SOE09403 - Improving Material Flow at Northwestern Memorial Hospital 

Assignment Task

Your final assessment in Operations Management is a report based on a case study: Northwestern Memorial Hospital: Smoothing Material Flow Through the Receiving Area, available in Moodle. You should use the case study as a basis for your analysis and find updated sources to expand upon your analysis.

This report will count for your module grade. The remaining are the end-of-unit quizzes.

In this assignment, you are required to submit an individual report based on a case study scenario. The case study identifies challenges associated with material flow and inventory. It can best be understood by applying the principles of operations management, as introduced in the module.

Your task is to:

1. Produce a problem statement

2. Explain how the receiving area was a significant bottleneck in the hospital’s internal flow.

3. Discuss problems caused by the average 3-day lead time variability and average lead time to one day would eliminate most of these problems.

4. Explain how the receiving area approach to handling packages was “batch oriented” and how it fostered processing and delivery problems, process variability and the average three-day lead time. First, consider what “batch-oriented” means in this context. How is the process “batch oriented”? Explain how a single-piece flow would reduce lead time and associated problems. What does single-piece flow mean in this context?

5. Suggest concrete ways to modify the receiving value stream map to move it toward single-piece flow. Consider changes to the receiving area (Exhibit 2) and the facility layout (Exhibit 5)

A recommended structure for your report follows. You can depart from these recommendations if you wish, but structure your report logically, and cover all requested elements. Use numbered sections with decimals for subsections.

Ideally, your report will include the following:

• An introduction to the report, stating its purpose and the problem statement.
• The development of the report covering points
•  A conclusion summarising the key learning points and SMART recommendations.

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