WATER 620Sustainable Operations

This course explores the foundations of operations management in the context of sustainability. Through the use of both peer-reviewed and practitioner articles, this course will provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the core concepts in the field of operations management while integrating emergent social and environmental issues. Theoretical and empirical exploration of core operations concepts such as supply chain management, process configuration, quality and process improvement, and lean systems will be undertaken. Once a strong foundational understanding of these core concepts is achieved, students will then explore the opportunities and threats posed by emergent social and environmental issues to organizations, and how those issues can be integrated into the strategy underlying operations and process management. Concepts such as eco-efficiency, sustainable supply chain management, environmental management systems (e.g., ISO 14000), and life cycle assessment will be explored.