C. R. Plastics —

C.R. Plastics have asked you to look at their operations in order to see whether any improvements can be made. Please draw on the case method you used in the Operations Management course to answer all of the following questions.

Part 1 (15%)
Identify three major aspects of their operations where opportunities for improvement might lie and which will be amenable to examination as though they were “issues.”

Part 2 (10%)
Suggest five objectives against which you would be able to evaluate any recommendations you made.

Part 3 (50%)
Select two analytical techniques associated with operations management that can each be used to explore one or more of the aspects you have identified. Use the material supplied in the case to carry out analyses using each of those two techniques. State any assumptions you have made in carrying out your analyses.

Part 4 (20%)
Explain what you have learnt about the operations from carrying out the analysis. (Note: If your analysis has generated recommendations for change, set them out here, but it is not a requirement of this question that you use techniques that enable you to generate recommendations for change.)

Part 5 (5%)
Give a brief indication of the next piece of analysis you would undertake in order to build on the work you carried out in Part 3.