Operations Management Test 1

For firms competing in worldwide markets, conducting __________ is more complex, since what works in one country or region might not work in another

Environmental analysis

Given an actual demand of 59, a previous forecast of 64, and an alpha of .3, what would the forecast for the next period be using simple exponential smoothing?

62.5

Given the following historical data, what is the simple three-period moving average forecast for period 6?

68

Suppose a country's productivity last year was 84; If this country's productivity growth rate of 5% is to be maintained, this means that this year's productivity will have to be ____

88.2

When considering re-use issues for a given product, an important factor to take into account is that product's _______. A. Ethical impact B. Reliability C. Durability D. Design for assembly E. None of the above

?

Which of the following is an issue that designers must take into account in product and service design?

A legal, environmental, and ethical issues B. reliability C. standardization D. range of operating conditions E. all of the above

Which of the following statements about variation is FALSE?

Any variation makes a production process less productive

A characteristic that was once an order winner may become an order qualifier, and vice versa

True

A major benefit of Computer Aided Design (CAD) is the increased productivity of designers

True

A mission statement should provide a guide for the formulation of strategies for the organization

True

A modern firm has two supply chain considerations - external links with suppliers and customers, and an internal network of flows to and between the operations function itself

True

A seasonal relative (or seasonal indexes) is expressed as a percentage of average or trend

True

A service blueprint is quite similar to an architectural drawing

True

A systems approach emphasizes interrelationships among subsystems, but its main theme is that the whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts

True

A tracking signal focuses on the ratio of cumulative forecast error to the corresponding value of MAD

True

Among Ford's many contributions was the introduction of mass production, using the concept of interchangeable parts and division of labor

True

An advantage of "trend adjusted exponential smoothing" over the "linear trend equation" is its ability to adjust over time to changes in the trend

True

An advantage of a weighted moving average is that recent actual results can be given more importance than what occurred a while ago

True

An example of a strategic operations management decision is the choice of where to locate

True

An example of a tactical operations management decision is determining employment levels

True

An example of an operational operations management decision is inventory level management

True

Applied research has the objective of achieving commercial applications for new ideas

True

Applied research is the major R & D effort of business organizations because of the desire for commercial applications

True

As an abstraction of reality, a model is a simplified version of a real phenomenon

True

Bias exists when forecasts tend to be greater or less than the actual values of time series

True

Bias is measured by the cumulative sum of forecast error

True

Correlation measures the strength and direction of a relationship between variables

True

Curvilinear and multiple regression procedures permit us to extend associative models to relationships that are non-linear or involve more than one predictor variable

True

Delayed differentiation and modular design are tactics for mass customization

True

Elton Mayo's "Hawthorne Experiment" was the focal point of the Human Relations Movement, which emphasized the importance of the human element in job design

True

Environmental scanning is a search for events or trends that present either threats or opportunities to the organization

True

Exponential smoothing is a form of weighted averaging

True

Forecasting techniques generally assume an existing causal system that will continue to exist in the future

True

Forecasts based on an average tend to exhibit less variability than the original data

True

Forecasts help managers plan both the system itself and provide valuable information for using the system

True

Forecasts of future demand are used by operations people to plan capacity

True

If a pattern appears when a dependent variable is plotted against time, one should use time series analysis instead of regression analysis

True

In exponential smoothing, an alpha of .30 will cause a forecast to react more quickly to a large error than will an alpha of .20

True

In exponential smoothing, an alpha of 1 will generate the same forecast that a naïve forecast would yield

True

In order to compute seasonal relatives, the trend of past data must be computed or known which means that for brand new products this approach can't be used

True

In order to update a moving average forecast, the values of each data point in the average must be known

True

Lean production systems incorporate the advantages of both mass production and craft production

True

Lean production systems use a highly skilled work force and flexible equipment

True

Many US manufacturers are now shifting their focus from products to both product and process improvements

True

Many operations management decisions can be described as tradeoffs

True

Most of the time what is called product or service design is actually a redesign of an existing product or service

True

Often, the collective success or failure of companies' operations functions will impact the ability of a nation to compete with other nations

True

One approach to extending a product's life cycle is to promote alternate uses of the product

True

One concern in the design of production systems is the degree of standardization

True

One major shortcoming of the Balanced Scorecard is that it doesn't tend to take into account sustainability issues

True

One motivation for an organization to redesign its product or service is to avoid the alternative of downsizing the organization

True

Organizations that are capable of responding quickly to changing requirements can use a shorter forecast horizon and therefore benefit from more accurate forecasts

True

People who work in the field of operations should have skills that include both knowledge and people skills

True

Prior to the Industrial Revolution, goods were produced primarily by craftsmen or their apprentices using custom made parts

True

Product failures can be easier to remedy with modular design

True

Product liability means that a manufacturer is liable for any injuries and damages caused by a faulty product because of poor workmanship or design

True

Productivity is defined as the ratio of output to input

True

Productivity is directly related to the ability of an organization to compete

True

Reducing consumer choices makes service more efficient

True

Reliability can be defined in terms of a particular point in time or in terms of length of service

True

Reliability can be improved by the use of backup components

True

Reliability refers to the ability of a product to perform its intended function under normal conditions

True

Removing the seasonal component from a data series (de-seasonalizing) can be accomplished by dividing each data point by its appropriate seasonal relative

True

Research and development (R&D) refers to organized efforts that are directed toward increasing scientific knowledge and product (or process) innovation

True

Seasonal relatives can be used to de-seasonalize data or incorporate seasonality in a forecast

True

Service design often must take into account the degree of customer contact required

True

Service involves a much higher degree of customer contact than manufacturing

True

Service often requires greater labor content, whereas manufacturing is more capital intensive

True

Services often don't fit simple yield measurements

True

Standardization has the advantage of reducing variability

True

Standardization refers to the extent to which there is absence of variety in a product, service, or process

True

Strategy includes both organizational and functional strategies

True

The Delphi approach involves the use of a series of questionnaires to achieve a consensus forecast

True

The Pareto phenomenon is one of the most important and pervasive concepts that can be applied at all levels of management

True

The best forecast is not necessarily the most accurate

True

The demand for a product and the rate of technological change have significant impact on the length of a given phase of the product life cycle

True

The goal of life-cycle assessment is to incorporate the environmental impact of products or services into product-design or service-design decision-making.

True

The greater the degree of customer involvement, the more challenging the design and management of operations

True

The hierarchy and sequence of planning and decision-making is: mission, organizational strategy, tactics, and operational decisions

True

The majority of our textbook deals with tactical operations that support established functional strategies

True

The naive forecast can serve as a quick and easy standard of comparison against which to judge the cost and accuracy of other techniques

True

The optimal solutions produced by quantitative techniques should always be evaluated in terms of the larger framework

True

The process of dismantling and inspecting a competitor's product to discover improvement is called reverse engineering

True

The purpose of the forecast should be established first so that the level of detail, amount of resources, and accuracy level can be understood

True

The sample standard deviation of forecast error is equal to the square root of MSE

True

The shorter the forecast period, the more accurately the forecasts tend to track what actually happens

True

The use of a control chart assumes that errors are normally distributed about a mean of zero

True

The value of outputs is measured by the prices customers are willing to pay for goods or services

True

Time-based strategies focus on reducing the time required to accomplish certain activities, such as new product development or delivery to the customer

True

Tracking productivity measures over time enables managers to judge organizational performance and decide where improvements are needed

True

Traditional strategies of business organizations have tended to emphasize cost minimization or product differentiation

True

Trend adjusted exponential smoothing requires selection of two smoothing constants

True

Wage and salary increases that are not accompanied by productivity increases tend to exert inflationary pressures on a nation's economy

True

A firm pursuing a strategy based on customization and variety will tend to structure and manage its supply chain to accommodate more _____ than a firm pursuing a strategy based on low-cost and high-volume

Variation

A 'product package' consists of

a combination of goods and services

Using the latest observation in a sequence of data to forecast the next period is:

a naive forecast

What is credited with gains in industrial productivity, increased standards of living and affordable products?

assembly lines

One reason for using the Delphi method in forecasting is to:

avoid premature consensus (bandwagon effect)

-Which is not a significant difference between manufacturing and service operations?

cost per unit

Mobile phones have evolved from devices intended to place and receive phone calls into handheld multimedia communications devices, but in the eyes of some customers these new features make the phones less desirable. This is an example of _________.

creeping featurism

Marketing depends on operations for information regarding _____

lead time

Which of the following might be used to indicate the cyclical component of a forecast?

leading variable

Minimizing the sum of the squared deviations around the line is called:

least squares estimation

Operations and sales are the two __ functions in businesses

line

The degree of management involvement in short range forecasts is:

low

Which of the following is not necessarily an element of a good forecast?

low cost

In the 1970's and 1980's in the USA, organizations concentrated on

marketing and financial strategies

Which of the following is not an ongoing trend in manufacturing?

mass production for greater economies of scale

Which of the following is used for constructing a control chart?

mean squared error (MSE)

The mean absolute deviation (MAD) is used to:

measure forecast accuracy

Which of the following is not typically considered a cure for poor competitiveness?

minimize attention to the operations function

The fundamental purpose for the existence of any organization is described by its:

mission statement

Which of the following factors would tend to reduce productivity?

more inexperienced workers

Farming is an example of:

non-manufactured goods

One possible disadvantage of modular design is that:

number of configurations of modules decreases

Scheduling personnel is an example of an operations management:

operational decision

The external elements of SWOT analysis are:

opportunities and threats

Productivity is expressed as:

output divided by input

Value added can be calculated by:

outputs minus inputs

Manufacturing work sent to other countries is called

outsourced

Modern firms increasingly rely on other firms to supply goods and services instead of doing these tasks themselves; This increased level of ____ is leading to increased emphasis on _____management

outsourcing; supply chain

Which of the following would be an advantage of using a sales force composite to develop a demand forecast?

sales staff is often aware of customers' future plans

Forecasts based on judgment and opinion don't include

second opinions

Which of the following is not a type of judgmental forecasting?

series analysis

Which phrase most closely describes the Delphi technique?

series of questionnaires

Customer service levels can be improved by better:

short term forecast accuracy

Which of the following is not a key factor of competitiveness?

size of organization

Production systems with customized outputs typically have relatively:

skilled workers

Moving average forecasting techniques do the following:

smooth variations in the data

Averaging techniques are useful for:

smoothing out fluctuations in time series

Which one of the following would not generally be classified under the heading of transformation?

staffing

Two widely used metrics of variation are the _____ and the ____ mean;

standard deviation

Product design and choice of location are examples of ____ decisions

strategic

"Concurrent engineering" means that at least two engineers are involved in product design at the same time

False

'Value added' by definition is always a positive number since 'added' implies increases

False

A 'House of Quality' is achieved when no department in a single location has more than 15% rejects

False

A business that is rated highly by its customers for service quality will tend to be more profitable than a business that is rated poorly

False

A consumer survey is an easy and sure way to obtain accurate input from future customers since most people enjoy participating in surveys

False

A control chart involves setting action limits for cumulative forecast error

False

A forecast method is generally deemed to perform adequately when the errors exhibit an identifiable pattern

False

A moving average forecast tends to be more responsive to changes in the data series when more data points are included in the average

False

A proactive approach to forecasting views forecasts as probable descriptions of future demand, and requires action to be taken to meet that demand

False

A smoothing constant of 1 will cause an exponential smoothing forecast to react more quickly to a sudden change than a smoothing constant value of .3.

False

A systems approach means that we concentrate on efficiency within a subsystem and thereby assure overall efficiency

False

An important goal of forecasting is to minimize the average forecast error

False

An organization that is twice as productive as its competitor will be twice as profitable

False

As long as we match a competitor on quality and price we will gain market share

False

Assembly lines achieved productivity but at the expense of standard of living

False

Basic research is done with the expectation that discoveries will have near-term commercial application

False

Commonality of components is beneficial for manufacturing but not for services

False

Companies are either producing goods or delivering services ;this means that only one of the two types of operations management strategies are used

False

Companies are required to use environmental scanning because of both federal and state regulations regarding environmental pollution control

False

Competitiveness relates to the profitability of an organization in the marketplace

False

Concurrent Engineering is another term for sequential development

False

Consumers tend to resist purchasing products containing recycled materials

False

Exponential smoothing adds a percentage (called alpha) of last period's forecast to estimate next period's demand

False

For new products in a strong growth mode, a low alpha will minimize forecast errors when using exponential smoothing techniques

False

Forecasting techniques such as moving averages, exponential smoothing, and the naive approach all represent smoothed (averaged) values of time series data

False

Forecasting techniques that are based on time series data assume that future values of the series will duplicate past values

False

Forecasts based on time series (historical) data are referred to as associative forecasts

False

Forecasts for groups of items tend to be less accurate than forecasts for individual items because forecasts for individual items don't include as many influencing factors

False

Functional strategies should be designed to directly support a firm's mission

False

Global competition really only applies to multi-national organizations

False

Global teams provide diversity while eliminating conflicts and miscommunication

False

Goods producing organizations are not involved in service activities

False

Government statistics are a good source of data about productivity trends in the service sector

False

If people would only work harder, productivity would increase

False

Improving efficiency will guarantee a similar improvement in productivity

False

Life-cycle assessment involves incorporating where the product or service is in its life-cycle into system- design decision-making

False

MAD is equal to the square root of MSE which is why we calculate the easier MSE and then calculate the more difficult MAD

False

Managers should most often rely on quantitative techniques for important decisions since quantitative approaches result in more accurate decisions

False

Measurement of productivity in service is more straightforward than in manufacturing since it is not necessary to take into account the cost of materials

False

Mission statements should be as specific as possible regarding exactly how they will be accomplished

False

Modular design increases costs of purchasing and controlling inventory compared to non-modular

False

Most people encounter operations only in profit-making organizations

False

National productivity is determined by averaging the productivity measures of various companies or industries

False

Once accepted by managers, forecasts should be held firm regardless of new input since many plans have been made using the original forecast

False

One of the main advantages of standardization is that it increases the potential variety of products

False

Operations Management activities will be less important in the future because many firms are becoming service-oriented operations rather than goods producing operations

False

Operations management and marketing are the two functional areas that exist to support activities in other functions such as accounting, finance, IT and human resources

False

Operations managers are responsible for assessing consumer wants and needs and selling and promoting the organization's goods or services

False

Operations managers, who usually use quantitative approaches, are not really concerned with ethical decision-making

False

Operations, marketing, and finance function independently of each other in most organizations

False

Organizational strategy should be determined without considering the realities of functional area strengths and weaknesses since they can be changed to meet our strategy

False

Outsourcing tends to improve quality but at the cost of lowered productivity

False

Productivity is defined as the ratio of input to output

False

Productivity tends to be only a very minor factor in an organization's ability to compete

False

Quality function deployment (QFD) is based on a set of standards which relate customer requirements to company capabilities

False

Quality-based strategies focus on customer satisfaction by ensuring that each product is carefully and thoroughly inspected prior to delivery to prevent sending out bad product

False

Robust design describes a product that will perform satisfactorily so long as it is used in a very narrow range of conditions

False

Service operations require additional inventory because of the unpredictability of consumer demand

False

Simple linear regression applies to linear relationships with no more than three independent variables

False

Special-purpose technology is a common way of offering increased customization in manufacturing or services without taking on additional labor costs

False

Standardization can at times lead to serious difficulties and competitive struggles, particularly when systems are running under different conditions

False

Taguchi design methods involve identifying the optimal operating or environmental conditions for a given product

False

The Balanced Scorecard is an attractive tool to use in the formation of strategy

False

The T in the model TAF = S+T represents the time dimension (which is usually expressed in weeks or months)

False

The lean production philosophy has been slow to be adopted in service industries

False

The naive approach to forecasting requires a linear trend line

False

The naive forecast is limited in its application to series that reflect no trend or seasonality

False

The operations manager has primary responsibility for making operations system design decisions, such as system capacity and location of facilities

False

The process of dismantling and inspecting a competitor's product to discover product improvement is called benchmarking

False

The quality function deployment (QFD) matrices are often referred to as the "House of Quality" because, when completed, they "house" all of the customer's quality requirements

False

The term failure as applied to reliability means that a part or item does not function at all

False

The three Rs - Reduce, Re-use and Recycle - are more applicable in service design than in product design

False

The use of models will guarantee the best possible decisions

False

The word "technology" is used only to refer to "information technology"

False

Time series techniques involve identification of explanatory variables that can be used to predict future demand

False

To save money, it is essential that designers revise the production capabilities to meet the requirements of the new products

False

Trend adjusted exponential smoothing always assumes linear trend

False

Trend adjusted exponential smoothing uses double smoothing to add twice the forecast error to last period's actual demand

False

When new products or services are introduced, focus forecasting models are an attractive option

False

Which of the following is true?

Functional strategies are shaped by corporate strategy

Which of the following features would not generally be considered common to all forecasts?

Historical data is available on which to base the forecast

The advantages of standardization include which of the following? (I.) The opportunity to freeze design at a very early stage (II.) Fewer parts to deal with in inventory (III.) Reduced training cost and time (IV.) Purchasing is more routine...

II, III, IV

Some companies attempt to maximize the revenue they receive from fixed operating capacity by influencing demands through price manipulation; This is an example of ______:

Revenue management

Which of the following is a recent trend in business?

supply chain management

Business organizations consist of three major functions which, ideally

support one another

Taking a systems viewpoint with regard to operations in today's environment increasingly leads decision- makers to consider ______ in response to the _____

sustainability; threat of global warming

Technology choices seldom affect

union activity

Which one of the following is not a factor of successful product and service design?

use computerized design techniques

For the data given below, what would the naive forecast be for the next period (period #5)?

61

Which of the following possible values of alpha would cause exponential smoothing to respond the most quickly to forecast errors?

.15

The weekly output of a fabrication process is shown below together with data for labor and material inputs; Standard selling price is $125 per unit; Overhead is charged weekly at the rate of $1,500 plus ,5 times direct labor cost;Assume a 40-hour week and an hourly wage of $16;Material cost is $10 per foot;What is the average multifactor productivity?

1.457

Given forecast errors of - 5, - 10, and +15, the MAD is:

10

Which of the following smoothing constants would make an exponential smoothing forecast equivalent to a naive forecast?

10

Given an actual demand of 105, a forecasted value of 97, and an alpha of .4, the simple exponential smoothing forecast for the next period would be:

100.2

Given the following historical data and weights of .5, .3, and .2, what is the three-period moving average forecast for period 5?

144.80

Simple exponential smoothing is being used to forecast demand;The previous forecast of 66 turned out to be four units less than actual demand; The next forecast is 66.6, implying a smoothing constant, alpha, equal to:

15

In an assembly operation at a furniture factory, six employees assembled an average of 450 standard dining chairs per 5-day week; What is the labor productivity of this operation?

15 chairs/worker/day

The manager of a carpet store is trying to determine the best installation crew size; He has tried various crew sizes with the results shown below; Based on productivity, what crew size do you recommend?

2

Given forecast errors of 5, 0, - 4, and 3, what is the mean absolute deviation?

3

Given forecast errors of 5, 0, - 4, and 3, what is the bias?

4

A manager uses the following equation to predict monthly receipts: Yt = 40,000 + 150t; What is the forecast for July if t = 0 in April of this year?

40,450

Given forecast errors of 4, 8, and - 3, what is the mean absolute deviation?

5

Gourmet Pretzels bakes soft pretzels on an assembly line; It currently bakes 800 pretzels each 8-hour shift; If the production is increased to 1,200 pretzels each shift, then productivity will have increased by:

50%

The goal of value analysis is to find ways of _______

A. I. Reducing the cost of parts and materials B. II. Improving the performance of the product or service

Designing for recycling helps facilitate ______

Compliance with regulatory environments

Detecting non-randomness in errors can be done using:

Control Charts

Unique attributes of firms that give them a competitive edge are called _______

Core competencies

The Balanced Scorecard is a useful tool for helping managers translate their strategy into action in the following areas:

Customers; Financial; Internal Business Processes; Learning and Growth

Use of simple linear regression analysis assumes that: A Variations around the line are random B Deviations around the line are normally distributed C Predictions are to be made only within the range of observed values of the predictor variable D all of the above

D all of the above

Which of the following is not a benefit of using models in decision making? A They provide a standardized format for analyzing a problem B They serve as a consistent tool for evaluation C They are easy to use and less expensive than dealing with the actual situation D All of the above are benefits

D all the above are benefits

Which of the following explanations about "Design for Manufacturing" is correct?

Design while taking into account the capabilities of the organization to produce a given product

One of these is not a characteristic of a well-designed service system:

Distributed computer networks

_______ is generally used to facilitate an organization strategy that emphasizes low cost? A Speed to market B Flexibility C Customization D Sustainability E None of the above

E None of the above

Current information on ___can have a significant impact on forecast accuracy: A prices B promotion C inventory D competition E all of the above

E all of the above

In business, forecasts are the basis for: A capacity planning B budgeting C sales planning D production planning E all of the above

E all of the above

Core competencies in organizations generally relate to: A cost B quality C time D flexibility E all of the above

E all the above

Ideas for new or improved designs can come from: A.customers B. competitors C. research and development departments D. production departments E. all of the above

E all the above

Which of the following is considered to be a cause of poor US global competitiveness? A the tendency to view labor as a cost factor to be minimized B decision-making based on short-term horizons C weaknesses in technological practice D powerful trading partners E all of the above

E all the above

Which of the following is essential to consider with respect to managing a process to meet demand? A strategy B demand forecasts C capacity D random variability E all of the above

E all the above

Which of these factors affects productivity? A methods and technology B workers C management D a and b only E all of the above

E all the above

Which of the following is not a type of operations? A goods production B storage/transportation C entertainment D communication E all the above involve operations

E all the above involve operations

A disadvantage of global teams for product design is that:

Ease of face to face meetings is absent since members are located everywhere

One step that isn't part of service blueprinting is:

Eliminate boundaries for the service and decide on the level of interaction needed

Which of the following is not a key step toward improving productivity

converting bond debt to stock ownership

Which of the following statements regarding productivity and efficiency is true?

Improve efficiency will improve productivity

Which of the following statements about CAD is not true?

It is used successfully by all manufacturing companies

Which of the following is not true about re-manufacturing?

It produces high quality products easily

"Must have", "expected" and "excitement" characteristics are categories in the ____ model

Kano C. Pareto

Which of the following activities is LEAST likely to be value-added?

Keep a car in dealers inventory

Putting forecast errors into perspective is best done using

MAPE

Accuracy in forecasting can be measured by:

MSE, MAPE

Years ago in the overnight delivery business, providing package tracking capability gave some firms a competitive advantage; Now, all firms must offer this capability simply to be in this line of business; This is an example of ______ becoming _____ over time

Order winners; order qualifiers

The fact that a few improvements in a few key areas of operations will have more impact than many improvements in many other areas is consistent with the:

Pareto phenomenon

Competitiveness doesn't include:

Profitability

Incorporating design for disassembly (DFD) principles in product design helps firms with ___________ design issues

Re-use

Comparing a series of forecasts and actual demand, we have observed the following tracking signals: -0.79,+0.13,-1.27,+0.43,-0.57,-0.97,-1.25,-1.96,-2.77....Whats your conclusion from the tracking signals?

The current forecasting method systematically overestimates

-Service design generally differs from product design in which of the following ways?

There is less latitude in detecting and correcting errors prior to delivery

"Concurrent engineering" brings people concerned with manufacturing into the design phase earlier than in the "over-the-wall" approach

True

"Design for production" takes into account the capabilities of the organization to produce or deliver a given product or service

True

"Quality Function Deployment" is a structured approach that guarantees that the highest quality product or service will be designed

True

-A disadvantage of standardization is the possibility of standardizing designs too early, which may make it difficult to modify in the future

True

The two most important factors in choosing a forecasting technique are:

cost and accuracy

In the past, a significant reason why US. productivity was the highest in the world was high:

agricultural productivity

A forecast based on the previous forecast plus a percentage of the forecast error is:

an exponentially smoothed forecast

In trend-adjusted exponential smoothing, the trend adjusted forecast (TAF) consists of:

an exponentially smoothed forecast and a smoothed trend factor

Elements of the service process in which there is little to no contact with the customer are referred to as ____________

back-of-the-house

A persistent tendency for forecasts to be greater than or less than the actual values is called:

bias

Which technique is used in computing seasonal relatives?

centered moving average

Knowledge skills usually don't include:

communication skills

In the area of product and service design, the acronym CAD refers to:

computer aided design

The process of comparing outputs to previously established standards to determine if corrective action is needed is called:

controlling

In order to increase the responsiveness of a forecast made using the moving average technique, the number of data points in the average should be:

decreased

The term 'degrees of newness' is associated with:

degree of design change

The research and development activity which starts after positive research results are available and attempts to turn these results into useful commercial applications is:

development

-Which of the following is not a characteristic of service operations?

easy measurement of productivity

Which of the following is not a step in the forecasting process?

eliminate all assumptions

For an organization to grow its market share, it must:

exceed minimum standards of acceptability for its products or services

Measurements taken at various points in the transformation process for control purposes are called

feedback

Budgeting, analysis of investment proposals, and provision of funds are activities associated with the ______function

finance

In services, flowcharts are useful for _______________

identifying and determining the sequence of customer and service actions and interactions

One way to increase reliability is to:

improve component

One way to increase reliability is to:

improve preventive maintenance procedures

Which of the following corresponds to the predictor variable in simple linear regression?

independent variable

Operations management involves continuous decision-making; hopefully most decisions made will be

informed

The term 'standardization' is closely associated with:

interchangeability

Time-based approaches of business organizations focus on reducing the time to accomplish certain necessary activities; Time reductions seldom apply to:

internal audits

Which of the following does not relate to system design?

inventory management

The process of dismantling and inspecting a competitor's new or revised product for the purpose of gleaning design ideas is called:

reverse engineering

Which of the following is not one of the phases of product design and development?

performance applied research

The responsibilities of the operations manager are:

planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling

Increasing the service offered to the customer makes it more difficult to compete on the basis of ______

price

A managerial approach toward forecasting which seeks to actively influence demand is:

proactive

The ratio of good output to quantity of raw material input is called

process yield

Products or services with a high degree of similarity of features and components are called:

product families

The two general approaches to forecasting are:

qualitative and quantitative

The structural approach for integrating customer requirements into every aspect of product development is known as:

quality function deployment

A formal way to document customer requirements is:

quality function deployment (QFD)

In the "additive" model for seasonality, seasonality is expressed as a ___adjustment to the average; in the multiplicative model, seasonality is expressed as a ___adjustment to the average

quantity, percentage

Dealing with the fact that certain aspects of any management situation are more important than others is called:

recognition of priorities

The primary method for associative forecasting is:

regression analysis

Which is not a characteristic of simple moving averages applied to time series data?

requires only last period's forecast and actual data

Product design and process selection are examples of _____ decisions

system design

Which of the following is not true about systems approach?

systems approach concentrates on efficiency within subsystems

Which of the following is not a reason for poor performance of our organization in the marketplace?

taking advantage of strengths/opportunities, and recognizing competitive threats

The forecasting method which uses anonymous questionnaires to achieve a consensus forecast is:

the Delphi method

The primary difference between seasonality and cycles is:

the duration of the repeating patterns

Which of the following is not a reason for redesigning a product or service?

to increase level of employee satisfaction

Gradual, long-term movement in time series data is called:

trend

A software company is weighing whether to release a new version of its software. The company can go ahead and release the version now and correct flaws with subsequent patches or upgrades, or it can wait until the new version is reasonably bug-free. This is an example of _____.

vaporware

Which term most closely relates to associative forecasting techniques?

variables

Which is not a characteristic of exponential smoothing

weights each historical value equally

Which of the following is not a factor that affects productivity?

wireless cellular phones

A productivity increase in one operation that doesn't improve overall productivity of the business isn't

worthwhile