Operations Management Principles Research Articles

Развитие подходов к оценке эффективности функционирования пассажирских транспортно-пересадочных узлов

Objective: the article proposes a method for assessing the efficiency of passenger transport hubs, based on the key principles of operation management. Methods: to achieve the goal of the study, methods of calculating coefficients evaluating compliance with the basic principles of operations management, methods of statistical analysis and data processing, and the method of simulation are used. To carry out the research, materials from scientific papers on the chosen topic, periodicals, as well as Internet resources, including open data from the St. Petersburg Transport Committee, were used. Results: the main scientific result is a method developed by the author to evaluate the efficiency of passenger transport hubs, based on the key principles of operations management. The proposed method takes into account the specifics and characteristics of passenger transport hubs and can be used at any stage of their life cycle, including at the design stage. Unlike the available methods, the proposed methodology allows timely detection and elimination of “bottlenecks” in the planning solutions of a passenger transport hub. Practical significance: as a result of testing the methodology on the example of the Volkovskaya transport interchange hub project, practical recommendations were formed to eliminate bottlenecks and increase the capacity of the facility. The author’s developments can be used in the executive bodies of state power responsible for the development of urban transport infrastructure, and in design organizations in the planning processes for the construction and modernization of passenger transport hubs, as well as in evaluating the effectiveness of their work.

Tools From The "Hat" of an Operational Manager, with an Applied: Case Study

Introduction to Operations Management is an essential starting point for understanding the complexity and importance of effectively managing resources and processes within contemporary organizations. According to Jay Heizer and Barry Render in their seminal work Principles of Operations Management, operations management is defined as the process of designing, managing, and improving processes and systems that create and deliver goods and services. It is a vital component of organizational strategy, having a direct impact on a company's competitiveness and market success. Through operational management, organizations can optimize the use of resources, improve efficiency and provide added value to their customers. We briefly present quantitative forecasting methods, go into detail in a case study with a causal (associative) forecast, then approach the linear regression calculation model. Also, we will estimate pancake sales using the Brown model of exponential leveling, the working tool being QM for Windows. We close the paper by punctually addressing methods of stock optimization by carrying out the case study with the method of uniform price reduction. Finally, we will schematically point out an investment project model for a pancake business.

Sustainability of transport and logistics companies: an empirical evidence from a developing country

PurposeTransport and logistics companies (TLCs) are vital to the world's economies but they account for one-third of the world's CO2 emissions which damage the environment, economy and society. For managers and policymakers to help improve the environmental performance of TLCs, using dynamic capability (DC) theory as the lens, a theoretical model was developed to show how environmental performance affects the TLCs' support requirements and economic and social outcomes. This paper aims to discuss the aforementioned theoretical model.Design/methodology/approachAll registered TLCs operating in the Philippines were sent an invitation and survey questionnaire, and 218 responded with complete and useable answers. From the collected data, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) served to evaluate the study's scale and model accuracies. Comprehensive CFA marker technique helped detect and correct for common method bias (CMB). Covariance-based structural equation modeling using AMOS 26 was implemented to test the model and hypotheses.FindingsUsing data from 218 participating TLCs operating in the Philippines, this study found that good environmental performance advances TLCs' economic and social performances, as well as their support infrastructure requirements. However, further financial support assistance from the government and non-government development organizations that can help save the environment are not required by eco performing firms.Research limitations/implicationsThis research has provided some theoretical contributions to the knowledge on the greening TLCs. It uses the DC theory as the lens to understand how environmental performance relates to economic and social performance of TLCs and how it affects their demand for eco-enabling mechanisms and support infrastructure if they are to remain competitive, socially responsible and eco-friendly. By providing an epistemology on environmental performance and how it affects the support requirements, and economic and social outcomes of TLCs, it offers the literature and industry a tool/framework to better understand the dynamics of eco-performing TLCs operating in a developing country.Practical implicationsThe results of this study, together with the extant operations management principles, can be used by TLC managers, policymakers and other stakeholders in crafting strategies, mechanisms and support systems that can help TLCs maintain sustainability for future generations.Social implicationsThe environmentally sound practices of TLCs such as waste and emission reductions improve the health and welfare of people in and around where they operate. Health is wealth for the populace because healthy people are more productive, have more time and energy to work and are less likely to pay hefty medical expenses. Hence, realization of environmental performance by TLCs does not only do justice to the environment but also the quality of life of people.Originality/valueResearch on the sustainability of TLCs in developing countries especially in Southeast Asia is sparse. The literature has shown how various support systems affect the “greening” of firms, but what is not yet explored, is understanding how environmental performance affects the support requirements of TLCs so that their eco-endeavors are sustained and meaningful. As well, knowledge on how the environmental performance of TLCs affects their economic and social outcomes are under-investigated. This paper aims to fill these gaps in research by examining the sustainability of TLCs operating in the Philippines.

Supply chain challenges in the post–Covid Era

In this paper, we reflect on the supply chain issues and operational challenges that we experienced through the various stages of the Covid‐19 pandemic. We identify some phenomena that were attributable in some way to the pandemic, and apply core principles of operations management, and a simple numerical model, to explain and understand their occurrence. We highlight some key lessons and discuss implications for supply chain design and planning, to prepare for the next global disruption.

HEALTHCARE APPLICATION OF OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES: A REVIEW OF LITERATURE

This paper undertakes a review of extant literature to examine the outlets in which operations management tools and techniques have been applied for improved healthcare delivery. Just as operations management has found usefulness in many other industrial sectors, this report shows that healthcare has also recorded significant advances as the principles of operations management are continually being utilised. This is evident in areas such as the management and planning of medical capacity like bed space; management of medical inventory, equipment scheduling and assignment of doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel to patience. Moreover, operations management tools have been pivotal in making improvements in such areas as medical logistics, drugs and vaccine distribution, and the management of the health supply chain. The healthcare industry has also seen a couple of successes in implementing sustainable operations management in some aspects of healthcare logistics, ethical healthcare services, and responsible healthcare delivery. However, the major challenges in applying sustainability initiatives in healthcare relate to the disposal of medical wastes, effective application of six-sigma for process improvement, and managing long waiting lines experienced in most developing nations' hospital facilities.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0951/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Enhanced Visualization of Production Systems Concepts and Simulation Data for the Smart/Digital Factory

Aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) ensures the continuing airworthiness of aircraft or aircraft parts. Aircraft MRO is extremely costly: the U.S. Air Force spends most of its lifecycle costs to sustain, versus acquire, its aircraft. A key component of Smart Manufacturing for MRO is the use of new software tools for analyzing and exploiting manufacturing knowledge and data more effectively. This abstract describes two new analytic tools developed for the U.S. Air Force, enhanced with data visualizations, to enable more effective MRO production systems design and operations. Selecting appropriate mitigations to production disruptions is challenging because the relationship between control decisions and the resulting performance is delayed and non-linear. The Short-Term Flow Planning Tool helps analysts understand and plan for current and hypothetical changes and disruptions, such as equipment outages, by simulating the effects of various capacity adjustments, induction rates, part scrap rates, and buffer sizes on WIP, part processing rates, and part transfer rates for each process step and day during the planning period. To help analysts interpret this multivariate data, the Tool provides a set of complementary data displays, including heat maps (Figure 1), arrays of timelines and time series graphs (Figure 2), and animated bar graphs (Figure 3) which show snapshots of daily production status and performance. The operations management research literature provides many insights into manufacturing system behavior as well as methods for improving system performance. Unfortunately, many of these results have not been used by practitioners. Based on operations management principles, the Diagnostic Tree (D-tree) provides a systematic way of reviewing possible ways of improving a production system. A D-tree is composed of nodes which each describe a performance improvement objective. Many of the nodes are linked to sub-nodes that describe more concrete sub-objectives for achieving the objective and describe how the objective’s metric varies with the values of its sub-objective metrics. To help analysts understand these multivariate relationships, a sensitivity analysis function at selected nodes shows how the objective function varies with a user-selected variable, fixing the other variables at user-specified values. The dialog in Figure 1 prompts the user for values of the sub-objectives, and the graph in Figure 2 shows how the objective variable varies with the range variable -- in this case, sequential process batch size.

Blue Ocean Strategy and Operations Management

The emphasis is on Blue Ocean markets and businesses are struggling to create more products with greater value and lower cost. Innovation delivers value in a frugal product and process. Achieving competitive advantage involves efficient management of all aspects of the operation consistent with applying the principles of Operations Management. There are established techniques effective in achieving Blue Ocean Strategy. A conceptual outline is provided here of useful techniques and how they help achieve Blue Ocean Strategy.

Framing maturity based on sustainable operations management principles

Business sustainability integration is a complex task and strongly linked to operations management. In fact, sustainability based approaches demand operations management boundaries' expansion, creation and integration of new performance goals into traditional company's performance management system, and new criteria and policies for operations' decision areas development. The challenge is to conduct more sustainable operations through companies' value chain and their operations network. Maturity models have been used in different areas as a process improvement and change management model for complex contexts. In sustainable operations management area, maturity models have been developed for specific purposes, e.g., sustainable production, sustainable supply chain management, corporate social responsibility, and life cycle management. However, there is a lack of models that considers sustainability integration through the evolution of sustainable operations' capabilities in an integrated way. Based on literature review and results from two panel studies conducted with academics and practitioners, this paper proposes a maturity framework for sustainability integration guided by sustainable operations capabilities evolution. The findings pointed out that its is possible to identify an evolutionary path, which goes from an initial approach focused in compliance aspects and firm's value protection to an innovative approach, based on corporate social responsibility supporting operations' integration in a sustainable system, and long-term values development. The experts' studies identified key processes that need to be prioritized in each level, and also evaluate the adaptation of some elements from Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) to sustainable maturity framework design. The framework represents company's vision regarding its value chain and operations network, and it is indicated for manufacturing companies.

The Utility of Mobile Application Technology to Analyze Efficiency And Improve Operational Performance in the Endoscopy Unit

Introduction: The principles of operations management and healthcare information technology (IT) may be used together to evaluate and enhance operational performance in endoscopy centers. Previously, our group published the largest publically available endoscopy unit analysis. This “time and motion” assessment was done via data collection using a paper chart flowsheet.(1) In this study, we aim to implement a mobile app software solution and test its ability to gather endoscopy unit data and analyze efficiency in the endoscopy unit. Ultimately, we hope to validate the use of a mobile app to analyze endoscopy unit efficiency in order to perform targeted operational interventions to reduce overhead cost savings. Methods: The study was conducted over a 5-week period at a UCLA outpatient community-based endoscopy center. Endoscopy unit staff members were each given an iPad device to input operational check points involving patient flow through the endoscopy unit in real time. A variety of performance metrics were tracked for efficiency, including the True Completion Time (TCT) (scheduled procedure start time to the time the patient exited the room post-procedure), on-time starts (endoscope entry occurring within10 minutes of the scheduled time of procedure), and mean delay (time from this 10-minute mark to endoscope entry) for all cases studied. Results: We analyzed 168 patients who underwent a total of 249 procedures during the study period [42 EGD, 154 Colonoscopy, 51 EGD+Colonoscopy, 2 Flexible Sigmoidoscopy]. A total of 5 endoscopists were included in the study. The TCT was 47 minutes and room turnover time was 10 minutes across all cases studied. Ninety three percent of procedures had on-time starts, with a mean delay of 2 minutes. The average procedure duration was 39 minutes. Conclusion: The use of mobile app technology is a feasible method to implement real-time tracking and management of operational efficiency in the endoscopy center. This technique of efficiency analysis offers potential advantages compared to paper charting including automation and the potential for real-time data analysis and workflow modifications. This software-based technology may facilitate the implementation of large-scale operational efficiency and process improvement projects aimed at enhancing workflow. (1)Kaushal, et al. “Using efficiency analysis and targeted intervention to improve operational performance and achieve cost savings in the endoscopy center.” Gastrointest Endosc 2014;79:637-45.Table 1: Average Time Benchmarks, all cases studiedFigure 1

Connecting the pieces of the puzzle toward sustainable organizations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework integrating the Hart and Milstein (2003) strategies for organizational sustainable development (SD) with the ideas of Kleindorfer et al. (2005) on sustainable operations management (SOM), which requires guidance of green supply chain management (GSCM). Design/methodology/approach – The construction of the framework was based on previous studies that discussed synergies between operations management principles with environmental bias and studies on adoption of GSCM practices. Findings – The proposed framework guides managers to reconcile operations management practices/principles that are already being implemented in organizations with an environmental perspective because these practices sustain organizations to simultaneously reach SOM and SD. Originality/value – The paper presents a framework that provides guidance on how organizations can seek sustainability in their operations, considering that articles on the topic of sustainability have not been developed with this specific focus.

Supply chain integration in the South African conveyancing environment

Background: Although conveyancing is a legal term, business management and specifically operations management principles also apply to the processes involved in conveyancing. From a business perspective, each organisation is usually concerned with its own profit margins and processes. In our global market, however, organisations now realise that they can no longer compete successfully on the basis of their internal operational efficiencies alone. They are therefore constantly aware of the need to improve not only their internal processes but also their alignment with other supply chain linkages in an effort to optimise the performance of the whole supply chain. Such alignment, in the conveyancing environment, includes government departments that are generally less willing to adopt business principles, which in turn makes optimisation of the whole supply chain more difficult.Objectives: The article describes a supply chain perspective of the conveyancing processes in South Africa and reports some of the factors that influence and delay conveyancing transactions. It explores possibilities of collaborative relationships between different role players in the conveyancing supply chain. It aims to show that a supply chain approach, as opposed to a singular organisational approach, can help to reduce process bottlenecks and delays in order to improve overall process efficiency.Method: The research, on which the findings are based, was exploratory in nature and followed a mixed-methods (quantitative or qualitative) approach and included both structured questionnaires and personal interviews.Results: The results of the study revealed that many different types of delays occur at various entities across the whole supply chain involved in property transfers. These delays are presented in a table and diagram.Conclusion: It is recommended that greater adoption of electronic technology across the whole supply chain would improve overall efficiency, eliminate bottlenecks and contribute towards efforts to optimise the conveyancing supply chain in South Africa. In addition, it is also recommended that the South African deeds registry implement an electronic system which would allow for the electronic lodging of property transfers.Keywords: e-conveyancing; electronic processes; digitisation of data; supply chain management; integration

Improving Instructional Simulation With Structural Debriefing

Background. Research shows that learning and task performance improve when participants in management exercises understand the structure of the system they control. However, the majority of business simulators are black-boxes. Aim. This article introduces structural debriefing, which is a debriefing activity aimed at helping students learn about causal relationships, feedbacks, accumulations, and delays within a black-box simulation. Method. A structural debriefing can be prepared and facilitated by following the Structural Debriefing Protocol. Results. A pilot study was conducted in which undergraduate students participated in a structural debriefing of The LITTLEFIELD TECHNOLOGIES, a popular simulation for teaching principles of operations management. The students were able to complete all eight steps of a structural debriefing, but required considerable time (three academic terms) to do so. Not every instructional simulation will require all the steps or such a large time commitment. Conclusion. The successful completion of the pilot study demonstrates that structural debriefing is a useful debriefing technique. However, to be effective, the scope and format of a structural debriefing activity must suit practical and pedagogical considerations.

Do flow principles of operations management apply to computing centres?

By analysing large data-sets on jobs processed in major computing centres, we study how operations management principles apply to these modern day processing plants. We show that Little’s Law on long-term performance averages holds to computing centres, i.e. work-in-progress equals throughput rate multiplied by process lead time. Contrary to traditional manufacturing principles, the law of variation does not hold to computing centres, as the more variation in job lead times the better the throughput and utilisation of the system. We also show that as the utilisation of the system increases lead times and work-in-progress increase, which complies with traditional manufacturing. In comparison with current computing centre operations these results imply that better allocation of jobs could increase throughput and utilisation, while less computing resources are needed, thus increasing the overall efficiency of the centre. From a theoretical point of view, in a system with close to zero set-up times, as in the case of computing centres, the law of variation does not hold. We observe that the more variation in job lead times and resource usage, the higher the throughput of the system.

The co-production approach to service: a theoretical background

The paper develops a theoretical background on the co-production approach as an extension of operations management principles, in which co-production function assumes well-defined functional form with the input presence of both firm and customers. The co-production approach not only views a customer as a co-producer, but also conducts strategic trade-offs between a firm and customers in service systems. Moreover, the value and the process of value co-creation are also explored under the co-production approach. The experimental study with a hypothetical service system indicates that the co-production function is feasible under economic and institutional considerations, and the co-production approach generalizes both the firm approach and the customer approach. Furthermore, the co-production approach creates many rich opportunities for future research on service operations management.

Creativity and Innovation inHauteCuisine: Towards a Systemic Model

The contribution of this study is an increased understanding of personal creativity and the innovation process in haute cuisine, a validation of the socio‐cultural systems view of creativity and a model that accounts for the socio‐cultural dimensions of haute cuisine. In this paper we discuss existing views that conceptualize creativity and innovation in this sector as a sequential developmental process following the principles of operations management. However, based on in‐depth interviews with world‐renowned chefs, we argue for a systemic rather than sequential developmental process view. The reason for this is that the chefs interviewed understand the ‘creativity part’ of the innovation process as an embodied experience often guided by intuition and the ‘innovation part’ as a process of social evaluation greatly dependent on the perception, knowledge and value judgement of the testers from the leading restaurant guides. The main implications of the findings go beyond the haute cuisine sector and open areas for future research on creativity and intuition more generally.

Using efficiency analysis and targeted intervention to improve operational performance and achieve cost savings in the endoscopy center

With an increasing demand for endoscopy services, there is a greater need for efficiency within the endoscopy center. A validated methodology is important for evaluating efficiency in the endoscopy unit. To use the principles of operations management to establish a validated methodology for evaluating and enhancing operational performance in the endoscopy center. Biphasic prospective study with pre-intervention and post-intervention efficiency data and analysis. Tertiary-care referral teaching hospital. Scheduled outpatients undergoing endoscopy. Determination of the rate-limiting step, or bottleneck, of the endoscopy unit and reducing inefficiencies. Staffing costs and a novel performance metric, True Completion Time (TCT). Data were prospectively recorded for 2248 patients undergoing a total of 2713 procedures (phase I: 255 EGD, 305 colonoscopy, 91 EGD/colonoscopy, 375 EUS, 44 ERCP, 75 EUS/ERCP; phase II: 243 EGD, 328 colonoscopy, 99 EGD/colonoscopy, 335 EUS, 38 ERCP, 109 EUS/ERCP). The bottleneck of the operation was identified as the 10-bed communal pre-procedure/recovery room. On-time procedure starts increased by 51% (P < .001), and TCT was reduced by 12.2% (P < .001) across all cases studied. Overtime and per diem nursing costs were reduced by 30%, whereas full-time employee staff was reduced by 0.85. Annual cost savings were calculated as $312,618 or 11.02% of total operating expenses. This study is not directly tied to quality outcomes, and inpatient procedures transported to the endoscopy unit were not directly studied. Room turnover time and room-to-endoscopist ratio are not necessarily the driving parameters behind endoscopy unit efficiency. A focus on developing a methodology for identifying factors constraining operational efficiency can improve performance and reduce costs in the endoscopy center.

Front/back office considerations in the operational access to long-term care for older people: Findings of a multiple case study

BackgroundOrganizations that provide long-term care in the Netherlands are reconsidering the operational access to their services. Principles of operations management, such as front/back office configurations, might improve the redesign of operational access. Once a client gains entrance to the organization, direct interaction between client and care provider starts. This is a front office activity. In this paper, we address the question: How are front/back office aspects recognisable in the operational access to long-term care for independently living elderly?MethodsWe conducted a multiple case study (n = 4). Data gathering involved observations, interviews, and examination of documents. Transcripts of observations and interviews were coded and analyzed.ResultsNone of the studied entrance units were physically accessible. In all four cases a lot of administrative tasks were present, even with employees dedicated to front office tasks. By organizing separate entrance units, the cases decouple the access process from delivery of care. However, they subsequently couple all entrance-related activities in one job, i.e. a care advisor dedicated to a client.ConclusionThe case organizations organized their operational access process in separate units. Front/back office aspects were recognizable; however, seem not to have been considered consciously during the design of the access process.

Emergency Medicine: An Operations Management View

Operations management (OM) is the science of understanding and improving business processes. For the emergency department (ED), OM principles can be used to reduce and alleviate the effects of crowding. A fundamental principle of OM is the waiting time formula, which has clear implications in the ED given that waiting time is fundamental to patient-centered emergency care. The waiting time formula consists of the activity time (how long it takes to complete a process), the utilization rate (the proportion of time a particular resource such a staff is working), and two measures of variation: the variation in patient interarrival times and the variation in patient processing times. Understanding the waiting time formula is important because it presents the fundamental parameters that can be managed to reduce waiting times and length of stay. An additional useful OM principle that is applicable to the ED is the efficient frontier. The efficient frontier compares the performance of EDs with respect to two dimensions: responsiveness (i.e., 1/wait time) and utilization rates. Some EDs may be "on the frontier," maximizing their responsiveness at their given utilization rates. However, most EDs likely have opportunities to move toward the frontier. Increasing capacity is a movement along the frontier and to truly move toward the frontier (i.e., improving responsiveness at a fixed capacity), we articulate three possible options: eliminating waste, reducing variability, or increasing flexibility. When conceptualizing ED crowding interventions, these are the major strategies to consider.

The EHMA Agora for seeking new paradigms

At the opening session of the EHMA Annual Conference in Lahti, Finland, participants engaged in The Largo Simulation that instantly demonstrated the actuality of the conference theme: ‘Managing Radical Change in Health’. The simulation moderator, Laurie McMahon, confronted his audience with two major policy issues that will dominate health sector change in EU member states during the next decade. First, he raised the question about how to protect and improve health status in the face of the current recession. Public health research on previous economic crises has uncovered a broad range of negative effects on health and well-being, especially for lower socio-economic status groups. Second, he clarified the far-reaching consequences of the economic crisis on public funding of health services. EU governments are facing an unprecedented need to cut back budget deficits and national debts. As a consequence, they are looking for savings on health services expenditure on a scale not seen before. For example, the Dutch government is exploring opportunities to cut parts of its health sector budget by 20%. Other EU governments are looking for interventions of the same kind of magnitude. The health sector is used to financial pressure. Cost containment policies emerged in all Western countries during the 1980s, in reaction to a heavy economic recession and the extraordinary growth of health services expenditure in preceding years. Governments and health authorities filled a policy toolkit with instruments for restricting health service entitlements, refining need assessment procedures, slowing down capital investment, extending the range of co-payments, intervening in drugs price setting, tightening up macro budget control, and so on. During the last two decades the use of this toolkit intensified, as the growth rate of the publicly funded health sector tended to exceed domestic economic growth rate over and again. Under this pressure provider organizations have developed a broad repertoire of cost-saving routines to deal with recurrent budget cuts. These range from simply stopping waste, standardizing working procedures, and tightening financial control to measures to reduce labour costs and smarter procurement and utilization of buildings and equipment. Horizontal and vertical integration became a popular managerial option to pursue economies of scale and scope, as did substitution of cost-intensive clinical services for cheaper day treatment and ambulatory care. Efficiency became the buzz word that guided strategic actions on both the national and organizational levels. However, the present combination of growing health-care needs and macro-economic pressure on the sector requires strategic responses that go far beyond the conventional political and managerial routines of dealing with tight financial resources. This rapidly became visible for the participants participating in The Largo Simulation. First, everybody started to tackle the health and financial issues with solutions that had demonstrated their effectiveness in the past. Then, participants began to realize that the current socio-economic conditions imply a trend break with that past that strongly limits the effectiveness of those solutions. They recognized that out-of-the-box thinking is required to develop innovative responses to the changed circumstances. So they started to question the taken-for-granted values, principles and routines behind the organization and funding of health services. They questioned existing relationships between public funding, private payments, and charity. They explored the potential of radical patient self-management, of health operations management principles, and of redefining professional roles. They discussed the promises of prevention programmes and replacing organizational control by trust. Potential limits to equal access were reviewed as the development of unconventional sets of health insurance entitlements. They also considered the gains of replacing organizational hierarchy by

Teaching Health-Care Operations in the MBA Program at Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management

This paper describes a case-based MBA elective “Health Care Operations” (HCO) developed by an instructor without prior education, consulting, or research experience in the health-care field. HCO helps MBA students analyze health-care organizations using both qualitative and quantitative principles of operations management. The course outline covers (1) designing health-care delivery systems, (2) capacity planning and decision making under uncertainty, and (3) process failure, learning, and improvement. The paper identifies challenges faced in the design and delivery of the course as well as lessons learned. I hope that this paper will be useful for other instructors who want to teach health-care operations.