TMGT 361 Final Study Guide
Which of the following attribute charts is most appropriate when plotting the number of defects per unit?
u
A box contains two red balls and two black balls. Given that a black ball has been drawn, what is the probability of drawing two consecutive red balls in the next three draws?
2/3
Given the data below is normally distributed, and the population standard deviation is 3.1, what is the 90% confidence interval for the mean? 22, 23, 19, 17, 29, 25
20.42 to 24.59
The smallest run number possible to examine the main effects of 22 factors at 2 levels is:
24
What is a typical maximum range of questions on a customer questionnaire?
25-30
Consider the following quality cost elements for Apex manufacturing: Inspection salaries $31,000 Customer deviation requests 17,000 Procedure writing 2,000 Field warranty costs 70,000 Calibration of inspection equipment 3,000 Quality planning 6,000 Final product testing 16,000 Internal rejections 72,000 Using customary practice, what percent of total quality costs are appraisal costs?
25.0%
A department has been charting an chart on a filling operation using a sample size of 4. The long term average has been 20 and is known to be 4. What is the approximate process spread?
26
For the data population 64.7, 37.5, 28.9, 55.6, 42.5 the coefficient of variation is:
27.9%
The Taguchi loss function is given to be: L(y) = k(y - m)2 Assume a product with a desired target of 10 units, an actual value of 8 units, the cost of a defective product to be $90.00 and a tolerance of ± 3 units. Determine the loss to society.
$10
Assume that the cost data available for a certain period are limited to the following: $20,000 - final test 350,000 - field warranty costs 170,000 - reinspection and retest 45,000 - inventory reduction 4,000 - vendor quality surveys 30,000 - rework The total of the quality cost is:
$574,000
In a manufacturing process, twenty samples of six units each have an overall average of 1.001 inches. The average of the twenty ranges is 0.002 inch. What are the X bar chart control limits?
(1.000,1.002)
Which of the following bases of performance measurement (denominator), when related to operating quality costs (numerator), would provide reliable indicator(s) to quality management for the overall evaluation of the effectiveness of the company's quality program? Quality costs per:
Any of the above
When selecting an audit sample size, which of the following rules should govern your choice?
Any size sample, if randomly selected, can be suitable for audit purposes
A method of improving the performance in any functional area of a company, including product or service quality, would be:
Applying the benchmarking process
Each team member is most responsible for:
Applying the steps of the improvement process
A supplier has warned that there may be bad material in a shipment that your company is about to receive. You institute receiving inspection and charge the costs to:
Appraisal
Inspection, testing, and some quality audits are categorized in which quality cost area?
Appraisal
Requesting funds to move meter calibration in-house for better service is an example of:
Appraisal costs
The critical value of the t-distribution is:
Approaches the critical value of the normal distribution as the degrees of freedom increase
The distribution of a characteristic is negatively skewed. The sampling distribution of the mean for large samples is:
Approximately normal
Variances from budget for a project:
Are the difference between planned and actual costs
Variances from budget for a project:
Are the differences between planned and actual costs
A customer's purchase order requires receipt of material on the 15th of the month, +0/-3 days. Which of the following would be considered conformance to this requirement?
Arrival at the customer's dock on the 12th of the month
An improvement team will make inferences about the relative importance and sequence of events when using the interrelationship digraph by the use of:
Arrows leading to or away from a topic
Cycle time reduction must be balanced with:
Associated increased (life cycle) cost
When a benchmarking cycle is complete, expected performance would be:
At least as good as the benchmarked process
When inspection identification is required on a batch of parts and the parts are too small to identify individually, which of the following actions would be most appropriate?
Attach an inspection tag, card or label to the container containing the parts
Which of the following statements best reflects the difference between breakthrough improvement as compared to typical improvement?
Attempting to surpass the performance of the best known source
ANSI/ASQ Z1.4 is used for:
Attribute sampling
The physical examination of auditee controls such as methods, practices, procedures, policies, and documentation is called.
Audit field verification
Which of the following sources will most likely to provide input for necessary corrective action?
Audit reports
Which of the following are typically appraisal costs?
Audits and equipment calibration
One use for a student t test is to determine whether or not differences exists in:
Averages
In order to ensure data accuracy and integrity, which of the following considerations should be observed?
Avoid unnecessary rounding of data
Given the following projected project activity times: to = optimistic time = 5 days tm = most likely time = 7 days tp = most pessimistic time = 15 days What would be the expected activity completion time?
8 days
Determine the upper control limit for the range chart, when the average is known to be 8, the range = 4 and the sample size is 6.
8.0
The grades of a student on six examinations were 84, 91, 72, 68, 87, and 78. Find the median of the grades:
81
Given a coefficient of determination of 0.85, which of the following is true?
85% of the variability is explained by the regression model
If 87 data observations from a process were to be plotted on a histogram, the rule of thumb would suggest using which number of intervals across the range of the data?
9
If it was known that a population of 30,000 parts had a standard deviation of 0.05 seconds, what size sample would be required to maintain an error no greater than 0.01 seconds with a confidence level of 95%?
96
Approximately what percentage of the area under the normal curve is included within + 3 standard deviations from the mean?
99.7%
A direct interface contact between an organization and an external customer can be termed:
A "moment of truth"
Using a PDCA process to design a customer survey while implementing a customer feedback and improvement process is an example of:
A PDCA process within a PDCA process
A problem solving technique that attempts to address potential difficulties for a new administrative procedure is called:
A PDPC chart
The most widely used technique for distinguishing between chronic and insignificant problems is:
A Pareto diagram
In the figure below, which two events are mutually exclusive?
A and B and A and C
When a beta or type II error occurs, this means which of the following decisions has been made?
A bad lot is called good
Which of the following is true in regards to experimental blocking?
A block is a subdivision of the experiment
In a nutshell, six sigma is considered:
A business improvement approach
A quality audit program should begin with:
A charter of policy, objectives, and procedures
Which of the following is a marketing consideration instead of a need for corrective action?
A competitive pricing structure
If a company currently has a low performance evaluation in the areas of profitability, productivity, and quality, they would be well advised to engage in which of the following:
A concentration on the basics
What works best in starting a customer-driven program?
A customized approach to customer satisfaction
A scatter diagram is used to plot the volume of voids detected versus the weight of a plastic injection molded part. One would expect the shape of the distribution to be:
A decreasing slope
Which of the following interpretations is most valid for X bar - R control charts?
A decreasing trend on the R chart is usually desirable
What is a jidhoka?
A device that stops the machine whenever a defective is produced
The Poisson distribution is:
A discrete distribution with its expected value equal to its variance
During the middle portion of the bathtub curve for a complex product, one would expect to find:
A failure rate modeled by the exponential distribution
Which of the following is the most acceptable reason for the deployment of lean six sigma projects?
A focus on cost savings and customer satisfaction
A p-chart has exhibited statistical control over a period of time. However, the average fraction defective is too high to be satisfactory. Improvement can be obtained by:
A fundamental change in the design or tooling
What is a check sheet that is used to collect locational data commonly called?
A measles chart
To be effective, a corrective and preventive action system must have:
A method for identifying nonconformities
Certification of suppliers results in:
A minimum requirement to be eligible to provide goods or services
Lean and six sigma share many benefits and requirements in common. Which of the following is unique to the lean approach?
A much shorter learning curve
A scatter diagram in which the points plotted appear to form a straight band that flows from the upper left to the lower right would be said to display:
A negative correlation
In the manufacture of airplane fuselage frame sections, thousands of rivets are used to join aluminum sheets and frames. A study of the number of oversize rivet holes and the number of minor repairs on a unit yielded a correlation coefficient of ± 1.08. This means that:
A new statistician should be hired
A reliability statement for a given product would be incomplete unless it included:
A numerical probability value
A reliability statement for a given product would be incomplete unless it included:
A numerical probability value and operating time requirements
An assembly operation has often produced units with various inappropriate component parts. As part of the corrective action process, mechanical guides, electrical kick-offs and weight scales have been installed to prevent recurrence. This process, called poka yoke, would be considered which of the following?
A permanent action
The quality system being used requires a final inspection for lot acceptance. Which of the following sampling procedures should be recommended?
A plan selected from ANSI/ASQ Z1.4
Preventive maintenance is characterized by:
A planned program of tests, inspections, and/or replacements
The formal expression by top management of the overall intentions and direction of an organization would be regarded as:
A policy
A company that manufactures kitchen stoves has decided to use product registration cards as their primary customer satisfaction source. This decision is:
A poor one because responses will only be from a small percentage of users
In statistical quality control, a parameter is:
A population value
Which of the following items will generally be incorporated into a statement of project work?
A precise description of project objectives
Which of the following avoids waste by using SPC to maintain control of the process?
A prevention system
Which of the following systems avoids waste by using SPC to maintain control of the process?
A prevention system
A top management statement which represents the overall quality intentions and direction of an organization towards quality would be called:
A quality policy
The term variables can be described in which of the following ways:
A quality which can assume several (more than two) values
Which control chart pattern best represents a process in-control?
A random distribution of points on both sides of centerline
When executing a sampling plan:
A random sample is required to maintain the validity of the sampling plan
In a probability study, an outcome or event that cannot be broken down any further is referred to as:
A simple event
The consumer market has which of the following characteristics?:
A simple purchase transaction
A number resulting from the manipulation of some raw data according to certain specified procedures is called:
A statistic
The figure below indicates:
A strong interaction
The examination of a supplier's quality management effort to meet existing contractual requirements is most like:
A system audit
One-way analysis of variance is most similar in its objectives to:
A test for equality of two population means
When an auditor or group independent of the company, the company's customer, suppliers, or any party involved with the company conducts an audit, that audit is called which of the following?
A third party audit
A project team is trying to organize all of the steps necessary to define, purchase and install an automated assembly and packaging line. Included in this process are writing the specifications, obtaining competitive quotes, and approvals, site preparation, installation, and verification of the equipment performance. Which of the following tools is the best suited for showing the sequence of events and relationships in the process?
A tree diagram
For organizing information, facts, or data into a systematic, logical manner, which of the following new quality tools would be used?
A tree diagram
A public commitment to satisfy the customer best describes which of the following?
A warranty/guarantee
Twelve samples, each consisting of six observations, have an average range of 7.6. If the process is in control, an estimate of the process standard deviation is:
3.0
Given a one-way ANOVA, and given the sum of squares for error is 28, the sum of squares between treatments is 86, the mean square error is 7, and the mean square between treatments is 21.5, compute the F-statistic.
3.07
A control chart for defects per unit uses probability limits corresponding to probabilities of 0.975 and 0.025. The central line on the control chart is at 2.0. The limits vary with the value of n. Determine the correct position of these upper and lower control limits when n = 5:
3.24, 0.76
A process in control for X-bar - R charting has a lower control limit of 30 psi and subgroup size of 5 with an average range of 4 psi. The process grand average is:
32.3
15 process improvement ideas have been submitted for a project. How many different orders can the team review the top 5 ideas?
360,360
A random sample size, n, is to be taken from a large population having a standard deviation of 1 inch. The sample size is to be determined so that there will be a 0.05 risk probability of exceeding a 0.1 inch tolerance error in using the sample mean to estimate µ. Which of the following values is nearest the required sample size?
384
If the variance of a distribution of readings is 16, the standard deviation of the distribution is:
4
The classical number of development stages for team growth is:
4
What is the mode of the following data set? 4 2 6 8 7 4 3 4 7
4
The quality management tool that could be used to display slack times in the implementation of a project is a/an:
AND
Under acceptance sampling with screening, the average outgoing quality will not be worse, in the long run, than the:
AOQL
The maximum allowable percent defective for the process average is:
AQL
Sensitivity in experimentation is:
Ability to distinguish significant differences in the response variable
The beta risk is the risk of:
Accepting a hypothesis when it is false
Identify the data conversion that would be most difficult to accomplish:
Accumulated go-no go data converted to variables data
It is often desirable to do an R&R study of a gage system and compare it to the total process variation. What must be assured about the gage being used before an R&R study can be performed?
Accuracy and sensitivity
Which of the following items are part of ASQ's code of ethics?
Acknowledging the work of others
Which of the following is a team leader role?
Acting as a liaison with management
Corrective action would normally conclude with:
Actions necessary to ensure non-recurrence
Team success is most dependent on which one of the following?
Active support by mid-managers
Identify the quality management tool that is most similar to project management and concurrent engineering:
Activity network diagram
The arrow diagram has been converted and expanded in use as a quality management tool. It is referred to as:
Activity network diagram
The new problem solving tool which incorporates PERT and CPM techniques into a project flow chart is called:
Activity network diagram
Which of the following quality management tools would include lines and directional arrows?
Activity network diagrams
Which of the following quality tools would be most useful as project implementation flowcharts?
Activity network diagrams and process decision program charts
1,000 gamblers start rolling dice under the condition that if they roll a six they can stay in the game. After three honest rolls, approximately how many gamblers will remain?
4 - 5
The best approach towards achieving purchased material quality would be to:
Advise your supplier of your requirements
Timekeeper duties include:
Advising the team of the remaining time
To group ideas for a new or potentially complex problem, a team would most likely employ:
Affinity diagrams
Which of the following management tools is most similar to the cause-and-effect diagram?
Affinity diagrams
Which of the following management tools requires the least preliminary knowledge about a subject or activity?
Affinity diagrams
Which of the new quality management tools arranges data and facts into categories?
Affinity diagrams
Which of the following quality management tools would benefit most from brainstorming activities?
Affinity diagrams and interrelation digraphs
Human factors are important considerations when designing for reliability because:
Age and skill can limit one's ability to use equipment correctly
What is required for SMED?
All internal and external setup steps must be reviewed in detail
In the failure rate model shown below, which represents the period when catastrophic failures are likely to occur?
All sections can experience catastrophic failure
Training methods using lectures, books, and homework:
Allows for instructor adjustment to meet class specific needs
A type I error is:
Alpha risk
An automobile manufacturer has modified an existing headlamp and it is now being tested on an existing production vehicle by a core group of engineers. Which of the following best defines this type of testing?
Alpha testing
The careful examination of a few prototype products is most descriptive of:
Alpha testing
Which of the following tasks is value added?
An appropriate product development process
An advantage of an effective quality cost measurement system would include which of the following?
An effective vehicle for resource allocation
Lean enterprise may be summarized as:
An entire organization involved with improvement
What indicator can a company use to determine if either incremental or breakthrough improvement has been effective?
An increase in customer perceived value
Parts in use during the "wear out" portion of the part life cycle curve will exhibit:
An increasing failure rate
The desired end result of a CAR would be:
An indication of the action taken to prevent recurrence
The product expense resulting from reinspection or retesting, because of some marginal quality issue that has been detected prior to shipping, would be considered:
An internal failure cost
A graph of the percent defective in a batch versus the probability that the sampling plan will accept the batch is called:
An operating characteristic curve
From the figure below, the higher reliability is shown by:
B
On average, what percentage of dissatisfied customers will actually let the organization know their feelings?
4% - 10%
In reference to the figure below, which of the following is true?
B and C are mutually exclusive
Suppliers A and B have each sent us samples of 50 items to examine. We will choose between them to award a contract. The samples have the same mean and range. However, the standard deviation of A's product is 15 and B's is 5. One may conclude that:
B's product is grouped closer to the mean than is A's
Estimate the variance of the population from which the following sample data came: 22, 18, 17, 20, 21
4.3
A process is in control with X double bar = 50, R bar = 4.0 and n = 6. The three-sigma limits of the process are approximately:
45.3 and 54.7
What is the mean of the following data set? 4, 2, 6, 8, 7, 4, 3, 4, 7
5
What is the median of the following data set? 4, 2, 6, 8, 7, 2, 5, 4, 7
5
If, in a t test, alpha is 0.05. Therefore:
5% of the time one will say that there is a real difference when there really is not a difference
What is the mean height of five men who have the following heights? 5' 6", 5' 9", 5' 4", 5' 11", 5' 8"
5' 7 3/5"
When calibrating a tensile testing machine, the readings average a consistent 500 lbf higher than the applied load, over the range of 20,000 to 60,000 lbf. For this machine, this is an indication of a:
500 lbf machine bias
What lean technique is most widely used to make problems visible?
5S
Which is the main activity necessary to keep a 5S program working?
5S audits
The floor of a small shop looks dirty, disorganized, and messy. The manager tells you that this is ok, they will perform their annual 5S day as soon as they finish a current large order. You tell the manager this is not really 5S because:
5S is systematic and formal
In a project network, if the earliest an event can take place is week 45, the most likely time it will take place is week 49, and the latest it can take place, without delaying the project completion, is week 51, what is the event slack time?
6 weeks
Determine the coefficient of variation for the last 500 pilot plant test runs of high temperature film having a mean of 900 degrees Kelvin with a standard deviation of 54 degrees Kelvin.
6%
Determine the lower control limit for an chart (n = 6) which has an average of 8 and a range of 4?
6.08
The spread of individual observations from a normal process capability distribution may be expressed numerically as:
6R/d2
It is sometimes economical to permit an X bar chart to go out of control when:
6σ is appreciably less than the difference between specification limits
How many of the seven quality management techniques can be utilized to facilitate a group of people in passing an ASQ certification exam?
7
Given a one-way ANOVA, and given the sum of squares for error is 28, the sum of squares between treatments is 86, the mean square error is 7, and the mean square between treatments is 21.5, what is the total degrees of freedom?
8
Which of the following is the best approach for internal customer service data collection?
Analysis of internal survey forms
Using the DMAIC approach to six sigma improvement, at what step would the root causes of defects be identified?
Analyze
A customer driven company, with high quality and value, must:
Analyze service performance
Process flow improvement steps normally include:
Analyzing each step in detail
Which of the following would be a device associated with the visual factory?
Andon board
For many of the new quality management tools, the typical strength relationship symbols are illustrated via:
Answer C
One can say that normally distributed data will:
Be spread approximately equally on either side of the average
As the scatter of points about a regression line becomes greater, r2 will:
Become smaller
The practice of comparing current projects, methods, or processes with the best practices and using this information to drive improvement is called:
Benchmarking
Which management tool generally tracks the following steps for quality improvement? Identify critical success functions, find and observe a leader in those areas, identify the gap between your organization and the leader's, undertake improvement activities, measure performance, continue improvement in the same or other areas.
Benchmarking
In acceptance sampling, the probability of accepting a rejectable lot is called:
Beta
If a distribution is skewed to the left, the median will always be:
Between the mean and the mode
Which of the following is a discrete probability distribution?
Binomial
Determining the lower limit on success at a desired confidence level for n tests with f failures is an application of the:
Binomial distribution
The function of a coach in a six sigma organization is most likely to be filled by which of the following:
Black belts
From an upper management perspective, what has been the principal motivating factor in embracing six sigma?
Bottom line results
Why has six sigma been so successful for many organizations?
Bottom line results are enhanced
Ishikawa maintained that the total quality effort would be handled by everyone. Which of the following acronyms did Ishikawa coin (in English)?
CWQC
The "least squares method" is used in:
Calculating a best fit regression line
A Latin square design is an experimental design which:
Cannot be used when estimation of the interaction effect is desired
Which of the following activities would be considered to be preventive?
Capability studies
Data from which of the following tools can be use to construct a histogram?
Cause and effect diagrams
A value stream map would normally provide data on:
Changeover and cycle times
Which of the following tools can provide a listing of things to be done?
Checklist
The working documents that facilitate the execution of an audit often include which of the following?
Checklists and reporting forms
Which of the following statements about checksheets is true?
Checksheets can record subjective data
Customer segmentation may occur by:
City, state, age, and sex
Select the starting point for corrective action from the options provided below:
Clearly define the problem
In generic terms there are three principal parties in a quality audit. Which of the following is the correct identification of these parties?
Client, auditor, auditee
In performing an analysis of variance in a single factor experiment, a fundamental assumption which is made is that the:
Column variances are equal
What is the best result if Company A benchmarks the process performance of Company B?
Company A can exceed the performance of Company B
When comparing push versus pull concepts, who is really doing the pushing?
Company management
When a customer has made a demand that the supplier considers unreasonable, the supplier should:
Compare the cost of meeting the demand with the cost of losing the customer
Your company has recently started using the house of quality approach to customer satisfaction. When using this technique, what is normally shown on the right hand side?
Comparison of customer priorities
An organizational roadblock for project management implementation includes which of the following?
Competition for the same resources
Corrective action and preventive action are:
Complementary
SMED helps a company create a competitive edge by allowing the company to:
Complete production setups quickly
Many organizations say they are committed to customer satisfaction, but in reality they are only exhibiting:
Compliance
If a company currently has low profitability, productivity, and quality performance, their best short term strategy would be to:
Concentrate on basics
Reliability objectives and requirements should be set in which of the following life cycle phases?
Concept and design
The sequential design steps in Taguchi's robust design methodology are:
Concept, parameter, and tolerance
What is the best method that a public manager can use to listen to his/her customers?
Conduct focus groups
Which of the following elements are the basic parts of configuration management?
Configuration control, audits, and accounting
When constructing a factorial experiment, which of the following is true?
Confounding can occur if a fractional part of the complete experiment is conducted
The business market usually has which of the following characteristics:
Considerable knowledge about the product
A process which is in statistical control will:
Consistently produce product which, when charted, will fall within statistical control limits
When defective products are separated from good products using inspection techniques, this is an example of:
Containment action
Which of the following actions or activities is the most immediate or short term?
Containment actions
Which of the following is the concept behind PDCA?
Continual improvement
The weight of paint cans is considered:
Continuous data
A definition of kaizen is:
Continuous improvement
In case of conflict between contract specifications and shop practices:
Contract specifications normally apply
Finding the root cause of a nonconformity and applying a remedy, then verifying the effectiveness is:
Corrective action
Which of the following items is specifically detailed in ISO 9001 requirements?
Corrective and preventive action procedures
Which of the following statements is true?
Cp is the ratio of specification width to 6 standard deviations of the process
A project has more than one critical path. This means that:
Crashing an event might shorten the project time
Relative to the duties and responsibilities of departments within a six sigma company, the most critical requirement calls for:
Cross functional collaboration
What information can often be obtained from listening to the customer?
Customer expectations
The most difficult customer measurement factor is which of the following?
Customer loyalty
Which of the following sources is most likely to provide input for necessary corrective action?
Customer returns and audit reports
In consumer products, the complaint rate is most directly a measure of:
Customer satisfaction
The initiation of action occurs in which Shewhart cycle step?
D
What is the major disadvantage of having an improvement team that is too large?
Difficulty in having constructive input from the entire group
Quality data, which are regularly obtained but not used, should be:
Discontinued to save time and money
The outcome from flipping a coin is considered:
Discrete data
In most industrial settings the majority of training attendees will be mature adults. Which of the following training approaches would be considered the most effective method to convey complex information to such a group?
Discussion and role playing
Project documentation should ideally be done by:
Distribution plans at the project start, status reports during, and the final report at the end of the project
Project improvement team members normally have:
Diverse skills and experiences
A team would be operating in which phase of the Shewart cycle if it were in the process of conducting a pilot program test activity?
Do
Modifying or redesigning a product would most likely occur during which two of the PDCA phases?
Do and Act
One would say that the final stage in project management would be:
Document archiving
The idea of "vital few and trivial many" is properly attributed to whom?
Dr. Joseph M. Juran
What project planning sequence comes last?
Establish a budget
When initiating a TQM effort the most desirable initial step would be:
Establish a quality council
In recent months, several quality problems have resulted from apparent changes in design specifications by engineering, including material substitutions. This has only come to light through quality engineering's failure analysis system. Which of the following quality system provisions should be recommended as the best corrective action?
Establishing a formal procedure for specification change control
Team operating guidelines are useful for:
Establishing the team operating procedures
Consider the Venn diagram below. Which of the following statements is true?
Events A and B are mutually exclusive
A critical path in a project means that:
Events on this path have no slack time
Data from which of the following investigations would normally be included in auditing a complete quality system?
Examination of customer needs and the adequacy of filling those needs
Analysis of quality costs consists of:
Examining each cost element in relation to other elements and the total
The repeatability of an R&R study can be determined by:
Examining the variation between the individual inspectors and within their measurement readings
The seven most widely recognized forms of muda or non-value added activities are overproduction, inventory, repair/reject, motion, processing, waiting, and transport. Which two of these categories have little impact on product quality?
Excess motion and waiting
Identify the most difficult limitation in achieving continuous flow.
Existing equipment
In robust design, the functional limits or tolerances of a device are set by:
Experimentation and testing
A specific problem statement:
Explains exactly what is wrong
The applicable distribution to describe the time between failures that occur independently and at a constant rate is the:
Exponential
Two generic quality systems audits are those inside the company and:
External audits
Nonconforming purchased material usually requires:
External corrective action
Ratios of two variances drawn from the same normal population are described by which one of the following distributions?
F
The test used for testing significance in an analysis of variance table is the:
F test
"A structured qualitative analysis of a system to identify potential system failure modes, their causes, and the effects on the system operation associated with the failure mode occurrence" describes which of the following?
FMEA
Which of the following would be considered the three most important team roles?
Facilitator, member, recorder
What's the major difference between failure analysis and FMECA?
Failure analysis occurs after the fact
If prevention costs are increased to pay for engineering work in quality control, and this results in a reduction in the number of product defects, this yields a reduction in:
Failure costs
The analysis of risk involves two measures of failure. These measures are:
Failure severity and failure probability
A Latin square design is noted for its straight forward analysis of interaction effects. This statement is:
False in every case
The quality of training programs requires:
Feedback for improvement
When comparing internal and external customers, one finds that:
Feedback is essential in both areas
An organized and disciplined approach to problem solving in most six sigma organizations is called:
DMAIC
Which of the following will most likely lead to corrective action and/or high cost?
Dealing with a large number of qualified vendors for a given item
In flowcharts, the diamond symbol is used to represent:
Decision branch
Your company has been working on a new product, and you are a member of the product development team. One of your best friends, who now works for a competitor, calls you and asks if the product has multitasking capabilities. You should:
Decline to comment, even though you feel this may hurt your friendship
Which parameters have the greatest likelihood of creating a steep OC curve?
Decreasing the c value and increasing the sample size
The basic operation principle of a quality assurance program is:
Deficiency prevention
The first and most important project planning step is:
Defining the objective
The first and most important quality planning step is:
Defining the objective
The principal purpose of a policy statement concerning quality is:
Definition of the company's interest in the quality of their products
The critical path in a project means that:
Delays of events on this path delay the ending date of the project
The advantage of using the "modern designed" method of experimentation, rather than 1 FAT, is that:
Fewer terms and measurements are needed for valid and useful information
Which of the following benchmarking steps should be the second action taken?
Find a benchmark partner
A poka-yoke device detects an error and stops the process. What should the operator do next?
Find the root cause of the problem and carry out corrective action
An audit report would typically include which of the following items?
Findings and/or deficiencies
Kanban concepts include which of the following?
Delivery of components and products only when needed
Your team has been asked to find ways to improve the marketing of a specific product. You decide to conduct a customer survey and will sort the responses by characteristics of your customers. Typical segmentation examples include:
Demographic, location, buyer behavior
External customer segmentation may occur by:
Demographics and geography
An employee's attitude about quality is most directly affected by:
Demonstration by management that they are committed to the principles of quality
Which of the following is a method for collecting and interpreting internal customer data?
Departmental surveys
Strategic quality goals must be subdivided. Thus, they are:
Deployed
A transistor is rated for use at 220 volts. Using this transistor in a device that delivers 180 volts is an example of:
Derating
Reliability, maintainability, and product safety improvements are most often economically accomplished during which of the following phases?
Design and development
Which of the following concepts is most likely to be associated with the elimination of human error?
Design improvement and poka-yoke
Which of the following will increase reliability in a complex design?
Design redundancy
The "next process is your customer" refers to:
Desire for better cooperation among departments
You purchased a new personal computer. The technician helped you to get familiar with the PC and provided some special hints on maintaining it. The attributes of this transaction could be described as:
Desired
Which of the following is a true statement about the use of computer automated project management?
Determination of critical path and slack times is quicker
As a problem-solving technique, which of the following would be the best application for an Ishikawa diagram?
Determination of potential root problem causes
A scatter diagram is a problem-solving tool, which helps to:
Determine a cause-effect relationship between two or more variables
A team has identified and implemented an effective corrective action for an overheating problem with model R34 electric motors. The team should now:
Determine if the fix is applicable to the R44 and R84 motors
The major responsibility of the material review board is to:
Determine the disposition of the nonconforming material or part
In constructing an X-bar - R chart, which of the following incomplete set of action steps comes first?
Determine the subgroup size
The factor D4 in X bar and R control charts is used to:
Determine the upper control limit of a range chart
From a reliability perspective which of the following activities has the best chance for assuring high reliability through a product's entire life cycle?.
Develop a robust design initially
There is a problem on the manufacturing line and all of the factors that might be contributing to the problem must be discovered. Which of the following problem-solving tools would be the best selection?
Fishbone diagram
Which diagram is useful in sorting out the causes of dispersion and organizing mutual relationships?
Fishbone diagram
Poka-yoke uses a number of devices to mistake proof a process. Which of the following would be included?
Fixture templates and light signals
Management has dictated that inspection locations be established for a new product. What quality tool would customarily be applied to assist in the selection of the necessary inspection locations?
Flowchart
Pareto diagrams are used to:
Focus attention on problems in priority order
What is generally the weakest link in a quality audit program?
Follow-up on corrective action implementation
Corrective action requests are primarily:
Formal requests for corrective and preventive action
At which evolutionary stage would a team typically select a leader?
Forming
Place the four team development stages in order of occurrence:
Forming,storming,norming,performing
What is the typical length of training for a typical black belt program?
Four weeks
An experiment with two factors, in which all levels of one variable are run at each level of the second variable, is called a:
Full factorial experiment
An audit will be viewed as a constructive service to the function which is audited when it:
Furnishes enough detailed facts so the necessary action can be determined
Assume that you are developing a project schedule and want to simplify the charting process. List the following techniques in order of complexity, from least complex to most complex.
Gantt, PERT, CPM
What is the starting point for developing a customer service driven company?
Gather and research customer data
Consumer partnerships have which of the following characteristics?
Generosity and sharing of goals
Consumer partnerships have what characteristics?
Generosity and sharing of goals between partners
The power of efficiency in designed experiments lies in the:
Hidden replication
Which of the following may be a sign of employee dissatisfaction?
High turnover rates
Which of the following approaches will most likely lead to a decrease in internal and external corrective action requests?
Hiring and training competent people with quality attitudes
Basic information about data, such as central location, width, spread, and shape can be visualized using which of the following tools?
Histogram
The tabulation of the number of times a given quality characteristic measurement occurs, within the product sample being checked, is called a:
Histogram
Which of the following problem-solving tools is a column graph which displays a static picture of the process?
Histogram
Which of the following quality tools displays large amounts of numeric data to show a static picture of process behavior?
Histograms
Having designed a test fixture to performance requirements, the design should be carefully evaluated by the quality engineer to ensure that it has included:
Human motor coordination factors
Which ISO document would be an appropriate requirement on a purchase order or contract?
ISO 9001
When planning a total quality system, one key objective is to provide a means of guaranteeing "the maintenance of product integrity." Which of the following quality system provisions is designed to most directly provide such a guarantee?
Identification and segregation of nonconforming material
The most significant elements of a defect control record are the identification of the type of defect and:
Identification of the operation in which the defect was introduced
A system for controlling nonconforming material should have procedures for its:
Identification, segregation, and disposition
Taguchi designs have which of the following objectives?
Identify and develop a parameter that will improve a performance characteristic
From the options below, what would be considered the second benchmarking step?
Identify improvement criteria
Nonconforming material is prevented from further use in production by:
Identifying and segregating it
If one were to summarize the results of a training needs analysis into a few words, what would be the best selection from the choices presented below?
Identifying performance gaps
In the regression equation y = b + mx, y increases with x in all cases:
If m is positive
Which of the following statements is true with regards to X-bar control charts?
If the process is in control, 2,700 points per million will fall outside the control limits
To discourage a team from selecting an expensive problem solution, which is not cost effective, team members should be trained to ask the question:
If this were my money, would I spend it on this solution?
A customer complains that they only received 10 widgets, not the 12 widgets that they ordered. A customer representative promises to ship the missing product promptly. This would be considered what type of corrective action?
Immediate action
The greatest value a team can provide to an organization is:
Implementing solutions
The basic objective of a quality cost program is to:
Improve the profit of a company
Reduced cycle times for a product can result in reduced work in progress, reduced waste, and:
Improved operations
Six sigma project benefits should include which of the following?
Improved process capability
The type of team in which the problem solution is team-directed is a/an:
Improvement team
In-depth audit interviews normally occur:
In a quiet office or conference room
Taguchi presents three calculations for S/N ratios based upon whether the desired ratio outcome is desired to be smaller, larger, or normal. Where would "smaller is better" apply?
In applications involving shrinkage, wear or deterioration
Which of the following individuals or groups is(are) involved in a preliminary review of nonconforming incoming purchased material?
Inspection and quality assurance personnel
What is the final step in the corrective action sequence for handling a customer complaint?
Install necessary controls
Which of the following corrective actions would be considered a preventive activity?
Installing automatic gauge control on a rolling mill
Which of the following supports the prevention philosophy?
Instituting good work methods and training to instill quality attitudes
Detailed written or spoken directions, concerning the project at hand, are called which of the following?
Instructions
In a design team environment, the reliability function can influence product reliability principally by:
Integrating the reliability requirements into product design
When using trend charts for process improvement, what interpretation can be applied?
Interpretation depends on what is being plotted
You are plotting a control chart and the last two of three points are greater than 2 σ, four out of the last five points are beyond 1 σ and eight successive points are on one side of the center line; you should:
Investigate to determine what has changed
Which of the following would be a modern supplier expectation from their major customer?
Involvement in new product development
The tendency for highly cohesive groups to lose their critical evaluative capabilities is what:
Irving Janis called "groupthink"
One would say that a temporary action:
Is an intermediate step between an immediate and permanent action
The slack time along a critical project path:
Is neither less than nor greater than zero
Training delivered through the use of computer software controlled methods:
Is not suitable for all training groups
A vendor quality survey:
Is used in predicting whether a potential vendor can meet quality requirements
A vendor quality survey:
Is used to predict whether a potential vendor can meet quality requirements
If breakthrough improvement produces such dramatic results, what are the reasons that incremental improvement should still be used by organizations?
It allows a wider group of people to participate in the improvement process
Which of the following is the best description of a process FMEA?
It analyzes how manufacturing failures affect the product operation
A product is functionally robust if it meets which of the following requirements?
It can withstand variation in input conditions
An experiment yielded the following equation: What can be said about the response surface?
It contains a curve component
When constructing a process decision program chart, where is the project objective placed?
It depends
The limitations of a quality cost system include which of the following items?
It doesn't resolve specific quality problems
The major advantage of a product audit compared to a system or process audit is:
It focuses attention on the final product or service
Identification of the external customer is important because:
It helps identify the customer's needs
What is the best definition of takt time?
It is a calculated time element that equals customer demand
The advantage of a written procedure is:
It is a perpetual coordination device
Even though sampling presents some disadvantages, which of the following is a valid reason for it's continued widespread use?
It is less expensive and boring than full inspection
Which of the following are distinct advantages of attribute sampling compared to variable sampling?
It is more easily understood by inspectors
Which of the following accurately describes the PDSA cycle?
It is often used by improvement teams
In selecting a base for measuring quality costs, which of the following is the best selection?
It is sensitive to production schedule changes
Why is the PDCA cycle so readily accepted by most American teams and individuals?
It is the natural way that most people already approach problems
Why is deep cleaning (shine) performed until the third step of 5S and not before?
It makes sense to perform cleaning after sorting and straightening the work place
An incomplete block design may be especially suitable when:
It may not be possible to apply all treatments in every block
What is the best upper management reason for not providing black belt assistance to an improvement team?
It may not be required
An advantage of a fishbone diagram is:
It presents the entire problem graphically
Which of the following is an advantage of using the median in a data set?
It requires little calculation
The best criteria for a comprehensive acceptance inspection system includes which of the following?
It should be economical and easy to administer
Which of the following statements is the best description of QFD?
It translates fuzzy customer requirements into design specifications
The mean of either a discrete or a continuous distribution can always be visualized as:
Its center of gravity
Forecasting, scheduling, inventory cost control, and freight expense controls are indicative of which of the following?
JIT
A kaizen improvement process concentrates on which of the following?
JIT, poke-yoke, and muda elimination
Basic sources of reliability data are:
In-plant and field testing
Which of the following is considered muda?
In-process inspection by an inspector
As a replacement for the numerous plans called for by ANSI/ASQ Z1.4 an inspection supervisor has developed an alternate plan calling for 10% sampling of all lots regardless of size. As an inspector you would consider this plan to be:
Inappropriate, because the sampling risks will vary considerably
What is unique about ship-to-stock procurement methods?
Incoming inspection is minimized
The internal customer can be helped through which of the following methods or practices?
Increased communications between departments
Quality cost analysis has shown that appraisal costs are apparently too high in relation to sales. Which of the following actions would be the best consideration in pursuing this problem?
Increasing prevention action and activities
Often process data can be presented in time sequential (dynamic) fashion by use of a run, control, or trend chart. Which of the following is most likely an indication of an undesirable change on such a chart?
Increasing variability
Which of the following is the most necessary resource requirement needed to achieve strategic goals?
Infrastructure and support for the projects
Benchmarking may be a key element for improvement. What could possibly be wrong with it?
Just copying processes
Improving processes incrementally on a continuous basis is:
Kaizen
Which of the following approaches maintains and improves working standards by small gradual evolutionary improvements.
Kaizen
Which of the following improvement terms are definitely considered evolutionary in nature?
Kaizen and poka-yoke
When comparing breakthrough achievement with Kaizen techniques, which of the following statements is true?
Kaizen techniques are more easily applied at the floor level
The tool/technique most widely used by a number of automotive manufacturers that supply products to Toyota is called:
Kanban
The visual factory would be supported to the greatest extent by:
Kanban and 5S
Japanese techniques that compliment the visual factory concept are:
Kanban and poka-yoke
The facilitator should have special training in improvement techniques in order to:
Keep the process on track
The main objection to using designed experimentation in an industrial environment is:
Getting excessive scrap as a result of choosing factor levels that are too extreme
Which of the following is a consumer customer?
Girl scout cookie buyers
Which answer correctly describes the experimental design below?
Graeco-Latin Square
Tabular arrays of data and graphs on the same page are especially useful in quality control work because:
Graphs help spot data transposition or errors
The sensitivity of a p-chart to changes in quality is:
Greater than that of a u chart
Excessive conflict within a work team:
Has a negative effect on team members and should be avoided
Manual project management planning and controlling methods:
Have an advantage over computer methods in terms of cost
When two team members express strong opposite views, the remaining team members should:
Have the two clearly state their positions
In business partnerships, which of the following would be a typical expectation?
Having a number of joint improvement teams
Which one of the following is the most important factor in team problem solving?
Having the facts about a problem
The team champion has this position because:
He/she are at a high level in the organization
The primary reason for an organization to sponsor training for its employees is:
Help the employees do their job better
A quality council can be most valuable in:
Helping control and support the total quality effort
The essence of kanban concepts includes which of the following?
Minimal storage in production areas
The Dodge-Romig tables:
Minimize inspection per lot when the process average is known
Robust design means that the designer has attempted to:
Minimize random noise effects
The Dodge-Romig tables for AOQL protection are designed to provide:
Minimum average total inspection for a given process average
The team's charter describes the team's:
Mission, scope, and objectives
What does the Japanese concept of poka-yoke mean?
Mistake proofing
The steeper the OC curve, the:
More protection for both producer and consumer
The membership of a process improvement team would be drawn from:
More than one department
Often, there is a choice between variable sampling and attribute sampling. Which of the following are advantages of variable sampling?
More useful information can be obtained
When a student receives high marks on a set of questions relating to the training he/she received, it indicates that:
Most of the questions were answered correctly
The name for a source of variability similar to bias is:
Offset
When looking for existing sources of internal failure cost data, which of the following is usually the best source available?
Labor and material cost documents
Which of the following would be the most significant reason for the failure of a total quality effort in an organization?
Lack of a shared quality vision in the organization
When using the Poisson as an approximation to the binomial, which of the following conditions apply for the best approximation?
Larger sample size and smaller fraction defective
Supplier certification may:
Lead to STS activities
What are the two primary activities that take place during most team meetings?
Learning teamwork and improving the work process
The coefficients in the equation below can be determined using:
Least squares regression
How should the value of a customer be best measured?
Lifetime worth
A line graph of measurement bias versus true values is a definition of:
Linearity
A measurement system bias is tested and found not to be constant over the entire measurement range of which the system is capable. This is categorized as a lack of:
Linearity
The representation of how the value of bias varies over the entire capability range of the measurement system is called:
Linearity
What does the following icon represent on a value stream map?
Load leveling
Impacted organizational parties would include which of the following?
Local governments and neighborhoods
Which of the following data types would provide the most useful information to eliminate the causes of paint blemishes on automobiles being produced on an assembly line?
Locational
In robust design, the economical safety factor is composed of which two factors?
Loss when exceeding functional limits and loss when exceeding tolerance specifications
As it relates to the manufacture of a product or the control of a process, the Taguchi loss function states which of the following?
Losses increase parabolically as the actual value deviates from the target
When developing quality cost numbers, one should emphasize:
Lowering over-all company costs
Consider the SS and MS columns of an analysis of variance table for a single factor design. The appropriate ratio for testing the null hypothesis of no treatment effect is:
MS treatments divided by MS residual
A reliability term that applies to non-repairable products is:
MTTF
Which of the following characterize the muda of waiting?
Machinery breakdown and uneven schedules
Auditors are responsible for which of the following?
Maintaining confidentiality of the audit
A skilled facilitator will:
Make sure all opinions are heard
The primary reason for evaluating and maintaining surveillance over a supplier's quality program is to:
Make sure the supplier's quality program is functioning effectively
The key to achieving design robustness is to:
Make the output response insensitive to noise variation
The principal purpose of robust design techniques is to:
Make the product less sensitive to noise effects
In addition to incoming and internal inspection activities, which of the following are sources of information that may require departmental level corrective action?
Management audits and customer returns
The most important element in six sigma deployment is considered:
Management support
Discussions of documented reporting requirements, action expected of the supplier, and formalization of necessary communication channels would be indicative of what type of joint planning meeting between a customer and supplier?
Managerial
Joint quality planning areas of interest are categorized by Juran primarily as:
Managerial, technological, and economic
An advantage of training managers in six sigma concepts before improvement team members is which of the following?
Managers must lead the deployment of six sigma
Which of the following is one of the 5 - Ms commonly used in fishbone diagrams?
Manpower
The need for configuration management has developed as the result of several trends in modern day technology. Among these is (are):
Many end items are large and complex
What is considered an ideal batch size in a continuous flow operation?
One piece is considered ideal
Complaint cards are useful for the collection of problems. What could be wrong with the cards?
Only 10% of the complaints are recorded
Customer complaint cards are useful for the collection of problems. What significant issue is experienced with the cards?
Only 4%-10% of the complaints are recorded
An X bar and R chart was prepared for an operation using twenty samples with five pieces in each sample; X bar was found to be 33.6 and R bar was 6.20. During production, a sample of five was taken and the pieces measured 36, 43, 37, 25, and 38. At the time, this sample was taken:
Only the range was outside control limits
Business partners would usually:
Open communications to each other
The most technical training and knowledge in the typical six sigma organization typically resides in which of the following roles?
Master black belts
Temporary quality planning:
May be necessary to resolve emergency situations
A lowered rejection rate following corrective action:
May be unrelated to the corrective action
Which of the following would be considered an attribute of a business customer?
May know the requirements better than the supplier
When constructing a tree diagram what is the last set of content additions?
Means
Tally sheets used for organizing and collecting facts and data include which of the following?
Measles charts and check sheets
Identify the three types of checksheets commonly used to record counted, measured, and locational data:
Measles charts, recording checksheets, and checklists
Locational data might be found on a:
Measles or concentration chart
A team has decided to benchmark small purchasing processes. The reasonable first step would be to:
Measure the relevant attributes of your own small purchasing process
When drawing a 5 M and E diagram, which of the following is included?
Measurement
Customer satisfaction data is often accumulated using some form of Likert scale (1-5, 1-7, etc). What measurement scale is being used?
Ordinal
If the interaction roof of a House of Quality uses a numeric scale (instead of alphabetic), what data type would be displayed?
Ordinal
Which of the following are a statistical levels of measurement?
Ordinal and ratio
Which of the following problems would most likely appear in the X-bar control chart pattern shown?
Output process alternately fed by different input processes
If the control limits on a X-bar chart were adjusted to reflect 2 sigma instead of the customary 3 sigma control limits, which of the following is the most probable outcome?
Overadjustment of the process leading to greater variation
For two events, A and B, which one of the following is a true probability statement?
P(A or B) = P(A) + P(B) if A and B are mutually exclusive
If events A and B are independent, then:
P(B|A) = P(B)
The management technique most necessary to sequentially tackle a difficult or challenging problem is called a/an:
PDPC
Which of the following is considered to be one of the new quality management tools?
PDPC charts
Which of the seven modern quality management tools use techniques that incorporate a form of flow charting?
PDPC charts, tree diagrams, activity network diagrams
The proof of process capability requirements is most typical of:
PPAP
The Taguchi loss function follows which type of relationship, as actual values deviate from the target?
Parabolic
A sample is to a statistic as a population value is to a:
Parameter
Which of the following are analytical tools and techniques for the determination of the root cause of a problem submitted for corrective action?
Pareto analysis and data analysis
Which of the following are effective analytical tools and techniques for the determination of the root cause of a problem submitted for corrective action?
Pareto and data analysis
Which of the following quality improvement tools utilize the accumulation of ideas or data into categories?
Pareto and fishbone diagrams
Which of the following quality tools is used to rank all categories, making apparent the vital few and the trivial many?
Pareto diagrams
The proper term which indicates that two or more parties, within a common business, have an equal standing with each other is which of the following?
Partners
The probability of a train arriving on time and leaving on time is 0.8. The probability of the same train arriving on time is 0.84. The probability of this train leaving on time is 0.86. Given the train arrived on time, what is the probability it will leave on time?
0.9524
Suppose that, given X-bar = 35, and Z.01 = ± 2.58, one establishes confidence limits for µ of 30 and 40. This means that:
0.99 of the calculated intervals will contain µ
The probability of observing at least one defective in a random sample size of ten drawn from a population that has been producing on the average, ten percent defective units is:
1 - (0.90)10
A process is in control with p bar = 0.10 and n = 100. The three-sigma limits of the np-control chart are:
1 and 19
Consider the following network, with events marked within the circles and durations in weeks: The critical path is:
1-4-6-8-10
For a business that manufactures brake pads for cars, which of the following would be considered an impacted party?
Pedestrians
Supplier assessment metrics that emphasize JIT (just in time) performance would include which of the following?
Percent of orders over and under quantity
When instructing adult workers, which of the following techniques would be most appropriate?
Permit students to relate learning to their experiences
Which of the following is the most reliable source of audit evidence?
Physical examination of documentation and observation of corresponding activities
Near the end of the month the manufacturing department has been working overtime to complete an order for elevator drive pulley wheels for a major customer. Most of the wheels have passed final inspection. One of the quality engineers who reports to you was walking by the shipping department and by accident noticed that three of the wheels had cracks in the castings. The quality engineer reported his observation to you as he was leaving work at 5 PM on Friday. Which of the following steps is the best course of action for you take?
Place a quality hold to prevent shipment of the parts until they can be re-inspected
One advantage of project management is that it requires:
Planning and objectives
Which of the following incomplete list of major audit activities would come first?
Planning the audit
Project management is summarized as:
Planning, scheduling, and controlling
A p chart:
Plots either the fraction or percent defective in order of time
Which distribution is most appropriate for modeling the number of surface defects on a disk drive?
Poisson
In control chart theory, the distribution of the number of defects per unit follows very closely the:
Poisson distribution
The expression is called the:
Poisson distribution
An attempt to minimize the impact of human error in a process is called:
Poka-yoke
The reduction or elimination of defects in manufacturing through simple mechanical means or methods is described as:
Poka-yoke
Two die halves have been fitted with a large pin and hole on one end and a small pin and hole on the other end to prevent the dies from being mated incorrectly. This is an example of:
Poka-yoke
Business partnering results in:
Pooling of resources for improvement
What contributes most to the muda of transportation and storage?
Poor plant layout
Which of the following statements can be made about the quality profession?
Potential conflicts of interest must be divulged
A process is in control with a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 2. The upper specification for the product being produced is 60, and the lower specification is 42. What is the value of Cpk?
1.33
A process measurement has a mean of 758 and a standard deviation of 19.4. If the specification limits are 700 and 800, what percent of product can be expected to be out of limits assuming a normal distribution?
1.7%
What is the variance of the entire set of values below? 4.5, 5.1, 6.2, 2.1, 3.9
1.855
Which of the following methods would be most effective to reinforce the training received in a class in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)?
Practicing on a dummy named "Annie"
One would not be surprised to find the definition of repeatability to be very similar to that for:
Precision
Which of the following training planning factors would come last in order sequence?
Prepare the necessary material
Costs associated with control charting most often fall into what category?
Prevention
Review of purchase orders for quality requirements falls into which one of the following quality cost segments?
Prevention
Which of the following quality cost categories would be increased as the result of an effective operator training effort?
Prevention
The cost of beta testing a new software program is an example of a(an):
Prevention cost
Of the four classifications of quality costs, which will prove the greatest dollar savings versus dollars spent?
Prevention costs
In the planning of a new major manufacturing program, the greatest quality effort should logically be put in:
Prevention of occurrence of substandard quality
Writing and establishing process control procedures is:
Preventive action
Which of the following actions or activities are considered the most long term?
Preventive actions and continuous improvement
The best time to implement preventive action is:
Prior to the occurrence of nonconformities
A rank order of problem solving factors can be obtained with which of the following quality management and planning tools?
Prioritization matrices
New quality management tools are being used to help the problem solving process. Which of the following tools provides a numeric ranking of options?
Prioritization matrices
Which of the following management tools is most likely to utilize numeric data?
Prioritization matrices
Which of the following management tools could be used to rate the factors necessary to pass the CQPA exam?
Prioritization matrices and matrix diagrams
Which of the following quality management techniques is most complex? The complexity involves both the ease of use and the amount of subject familiarity necessary for effectiveness.
Prioritization matrix
Activities that improvement teams undertake include:
Problem solving and decision making
In Ishikawa diagrams, the box at the far right usually contains the:
Problem statement
In order to evaluate the internal effectiveness of the customer order planning function, which of the following audits is most appropriate?
Process audit
When an initial study is made of a repetitive industrial process for the purpose of setting up a Shewhart control chart, information on which of the following process characteristics is sought?
Process capability
In developing a chart to plot a course of action, with many of the events or milestones unknown, which new quality management tool would be used?
Process decision program chart
Teams that generally draw members from multiple departments are:
Process improvement teams
Just in time (JIT) is collectively characterized by:
Producing the right items at the right time
Which of the following product process approval activities are most likely performed by the user or customer?
Product validation and beta testing
After extensively testing a product, it is determined that the design meets the original intent. What is the next process step?
Production release
A customer may provide certification to a supplier, but efforts should not end there. The customer should also provide surveillance via:
Program auditing
It is generally easier to find a benchmarking partner in which of the following areas?
Project
The easiest form of benchmarking is:
Project
What type of team would be commissioned to design and install an automated part degreaser?
Project
Which of the following indicates an out of control condition?
2 of 3 consecutive points outside the 2-sigma warning limits
Supplier surveys can be comprised of objective or subjective evaluations. Which of the following is most likely to be in the subjective category?
Responsiveness and timeliness of the supplier
Reengineering is best described as:
Rethinking and radically redesigning the business
The preventive action sequence has what unique step when compared to that for corrective actions?
Reviewing potential nonconformances
Process improvement is necessary for most companies to survive in a competitive climate. What type of improvement is often radical, involving large investment in technology or equipment?
Revolutionary breakthrough improvement
Which of the following MRB actions would almost certainly require the involvement of the customer, when a nonconforming product is discovered internally?
Rework or repair of the product
The following is an example of what type of response surface?
Rising ridge
Which of the following actions or techniques is most useful in determining the original fundamental cause of a product or process nonconformance?
Root cause analysis
An R chart is most closely related to which of the following?
S chart
Identify the lean enterprise technique in which the video recording of a segment of the operation is helpful:
SMED
Which of the following concepts would be useful in reducing a production bottleneck that occurs when a tool change is necessary?
SMED/SUR
Which of the following is considered the sixth "S"?
Safety
In consideration of human factors:
Safety considerations are considered critical and of top priority
Two quantities which uniquely determine a single sampling attribute plan are:
Sample size and rejection number
The hypergeometric distribution should be used instead of the binomial distribution when:
Sampling does not involve replacement
Continuous sampling plans require:
Sampling frequency ratios and clearance numbers
Which of the following is most clearly the basis for an organizational quality policy?
Satisfying the needs of the customers
Which tool is used to test for a possible cause and effect relationship between two variables?
Scatter diagram
Final disposition by quality control of nonconforming material without customer consultation can include:
Scrapping
American visitors to an aluminum plant in Japan were given white gloves to wear. What category of the 5S program was being displayed?
Scrub
Many training instructors have developed approaches to emphasize multiple sense learning. Which of the following options would be generally recognized to best promote student retention?
Seeing and speaking
As with the 7 quality management tools, the Japanese concept of workplace organization, 5S, has been Americanized. Of the five original tools, which two are hardest to find in the American system?
Seiketsu and Shitsuke
A small company will most often choose to validate its supplier base via:
Selected site visits to the most critical suppliers
A measure of the ability of a measurement system to distinguish between and display the difference between two measured results, when there really is a difference between them, is called:
Selectivity
A radio frequency measuring receiver can accurately measure the amplitude of a signal as long as no interfering signal is within 10 kHz of the unknown signal. What feature of the measurement is being described?
Selectivity
The type of team that draws its members from a natural work area is generally called a:
Self-directed team
The most effective means for communicating problems with a supplier is:
Send a written list of the issues and circumstances
In highly effective six sigma companies, most employees receive some training. What group is most likely to receive sponsorship training?
Senior management
In color measurements, two colors are considered not to be the same if their color values are separated by a "just noticeable difference." What feature of the measurement is being described?
Sensitivity
A stamping press makes four parts at a time. To set up control charting for this process the best rational subgrouping should be:
Separate control charts for each cavity, using 4 sequential parts
The majority of customers, who leave a company, do so because of:
Service quality
What is the most important consideration for customers who stay with a company?
Service quality
Common elements used to evaluate suppliers include:
Service, cost, and delivery
In Taguchi experimentation, S/N ratios are used to make a design or condition more robust. Which of the following is an example of this in action?
Set the levels of the controllable factors where the S/N ratio remains relatively constant
Which of the following would be considered one of the six big negative TPM contributors to equipment effectiveness?
Set-up and adjustment
Product quality audits:
Should be customer oriented
Communication with vendors on quality problems:
Should be initiated by the vendee's purchasing department
Kaizen techniques:
Should be planned properly
Scatter diagrams are useful in problem solving because they:
Show relationships between variables
The operating characteristic (OC) curve of an acceptance sampling plan:
Shows the ability of the plan to distinguish between good and bad lots
When using Taguchi methods, a factor that results in a response variable and can be equated to an independent variable is called a:
Signal factor
The affinity diagram gets its American name from the fact that:
Similar patterns of thought are grouped together
A self directed team is appropriate for which of the following activities?
Solving a departmental procedural problem
Red tagging is used during which 5S stage?
Sort
A batch of parts is discovered to contain a large percentage of oversized units. Which of the following would be considered viable immediate action(s) to keep a customer's assembly line from shutting down?
Sort the lot using 100 % inspection
"Our response time to employee complaints is three days longer than the company average." This problem statement is:
Specific and acceptable
Which of the following are documented, detailed requirements for a part, product, process, or service?
Specifications
The benefits of market segmentation can be to:
Spot marketing trends
The ability of a measuring instrument to maintain constant its metrological characteristics is a definition of:
Stability
What is the distribution shown below?
Standard normal distribution
Consider the following definition: "The best combination of machines and people working together to produce a product or service at a particular point in time." What lean concept is being described?
Standard work
The purpose of a quality manual is to:
Standardize the quality methods and decisions of a company
A company operates on all three shifts, including days, evenings, and nights. Which of the following is the optimal choice for the time for training?
Start classes at one-half hour after the start of each regular shift
A company has decided to reengineer their warehousing and shipping department. Activities included in this process might include:
Starting with a clean slate for material flow and computer systems
Quality policies are principally issued by management to:
State the position of the company on quality
In determining a process average fraction defective using inductive or inferential statistics, one would be using:
Statistics, computed from samples, to make inferences about populations
You discover that your company's new product is missing a safety interlock switch because the part was on backorder. With the product on the dock, ready to ship, you should:
Stop the shipment, even though you may lose your job
Internal customers of a retail store generally are:
Store employees who are next in the processing sequence
The most difficult stage for any team to work through is:
Storming
Review the following 5S elements and identify the step that is being referenced. Determine who has missing items Create a name and location for everything Use aisle and material placement markings Use labels, tool boards and color codes
Straighten
If an engineer or technician were to select samples from a mixture in a vat that is suspected of separation, what sampling technique would be advisable?
Stratified sampling
Pallets of product are staged in a warehouse prior to shipment. There are indications that container damage is occurring disproportionately at aisle and row end locations. The best method of data collection to confirm this theory would be:
Stratified sampling
If a company were to evaluate why some customers refused to purchase a newly released product, what Deming cycle phase would apply?
Study
Which of the following 5S stages is primarily the responsibility of top management?
Sustain
Which of the following are the characteristics of a normal distribution?
Symmetrical with the mean in the center
Which of the following would be an end user for brake shoes?
The driver of an auto
The reliability of a product is best described as:
The duration or probability of failure-free operation of the product under specified conditions
Quality improvement teams can:
Tackle larger issues than individuals working alone
Which of the following quality planning process elements would be most likely to be measured?
Tactical quality plans and goals
Which of the following defines quality as the loss inflicted on society after the product is shipped?
Taguchi's quality definition
The role of the team recorder is to:
Take clear notes of the meetings
Which of the following corrective action steps would normally come last in resolving a problem with nonconforming product?
Take preventive action
Your team decides that you will need a histogram of process XYZ's output performance. To create the histogram you would use the information from a:
Tally sheet
Market segmentation achieves:
Targeted subsets of the market
Some teams have special roles. What role acts as a coach and focuses on the team process?
Team facilitator
Which of the following is an example of variable data?
Tension on fan belts
There are problems associated with providing a bad experience to a customer. The customer can turn on you. A term associated with this is:
Terrorist
Several measurements made over an extended period of time, using different operators and fixtures may be used to estimate:
Test equipment reproducibility
The existence of a quality manual at a key supplier means:
That a quality system has been developed
The "quality function" of a company is best described as:
That collection of activities through which "fitness for use" is achieved
In the SMED system what is the real meaning of the single minute concept?
That dies will be exchanged in less than 10 minutes
Which of the following statements is true for sequential sampling plans?
The ASN is relatively low and samples are taken one at a time
Quality responsibilities that are identified in a job description are most similar to:
The P in PDCA
What is a major distinction between the CPM and PERT methods in the evaluation of project performance?
The PERT technique is event oriented, while CPM is activity centered
A quality technician wants to chart the weight of packages on a highly automated food processing line. The recommended control chart is an X bar - S chart and not the typical X bar - R chart, in wide use throughout the facility. The most logical reason for this switch is which of the following?
The X bar and S values will come automatically from a weight checker
The basic statistical principle in EVOP is:
The ability to recognize small differences through large sample sizes
A zero defect sampling plan implies that:
The acceptance number is zero
Corrective action is not complete until:
The action taken is determined to be effective
Which of the new quality management tools are used to organize facts and data about an unfamiliar subject or problem?
The affinity diagram and KJ method
Which is the most suitable location for performing an audit?
The appropriate location at the auditee's facility
Items normally reviewed in the opening audit meeting by the auditor include:
The audit purpose and scope
The follow-up on the need for corrective action, identified in an audit report, is most clearly the responsibility of which of the following?
The auditee's upper management
When presenting materials to students, both young and old, many instructors have encountered a concept known as primacy and recency. Which of the following best describes this training feature?
The beginning and ending training materials are most likely to be remembered
The appropriate mathematical model for describing the sampling distribution of the fraction defective in samples from a controlled process in which p bar = 0.05 is:
The binomial distribution in which p bar = 0.05
An intermediate customer of used text books is:
The bookstore
The binomial distribution is a discrete distribution and may be used to describe:
The case of n independent trials with probabilities constant from trial to trial
Considerations to be made prior to the use of any sampling plan is (are):
The characteristics to be inspected must be specified
An advantage to the use of Gantt charts includes:
The charts are easy to understand
Which of the following is the best definition of configuration management?
The collection of all product related information and activities
Which of the following are reasons why a company would choose to benchmark a competitor?
The competitor is excellent but unwilling to share information
After the successful completion and implementation of the first four phases of DMAIC, the control phase should be completed by which of the following?
The complete team is the most desirable option
The extension from lean production to lean office is possible because:
The concept of waste applies to every business environment
One would say that the Kanban method would be most closely associated with:
The control of material flow
One would say that the kanban method would be most closely associated with:
The control of material flow
When a business customer does not receive the expected goods or services, the problem can be traced to:
The customer/supplier communications
Regardless of whether a negatively or positively skewed distribution is being considered, which of the following statements is true?
The data in the tail influences the mean more than the median values
In the failure rate model shown below, the part of the curve identified as A represents:
The debugging period for complex equipment
If every new employee receives one hour of training on the company's quality system, then:
The effectiveness of the training should be evaluated
In planning for quality, an important consideration at the start is:
The establishment of a company quality policy or objective
The phrase "Listening to the customer," normally means:
The external customer
Identify a true statement from the options below:
The facilitator should have special training in improvement techniques
Which of the following is an advantage of computer/automated project management?
Project status reports are easier to generate
Cross-functional membership would typically be used for which of the following?
Project teams
The project manager's principal directive is to achieve:
Projects which are on schedule and within budget
One key indicator of a company's attitude toward customer service is:
Promptness in answering telephones
Considerable money is wasted by organizations in their training efforts. It seems that massive training of employees is not worth the time. What could be done to resolve this problem?
Provide an opportunity to use the new skills, shortly after training
The main purpose for maintaining quality records is to:
Provide evidence that quality requirements for a product or service have been met
An essential technique in making training programs more effective is to:
Provide feedback to the employee as to his/her performance
Facilitators would normally:
Provide feedback to the group
In comparison with attribute sampling plans, variable sampling plans:
Provide greater assurance, for the same sample size, as to the correctness of decisions
In what areas would upper management be most helpful in the initiation of a six sigma effort?
Providing key resources to the organization
Which of the following are likely to be a positive action in obtaining a supplier's commitment to quality improvement?
Providing meaningful and timely quality performance feedback
The economic aspects of a customer-supplier relationship would be best served if the initial planning meetings focused on which of the following?
Purchasing value and overall quality costs
A reliability test conducted during the pre-production stage is called:
Qualification test
A hardness testing manufacturer claims in the product literature that their equipment has a high degree of accuracy. This means:
Qualitatively, there is a small difference between measurements and true values
Commonly used metrics of supplier performance, relating to products or services, are:
Quality and delivery
An important tool to control the cost of quality in an organization is:
Quality cost reports
A comprehensive corrective action program is initiated at a large company. Input for CARs are received from customers, internal and external audits, material review reports and other sources. Which of the following groups would usually administer and control the CAR process?
Quality department and corrective action board
Which of the following is a process to ensure that the customer's wants and needs are heard and translated into technical characteristics of the product and service?
Quality function deployment
Which of the following techniques has proven useful in translating customer needs into product design features?
Quality function deployment
Customer-supplier communications should always be defined and placed into routine usage. An example of such routine communications includes:
Quarterly status reports and periodic audit results
Which of the following charts have upper control limits, but frequently have lower control limits of zero?
R and sigma charts
The sampling acronym LTPD closely aligns with:
RQL
Which of the following measures of variability is dependent on the exact value of only two measurements?
Range
The measurement and recording of the length of a product in centimeters would reflect the application of which measurement scale?
Ratio
Variation in the shape parameter for the Weibull distribution can, in turn, create which of the following distribution shapes?
Rayleigh, normal, or exponential
Kirkpatrick has presented a model for evaluating the effectiveness of training programs. Please arrange his four levels in approximate sequence from lowest (easiest to evaluate) to highest (most complex and hardest to evaluate):
Reaction, learning, behavior, results
Which of the following is a non-value added activity?
Receiving inspection
Which of the following could be considered a competitive advantage?
Recognizing that not all customers are profitable
When buying materials and other items from outside sources it is best to:
Reduce the number of sources for a given item consistent with the law, and quality and scheduling protection
One would say that continuous flow manufacturing:
Reduces cycle time
Once a quality level has been established, attribute sampling costs can be effectively lowered (with relatively small risks) by:
Reducing the number of samples such as going from single to double sampling
A manufacturing process involving the machining of a particular part has been gradually improved and refined over the past three years. Seeking dramatic improvements in the quality and productivity level of the machining operation, the quality and manufacturing engineers should utilize the technique known as:
Reengineering
Which of the following improvement terms is considered revolutionary in nature?
Reengineering and breakthrough achievement
Which two actions would most likely result in breakthrough improvement?
Reengineering and six sigma
Records of old blank audit checklists are handy for:
Reference when compiling a new checklist
Which of the following describes the action taken to bring a unit back to complete acceptable condition after it has been damaged?
Repair
Which of the following operations would benefit most from a kanban system application?
Repetitive production plants
When one performs "one experiment with five repetitions," what are the six experiments called?
Replications
A measurement variability experiment that tries different combinations of operator, procedure, and environment is called:
Reproducibility
The data from an R&R study will determine which of the following?
Reproducibility, process variation, and repeatability
A supplier is launching a new production facility that incorporates an innovative molding technology. The production validation testing reveals that the process misses the capability target for finish, but meets all functional requirements. What is the most viable supplier option for the products already produced?
Request a waiver to ship parts "as is"
Kaizen improvements generally:
Require little expense
Which of the following corrective actions would be considered a containment activity?
Requiring that a marginal supplier 100% inspect all incoming products
Identify a non-value added activity that would be considered a form of processing muda:
Reshaping a product due to poor dies
A radio frequency measuring receiver can accurately measure the amplitude of a signal as long as no interfering signal is within 1.0 kHz of the unknown signal, but can only display frequencies in steps of 10 kHz. What limitation of the measurement system is being described?
Resolution
The use of a Brinell scope to enlarge the area of a hardness indentation or the use of magnification in the reading zone of a pressure barometer are examples of efforts to improve upon:
Resolution
Projects typically encounter conflicts in demand for the same resources. One method which helps to minimize the effects of this conflict is called:
Resource leveling
Which of the following is required to establish a reliability specification?
The usage environment
What additional requirement does ISO/TS 16949 state that is not part of ISO 9001?
The use of error-proofing techniques
A risk priority number indicates a more severe risk when:
The value is higher
During variable control charting, seven consecutive points are plotted on both the average and range chart. The average chart is little changed but the range chart is decreasing. One may draw which of the following conclusions?
The variability is decreasing
A null hypothesis requires several assumptions, a basic one of which is:
The variables are independent
In the failure rate model shown below, the part of the curve identified as C represents:
The wear out period
Which of the following statements is true?
The width of a confidence interval decreases as the sample size increases
During the work breakdown structure, a number of planning activities occur. Which of the following items is included?
The work is divided into smaller activities
Natural work teams share in common:
Their involvement in the problem to be addressed
Random selection of a sample:
Theoretically means that each item in the lot has an equal chance to be selected
Which of the following is the best reason for a product quality audit?
To assess product or service quality
Which of the following would be considered a subjective supplier rating metric?
Thoroughness of technical assistance
What is the principal function of the quality department?
To coordinate the quality effort
An R chart is generally used?
To determine if the process variance is in control
The duties of a functioning MRB would include which of the following?
To determine the disposition of nonconforming product
As a commonly used problem solving technique, which of the following would be the best application of a Pareto chart?
To differentiate between major and minor problem areas
What is the danger in bunching ideas immediately into closely related categories when using either the affinity diagram or the interrelationship digraph?
Thought patterns could be biased
A 32 experiment means that one is considering:
Three levels of two factors
The most important resource that upper management can provide a natural work team is:
Time
The use of Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) requires:
Time estimates for each activity in the network
Customers have some basic expectations, when dealing with a salesperson, which include:
Timely service
Which of the following is the primary reason for utilizing process mapping?
To visualize the process and identify unnecessary complexity
Which of the following is a correct design of experiments statement?
Two or more variables are confounded if their effects cannot be separated
Five samples (#1 through #5) of four measurements were taken with the following results. What are the upper and lower control limits for an X-bar - R chart calculated from this data? #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 20 23 22 19 22 22 20 17 20 23 18 17 21 23 19 19 18 22 18 17
UCL = 23.8 / LCL = 16.2
What expectation is the highest level in a customer's hierarchy of needs?
Unanticipated
What is the ultimate customer expectation for a product or service?
Unanticipated
A focus on the voice of the customer allows the company to:
Uncover real customer needs
Benchmarking should begin with which of the following?
Understand your own processes
What key step would follow an evaluation of current practices against a benchmark?
Undertaking significant changes to advance performance
If a process is out of control, the theoretical probability that a single point on the X bar chart will fall between plus one sigma and the upper control limit is:
Unknown
The easiest method of generating random numbers for a sampling plan is to:
Use computer generated numbers
A study on best customer satisfaction practices suggests using which of the following principles?
Use multiple instruments to collect data
Which one of the following would make the best company policy statement to customer contact personnel on consumer customer satisfaction?
Use your own best judgment at all times
The hypergeometric distribution is:
Used to describe sampling from a finite population without replacement
The organization's customer service program can be enhanced in many ways. One of the ways would be to:
Utilize employee involvement
The organization's customer service program can be enhanced in many ways. One of the ways would be:
Utilize employee involvement
What is the purpose of production process validation (PV) testing?
Validating that the parts produced under production conditions meet specification(s)
First article testing most commonly focuses on:
Validation of products and processes
Sampling plans are routinely selected based on:
Validity and applicability
If one were to summarize in one word the ground breaking work of Womack, in introducing the term "lean production" to the Western world, that word would be:
Value
The principal lean diagnostic tool for a complex manufacturing operation would be a:
Value stream map
The term collinear refers to:
Variables which are highly correlated
In performing an analysis of variance for a single factor experiment, a fundamental assumption which is made is that the factor:
Variances are equal
The figure below is commonly referred to as a:
Venn diagram
Objective evidence can only be expressed via:
Verifiable qualitative or quantitative facts
One would say that an internal engineering comparison of actual component materials to material specifications indicates:
Verification
Which of the following corrective action steps would generally come last?
Verify the effects of corrective action
The process audit may be useful in:
Verifying conformance to standards and procedures
Training needs for an individual are based on which of the following?
The gap between current and desired skills
During the team building phase, which of the following best describes the actions of the team?
The group is uncertain of their duties
Which of the following statements is correct with regard to regression analysis?
The higher the coefficient of determination, the better the fit
Quality function deployment is sometimes referred to as:
The house of quality
The principal responsibility for employee instruction typically rests with:
The individual being trained
Corrective action investigations would be conducted by:
The individual or department assigned the task
Which one of the following best describes machine capability?
The inherent variation of the machine
In a basic house of quality diagram, what is depicted in the matrix roof?
The inter-relationships of design features
A sampling plan based on lot tolerance percent defective (LTPD) means:
The level of quality known as consumer risk
To state that a model in an experimental design is fixed indicates that:
The levels used for each factor are the only ones of interest
Steel used in a non-critical application has a specification of Rockwell hardness of 40 to 48 HRC. The last lot of heat treated parts averaged 39 HRC. Which of the following actions is most appropriate?
The lot must be identified, segregated, and prevented from unintended use
An X bar and R chart can be helpful in controlling a process when:
The machine capability is smaller than the specification
In which one of the following scenarios would the use of an X bar and R chart be the most helpful as a tool to control a process?
The machine capability is somewhat smaller than the specification
You have been plotting a machining operation using an chart with n=5. The actual measurement is that of the hole diameter in the side of a casting. The chart indicates a long slow downward trend, but the R chart has not demonstrated any change. Which of the following is the most likely explanation for the change?
The machining tool may be getting dull
A comprehensive corrective action program is initiated at a large company. Input for CARs are received from customers, internal and external audits, material review reports, and other sources. Which two of the following groups would usually administer and control the CAR process?
The management review team and corrective action board
The failure mode in the FMEA is:
The manner by which the failure is observed
Consider the following data set: 3, 4, 7, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13 Which of the following is a factual statement regarding this data?
The mean is greater than the mode
A process calls for the mean value of a dimension to be 2.02". Which of the following should be used as the null hypothesis to test whether or not the process is achieving this mean?
The mean of the population is 2.02"
In preparing a quality policy concerning a product line for a company one should include:
The means by which quality performance is measured
Effective team mechanics would typically include which of the following?
The meeting time, frequency, and location
Which of the following statements is true regarding ANOVA?
The null hypothesis is that the means are equal for all treatments
Which of the following statements is true?
The number of combinations is independent of order
Which, of the following, would be considered attribute data?
The number of dimples on a regulation golf ball
For a Latin Square design:
The number of rows must equal the number of columns
Which of the following is the most legitimate management concern when a floor level operator effects a permanent corrective action?
The operator may potentially be addressing a symptom of a problem, not the true cause
A shipping line product audit will directly measure:
The outgoing product quality
The main difference between traditional kaizen and the kaizen blitz approach is:
The pace of the change effort
A process is checked by inspection of random samples of four shafts after a polishing operation, and X bar and R charts are maintained. A person making a spot check picks out two shafts, measures them accurately, and plots the value of each on the X bar chart. Both points fall just outside the control limits. He/she advises the department foreman to stop the process. This decision indicates that:
The person is not using the chart correctly
Which of the following can be a null hypothesis?
The population means are equal
In business partnerships, which of the following items would be expected?
The presence of joint task teams
For the Weibull distribution, as the scale parameter decreases:
The probability density function is compressed to the left
Maintainability is:
The probability of a system being restored to functional operation within a given period of time
The equation below represents:
The probability of event B occurring given event A has occurred
Problems within a company are often not fully solved because:
The problem is poorly defined
An X-bar - R chart of weights of cereal boxes has a mean of 425 g and average range of 15 g. The group size is 4. The last 10 group averages in order were: 424.5, 426.1, 432.7, 428.2, 429.4, 431.5, 427.3, 426.9, 430.7, and 425.9.
The process average is out of control
A process is checked at random by inspection of four shafts after a polishing operation, and X bar and R charts are maintained. A person making a spot check measures two shafts accurately, and plots their range on the R chart. The point falls just outside the control limit. He/she advises the department foreman to stop the process. This decision indicates that:
The process dispersion is out of control
An X-bar chart has been plotted for some time. For the past week or so there has been a tremendous decrease in the variability of the plot points. What is the best possible explanation of this condition?
The process has improved since the limits were calculated
If the specification limits are slightly narrower than the control limits, then:
The process is not capable
If a control chart has UCL = 45.1 and USL = 45.6, and the last sample has values of 44.6, 45.7 and 44.8, one can conclude:
The process is out of specification and in control
If the specification limits are wider than the control limits, then:
The process may or may not be capable
When one works through a conflict situation with a customer:
The process should not embarrass either party
An X bar chart has shown control for a long time. Points for the last 50 samples are all very near the center line on the chart. In fact, they are all within one sigma of the center line. This probably indicates that:
The process standard deviation has decreased during the time the last 50 samples were taken
The AQL for a given sampling plan is 1%. This means that:
The producer takes a small risk of rejecting product which is 1% defective or better
A proposed permanent corrective action has been implemented. The solution is an intervention device to eliminate undersized parts. However, production trials have indicated that the device is only marginally effective under humid conditions. One would say that:
The proposed corrective action is not realistic or maintainable
The administration and control of all inspection stamps normally rests with which of the following?
The quality assurance department
The indifference quality level is:
The quality level with probability of acceptance = 0.5
Which of the following documents defines the specific quality practices, resources, and sequence of activities relevant to a particular product, project or fulfillment of a contract?
The quality plan
Consider that a sample of ten units is taken from a population. Which of the following statements is correct?
The range is greater than the standard deviation
When it was determined that internal procedures for packaging items for shipping were not being followed, all of the packers received four hours of intense training on the correct procedures. A month later it was discovered that the packing procedures were again not being followed. One can conclude that:
The reason for the packers not following procedures must be investigated
After constructing a rank order prioritization matrix, what determines what factors will receive major attention?
The relative strength values of the factors
Who is the customer of an internal report on quality management?
The requestor of the report
Producer's risk is defined as:
The risk of rejecting a satisfactory lot
A metal part was noted to contain a deep scratch. Approximately 30% of all parts produced contained the scratch. Investigation indicates that only the parts produced on one machine were involved. The defectives were scrapped and a replacement run was closely monitored without any scrap. The incident was closed at this point. What's the latent problem with this approach?
The root cause was not detected
Consider the relationship between the two variables in the scatter diagram shown below. What statement can be properly made about this diagram?
The slope of the regression line is positive
Sensitivity of a measuring instrument is:
The smallest detectable value sensed by a measuring system
The square root of the variance is called:
The standard deviation
Work breakdown structure means:
The statement of work is divided into the detailed listing of activities required to complete the project
A work instruction should give information about which of the following?
The steps necessary to perform certain work
A internal technical assessment of an organization would focus on identifying:
The strengths and weaknesses of the company
Failure modes and effects analysis involves what activity?
The study of the physics of product failure
A pre-award evaluation of a supplier's quality system capability should include consideration of:
The supplier's product quality history
A customer returned three out of the last shipment of 1000 power supplies because of out of specification high frequency ripple on the output voltage. The defective power supplies were promptly replaced with an overnight shipment to the customer, and the defective units were scrapped. Based on this action, one could say that:
The symptoms were corrected, but not the root cause
A "fail-safe" requirement means:
The system will fail in a safe state
In CFM, the time per operation is based on:
The takt time
Which of the following statements is the best description of a team during the storming stage?
The team wants the project to move forward
The fundamental equation of analysis of variance may express the idea that:
The total sum of squares of deviations from the grand mean is equal to the sum of squares of deviations between treatment means and the grand mean plus the sum of squares of deviation within treatments
What is the best rationale for training only selected departmental crews instead of the entire shift?
The training addresses a problem unique to these crews or equipment
In the measurement of the distance between two points, which of the following factors is rarely influenced by the person making the measurement?
The true distance between the two points
Standard work relies most heavily on which three other tools?
Visual factory, Kanban, and 5S
An advantage of process mapping includes an ability to:
Visualize the process and check for unnecessary redundancy
Which of the following terms represents permission in writing to accept for use, a completed but nonconforming item, either "as is" or upon completion of rework for a given number of units or specified period of time?
Waiver
The company's written policies to the customer can best be described as:
Warranties
Internal customers are important to all organizations. The staff departments should adapt a philosophy of:
We are a service department
A task force has worked six and a half months to design and build a high voltage power supply. Although the project was completed two weeks late, it was under budget by 30%. The reliability of the prototype has already proven to be twice that of the old model. If the CEO has one question for the task force leader it should be which of the following?
Were corners cut to lower costs?
What information should be presented with an audit finding?
What the deficiency was
EVOP should be used:
When a process is producing satisfactory material
Which of the following places are highly considered when selecting members of an improvement team?
Where the problem is observed or causes may be found
The verification of a test procedure is often done:
Where the test is performed
Which of the following elements is the last step in a good corrective action feedback report?
Whether the correction is effective
The ideal setting for training:
Will have environmental conditions go unnoticed by the student
Standard work as visualized by the Japanese means:
Working safer and productively
Which of the following is a preventive action?
Writing an inspection procedure for a new product
Which of the following items is the most important part of the determination of a training course's effectiveness?
Written or oral testing of students
The control chart that is most sensitive to variations in a measurement is:
X bar and R chart
A sample of n observations has a mean X bar and standard deviation Sx > 0. If a single observation, which equals the value of the sample mean X bar, is removed from the sample, which of the following is true?
X bar remains the same but Sx increases
Which of the following control charts would best fit a process in which measurement data on a product is easily obtained?
X-bar and R charts
The matrix diagram is used to show the relationship between 2 variables. Matrices can be developed in several ways. Which of the following matrix types illustrates relationships in three planes?
Y-type
A very useful control chart for plotting the actual number of defects found during an inspection is known as:
c chart
Which type of control chart is used to control the number of defectives?
np chart
Taguchi's loss function describes the financial loss to society that will occur upon a deviation of a quality characteristic from its target value. Identify the loss function equation statement that is factual:
k is the derived constant
Which of the following is a valid null hypothesis?
mu = 110
Defining the sample space S as {rock, book, cigar, guitar, dog}, what is the compliment of {cigar, dog}?
rock, book, guitar
The sum of the squared deviations of a group of measurements from their mean divided by the number of measurements equals:
squared
Which table should be used to determine a confidence interval on the mean when s is not known and the sample size is 10?
t
Identify the element that is associated with excess inventory?
Transportation vehicles
An advantage of computer software driven project management methods includes:
An ability to analyze "what-if" options
Sensitivity in a measurement means:
An ability to distinguish differences in the parameter of interest
The outstanding service companies perform this activity first:
Treat employees as external customers
Which of the following statements are true for technological driven training tools?
They can be simultaneously used by a larger number of people
Advantages of control charts include:
They can detect trends of statistical significance
A disadvantage of Gantt charts is which of the following?
They do not show interdependencies of activities
A product failure in the customer's hands is bad for the company. Why do only 4% of the customers normally file a complaint?
They don't think it will do any good
Individual training needs are most effectively developed when:
They encompass the difference between the desired and the current abilities
The quality department uses an annual review process during which the past year's performance is evaluated, and goals and objectives are set for the individuals. Which of the following is the key constraint when setting goals and objectives for an individual?
They must be consistent with departmental and company goals and objectives
Deming warned that companies had to be careful with benchmarking because:
They needed true understanding of their own processes
Checklists are useful during the course of an audit because:
They promote an economical use of time
Identify the most likely result of adopting standardized work procedures:
They tend to minimize variability
Which of the following statements best describes a bimodal distribution?
This distribution shows stratified data and has two distinct peaks
In every experiment there is experimental error. Which of the following statements is true?
This error is due to lack of material uniformity and to inherent variability in the experimental technique
Control limits are set at the three-sigma level because:
This level reduces the probability of looking for trouble in the production process when none exists
Identify the quality management tool that organizes ideas into levels of importance:
Tree diagram
Parallel activity paths are most likely to be noted using which of the following quality planning tools?
Tree diagrams
A process flowchart is used to accomplish which of the following?
Track products, operator actions, or administrative procedures
Which of the modern quality management tools could use 3" x 5" cards or post-it-notes as part of the brainstorming or idea generation stage?
Tree diagrams and affinity diagrams
The most common method of presenting supplier performance elements to both supplier and business customer management is:
Trend charting
A control chart for the number of defects in a standard product has been plotted for some time. The chart average has been 9 defects. The best approximation for the lower control of this chart is which of the following?
0
A process is in control with p bar = 0.10 and n = 50. The three sigma control limits for the np control chart are which of the following?
0, 11.36
The equation for joint probability, of two fault events under any circumstance, is given by: If fault A does not enhance occurrence of fault B in anyway, the probability of accident, when P(A) = 0.1, P(B) = 0.05, is given by:
0.00500
A lot of 50 pieces contains 5 defectives. A sample of two is drawn without replacement. The probability that both will be defective is approximately:
0.0082
The upper control limit for the sample standard deviation when using X-bar and sigma charts with subgroup size of 10 and average sample standard deviation of 0.005 inches is:
0.0086 inches
What is the lower control limit for proportion defective if the average daily production is 5,000 units and the average fraction defective is 0.02?
0.014
On average, a company hires 4 people per month. In a given month, what is the probability that exactly 7 people will be hired?
0.0595
What is the upper control limit for a p chart (proportion defective) when the average daily production is 2,500 units with an established fraction defective of 0.05?
0.063
What is the standard deviation of the following complete set of data? 3.2, 3.1, 3.3, 3.3, 3.1
0.0894
A batch is known to contain 1% defectives. A sample size of 50 is selected, and the batch is accepted if 1 or fewer defects are found. What is the probability of the batch being rejected?
0.090
A process is producing material which is 20% defective. Five pieces are selected at random for inspection. What is the probability of exactly three good pieces being found in the sample?
0.205
Calculate the standard deviation of the population for the following set of five sample observations: 1.5, 1.2, 1.1, 1.0, 1.6
0.259
A study was conducted on the relationship between the speed of different cars and their gasoline mileage. The correlation coefficient was found to be 0.35. Later, it was discovered that there was a defect in the speedometers and they had all been set 5 miles per hour too fast. The correlation coefficient was computed using the corrected scores. Its new value will be:
0.35
Some ten production units are known to contain three defective units. If two units are inspected, what is the probability that both will be good?
0.467
The average number of flaws in large plate glass is 0.25 per pane. The standard deviation of this Poisson distribution is:
0.50
What is the probability of finding no defective items in a random sample of 100 items taken from the output of a continuous process which averages 0.7% defective items?
0.50
If the probability of success on a single trial is 0.3, and two trials are performed, what is the probability of at least one success?
0.510
A process is turning out end items that have defects of type A or type B or both. If the probability of type A defect is 0.1 and of type B is 0.2, the probability that an end item will have no defect is:
0.72
In a random sample of 900 vehicles, 80% had anti-lock brakes. What is the 95% confidence interval for the percent of vehicles with anti-lock brakes?
0.774 to 0.826
Calculate the standard deviation for the process that produced the following sample values: 5.2, 4.5, 3.8, 6.0, 4.8, 5.5
0.78
What percentage of the area under the standard normal curve is included within (+/-) 1.5 standard deviations from 0?
0.8664
Given: Probability of 1 or more defects = 0.69 Probability of 2 or more defects = 0.34 Probability of 3 or more defects = 0.12 Probability of 4 or more defects = 0.03 What is the probability of 2 or fewer defects?
0.88
The probability of Steve passing his math course is 0.7. The probability of Steve passing his history class is 0.8. If the probability of Steve passing both courses is 0.56, what is the probability Steve will pass either math or history?
0.94
Given a coefficient of determination of 0.9, what is the correlation coefficient?
0.9487 or -0.9487
In the figure below, what is the union of events B and C?
1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Consider the number set {2, 4, 6}. Which of the following number sets is mutually exclusive from these values?
1, 3, 7, 9
An attribute chart is being plotted for number of defects. An average of 9 defects is noted in the 25 samples collected. Assuming a Poisson distribution and a constant sample size, what would be the upper control limit for the resulting chart?
18.0
Increasing performance in a six sigma corporation from 3 sigma to 4 sigma would reduce defects per million by a factor of:
10
If a sample size of 16 yields an average of 12 and standard deviation of 3, estimate the 95% confidence interval for the population (assume a normal distribution).
10.40 ≤ μ ≤ 13.60
How many individual data values are considered sufficient to accurately calculate the upper and lower control limits for X-bar - R control charts?
100
Which of the following actions regarding nonconforming product is an internal company decision?
100% sort and ship
Using the indicated control chart data, what is the approximate process spread? #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 20 23 22 19 22 22 20 17 20 23 18 17 21 23 19 19 18 22 18 17
12.4 - 27.6
A stack of five coins can be arranged in any order. How many possible ways are there to arrange the money?
120
Your sister works in the complaint department of a variety store. She handles five complaints a week. Approximately how many dissatisfied customers would you estimate the variety store has per week?
125
What are the upper and lower control limits for a p chart, expressed as a percentage, for a process that has demonstrated 8% bad using an average sample size of 200?
13.37, 2.25%
Using six sigma methodology, a company at 4.5 sigma would have a failure rate of:
1350 ppm
Suppose that 5 bad electron tubes get mixed up with 8 good tubes. If 2 tubes are drawn simultaneously, what is the probability that both are good?
14/39
A 2-level 5-factor experiment is being conducted to optimize the reliability of an electronic control module. A half replicate of the standard full factorial experiment is proposed. The number of treatment combinations will be:
16
A variable control chart has been observed to have an upper control limit of 90 and a lower control limit of 70. The sample size was noted to be 5. Determine the average range for each sample subgroup.
17.24
A stable system has been control charted for some time. The sample size has historically been units of 4 and the average range is 6. One can conclude that the process spread can be determined to approximately what value?
17.48
Which of the following is the most immediate need for corrective action?
A legitimate customer complaint
If one were to plot a supplier's delivery rating against the same supplier's quality rating, one would have:
A graphical depiction of performance
Value stream mapping means:
A graphical technique that shows material and information flows
Technical service to suppliers is:
A greater benefit to the company than it is to the supplier
The most desirable method of evaluating a supplier is:
A history evaluation
ISO/TS 16949 is:
A joint modification of ISO 9001 by the North American Automotive industry
A measurement that is accurate would demonstrate:
A lack of bias
A commonly reported problem associated with six sigma projects deals with:
A lack of business impact for the company
A p chart has been plotted for some time. Recently, steps have been made to substantially improve the process. One would not be surprised to find that:
A larger sample size must be taken
In robust design technology, which of the following factors would be considered a noise factor?
Ambient temperature
The figure below is referred to as:
An OC curve
Having an in-depth knowledge of an industry, makes the manager an expert in customer needs and desires. To win in the marketplace the manager should:
Ask for help, because the manager doesn't really know the customer
Properly designed surveys should emphasize which of the following?
Asking specific questions
A pre-award survey of a potential supplier is best described as which of the following audits?
Assessment
What is the first step in the corrective action sequence for handling a customer complaint?
Assign an investigator to the problem
Which of the following is a normally accepted control chart interpretation rule violation?
Eight or more consecutive points above or below the centerline in 20 plot points
What does a corrective action do to prevent an existing nonconformity, defect or undesirable situation from recurring?
Eliminates it
A process to screen weak electronic items from a production process might be:
Burn-in
Which of the following conditions are driving companies to adopt a lean approach?
Eliminating waste from the process
Which of the following are the best source of internal customer satisfaction information?
Employee focus groups
Through which of the following methods can companies develop internal customer priorities?
Employee suggestion systems
A check standard is measured thirty times in January, and the average is 2.778. The same process is repeated in February and the average is 2.792. This change in value is called:
Drift
The slow change of a measurement characteristic over time is called:
Drift
The difference between drift and other kinds of instability is that:
Drift is more predictable
The ultimate purpose of customer satisfaction surveys is to:
Drive continuous improvement activities
Quality manager supplier feedback reports to senior management should reflect corporate needs. The areas most stressed in these reports are:
Economic factors
In depth audit interviewing traditionally is:
Effective in determining the effectiveness of training
Which of the following is the most important consideration for the content and delivery of a technical training package?
Effective instructors and technical writers
Which of the following are critical elements in cycle time reduction?
Motion studies and kaizen techniques
The defect levels, as reported by Motorola in their six sigma program, are higher than one might expect from use of a standard normal table or traditional capability calculations. Why is this true?
Motorola allowed for a 1.5 sigma shift in the mean
Historical data indicates that defective seat belts are due to the following: 17% stitching, 14% metal corrosion, 23% mounting bolts, 38% foreign objects, and 8% other. Using a Pareto diagram, one can conclude:
Mounting bolts cause more defects than stitching
The advancement from defect detection to defect prevention, and customer recovery to customer retention processes are examples of:
Moving from a reactive to a proactive process
Overproduction, scrap, waiting, and excess motion are all forms of:
Muda
A sampling plan that may use up to 4 samples to make a decision to accept or reject is:
Multiple sampling
If events cannot occur simultaneously they are called:
Mutually exclusive
The mechanical separation of undersize parts from conforming parts is:
Neither corrective nor preventive action
A scatter diagram was used to plot the number of defects produced in a day versus the number of cups of coffee the maintenance supervisor had that day. It was found that there was a negative relationship. From this one can conclude:
Nothing
The percentages of total quality cost are distributed as follows: prevention 12%; appraisal 28%; internal failure 40%; and external failure 20%. One would conclude:
Nothing
Which of the following statements describes attribute data?
Number of employees wearing green shirts
During variable control charting, a trend of four consecutive points is noted on both the average and range charts. The average chart is increasing and the range chart is decreasing. One may make which of the following conclusions?
No conclusions may be made yet
A negative report about a potential supplier can result from which of the following?
No evidence of equipment calibration
The figure below indicates:
No interaction
Just-in-time (JIT) procurement is a good option when:
No lots have been found containing defects in six months
In robust design, a factor that can cause unknown variability, or an error in the response factor, is considered a:
Noise factor
Robust design methods can be used in product design. The factors to consider in robust design include which of the following?
Noise, signal, and control factors
In the design of many parts and products, it is best if the deviation from the target does not exceed a certain amount. The best tolerance objective is termed:
Nominal-is-best
In ANSI/ASQ Z1.4 the AQL is always determined at what Pa on the OC curve?
None of the above
Most production processes follow which of the following distributions?
None of the above
Referring to the figure below, which of the following is true?
None of the above
The expression, is the general term for the:
None of the above
An instructor plans to test two groups of students, red group and blue group, both before and after training to determine the effects. The training was provided only to the red group, and the instructor wants to prove that the training was beneficial. The groups were not randomized. This testing method can be referred to as:
Nonequivalent group design
The assumed distribution for an ANSI/ASQ Z1.9 plan is:
Normal
Which of the following distributions sets includes the use of the natural logarithmic base for probability calculations?
Normal, Poisson, and Weibull
As a matter of good project management practice, the final compiled costs should:
Not exceed the approved written amount
Which of the following describes well functioning teams?
Objectives are realistically set and met
If shop floor employees are exposed to new assembly techniques, the best instructional proficiency evaluation would be:
Observation of performance results
One of the most important reasons for a checklist in an internal audit is to:
Obtain relatively uniform audits
An analyst looks at a process and notes that the chart for averages has been in control. If the range suddenly and significantly increases, the mean will:
Occasionally show out of control of either limit
Which of the following statements describes discrete data?
Of 225 people on the airplane, 85 had connecting flights
Teamwork benefits individual team members by:
Offering chances to share ideas and be creative
In the event that company A benchmarks company B for a particular process and then develops a breakthrough concept, what is considered to be the most ethical approach to take?
Share the total results with the benchmark partner B
A key characteristic of a business partnership is:
Sharing of critical business information
Lean and six sigma share in common which of the following attributes:
They both focus on continuous improvement
Which of the following terms are associated with PERT charting?
Slack times and critical paths
Taguchi has a set of equations for signal-to-noise calculations. The signal-to-noise equation below represents:
Smaller-is-better
The primary reason that nonconforming material should be identified and segregated is:
So it cannot be used in production without proper authorization
Which of the following statements is true regarding correlation charts?
There can be a relationship between one variable and at least one other variable
What makes an AOQL for Dodge -Romig plans possible?
There is 100% inspection of rejected lots
A correlation of +0.95 for two variables, x and y, means that:
There is a strong linear relationship between X and Y
The proper way to sort customers is:
There is no single correct way
In a designed experiment, one obtained an F-ratio of 0.68 with 2 and 15 degrees of freedom. One would conclude that:
There were no significant differences among the means
Which of the following is a true statement regarding such classical training techniques as books, home study, demonstrations, etc.?
They allow an instructor to make quick adjustments to meet class needs
For the normal probability distribution, the relationships among the median, mean, and mode are that:
They are all equal to the same value
Which of the following project timeline statements is correct?
They are the most visible performance measure and easiest to understand
Typically, Pareto diagrams are used for which of the following reasons?
To focus attention in priority order
What is service recovery?
To get things back in order
The best reason for instituting a quality cost system is:
To identify opportunities for improvement
Which of the following is the most beneficial reason for training program evaluation?
To improve the training content and experience
Which of the following statements best describes the purpose of corrective action?
To investigate the cause of the nonconformances and take appropriate action
It's obvious that a corrective action needs follow-up attention when the result is unsatisfactory. Which of the following is the best reason that corrective action follow-up is necessary when the result is very satisfactory?
To make the most of the solution by extending the fix to other products or services
The reduction of lead times is one of the main objectives of kanban. Which of the following is the other main objective?
To reduce WIP
Supplier training has become more widespread among U.S. companies. Which of the following is the best reason for doing so?
To reduce costs and prevent future problems
Which of the following is a primary reason for periodic project reviews?
To review the schedule and costs
Which of the following areas of prevention can be used to improve the return on quality investment?
Training and process control
Which of the following considerations is important in employee training programs?
Training should help employees do their jobs better
When following the design robustness approach, what step follows parameter design?
Tolerance design
A lathe operator making armature shafts uses X-bar - R charting to monitor the process. Reviewing the charts over the past month, the operator has noticed that the average diameter has always been within control limits, but usually starts below the central line and has a general increase toward the UCL. Then there is a drop to near the LCL and the sequence starts over. See the figure below. This is an indication of:
Tool wear and replacement
The single most important factor in establishing an effective company training effort is:
Top management support
TPM in relationship to the lean enterprise system means:
Total productive maintenance to maximize equipment usage
Which of the following statements concerning the coefficient of simple linear correlation (r), is true?
r = 0.76 has the same predictive power as r = -0.76
