Op Management

Reduction of setup time is accomplished by separating internal and external setups and: a. Converting internal setup time to external setup time b. Implementing a kanban system c. Reducing lot sizes d. Reducing inventory

Converting internal setup time to external setup time

The ability of the process to meet, or exceed, its specifications can be determined by: a. Cp index b. Histograms c. Pareto charts d. Cause-and-effect diagrams

Cp index

Which of the following is NOT a measure of forecast accuracy? a. Cumulative absolute deviation of forecast error b. Mean square error c. Mean absolute deviation of forecast error d. Cumulative sum of forecast error

Cumulative absolute deviation of forecast error

The market-pull view of new product innovation is to: a.. Market whatever the company makes best b. Make new products appealing through innovative packaging c. "Pull" the products into the market as fast as possible d. Develop products that the company can sell, based on customer needs

Develop products that the company can sell, based on customer needs

Multiple critical paths can exist under CPM because: a. There is more than one way to complete the project b. Different network paths exist, each with the same total time c. Great flexibility of activity sequences is available d. None of the above

Different network paths exist, each with the same total time

In a batch operation, each product must have the same flow path and must pass through all of the same work centers.

False

In a make-to-stock operation, the order penetration point is after fabrication and before final assembly

False

In aggregate planning: a. The concern is over a long-range planning horizon. b. Output levels are set in the face of certain demand. c. Firms should never consider overtime, hiring, firing, or subcontracting. d. "Aggregate" implies that planning is done for a single overall measure of output or at most a few products.

"Aggregate" implies that planning is done for a single overall measure of output or at most a few products.

It is often good to have many conditions in a service guarantee as these conditions minimize the chances of a service failure.

False

Kaizen events typically take between 1 to 2 months.

False

Which of the following is NOT true about the cost of quality? a. Cost of quality is actually the cost of poor quality b. Warranty is an example of external failure cost c. Training cost is an example of prevention cost d. Increasing prevention cost increases appraisal, internal and external failure costs

Increasing prevention cost increases appraisal, internal and external failure costs

Independent demand inventory consists of: a. Inventory whose demand is determined by market conditions outside the firm b. Demand that is related to the demand for another item c. Inventory that is independent of any known rules of demand and supply d. Inventory whose demand comes from independent suppliers

Inventory whose demand is determined by market conditions outside the firm

Quality of design: a. Is determined before production by a cross-functional product design team b. Is one of the four decision areas of engineering c. Is the prime responsibility of production d. Means a product has high reliability, maintainability, and availability

Is determined before production by a cross-functional product design team

The capacity of a process is determined by: a. The bottleneck b. The maximum of the required capacity resources c. Throughput time d. None of the above

The bottleneck

Which of the following is an example of a finite population in a queuing system? a. People waiting to place their order at a fast food restaurant. b. The departmental faculty in line at the copier. c. People waiting in line at an ATM. d. Patients seeking help in a hospital emergency room. e. Taxpayers calling for assistance from the IRS.

The departmental faculty in line at the copier.

Which of the following accurately describes a chase strategy? a. The firm produces the same amount each day over the planning period and deals with the variations in demand with inventory or overtime. b. None of the above. c. The firm produces exactly what is needed each month. d. The firm produces at the same level for half of the year, and then adjusts production to another level and produces at that level for the remainder of the year.

The firm produces exactly what is needed each month.

A small improvement in customer loyalty can substantially improve the profitability of a service firm.

True

According to the lean philosophy, a stable master production schedule is desirable to reduce the work-in-process inventories.

True

High-contact and low-contact services can also be classified as front office and back office operations.

True

Ideally in waiting line or queuing analysis we want to balance the cost of service capacity with the cost of waiting.

True

In a waiting line situation, multiple lines occur only when there are multiple servers.

True

One of the major benefits of concurrent engineering is the reduction in time to complete the new-product development process.

True

The business strategy can be derived from a firm's distinctive competence that is difficult for competitors to copy or imitate.

True

The process view provides a basis for viewing an entire business as a system of interconnected processes.

True

The total cost of quality in an organization is the sum of control costs and failure costs.

True

Value stream maps are similar to flowcharts and are used for identifying the waste and non-value-added steps in the current process.

True

With lean thinking, a firm's operations layout should evolve to a cellular manufacturing layout.

True

Supply chain management includes the integration of: a. Suppliers b. Manufacturers c. Customers d. Both a and b e. a, b and c

a, b and c

A finite population in waiting line management refers to a population that is large enough in relation to the service system so that the change in population size caused by subtraction or additions to the population does not significantly affect the system probabilities.

False

Best practices in operations are best for all organizations.

False

ISO 9000 standards guarantee that a product or service has no defects

False

If there are multiple resources in series that process each transaction, then the process capacity is the sum of all the individual capacities of the resources.

False

Make or buy is an example of what type of strategic decision? a. Inventory b. Process c. Quality d. Capacity e. None of the above

Process

The four major decision responsibilities of operations management are: a. Process, quality, capacity, and human resources b. Quality, inventory, human resources, and capacity c. Process, capacity, quality, and inventory d. Process, quality, human resources, and inventory

Process, capacity, quality, and inventory

In which phase of the new-product design process should considerations about tradeoffs among product cost, quality, and schedule be made? a. Preliminary process design b. Product design c. Pilot production/testing d. Concept development

Product design

If an organization were having difficulty trying to get customers' opinions into the definition of quality, which of the following approaches would be most suitable? a. Six-Sigma b. ISO 9000 certification c. Quality Function Deployment d. TQM

Quality Function Deployment

An advantage of a make-to-stock process is which of the following? a. It responds directly to customer orders b. It combines the best features of other processes c. It allows the firm to avoid inventory costs d. Rapid delivery of a standard product e. All units of output are unique

Rapid delivery of a standard product

One of the main objectives of a lean system is: a. Define value from the manufacturer's perspective b. Reduction of takt time c. Striving for 'good enough' d. Reduction of waste

Reduction of waste

Managing quality in a lean system: a. Means that product and service defects are never defined as waste b. Is done by suppliers c. Requires continuously exposing and correcting quality problems d. Is easy

Requires continuously exposing and correcting quality problems

Which phrase most closely describes the Delphi forecasting technique? a. Rounds of anonymous data collection b. Test markets c. Individual opinions d. Consumer survey

Rounds of anonymous data collection

A process will generally have at least one bottleneck.

True

Quality Function Deployment includes which of the following: (1) relative importance of customer attributes, (2) tolerance stack-up, (3) a comparison to the competitor's product, (4) engineering characteristics, (5) customer perceptions, (6) customer attributes, (7) variation around a target, (8) value analysis. a. 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 b. 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 c. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 d. 2, 5, 6, 7, 8

1, 3, 4, 5, 6

Which of the following best describes the term cycle time? a. The same as utilization b. The labor content of the item being measured c. Average time between completions of successive units d. Can be no more that 60 minutes e. Ratio of the time a resource is activated over its use

Average time between completions of successive units

A large capacity cushion is appropriate when: a. A firm is attempting to capture market share in a growing industry b. The market for its products or services is shrinking c. A firm wants its capacity to match average demand d. A make-to-stock process is used

A firm is attempting to capture market share in a growing industry

A computerized inventory system checks inventory levels at the end of the week and produces suggested orders for the coming week. What kind of system is this? a. An ABC inventory system b. A service level system c. A continuous review system d. A periodic review system

A periodic review system

Which of the following is a characteristic of a distinctive competence? a. Could be based on human resources that are difficult to imitate b. Could be based on proprietary technology c. Cannot be copied easily d. None of a, b, and c e. All of a, b, and c

All of a, b, and c

Project management requires: a.. Scheduling, planning, and controlling b. Quantitative skills c. Behavioral skills d. All of the above

All of the above

Reducing setup time is important because it: a. Increases available capacity b. Increases flexibility to meet schedule changes c. Reduces inventory d. All of the above

All of the above

Supply Chain Strategy focuses, in part, on: a. Purchasing and logistics b. Customers c. Information flow d. All of the above

All of the above

Supply chain management includes the integration of: a. Suppliers b. Manufacturers c. Customers d. All of the above

All of the above

To reduce process flow time you might try which of the following actions? a. Perform activities in parallel b. Change the sequence of activities c. Reduce interruptions d. Acquire additional equipment e. All of the above

All of the above

Which of the following is/are assumption(s) of process control? a. Random variability cannot be eliminated unless the process is redesigned. b. Common causes represent random variability. c. Production processes are not usually found in a state of control. d. All of the above

All of the above

Which of the following statements is true about a critical path? a. A critical path consists of activities for which early start time equals late start time. b. The activities along the critical path take the longest time. c. A critical path consists of activities for which early finish time equals late finish time. d. There is no slack in the activities along the critical path. e. All of the above

All of the above

A cause-and-effect diagram: a. Identifies common causes of quality defects b. Is often used in conjunction with a Pareto chart c. Is also called a fishbone diagram d. All of the above are true

All of the above are true

Process efficiency is usually highest in which type of process? a. Batch b. Assembly line c. Project d. Job shop

Assembly line

Which of the following basic types of process structures is one which equipment or work processes are arranged according to the progressive steps by which the product is made? a. Assembly line b. Workcenter c. Project d. Manufacturing cell e. Continuous process

Assembly line

Which of the following is NOT one of the four principles of process redesign? a. Eliminate unnecessary steps in the process b. Automate the remaining steps in the process c. Organize around outcomes, not tasks d. Have the people who do the work process their own information

Automate the remaining steps in the process

The type of processing system that is used for highly standardized products such as oil and gasoline is: a. Continuous process b. Project c. Batch d. Mass production

Continuous process

Why is it dangerous to justify capacity expansion using economies of scale? a. It requires consideration of quality, dependability, and flexibility b. Because volume, capacity, and process considerations are looked at individually c. It is far too specific to use as a basis for capacity decisions d. Because the common notion that unit costs decline for larger facilities due to size is not always accurate

Because the common notion that unit costs decline for larger facilities due to size is not always accurate

The operation objectives of quality, cost, delivery, and flexibility are: a. Connected b. Independent of each other c. Unique d. Mutually exclusive

Connected

Facilities decisions: a. Constrain all other capacity decisions b. Are medium-range capacity decisions c. Should consider one of the five crucial questions of how much, how large, when, where, and what type d. Require planning for one year only

Constrain all other capacity decisions

The contemporary operations themes signify that: a. Operations decisions should precede decisions in other functions in an organization b. To be competitive, strategies for operations should exclude broader supply chain issues c. Every operation should be externally directed to meet the customers' requirements d. More emphasis should be placed on manufacturing than on service industries

Every operation should be externally directed to meet the customers' requirements

Which of the following is the cost of quality classification for costs such as defects that pass through the system, such as customer warranty replacements, loss of customer or goodwill, handling complaints, and product repair? a. Customer return cost b. Appraisal costs c. Workmanship costs d. Prevention costs e. External failure costs

External failure costs

The difference between actual demand and the forecast is: a. Forecast error b. Absolute deviation of forecast error c. Mean absolute percentage error d. Mean absolute deviation of forecast error

Forecast error

An important lesson from the product-process matrix is: a. Give importance to product choice decisions over process choice decisions b. Give importance to process choice decisions over product choice decisions c. Give importance to aligning product choice decisions and process choice decisions d. Most firms should operate off the diagonal to achieve competitive status

Give importance to aligning product choice decisions and process choice decisions

Which of the following statements is NOT true about managing inventory in supply chains? a. Coordination among supply chain partners is essential while managing inventory across the supply chain. b. In a supply chain, a single firm typically controls all of the inventories that are required while manufacturing a product. c. Vendor managed inventory is an initiative shifting responsibility for managing inventory to suppliers. d. The total cost minimization approach can be applied while managing inventory across the supply chain.

In a supply chain, a single firm typically controls all of the inventories that are required while manufacturing a product.

In the basic EOQ model, if annual demand and carrying costs double, the EOQ: a. Doubles b. Remains the same c. Decreases d. Increases, but less than double

Increases, but less than double

Which of the following is NOT true about Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR)? a. It creates visibility in the supply chain minimizing the occurrence of the bullwhip in supply chains. b. The basic idea is to share forecasting information with the suppliers and customers in the supply chain. c. It requires advanced forecasting tools such as Box-Jenkins to improve the forecasting accuracy. d. It is best applied to a few customers representing the bulk of demand.

It requires advanced forecasting tools such as Box-Jenkins to improve the forecasting accuracy.

Using exponential smoothing, if we want forecasts to be very responsive to recent demand, the value of alpha should be: a. Large b. The value of alpha does not matter. c. Moderate d. Small

Large

"Slack" refers to the difference between: a. Late and early times b. Finish and start times c. Observed and predicted times d. Optimistic and pessimistic times e. None of the above

Late and early times

Quality Function Deployment: a. Eliminates customer attributes b. Links customer requirements to technical specifications c. Assumes that interactions between engineering characteristics are unimportant d. Depends only on engineering characteristics

Links customer requirements to technical specifications

With regards to suppliers, lean systems typically require: a. Buyer inspection of goods and materials b. Multiple sources from which to purchase c. Long-term relationships and commitments d. Delivery of large lots at frequent intervals

Long-term relationships and commitments

If one time-series model is used for forecasting a low demand item and another time-series model is used for forecasting a high demand item, which measure of forecast accuracy provides a valid comparison of the errors from these two time-series? a. MAD b. MSE c. CFE d. MAPE

MAPE

Safety stock inventory is: a. Equivalent to the Economic Order Quantity b. Providing for inventory that is in transit from one location to another c. Maintained to absorb uncertainty in, for example, delivery lead time from suppliers d. All of the above

Maintained to absorb uncertainty in, for example, delivery lead time from suppliers

The four elements that form the heart of operations strategy include: a. Mission, distinctive competence, objectives, and strategic decisions b. Mission, distinctive competence, objectives, and internal analysis c. Mission, objectives, internal analysis, and external analysis d. Mission, distinctive competence, internal analysis, and external analysis

Mission, distinctive competence, objectives, and strategic decisions

Which of the following is not an element of lean? a. Multifunction workers b. Kanban pull system c. Small-lot sizes d. Modularized master schedule e. Perfect or nearly perfect quality

Modularized master schedule

Buying a ticket for a college football game where there are multiple windows to buy the ticket at features which type of queuing system line structure? a. Single channel, single phase b. Single channel, multiphase c. Multichannel, single phase d. Multichannel, multiphase e. None of the above

Multichannel, single phase

The carrying cost for inventory consists of which cost components? a. Capital cost, obsolescence cost, and ordering cost b. Obsolescence cost, storage cost, and capital cost c. Storage cost, handling cost, and obsolescence cost d. Obsolescence cost, capital cost, and stockout cost

Obsolescence cost, storage cost, and capital cost

Which of the following statements is incorrect about the PERT method of project scheduling? a. PERT requires three time estimates for scheduling a given activity. b. PERT assumes that the actual activity times are distributed according to the beta probability distribution. c. PERT assumes that the statistical variation in total project completion times can be computed by multiplying variances along the critical path. d. The standard deviation of the project is square root of the variance of the critical path.

PERT assumes that the statistical variation in total project completion times can be computed by multiplying variances along the critical path.

A process control chart: a. Assumes that 99.74% of special cause variation will fall between upper and lower limits b. Separates the assignable cause of variation from the common cause of variation c. Assigns causes of variation to operator, machine, or material d. Has upper and lower control limits set at ±2 standard deviations from the center line

Separates the assignable cause of variation from the common cause of variation

In a college registration process, several department heads have to approve an individual student's semester course load. What is the queuing system line structure? a. Single channel, single phase b. Single channel, multiphase c. Multichannel, single phase d. Multichannel, multiphase e. None of the above

Single channel, multiphase

Which of the following statements is NOT true about six sigma quality? a. Motorola invented the term "six sigma quality" in the mid-80s b. Six sigma can be applied to administrative and service processes as well c. Six sigma results in 3.4 ppm defects d. Six sigma corresponds to 3 standard deviations on either side of the mean

Six sigma corresponds to 3 standard deviations on either side of the mean

Which following production process term best describes the situation when activities in a stage of production must stop because there is no work? a. Setup time b. Buffering c. Blocking d. Starving e. Throughput

Starving

A decision is made that suppliers will be chosen based on quality rather than cost. This is an example of which of the following? a. Strategic decision b. Distinctive Competence c. Objective d. Mission

Strategic decision

In a Q system, average inventory: a. Is set to cover average demand over the lead time plus the review interval b. Is relatively flat in the neighborhood of the minimum c. Is depleted at a constant rate d. Tends to be less than under a system of periodic review (P system)

Tends to be less than under a system of periodic review (P system)

Which of the following statements regarding capacity is NOT true? a. Capacity can be measured in several units such as hours of output, number of units produced, number of customers served, etc. b. Effective capacity is generally less than the theoretical capacity. c. The 'maximum output' of a process is not a meaningful measure. d. Capacity is the maximum output that could be produced over a period of time.

The 'maximum output' of a process is not a meaningful measure.

Which of the following statements about CPM is true? a. CPM is an example of a variable time project scheduling method. b. The CPM method is well suited when activity times are expected to vary a lot. c. The CPM method is well suited when activity times are fairly constant and can be reduced by spending more money. d. The CPM method is well suited for R&D projects and for scheduling computer systems.

The CPM method is well suited when activity times are fairly constant and can be reduced by spending more money.

Which of the following are the three major components of a queuing system? a. The service speed, the queue discipline and the waiting line. b. The arrival population characteristics/behavior, the queuing system, and resource characteristics/behavior c. The number of servers, the service speed and the waiting line. d. The source population and the way customers arrive at the system, the serving systems, and how customers exit the system. e. The source population, how customers exit the system and the queuing discipline.

The arrival population characteristics/behavior, the queuing system, and resource characteristics/behavior

A service blueprint is used to analyze and manage the service process because it involves: a. The identification of flows, bottlenecks, and customer interaction points b. The design of the services advertising campaign c. The identification of the consumer benefit concept d. All of the above

The identification of flows, bottlenecks, and customer interaction points

The advantage(s) of the network method over the Gantt chart is (are) that: a. The network method is easy to use and quite widely understood. b. The network method shows precedence relationships explicitly when compared to Gantt charts. c. Network methods are less costly to use. d. None of above

The network method shows precedence relationships explicitly when compared to Gantt charts.

Which of the following is NOT a general characteristic of a service? a. No resale is possible b. Production and consumption are simultaneous c. The service can be transported d. The service cannot be stored

The service can be transported

Which of the following is NOT a correct statement? Select one: a. The service delivery system should be designed primarily around the employees in the system b. Services are provided in a bundle of services and goods c. Low-contact services can usually be made more efficient than high-contact services d. A service is produced and consumed simultaneously

The service delivery system should be designed primarily around the employees in the system

The aim of Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is: a. To provide Value Analysis/Value Engineering input. b. To facilitate better cooperation between business functions. c. To get the voice of the customer into the design of a product. d. To facilitate "House of Quality" analysis. e. To integrate Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA).

To get the voice of the customer into the design of a product.

A department of 25 machines is kept running by three operators who respond to randomly occurring equipment problems. An analyst wanting to know whether to add a fourth operator or downsize to two operators would be helped by using queuing theory analysis.

True