Operations Excellence  (T366)

Designed for professionals in the manufacturing or engineering services sectors, with at least three years of industry experience and a background in engineering, technology, science or mathematics, this two semester part-time professional diploma provides individuals with the in-depth knowledge and ability to apply the tools of continuous quality improvement in a range of sectors, whether private, public or semi-state.

The part-time and blended delivery structure of the programme allows participants continue in employment while undertaking their studies. As a result, the nature of the learning environment is highly collaborative and experiential, meaning students are able to quickly apply their newly acquired skills in a live working environment and to have the opportunity to reflect on this in the classroom.

Through the discussion based classroom environment, there is a high degree of learning from peers across different industry sectors and organisation types. We seek to develop an active learning approach through lectures, seminars, workshops and projects. There is extensive use of case studies and business simulations. There is a strong orientation towards team work and collaborative industry based research assignments. 

The learning outcomes are as follows:

• familiarity with and knowledge of operations excellence, encompassing decision analysis, quality management (lean and six sigma), engineering operations management and process design, across a wide range of industrial sectors;
• ability to synthesise technical and management knowledge in the design, implementation and improvement of complex engineering systems;
• ability to apply decision analysis, scientific problem solving, inductive and deductive reasoning skills in both quantitative and qualitative contexts;
• ability to communicate effectively to enable effective decision making in engineering operations and
• ability to learn independently by assessing academic and practitioner research related to operations excellence.

Operations Excellence (OE) provides individuals with the skills and competencies to undertake a broad range of improvement initiatives in their organisations, which creates competitive advantage by focusing on the operational activities where it can outperform its competitors.

Students will develop their knowledge and skills in the area of operations excellence with application in engineering and technology firms, from small medium enterprises to global multinational organisations. 

Stage 1

The Professional Diploma in Operations Excellence is a Level 9 Professional Diploma comprising 20-credits of Core Modules.

• A  Bachelor's degree with minimum 2:1 award (NFQ level 8) or international equivalence in an Engineering or cognate Physical Sciences or Information Technology degree programme. Applicants not meeting this academic requirement, but with significant industry experience may be considered on a case by case basis.
• Applicants should have a minimum of three years relevant professional experience.
• Applicants may be asked to attend for a short interview.