraph form (avoid the use of bullet points),
and supported with the concepts outlined in your text. Do not include the
original questions of the assignment in the paper.

15. Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to
evaluate your assignment.
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BUS 644 Week 5 DQ 1 MRP Inventory and Customer
Service
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Week 5 DQ 1 MRP Inventory and Customer Service
Materials Requirements (MRP) Inventory and Customer Service.
Explain how MRP can decrease a company’s inventory while improving
its customer service level. Include a real-life example. Your initial post
should be 200-250 words.
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16. BUS 644 Week 5 DQ 2 Perpetual versus Periodic
Inventory Systems
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Week 5 DQ 2 Perpetual versus Periodic Inventory Systems
Perpetual versus Periodic Inventory Systems. Describe the perpetual
and the periodic inventory systems. How are they different? Are there
circumstances in which one system is better than the other? Include real-
life examples. Your initial post should be 200-250 words.
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BUS 644 Week 6 DQ 1 Just-in-Time (JIT) Inventories
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Week 6 DQ 1 Just-in-Time (JIT) Inventories

17. Just-in-Time (JIT) Inventories. Choose companies or industries for
which JIT would be totally inappropriate? Explain your reasoning with
examples in 200-250 words.
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BUS 644 Week 6 DQ 2 Scheduling Procedures
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Week 6 DQ 2 Scheduling Procedures
Scheduling Procedures. Categorize different scheduling procedures for
various types of service operations, such as restaurants, hospitals, and
airlines. Your initial post should include explanations and examples and
be 200-250 words.
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BUS 644 Week 6 Final Paper (Space Age Furniture
Problem)

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Week 6 Final Paper
Focus of the Final Paper
Read the “Space Age Furniture Company” case study in Chapter 9 of
your text. Answer the following questions: and include any MRP
calculations.
1. What options are open to Coral to address this problem?
2. How would reducing the minimum quantity of subassemblies help?
3. What are the costs of carrying excess items in inventory at each stage?
4. What is the trade-off between overtime costs and inventory costs?
5. Which type(s) of production processing – job shop, batch, repetitive,
or continuous – is the primary mode of operation? Explain.
6. In what ways could management keep track of job status and location
during production?
7. Can you suggest any changes that might be beneficial to the company
or add value for the customer? What are they?
The purpose of the Final Case is for you to culminate the learning
achieved in the course by describing your understanding and application
of knowledge in the field of operations management. The paper should
integrate Readings and Resources and class discussions into work and

19. life experiences. It may include explanation and examples from previous
events as well as implications for future applications.
Guidelines for Writing the Final Paper BUS 644 BUS644 BUS-644
Readdress the concept and the experience with critical thought. That is,
what is your response to the content, either positive or negative, and then
defend your position. If multiple options/alternatives/positions are
present and are being rejected you must also defend the reasons for
rejecting an option.
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