Operations Management (MOM) – MSc
Engineering Knowledge Meets Management Expertise
In the Operations Management program, you will combine engineering knowledge with management expertise and independently work in teams on complex projects in production, logistics, and supply chain management – in collaboration with companies or research institutions.
Project-Based Master's – Learning Under Real Conditions
In the Operations Management program, you will work in teams from the very beginning on complex projects in collaboration with companies or research institutions – applying your expertise from various disciplines.
Structure and content
The Operations Management degree program is a "project-based master's". In the first and second semesters, you and your team will be given a specific task and will independently develop solutions – supported by our professors from the field of industrial engineering. Feel free to take a look at our past projects and collaborations.
The subject knowledge required to complete the project, which you will carry out in close cooperation with industrial companies and/or research institutions, is provided in lectures that you can select yourself from the course offerings.
Thanks to the wide range of electives in the fields of engineering, business administration, logistics, and production, you will acquire essential and up-to-date skills that will benefit you not only in your projects but also later in your professional career.
Operations Management deals with questions such as the following:
- How do I plan new products and production facilities?
- How do I implement digitalization in production and logistics?
- How do I develop and optimize production systems, new logistics services, or maintenance systems and processes?
- How do I design supply chains (focusing on topics such as global and local supply planning, offshoring, outsourcing, reverse logistics, risk management, spare parts management)?
- How do I use machine learning methods, robotics, and artificial intelligence in manufacturing companies?
- How do I develop and plan international logistics strategies in logistics networks or technical logistics solutions such as intralogistics?
- How do I optimize energy management?
- How do I achieve efficiency improvements in production, trade, and services?
We recommend writing your master's thesis in the third semester in cooperation with a company abroad.
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Frequently Asked Questions about the MOM Master’s programme
You will study for 3 semesters.
During the first two semesters, you will work on your project whilst taking compulsory-elective modules alongside it.
In the 3rd semester, you will write your Master’s thesis (ideally in collaboration with a company).
You will be awarded 90 ECTS credits.
The application deadline for a degree programme is
- 15 January for the summer semester and
- 15 July for the winter semester.
Please note that these are strict deadlines and any applications received after these dates cannot be considered.
You must have completed a Bachelor’s degree comprising 210 ECTS credits.
If you hold a degree comprising 180 ECTS credits, separate admission criteria apply.
You also have the option of applying for admission to the degree programme. Before commencing the course of study set out in the ‘Study and Examination Regulations’, you must earn a further 30 ECTS credits through coursework and examinations.
The choice of modules to be taken depends on your Bachelor’s degree and is agreed in a Learning Agreement with the Dean of Studies for the programme.
We will discuss the subjects you are to take with you; these are linked to your previous studies and are designed, for example, to equip you – as a business studies graduate – with the necessary skills in the technical field, or, as a technician, with the necessary skills in the field of business studies.
Please get in touch with us so that we can clarify the details on an individual basis.
You should complete the online application on our application portal and upload all the required documents.
If you are offered a place by us, we will then finalise the modules you will take in the preparatory semester.
At the start of the term, we will draw up a Learning Agreement together.
You can find out whether your foreign degree qualifies you for a Master’s programme by contacting the Studienkolleg at the university of Konstanz. There, you can find out free of charge whether you are eligible for admission to a university in Baden-Württemberg, or which exams you still need to pass beforehand. You will also find the application form for the recognition of qualifications on the website.
Please note that the recognition process takes some time, so please start this process as early as possible.
Yes, you meet the entry requirements if you have completed a first degree at a university, a university of applied sciences or a dual university.
No, there is no minimum grade requirement.
The following degree programmes qualify for admission:
- Engineering
- Industrial Engineering
- Natural Sciences
- Computer Science
- Business Administration
Yes, but you should be prepared to fill any gaps in your knowledge yourself. No foundation courses are offered. Please check the module handbooks for the Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes in advance to find out about the courses on offer and their content. If in doubt, please get in touch with us.
On this page, you will find plenty of information about the degree programme and can, for example, download or read the module handbook, our project list, the selection regulations and the study and examination regulations.
You can enrol with us straight after completing your Bachelor’s degree; in that sense, it is a consecutive degree programme.
With us, you study full-time directly at Reutlingen University.
In principle, it is a full-time degree programme, but working as a working student for one day a week is usually possible.
It is a face-to-face degree programme at Reutlingen University.
You will be studying at Reutlingen University (Baden-Württemberg). We have a campus on the outskirts of the city, which houses all our lecture theatres, administrative offices, library, canteen, sports facilities, halls of residence and our ‘Werk 150’ learning factory.
Werk150 is our smart learning factory on campus. It offers plenty of space and state-of-the-art facilities (robots, IT, Industry 4.0 infrastructure) for learning, researching and experimenting.
The languages of instruction are German and English.
A period of study abroad is not included in the curriculum.
We recommend that you write your Master’s thesis in collaboration with a company abroad.
You will acquire the skills to take on challenging planning, development, leadership and interdisciplinary management tasks in the fields of factory planning, production, logistics and supply chain management. The programme content is geared towards the current challenges in the fields of production and logistics at strategic, tactical and operational levels.
The programme takes an interdisciplinary approach, combining technical, business administration, information technology, mathematical and management-related issues derived from typical job profiles for industrial engineers. Examples of these include:
- the planning of new products and production facilities,
- the development and optimisation of production systems,
- the development and planning of maintenance systems and processes,
- the development of new logistics services,
- the design of supply chains with a focus on areas such as global and local supply planning, offshoring, outsourcing, reverse logistics, risk management, spare parts management,
- the development of international logistics strategies within logistics networks,
- the planning of technical logistics solutions, e.g. intralogistics,
- the optimisation of energy management / increasing efficiency in manufacturing, retail and services.
The programme centres on project work.
Subjects from various subject areas are grouped around the project. Thanks to a wide range of subjects to choose from, it is possible to incorporate the relevant expertise gained from the optional modules into the project work, thereby complementing one another within the project team both thematically and in terms of specialist knowledge.
You will work on a project during both the first and second semesters.
This enables you to acquire a high level of interdisciplinary practical competence. You will learn to work as part of a team and to tackle complex topics in a systematic and application-oriented manner. Through a wide range of optional modules in the fields of engineering, business administration, logistics and production, you will acquire fundamental and specialised knowledge that ties in with the current requirements of businesses.
You will work together as a team on issues and tasks set for the semester by a company. We select the company for you in advance. Whilst working on the project, you will independently form smaller working groups to tackle specific tasks. In doing so, you will benefit from the diverse range of expertise within the team, as our degree programme comprises industrial engineers, (international) business administrators, technical business administrators and engineers (e.g. mechanical engineers). You will, of course, also receive support from our lecturers.
No. The projects are sourced by our lecturers.
They may be based here on campus at the Lernfabrik (‘Werk 150’), in collaboration with ‘Fraunhofer’, or at a (medium-sized) company in the region or even further afield.
We allocate students to projects using a random draw.
Each team consists of between 6 and 9 students and is supervised by a professor.
And after graduation?
As a graduate, you will take on international management tasks at the interface between business and technology. You will plan and control production and logistics processes. You will promote digitalization in companies. You will use machine learning processes and artificial intelligence in innovative ways. You use your project experience from your studies and your intercultural skills to successfully pool all resources in projects: different topics, different methods, different people.
Your qualification profile
You combine the methodological knowledge of an engineer with business management expertise, enabling you to efficiently design complex production and logistics processes, develop and monitor supply chains, understand what a digital factory is, and know how automation works properly.
Typical industries
As a graduate of the Operations Management program, your knowledge is in demand in manufacturing companies, but also anywhere else where processes are optimized and digital methods are used. Examples include the automotive and manufacturing industries, transportation and logistics companies, consulting firms, and companies in the energy sector.
Possible business areas
With their dual expertise at the interface between business and technology, our graduates find a wide range of employment opportunities in a variety of corporate sectors. The interdisciplinary nature of the program provides them with the ideal qualifications for management positions that require the integration of different subject areas. Rather than pursuing a specialist career, they work in positions where interesting questions converge.
Promotion
Your Master of Science in Operations Management degree also provides you with the ideal foundation for an academic career and a doctorate. Please contact us if you are interested in this option.
The Operations Management program is unique: You independently work on a complex project as part of a team in collaboration with companies or research institutions. From our course catalog, you choose the lectures you need to complete the project.
Prof. Dr. Volker Reichenberger
Program Director, MSc Operations Management
