B2083+-+Assignment+1+-+Diet+1

B2083: OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

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July 15, 2025

SESSION 2024 – 2025

ASSESSMENT: DIET 1 – REPORT

Assessment Specification:

Assignment medium: Report

Word limit: 2,500 words (+10%)

Number of references: A minimum of 8 sources should be cited.

Format: Word-processed (Ariel 12; 1.5 line-spacing)

Referencing: As per Cite them right online ^[1]

Submission medium: Word file – Report to Grademark

Excel file – to gcampbell@qmu.ac.uk

Weighting: 100%

Anonymous marking: No

Submission date: TBC

Submission Sheet: Pro forma on the module Hub

Assignment Question:

This assignment is based around the context of a small but growing company which has to this point had limited formal application of OM approaches.

The TEA DROPPER was founded in 2020 by four friends from Edinburgh, who create and sell crafted tea products. They began trading in Sep 2021, selling only two products directly to hotels and restaurants. They have quickly built their business and now have 28 staff and sell through a further three routes to market (on-line shop, retail, and wholly owned tea shops).

The ‘TEA DROPPER’ has experienced significant growth in sales, believing that through its core strengths: Super Premium Quality products & Strong branding / Customer Brand awareness that it has real potential to further penetrate the market. However, during this period of growth, the founders have become increasingly aware of internal mistakes, external complaints, and a strong feeling of frustration from their staff about the level of planning and organisation in their wholly owned operating plant.

The TEA DROPPER grew from a micro business that was characterised by informality which meant that any OM issues and needs were dealt with primarily as they emerged. One of the founders has some limited OM experience and has so far been taking the lead on decision making. OM principles and practices have not been formally built into ‘what they do and how they do it.’

The owners now realise that this is a crucial point in the company’s development and have decided to seek assistance in understanding how the design and planning of their operations can help in arresting the difficulties they have already experienced, and position themselves to be in a much better condition to grasp the market opportunities for growth, that they firmly believe exist for the company in the current and future market.

You have been employed as an OM consultant to the ‘TEA DROPPER’ and you are requested to:

analyse and evaluate the current operating practices, approach to quality & production planning, inventory management, capacity planning, risk management and customer fulfilment.
provide a set of practical recommendations that will help ‘tea dropper’ gain an appropriate and robust control of their operations.
integrate insights drawn from current best practice and OM theory.

To complete this study, you will be provided with:

a word file containing detailed background information on the company and its current situation.
an excel file containing data on the tea dropper’s operations management and performance, including sales, production performance, inventory data, customer service levels and dashboard KPI’s that highlight performance levels and overall effectiveness.

It is important to note that for this assignment, OM principles that engage with both the Word and Excel files must be applied, in helping to answer the assignment question. (Data analysis must be part of your answer.)

Your assignment must be written in a report format and should specifically contain the following four sections.

Section 1: Introduction (15%)
Section 2: Operations Design, Location, Flow and Performance (35%)
Section 3: Demand, Capacity, and Inventory (35%)
Section 4: Conclusions (15%)

In this assignment marks for overall quality of presentation, communication and use of sources will be applied into the above categories.

Indicative Answer, Advice and Structure

In this assignment marks, for overall quality of presentation, communication and use of sources will be applied in the above categories.

This report should be presented in an appropriate and professional style with a coherent structure, logic and connected line of analysis, evaluation, and reasoning. The structure and indicative content of the report should be based upon the following main sections:

Executive Summary:	The subject Executive summary should provide an overview of key insights and recommendations and be no more than 300 words. The word count for the executive summary is not included in the full word count for this submission.
Title Page:	Matriculation number, title of report, date, and word count.
Table of Contents	List of section headings, sub-headings, and page numbers.
Section1 Introduction	The introduction should outline the key contexts, and the direction of the study / a general overview of the report to come.
Section 2	This section should focus on the current design, location, layout, and flow of TEA DROPPER’s operations and how it is managed and executed at present in comparison to best practice. This section should also evaluate operational performance through key performance indicators (KPI’s) assessing current performance and suggesting areas for improvement.
Section 3	Consider past / and calculate predicted future sales forecasts, and evaluate plant capacity capability against this, considering the impact and implications this has on the business. Students should calculate the best inventory position for all SKU’s within this considering customer service and priority use of capital and capacity.
Section 4 Conclusions	Consider how what you have found in the previous sections relate to the current situation, what conclusions would you make, highlighting priority issues /actions
Sources	A full listing of all academic citations and other sources of information, presented in the Harvard system of referencing.
Appendices	Any appendices that support the analysis.

Full reference details must be included in respect to the academic literature and all other sources of information used (reference to and use of material from such sites as ESSAY.com, Google, YouTube or Wikipedia is NOT acceptable).

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI):

Students are reminded that unauthorised and/or unacknowledged use of AI tools will be treated as fraudulent practice.

In undertaking this assignment: AI tools cannot be used to generate the submission, however, AI tools can be used in an assistive role, for example:

(i) Supporting the writing process in a limited manner, such as structure, writing style, grammar and referencing.

(ii) As a support tutor to enhance learning and understanding of particular concepts or theories.

(iii) Giving feedback on content, or proofreading content.

Further guidance for students is available here:

https://libguides.qmu.ac.uk/referencing/ai

Provenance of submitted work:

Students are reminded of the purpose of lectures. Whether delivered in a lecture hall or as an electronic recording, the lecture’s purpose is not to provide ‘reliable answers’, but to guide students to appropriate literature where reliable answers may be found. The content of lectures may NOT, therefore, be ‘lifted’ and used by students in the completion of their submissions, nor should the lecturers themselves be cited on the basis of what they have presented in class (of course, their published work may be cited in the normal manner).

Recorded lectures and PowerPoint slides from ‘live’ lectures are made available to you on the module’s Canvas site so that you may view them again and benefit afresh from their guidance, not so that they may be used ‘as a source’ for submitted work.

Marking Criteria

Criterion	Mark	Comments
Section 1: Introduction: Executive summary provides concise overview. Introduction, clearly identifies the task, develops subject and question context.	15
Section 2: Case Analysis: Operations Design, Location, Flow and Performance	35
Section 3: Data Analysis: Demand, Capacity, and Inventory and performance Dashboard	35
Section 4: Conclusion: Develops clear advice in form of priority actions. Advice is consistent with analysis and is supported with evidence.	15

QMU Undergraduate Grade Descriptors

Grade A* 80% and above Outstanding performance, exceptionally able – pass

Articulates an outstanding understanding and interpretation of the relevant information, key theories and concepts presented by the assessment.
Demonstrates outstanding knowledge of appropriate reading through extensive references to appropriate scholarly sources.
Shows outstanding problem solving, creativity, originality, critical thinking, analysis, and evaluation.
Presents outstanding discussion in a logical, connected, and progressing structure, and valid conclusions.
Displays an outstanding ability to appraise evidence and synthesise concepts, knowledge, and theory.
Shows an outstanding reflexive awareness of value judgements and assumptions embedded in the subject or discipline.

Grade A 70-79.9% Excellent performance – pass

Articulates an excellent understanding and interpretation of the relevant information, key theories and concepts presented by the assessment.
Demonstrates an excellent knowledge of appropriate reading through frequent references to appropriate scholarly sources.
Shows excellent problem solving, creativity, originality, critical thinking, analysis, and evaluation.
Presents excellent discussion in a logical, connected, and progressing structure, and valid conclusions.
Displays an excellent ability to appraise evidence and synthesise concepts, knowledge, and theory.
Shows excellent reflexive awareness of value judgements and assumptions embedded in the subject or discipline.

Grade B 60-69.9% Very good performance – pass

Articulates a very good understanding and interpretation of the relevant information, key theories and concepts presented by the assessment.
Demonstrates a very good knowledge of appropriate reading through references to appropriate scholarly sources.
Shows very good problem solving, creativity, originality, critical thinking, analysis, and evaluation.
Presents very good discussion in a logical, connected, and progressing structure, and valid conclusions.
Displays a very good ability to appraise evidence and synthesise concepts, knowledge, and theory.
Shows very good reflexive awareness of value judgements and assumptions embedded in the subject or discipline.

Grade C 50-59.9% Good performance – pass

Articulates a good understanding and interpretation of the relevant information, key theories and concepts presented by the assessment.
Demonstrates good knowledge of appropriate reading through some references to appropriate scholarly sources.
Shows good problem solving, creativity, originality, critical thinking, analysis, and evaluation.
Presents a good discussion in a logical, connected, and progressing structure, and valid conclusions.
Displays a good ability to appraise evidence and synthesise concepts, knowledge, and theory.
Shows a good reflexive awareness of value judgements and assumptions embedded in the subject or discipline.

Grade D 40-49.9% Satisfactory Performance – pass

Articulates a satisfactory understanding and interpretation of the relevant information, key theories and concepts presented by the assessment.
Demonstrates satisfactory knowledge of appropriate reading through some references to appropriate scholarly sources.
Shows satisfactory problem solving, creativity, originality, critical thinking, analysis, and evaluation.
Presents a satisfactory discussion in a logical, connected, and progressing structure, and valid conclusions.
Displays a satisfactory ability to appraise evidence and synthesise concepts, knowledge, and theory.
Shows satisfactory reflexive awareness of value judgements and assumptions embedded in the subject or discipline.

Grade E 30-39.9% Unsatisfactory performance – fail.

Articulates partial understanding and interpretation of the relevant information, key theories and concepts presented by the assessment.
Demonstrates partial knowledge of appropriate reading through limited references to appropriate scholarly sources.
Shows insufficient problem solving, creativity, originality, critical thinking, analysis, and evaluation.
Presents limited discussion of logical, connected, and progressing structure with incomplete conclusions.
Displays a limited ability to appraise evidence and synthesise concepts, knowledge, and theory.
Shows insufficient reflexive awareness of value judgements and assumptions embedded in the subject or discipline.

Grade F 0-29.9% Unsatisfactory performance – fail.

Articulates little or no understanding and interpretation of the relevant information, key theories and concepts presented by the assessment.
Demonstrates little or no knowledge of appropriate reading or references to appropriate scholarly sources.
Shows ineffective or no problem solving, creativity, originality, critical thinking, analysis, and evaluation.
Presents ineffective or no discussion of logical, connected, and progressing structure with incomplete conclusions.
Displays little or no ability to appraise evidence and synthesise concepts, knowledge, and theory.
Shows little or no reflexive awareness of value judgements and assumptions embedded in the subject or discipline.