Operational Decision Chapter 6
17) A Six Sigma program has how many defects per million? A) 3.4 B) 34 C) 1000 D) 6 times the standard deviation E) 2700
A) 3.4
14) PDCA, developed by Shewhart, stands for which of the following? A) Plan-Do-Check-Act B) Plan-Develop-Check-Accept C) Problem-Develop Solution-Check-Act D) Problem-Do-Continue-Act E) Prepare-Develop-Create-Assess
A) Plan-Do-Check-Act
25) Which of the following statements regarding "Six Sigma" is TRUE? A) The term has two distinct meanings—one is statistical; the other is a comprehensive quality system. B) Six Sigma means that about 94 percent of a firm's output is free of defects. C) The Six Sigma program was developed by Toyota in the 1970s. D) The Six Sigma program is for manufacturing firms and is not applicable to services. E) Six Sigma certification is granted by the International Standards Organization (ISO).
A) The term has two distinct meanings—one is statistical; the other is a comprehensive quality system.
15) Which of the following is FALSE regarding control charts? A) Values above the upper control limits imply that the product's quality is exceeding expectations. B) Control charts are built so that new data can be quickly compared to past performance data. C) Control charts graphically present data. D) Control charts plot data over time. E) None of the above is false.
A) Values above the upper control limits imply that the product's quality is exceeding expectations.
9) A production manager at a pottery factory has noticed that about 70 percent of defects result from impurities in raw materials, 15 percent result from human error, 10 percent from machine malfunctions, and 5 percent from a variety of other causes. This manager is most likely using: A) a Pareto chart. B) a scatter diagram. C) a quality loss function. D) a cause-and-effect diagram. E) a flowchart.
A) a Pareto chart.
19) Regarding the quality of design, production, and distribution of products, an ethical requirement for management is to: A) determine whether any of the organization's stakeholders are being wronged by poor quality products. B) gain ISO 9000 certification for the organization. C) obtain a product safety certificate from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. D) have the organization's legal staff write disclaimers in the product instruction booklets. E) compare the cost of product liability to the external failure cost.
A) determine whether any of the organization's stakeholders are being wronged by poor quality products.
8) Quality can improve profitability by reducing costs. Which of the following is NOT an aspect of reduced costs by quality improvements? A) flexible pricing B) increased productivity C) lower rework and scrap costs D) lower warranty costs E) All of these are aspects of reduced costs by quality improvements.
A) flexible pricing
18) A hospital benchmarked against a Ferrari racing team in an effort to: A) improve patient handoff quality. B) increase surgery prep time. C) lengthen surgery duration. D) reduce the number of doctors. E) all of these
A) improve patient handoff quality.
6) The "four Ms" of cause-and-effect diagrams are: A) material, machinery/equipment, manpower, and methods. B) material, methods, men, and mental attitude. C) named after four quality experts. D) material, management, manpower, and motivation. E) mentality, motivation, management, and manpower.
A) material, machinery/equipment, manpower, and methods.
31) What shape does the quality loss function exhibit? A) quadratic B) linear C) S-shaped D) concave E) bell-curve
A) quadratic
30) Costs of dissatisfaction, repair costs, and decreased future demand are elements of cost in the: A) quality loss function. B) Pareto chart. C) ISO 9000 quality cost calculator. D) process chart. E) Ishikawa diagram.
A) quality loss function.
16) A Three Sigma program has how many defects per thousand? A) 34 B) 2.7 C) 3 times the standard deviation D) 2700 E) 1500
B) 2.7
22) Which of the following statements is TRUE? A) Juran coined the term zero defects. B) Feigenbaum's work in how people learn from each other's successes led to the field of cross-functional teamwork. C) Crosby defined quality as fitness for use. D) Juran wrote the 14 points for implementing quality improvement. E) Deming laid out 40 steps to quality improvement process in his 1961 book.
B) Feigenbaum's work in how people learn from each other's successes led to the field of cross-functional teamwork.
8) The process improvement technique that sorts the vital few from the trivial many is: A) Taguchi analysis. B) Pareto analysis. C) benchmarking. D) Deming analysis. E) Yamaguchi analysis.
B) Pareto analysis.
13) A quality circle holds a brainstorming session and attempts to organize factors most responsible for the flaws in a product to help focus on problem-solving efforts. Which tool do you suggest they use to organize their findings? A) Ishikawa diagram B) Pareto chart C) flowchart D) control charts E) activity chart
B) Pareto chart
22) Total quality management emphasizes: A) the responsibility of the quality control staff to identify and solve all quality-related problems. B) a commitment to quality that goes beyond internal company issues to suppliers and customers. C) a system where strong managers are the only decision makers. D) a process where mostly statisticians get involved. E) ISO 14000 certification.
B) a commitment to quality that goes beyond internal company issues to suppliers and customers.
7) "Quality lies in the eyes of the beholder" is: A) an unrealistic definition of quality. B) a user-based definition of quality. C) a manufacturing-based definition of quality. D) a product-based definition of quality. E) the definition of quality proposed by the American Society for Quality.
B) a user-based definition of quality.
10) A customer service manager at a retail clothing store has collected numerous customer complaints from the forms they fill out on merchandise returns. To analyze trends or patterns in these returns, she has organized these complaints into a small number of sources or factors. This is most closely related to the ________ tool of TQM. A) quality loss function B) cause-and-effect diagram C) scatter diagram D) histogram E) process control chart
B) cause-and-effect diagram
19) One of Britain's largest children's hospitals working with a Ferrari racing team is an example of: A) internal benchmarking. B) external benchmarking. C) Taguchi concepts. D) employee empowerment. E) corporate responsibility
B) external benchmarking.
7) Among the tools of TQM, the tool ordinarily used to aid in understanding the sequence of events through which a product travels is a: A) Pareto chart. B) flowchart. C) check sheet. D) Taguchi map. E) poka-yoke.
B) flowchart.
12) If a sample of parts is measured and the mean of the measurements is outside the control limits, the process is: A) in control, but not capable of producing within the established control limits. B) out of control and the process should be investigated for assignable variation. C) within the established control limits with only natural causes of variation. D) monitored closely to see if the next sample mean will also fall outside the control limits. E) none of the above.
B) out of control and the process should be investigated for assignable variation.
9) Three broad categories of definitions of quality are: A) product quality, service quality, and organizational quality. B) user based, manufacturing based, and product based. C) internal, external, and prevention. D) low-cost, response, and differentiation. E) Pareto, Shewhart, and Deming.
B) user based, manufacturing based, and product based.
20) If 10 million passengers pass through the St. Louis Airport with checked baggage each month, a successful Six Sigma program for baggage handling would result in how many passengers with misplaced luggage? A) 3.4 B) 6.0 C) 34 D) 2700 E) 6 times the monthly standard deviation of passengers
C) 34
17) "Quality Is Free," meaning that the costs of poor quality have been understated, is the work of: A) W. Edwards Deming. B) Joseph M. Juran. C) Philip B. Crosby. D) Crosby, Stills, and Nash. E) Armand Feigenbaum
C) Philip B. Crosby.
15) Which of the following statements is NOT true? A) Self-promotion is not a substitute for quality products. B) Inferior products harm a firm's profitability and a nation's balance of payments. C) Product liability transfers from the manufacturer to the retailer once the retailer accepts delivery of the product. D) Quality—be it good or bad—will show up in perceptions about a firm's new products, employment practices, and supplier relations. E) Legislation such as the Consumer Product Safety Act sets and enforces product standards by banning products that do not reach those standards.
C) Product liability transfers from the manufacturer to the retailer once the retailer accepts delivery of the product.
8) "Making it right the first time" is: A) an unrealistic definition of quality. B) a user-based definition of quality. C) a manufacturing-based definition of quality. D) a product-based definition of quality. E) the definition of quality proposed by the American Society for Quality
C) a manufacturing-based definition of quality.
29) The process of identifying other organizations that are best at some facet of your operations and then modeling your organization after them is known as: A) continuous improvement. B) employee empowerment. C) benchmarking. D) copycatting. E) patent infringement.
C) benchmarking.
15) PDCA is most often applied with regard to which aspect of TQM? A) Six Sigma B) employee empowerment C) continuous improvement D) benchmarking E) JIT
C) continuous improvement
28) Building high-morale organizations and building communication networks that include employees are both elements of: A) ISO 9000 certification. B) Six Sigma certification. C) employee empowerment. D) Taguchi methods. E) the tools of TQM.
C) employee empowerment.
5) Pareto charts are used to: A) identify inspection points in a process. B) outline production schedules. C) organize errors, problems, or defects. D) show material flow. E) show the range of values of a measurement and the frequency with which each value occurs.
C) organize errors, problems, or defects.
6) One study found that companies with the highest levels of quality are how many times more productive than their competitors with the lowest quality levels? A) 2 B) 3 C) 4 D) 5 E) None of the above because quality has no impact on productivity (units/labor hr.).
D) 5
11) A fish-bone chart is also known as a(n): A) Scatter diagram. B) poka-yoke diagram. C) Kaizen diagram. D) Ishikawa diagram. E) Taguchi diagram.
D) Ishikawa diagram.
32) A manager tells her production employees, "It's no longer good enough that your work falls anywhere within the specification limits. I need your work to be as close to the target value as possible." Her thinking is reflective of: A) internal benchmarking. B) Six Sigma. C) ISO 9000. D) Taguchi concepts. E) process control charts.
D) Taguchi concepts.
21) Suppose that a firm has historically been achieving "Three Sigma" quality. If the firm later changes its quality management practices such that it begins to achieve "Six Sigma" quality, which of the following phenomena will result? A) The average number of defects will be cut in half. B) The specification limits will be moved twice as far from the mean. C) The average number of defects will be cut by 99.9997%. D) The average number of defects will be cut by 99.87%. E) The average number of defects will be cut by 99.73%.
D) The average number of defects will be cut by 99.87%.
4) Which of the following statements regarding Arnold Palmer Hospital is FALSE? A) The hospital uses a wide range of quality management techniques. B) The culture of quality at the hospital includes employees at all levels. C) The hospital scores very highly in national studies of patient satisfaction. D) The hospital's high quality is measured by low readmission rates, not patient satisfaction. E) Supplies are delivered to Arnold Palmer on a just-in-time (JIT) basis.
D) The hospital's high quality is measured by low readmission rates, not patient satisfaction.
16) "The employee cannot produce products that on average exceed the quality of what the process is capable of producing" expresses a basic philosophy in the writings of: A) Vilfredo Pareto. B) Armand Feigenbaum. C) Joseph M. Juran. D) W. Edwards Deming. E) Philip B. Crosby.
D) W. Edwards Deming.
18) Stakeholders who are affected by the production and marketing of poor quality products include: A) stockholders and employees. B) suppliers and creditors. C) customers and distributors. D) all of these E) none of these.
D) all of these
20) To become ISO 9000 certified, organizations must: A) document quality procedures. B) have an onsite assessment. C) have an ongoing series of audits of their products or service. D) all of these E) none of these
D) all of these
23) A successful TQM program incorporates all EXCEPT which of the following? A) continuous improvement B) employee involvement C) benchmarking D) centralized decision-making authority E) JIT
D) centralized decision-making authority
14) GE's recall of 3.1 million dishwashers cost the company more in repairs than the value of the actual dishwashers. This is an example of which quality principle? A) PDCA B) internal failure costs C) appraisal costs D) cost of poor quality is underestimated E) prevention costs
D) cost of poor quality is underestimated
13) Which of the four major categories of quality costs is particularly hard to quantify? A) prevention costs B) appraisal costs C) internal failure costs D) external failure costs E) None is hard to quantify
D) external failure costs
14) When sample measurements fall inside the control limits, it means that: A) each unit manufactured is good enough to sell. B) the process limits cannot be determined statistically. C) the process output exceeds the requirements. D) if there is no other pattern in the samples, the process is in control. E) the process output does not fulfill the requirements.
D) if there is no other pattern in the samples, the process is in control.
10) According to the manufacturing-based definition of quality: A) quality is the degree of excellence at an acceptable price and the control of variability at an acceptable cost. B) quality depends on how well the product fits patterns of consumer preferences. C) even though quality cannot be defined, you know what it is. D) quality is the degree to which a specific product conforms to standards. E) quality lies in the eyes of the beholder.
D) quality is the degree to which a specific product conforms to standards.
13) Based on his 14 Points, Deming is a strong proponent of: A) inspection at the end of the production process. B) an increase in numerical quotas to boost productivity. C) looking for the cheapest supplier. D) training and knowledge. E) all of these.
D) training and knowledge.
7) A successful quality strategy features which of the following elements? A) an organizational culture that fosters quality B) an understanding of the principles of quality C) engaging employees in the necessary activities to implement quality D) A and C E) A, B, and C
E) A, B, and C
27) Techniques for building employee empowerment include: A) building communication networks that include employees. B) developing open, supportive supervisors. C) moving responsibility from both managers and staff to production employees. D) building high-morale organizations. E) All of these are techniques for employee empowerment.
E) All of these are techniques for employee empowerment.
33) Which of the following is TRUE regarding Taguchi concepts? A) Taguchi emphasizes spec limit-oriented quality. B) His idea is to remove the causes of adverse conditions instead of removing the effects. C) Small variations in materials and process do not destroy product quality. D) Conformance-oriented systems are better than target-oriented ones. E) As the item output moves away from its target value, the quality cost will increase linearly.
E) As the item output moves away from its target value, the quality cost will increase linearly.
21) What is a set of quality standards developed by the International Organization for Standardization? A) Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award B) Deming Prize C) Six Sigma D) IOS 2009 E) ISO 9000
E) ISO 9000
26) Members of quality circles are: A) paid according to their contribution to quality. B) external consultants designed to provide training in the use of quality tools. C) always machine operators. D) all trained to be facilitators. E) None of these; all of the statements are false.
E) None of these; all of the statements are false.
11) Which of the following is NOT one of the major categories of costs associated with quality? A) prevention costs B) appraisal costs C) internal failure costs D) external failure costs E) None of these; they are all major categories of costs associated with quality.
E) None of these; they are all major categories of costs associated with quality.
5) Arnold Palmer Hospital uses which of the following quality management techniques? A) Pareto charts B) flowcharts C) benchmarking D) just-in-time E) The hospital uses all of these techniques.
E) The hospital uses all of these techniques.
12) The philosophy of zero defects is: A) the result of Deming's research. B) unrealistic. C) prohibitively costly. D) an ultimate goal; in practice, 1 to 2% defects is acceptable. E) consistent with the commitment to continuous improvement.
E) consistent with the commitment to continuous improvement.
24) Kaizen is a Japanese term meaning: A) a foolproof mechanism. B) just-in-time (JIT). C) a fishbone diagram. D) setting standards. E) continuous improvement.
E) continuous improvement.
12) All of the following costs are likely to decrease as a result of better quality EXCEPT: A) customer dissatisfaction costs. B) inspection costs. C) scrap costs. D) warranty and service costs. E) maintenance costs.
E) maintenance costs.
23) ________ costs result from production of defective parts or services before delivery to the customer.
a. essay question-23
24) The work by ________ regarding how people learn from each other's successes led to the field of cross-functional teamwork.
a. essay question-24
25) Not only customers, but stockholders, suppliers, and others, are among the ________ whose values must be protected in making ethical decisions concerning the quality of products.
a. essay question-25
26) Juran varies from Deming somewhat in focusing on the ________ and defining quality as ________, not necessarily the written specifications.
a. essay question-26
27) Identify the four costs of quality. Which one is hardest to evaluate?
a. essay question-27
28) State the American Society for Quality's definition of quality. Of the three "flavors" or categories of quality definitions, which type is it? Explain.
a. essay question-28
29) Quality has at least three categories of definitions; identify them. Provide a brief explanation of each.
a. essay question-29
30) In a sentence or two, summarize the contribution of Philip Crosby to quality management.
a. essay question-30
31) The focus of ISO 9000 is to enhance success through what eight quality management principles?
a. essay question-31
32) Describe how ISO 9000 has evolved in the past several years.
a. essay question-32
34) ________ is the Japanese word for the ongoing process of unending improvement.
a. essay question-34
35) Enlarging employee jobs so that the added responsibility and authority is moved to the lowest level possible in the organization is called ________.
a. essay question-35
36) ________ selects a demonstrated standard of performance that represents the very best performance for a process or an activity.
a. essay question-36
37) A group of employees that meet on a regular basis with a facilitator to solve work-related problems in their work area is a(n) ________.
a. essay question-37
38) Six Sigma was developed by ________ in the 1980s.
a. essay question-38
39) Identify the five steps of DMAIC.
a. essay question-39
40) What steps can be taken to develop benchmarks?
a. essay question-40
41) Explain how just-in-time processes relate to the quality of an organization's outputs.
a. essay question-41
42) What is the difference between conformance-oriented quality and target-oriented quality?
a. essay question-42
43) Identify the seven major concepts of TQM.
a. essay question-43
44) What is the quality loss function (QLF)?
a. essay question-44
9) Arnold Palmer Hospital uses ________ to seek new ways to reduce readmission rates.
a. essay question-9
2) A cause-and-effect diagram helps identify the sources of a problem. a. true b. false
a. true
2) TQM is important because each of the ten decisions made by operations managers deals with some aspect of identifying and meeting customer expectations. a. true b. false
a. true
3) Improved quality can increase profitability via allowing flexible pricing. a. true b. false
a. true
5) Kaizen is similar to TQM in that both are focused on continuous improvement. a. true b. false
a. true
6) Quality circles empower employees to improve productivity by finding solutions to work-related problems in their work area. a. true b. false
a. true
8) Line employees need the knowledge of TQM tools. a. true b. false
a. true
9) One of the ways that just-in-time (or JIT) influences quality is that by reducing inventory, bad quality is exposed. a. true b. false
a. true
1) Managers at Arnold Palmer Hospital take quality so seriously that the hospital typically is a national leader in several quality areas—so that continuous improvement is no longer necessary. a. true b. false
b. false
10) The quality loss function indicates that costs related to poor quality are low as long as the product is within acceptable specification limits. a. true b. false
b. false
11) Benchmarking requires the comparison of your firm to other similar organizations in your industry; it is not appropriate to look outside your industry. a. true b. false
b. false
2) An improvement in quality must necessarily increase costs. a. true b. false
b. false
2) Conforming to standards is the focus of the product-based definition of quality. a. true b. false
b. false
3) A cause-and-effect diagram shows the relationship between two measurements. a. true b. false
b. false
3) Internal failure costs are associated with testing, labs, and inspectors. a. true b. false
b. false
3) The phrase Six Sigma has two meanings. One is statistical, referring to an extremely high process, product, or service capability; the other is a comprehensive system for achieving and sustaining business success. a. true b. false
b. false
4) Continuous improvement is based on the philosophy that not every aspect of an operation can be improved. a. true b. false
b. false
4) Flowcharts are graphic presentations of data over time that show upper and lower limits for the process. a. true b. false
b. false
4) Joseph M. Juran is credited with both of these quality catch-phrases: "quality is free" and "zero defects." a. true b. false
b. false
5) Deming's writings on quality tend to focus on the customer and on fitness for use, unlike Juran's work that is oriented toward meeting specifications. a. true b. false
b. false
6) "Making it right the first time" is the focus of the user-based definition of quality. a. true b. false
b. false
7) Benchmarking requires the comparison of your firm to other organizations; it is not appropriate to benchmark by comparing one of your divisions to another of your divisions. a. true b. false
b. false
Section 2 1) The definition of quality adopted by The American Society for Quality is a manufacturing-based definition. a. true b. false
b. false
Section 3 1) Quality is mostly the business of the quality control staff, not ordinary employees. a. true b. false
b. false
Section 4 1) Scatter diagrams are a graphical way of identifying the few critical items from the many less important ones. a. true b. false
b. false