For the third milestone of your final project, you will evaluate current business operations for opportunities to utilize project management, technology, and project management tools along with other techniques to reduce costs, increase production, incorporate sustainability principles, and deliver consistently superior products and services using quantitative tools and techniques.

Prompt

To finalize this analysis, you will need to gather information about managing inventory, resource planning, and scheduling. Information can generally be found on the organization’s main website, in the annual report and mission statement, and in articles authored by the company or outside analysts, such as ThomasNet.com, buy/sell sites (e.g., Jim Cramer), and investment companies (e.g., Fidelity, TD Ameritrade, or Vanguard). As operations management students and professionals, you are encouraged to use your own experience, understanding, and knowledge of business and industry structure to drive your analysis.

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

1. Technology for Competitive Differentiation
   1. 
      
   2. Evaluate current business operations in one segment of the enterprise to identify performance gaps relative to cost, production, and delivery of products or services.
   3. Based on the performance gaps you identified, describe specific opportunities that would benefit from technology enhancement or technical solutions. Ensure that your response focuses on using technology to reduce costs, increase production, and deliver consistently superior products or services.
   4. How can the technology you described be utilized to mitigate the performance gap? Ensure that your response focuses on using technology to reduce costs, increase production, and deliver consistently superior products or services.
   5. COMPANY: JOHN DEERE