Comparing theory to practice:
How does operations management work at Medtronic?

Table of Contents

1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………….. 2
2. Medtronic.................................................………………………………………. 3
3. Supply Chain.............…………………………………………………………... 4 3.1 Inventory Management
4. Project..............................................................…………………………………. 5 4.1 Definition 4.2 Measurement 4.3 Analysis 4.4 Improvement 4.5 Control
5. Logistics..............……………………………………………………………….. 8
6. Conclusion............................................................................................................ 10
7. Group evaluation………………………………………………………………. 11
References…………………………………………………………………………. 13

1. Introduction

According to the textbook “Operations and supply chain management“ by Cecil C. Bozarth and Robert B. Handfield (2008) there are three simple reasons why one should be interested in operations and supply chain management: First, every organisation must make a product or provide a service that someone values. Second, most of these organisations function as part of larger supply chains. Third, they must carefully manage their operations and supply chains in order to prosper and survive. At first these arguments seem to be reasonable and clear but to fully understand them it is important to gain further insight into different concepts of supply chain management and to refer them to a company‘s every day work procedure.

As part of the first-year Supply Chain Management course, we are supposed to conduct a project to improve our understanding of the different concepts thought in the course, referring them to a real-life context. Our group has contacted several companies in the process of finding an operations manager that was willing to talk to us.