Caveat Academy course · Grades 10 to 12 and adults

Operations Management

How bakeries, clinics, warehouses and factories get the right thing to the right place at the right quality and cost: productivity, bottlenecks and Little's Law, takt time, control charts and Six Sigma, order quantities and reorder points, supply chains and the bullwhip effect, lean, scheduling and the critical path. Real calculations, at your own pace, with a certificate at the end.

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Included with the Caveat Academy pass and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Career and trades courses, $79 for 18 items.

6 modules · 18 lessonsabout 13 hours$19

Six modules, eighteen lessons

Each module ends with a practice set that tracks mastery, an explain-it-back prompt, a short written response and a module exam. The final opens when every module is proficient; passing it earns a certificate with a verification code.

  1. Module 1: What operations management is

    Describe operations as a transformation of inputs into outputs, compute labor and multifactor productivity and their percent change, and match process types to volume and variety.

    • Inputs, transformation and outputs
    • Measuring productivity
    • Process types and layouts
    about 2.1 h

  2. Module 2: Process analysis

    Find a process bottleneck, apply Little's Law, and compute takt time, the minimum number of stations and balance efficiency.

    • Process flows, capacity and bottlenecks
    • Little's Law
    • Takt time and line balancing
    about 2.1 h

  3. Module 3: Managing quality

    Classify the costs of quality, set and read control chart limits, and compute defects per million opportunities within the DMAIC method.

    • What quality means and what it costs
    • Statistical process control
    • Six Sigma and continuous improvement
    about 2.1 h

  4. Module 4: Inventory

    Classify items with ABC analysis, compute the economic order quantity, reorder points and safety stock, and evaluate just-in-time trade-offs.

    • Why inventory exists and what it costs
    • The economic order quantity
    • Reorder points, safety stock and just-in-time
    about 2.1 h

  5. Module 5: Supply chains

    Explain the bullwhip effect, compute a make-or-buy break-even, compare transportation modes and evaluate resilience strategies with expected losses.

    • How supply chains work
    • Sourcing and make or buy
    • Logistics and supply chain risk
    about 2.1 h

  6. Module 6: Lean, scheduling and projects

    Identify the seven wastes, compare scheduling rules, explain how waiting grows with utilization, and find a project's critical path and slack.

    • Lean operations and the seven wastes
    • Scheduling and waiting lines
    • Project management and the critical path
    about 2.1 h

Try it before you start

This is how every lesson works: step through a worked example at your own pace, then answer a check and get the reason right away. Nothing here is saved; the course keeps your progress.

Module 2 · Process flows, capacity and bottlenecks

Worked example: finding and fixing a bottleneck

  1. Example numbers: a car wash has three stations: soap, 20 cars an hour; rinse, 15 cars an hour; dry, 25 cars an hour.

A lesson check from each module

The checks need JavaScript turned on. The course itself works the same way.

What you get

Vocations · Job Skills$19 · included with the Academy pass and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
A finished course in operations management: you can compute productivity and its change, find a bottleneck, use Little's Law to estimate waiting time, set takt time and balance a line, read a control chart and compute defects per million, compute an economic order quantity and a reorder point with safety stock, explain and dampen the bullwhip effect, decide make or buy at the break-even point, spot the seven wastes, compare scheduling rules and find a project's critical path. Passing the final earns a Caveat certificate of completion.
Who it is for
Students in grades 10 to 12 in business, career and technical education or supply chain programs, adults moving into supervisor, logistics, warehouse or office operations roles, and anyone who wants to understand how work flows through an organization. A basic calculator helps.
Format
An online self-paced course: 6 modules and 18 lessons with worked examples you reveal step by step, 144 practice and exam items (multiple choice, numeric, fill-in and ordering), an explain-it-back prompt and a rubric-checked short response in every module, module exams with one retake, a 24-question final and a certificate with a verification code. About 13 hours in all; works on a phone or a computer.
Access
$19 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the course opens once you are signed in with it. Included with the Caveat Academy pass and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Career and trades courses ($79) and the Vocations Suite pass ($99), and 1 more bundle. Progress is saved in this browser on this device, and the certificate page lets you download your record.
Where it lives
The Job Skills space in Caveat Vocations.
Support
Access, a receipt, a refund or a correction to the course: team@caveatacademic.com.

How it works

  1. Open the course and start Module 1. Each lesson takes about 25 to 35 minutes; two or three a week finishes the course in about a semester.
  2. Answer the checks as you read. Every answer shows the reason, and a miss links you back to the lesson that covers it.
  3. Finish each module with its practice set and exam. Proficient on every module opens the final; 70 percent passes it.
  4. Print or download your certificate and record from the certificate page.

Start the course

Sources and accuracy

The lessons are original writing by Caveat Academic Services. Facts were checked against these free, open references, which are also good places to read further.

  1. John D. C. Little, A Proof for the Queuing Formula: L = λW, Operations Research, 1961
  2. American Society for Quality, quality resources on control charts, cost of quality, DMAIC and the fishbone diagram: asq.org
  3. Lean Enterprise Institute, lean lexicon entries on the seven wastes, kanban, takt time and 5S: lean.org
  4. NIST/SEMATECH e-Handbook of Statistical Methods, process control chapter: itl.nist.gov
  5. Hau L. Lee, V. Padmanabhan and Seungjin Whang, The Bullwhip Effect in Supply Chains, Sloan Management Review, 1997

Operations Management is a self-paced course from Caveat Academic Services. Business scenarios and their numbers are examples written for practice. It does not replace a school course or a professional certification program and awards no credit. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.