ME 403N: Production, Planning and Control

Course Project

Marks 20

You have to form teams of four and take up one project per team. Projects with smaller teams will not be allowed. The project may be selected from the list below, or you may devise your own on similar lines and get it ratified by me. Groups working on the same project theme will have to ensure that the projects are sufficiently different. You are expected to read up the relevant background material independent of the amount of coverage in class and to whatever degree of depth that you feel comfortable with. You will be evaluated based upon the maturity of analysis, the thoroughness of your work, the use of relevant analytical models and most importantly, the degree of success in solving the problem that you undertook. In lieu of Minor 2, you will give a 25 minute project presentation and submit a project report.

Those of you who are research oriented, may select a relevant high quality research paper ( I can recommend a few), get it ratified by me, and present that as your project.

The following is an indicative though not a comprehensive list of projects that you may undertake:

1. Suppose that you are opening a grocery store at the IIT campus. Assume that it would carry 5-6 representative items (such as wheat, apple, potato, cereal, toothpaste). Find the optimal location for this store. Develop a complete operations strategy for this store, i.e., forecast the demand, develop purchasing strategy: how many suppliers to have, what should be the delivery logistics, how often and how much to buy from suppliers. How big should the shop be, how should the limited shelf space be utilised etc.
2. Suppose that no individual PCs were allowed in IIT campus and only two computer labs were to be made to be used by all of IIT students and faculty. Where on the IIT campus should these labs be located, what kind and quantity of equipment should be kept to maximize overall student-faculty satisfaction at a minimum cost. Develop a realistic mathematical model, estimate relevant parameters and find the optimal solution.
3. Re-engineer your hostel mess operations. The steps involved in any re-engineering effort typically include specifying precisely all the existing operations. Confirming this specification with the management. Identifying the key processes. Studying these processes from scratch, developing alternate re-engineered processes. Deciding upon the best option with the management. Developing appropriate implementation schedule, addressing all the relevant people (change management) issues.
4. Re-engineer the B. Tech. registration process using the guidelines specified above.
5. Every semester IIT faces the problem of allocating classes to different M. Tech. and B. Tech. courses for smooth functioning of teaching operations. Understand all the issues involved in this exercise including what the desired characteristics of a good solution are. Develop a software (using any standard ILP package) that provides feasible/optimal solutions to the problem of allocating class-rooms to different classes.
6. Currently papers of various sizes and quality are used by different departments and the administrative block at the IIT for administrative purposes. There may be considerable savings in terms of inventory and purchasing cost if the paper used was standardized. Carefully investigate this problem and make optimal recommendations.
7. The central store maintains inventory of items such as paper, pens, folders, etc. These are given to the department stores from time to time. Understand all the issues regarding this operation and develop an optimum inventory plan for the central and departmental stores.
8. Consider any practical queuing system (for example, the SBI branch at IIT Delhi). Establish management customer service and cost reduction objectives. Develop analytical queuing model for the system and show optimal allocation of resources so that these objectives are met. Do appropriate sensitivity analysis to aid management in better decision making.
9. IIT is laying the fiber optic cables to provide network connectivity to all computers at the institute and at the faculty residences and hostels. Understand all the important costs involved in such an exercise and develop an optimal fiber optic outlay.