Operations Manangement Test 2
Which of the following is false regarding capacity expansion?
Capacity may only be added in large chunks.
Which of the following statements regarding Dell Computer is false?
Dell builds its computers overseas in order to gain a low-cost advantage.
Which of the following statements regarding FedEx is true?
FedEx believes the hub system helps reduce mishandling and delays due to better controls
Which of the following is the best example of the proximity rule that, for service firms, proximity to market is the most important location factor?
Few people will travel out-of state for a haircut.
What describes a system that stores and displays information that can be linked to a geographic location?
GIS
Costs of dissatisfaction, repair costs, and warranty costs are elements of cost in the
Taguchi Loss Function
A manager tells her production employees, "It's no longer good enough that your work fall anywhere within the specification limits. I need your work to be as close to the target value as possible." Her thinking is reflective of
Taguchi concepts
Workers in which of the following countries probably experience the least amount of job expansion, on average?
United States
If demand exceeds capacity at a new facility, an organization can use which of the following to move demand to an existing facility?
aggressive marketing
Which of the following are typical of process control systems?
all of the above They have sensors, The digitized data are analyzed by computer, which generates feedback, Their sensors take measurements on a periodic basis, & The sensors' measurements are digitized.
A capacity alternative has an initial cost of $50,000 and cash flow of $20,000 for each of the next four years. If the cost of capital is 5 percent, the net present value of this investment is approximately
$20,920
Fabricators, Inc. wants to increase capacity by adding a new machine. The fixed costs for machine A are $90,000, and its variable cost is $15 per unit. The revenue is $21 per unit. The break-even point for machine A is
15,000
A manager wants to build σ3 control limits for a process. The target value for the mean of the process is 10 units, and the standard deviation of the process is 6. If samples of size 9 are to be taken, the UCL and LCL will be
16 and 4
Sample observations of a claims processor made over a 160-hour work month reveal that the worker produced a total of 384 completed claims forms. The performance rating was 80%. The worker was idle 20% of the time (so that idle time should be subtracted from the total time when computing the average observed time). The allowance factor is 8%. What is the normal time per unit?
16.0 minutes
Process A has fixed costs of $1000 and variable costs of $5 per unit. Process B has fixed costs of $500 and variable costs of $15 per unit. The crossover point between process A and process B is
50 units
Which one of the following technologies is used only for material handling, not actual production or assembly?
AGVs
Which of the following is true regarding the relationship between AOQ and the true population percent defective?
AOQ is less than the true percent defective.
Which of the following is true regarding the average outgoing quality level?
AOQ is very low (very good) for extremely poor quality lots.
An acceptance sampling plan is to be designed to meet the organization's targets for product quality and risk levels. Which of the following is true?
AQL, LTPD, α and β collectively determine n and c.
"Automatic placement and withdrawal of parts and products into and from designated places in a warehouse" describes
ASRS
Marketing issues such as advertising, image, and promotion are important to quality because
the intangible attributes of a product (including any accompanying service) may not be defined by the consumer
One factor impacting the fixed-position layout strategy is
the movement of material to the limited storage areas around the site
The tally sheet data from a work sampling study provides information regarding
the percent of time spent on various tasks
One fundamental difference between a process chart and a process map is that
the process chart is more like a table, while the process map is more like a schematic diagram
Therbligs are
the smallest unit of basic motion used in methods time measurement exercises
An advantage of work sampling is that
the time spent observing the employee is relatively short
Takt time is
the total work time available divided by units required by the consumer
One disadvantage of process-oriented layouts arises from
the use of the general purpose machines and equipment
Shadow boards and foot printing are elements of
the visual workplace
Predetermined time standards are an outgrowth of basic motions called
therbligs
All of the following are advantages of predetermined time standards except
they are customized to your company
Among the advantages of predetermined time standards are all of the following except
they can only be determined after work actually takes place
Timing a sample of a worker's performance and using it to set a standard is the work measurement technique of
time studies
A run test is used
to examine points in a control chart to check for nonrandom variability
On the crossover chart where the costs of two or more location alternatives have been plotted, the quantity at which two cost curves cross is the quantity at which
total costs are equal for two alternative locations
The crossover point is that production quantity where
total costs for one process equal total costs for another process
Break-even is the number of units at which
total revenue equals total cost
Based on his 14 Points, Deming is a strong proponent of
training and knowledge
Production and/or shipping costs are always considered in which of the following location decision methods?
transportation method
Which of the following is a location analysis technique typically employed by a manufacturing organization?
transportation method
Which of these factors would be considered when making a location decision at the site level?
zoning regulations
According to the text, the most common choice of limits for control charts is usually
± 3 standard deviations
If the Cpk index exceeds 1
σ must be less than one-third of the difference between the specification and the process mean
A successful TQM program incorporates all of the following except
centralized decision-making authority
The purpose of an X chart is to determine whether there has been a
change in the central tendency of the process output
The x-bar chart tells us whether there has been a
change in the central tendency of the process output
The c-chart signals whether there has been a
change in the number of defects per unit
Which of the following represents a common way to manage capacity in the service sector?
changes in staffing levels
Operations managers will need to consider ethical and social responsibility issues when location decisions involve
child labor issues, sweatshop conditions, allegiance to the firm's current location, & corruption
Geographic Information Systems can assist the location decision by
combining geography with demographic analysis
A recent consumer survey conducted for a car dealership indicates that, when buying a car, customers are primarily concerned with the salesperson's ability to explain the car's features, the salesperson's friendliness, and the dealer's honesty. The dealership should be especially concerned with which determinants of service quality?
communication, courtesy, and credibility
Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) includes manufacturing systems that have
computer-aided design, a flexible manufacturing system, inventory control, warehousing and shipping integrated
The philosophy of zero defects is
consistent with the commitment to continuous improvement
For which of the following operations would a fixed-position layout be most appropriate?
constructing a highway tunnel or bridge
"Kaizen" is a Japanese term meaning
continuous improvement
When making a location decision at the region/community level, which of these would be considered?
cost and availability of utilities
A location decision for an appliance manufacturer would tend to have a(n)
cost focus
Which of the determinants of service quality involves having the customer's best interests at heart?
credibility
Which of the following requires an information system that provides inbound product identification, its destination, and routing of the product to the designated outbound vehicle?
cross-docking
In mass service and service factory quadrants of the service process matrix, the operations manager could focus on all of the following except
customization
An organization whose capacity is on that portion of the average unit cost curve that falls as output rises
has a facility that is below optimum operating level and should build a larger facility
Advances in technology
have had dramatic impact on customer interaction with services and with products
Which of the following is not a work environment issue with ethical implications?
hazardous materials in the workplace, equal opportunity, equal pay for equal work, & danger on the job
Which of the following phrases best describes product focus? (1)
high fixed costs, low variable costs
Which of the following is not one of the essential ingredients for mass customization?
high machine utilizations
A product-focused process is commonly used to produce
high-volume, low-variety products
Globalization of the location decision is the result of all of the following except
higher quality of labor overseas
Which of the following techniques may not provide reliable and accurate time standards?
historical experience
An operating characteristics curve shows
how the probability of accepting a lot varies with the population percent defective
An operating characteristic (OC) curve describes
how well an acceptance sampling plan discriminates between good and bad lots
In mass service and professional service, the operations manager should focus on
human resources
When a sample measurement falls inside the control limits, it means that
if there is no other pattern in the samples, the process is in control
Managers should seek to control such work environment factors as
illumination, noise and vibration, temperature, & air quality
In most acceptance sampling plans, when a lot is rejected, the entire lot is inspected and all defective items are replaced. When using this technique the AOQ
improves (AOQ becomes a smaller fraction)
Average outgoing quality (AOQ) usually
improves with inspection
Acceptance sampling is usually used to control
incoming lots of purchased products
When done correctly, mass customization
increases pressure on supply chain performance, helps eliminate the guesswork that comes with sales forecasting, drives down inventories, & increases pressure on scheduling
Which of the following represents an aggressive approach to demand management in the service sector when demand and capacity are not particularly well matched?
inexpensive rates for weekend phone calls
A manager who is conducting a time study now needs an accuracy of ±0.1 minutes, rather than ±0.2 minutes as in the past. Because of this change in accuracy, the adequate sample size becomes
none of the above
The layout strategy that deals with low-volume, high-variety production is
none of the above
The mean and standard deviation for a process for which we have a substantial history are x= 120 and σ = 2. For the variable control chart, a sample size of 16 will be used. What is the mean of the sampling distribution?
none of the above
Quality circles members are
none of the above; all of the statements are false
Which of the following is not one of the major categories of costs associated with quality?
none of the above; they are all major categories of costs associated with quality
Which of the following constitutes a major trend influencing office layouts?
off-site employees
Because the fixed-position layout problem is so difficult to solve on-site, operations managers
often complete as much of the project as possible off-site
A production line is to be designed to make 500 El-More dolls per day. Each doll requires 11 activities totaling 16 minutes of work. The factory operates 750 minutes per day. The cycle time for this assembly line is
one and one-half minutes
A good description of "source inspection" is inspecting
one's own work, as well as the work done at the previous work station
Which type of layout is specifically designed to encourage employees to interact?
open office
Daily capacity of a product layout is determined by
operating time divided by cycle time
Which of the following is used by methods analysis in analyzing body movement at the workstation level?
operations chart
Pareto charts are used to
organize errors, problems, or defects
If a sample of items is taken and the mean of the sample is outside the control limits the process is
out of control and the cause should be established
If a sample of parts is measured and the mean of the measurements is outside the control limits, the process is
out of control and the process should be investigated for assignable variation
A manufacturer uses statistical process control to control the quality of the firm's products. Samples of 50 of Product A are taken, and a defective/acceptable decision is made on each unit sampled. For Product B, the number of flaws per unit is counted. What type(s) of control charts should be used?
p-chart for A, c-chart for B
Adding a complementary product to what is currently being produced is a demand management strategy used when
the existing product has seasonal or cyclical demand
One of the major advantages of process-oriented layouts is
flexibility in equipment and labor assignment
Which of the following is true for process layouts, but false for product-oriented layouts?
flexibility in equipment and labor assignments
A system using an automated work cell controlled by electronic signals from a common centralized computer facility is called a(n)
flexible manufacturing system
"Operators simply load new programs, as necessary, to produce different products" describes
flexible manufacturing systems
"Schematic used to investigate movement of people or material" describes a(n)
flow diagram
A drawing of the movement of material, product, or people is a
flow diagram
Methods analysis employs which of the following charts in its analysis of the movement of workers and materials?
flow diagram
In a large aerospace company, it has been discovered that some insulators have been damaged. A methods specialist is sent out to follow the insulators through the production and storage processes and to try to find out where in the process they are damaged. The specialist should use
flow diagrams
Service blueprinting
focuses on the provider's interaction with the customer
The two most basic policies associated with employment stability are
follow demand exactly and hold employment constant
"Poka-yoke" is the Japanese term for
foolproof
Net present value will be greater
for a 4% discount rate than for a 6% discount rate
In time studies, average observed time for an element is
for all observations, the sum of all times recorded divided by the number of observations
The usual purpose of an R-chart is to signal whether there has been a
gain or loss in dispersion
A quasi-custom product
gets its apparent customization from the combinations available from a small number of modules, is often the output of repetitive focus facilities, & is a valid description of a fast food sandwich
Standard Register
groups people and machines into departments that perform specific activities
Which of the statements below best describes office layout?
groups workers, their equipment, and spaces/offices to provide for movement of information
Which of the following is not one of the four approaches to capacity expansion?
lag demand with one-step expansion
Natural variations (2)
lead to occasional false findings that processes are out of control
A capacity alternative has an initial cost of $50,000 and cash flow of $20,000 for each of the next four years. If the cost of capital is 5 percent, the net present value of this investment is
less than $30,000
In a product-oriented layout, the process of deciding how to assign tasks to workstations is referred to as
line balancing
When making a location decision at the country level, which of these would be considered?
location of markets
The main advantage of a product-oriented layout is typically
low variable cost per unit
Which of the following phrases best describes process focus? (2)
low volume, high variety
All of the following costs are likely to decrease as a result of better quality except
maintenance costs
The objective of a human resource strategy is to
manage labor and design jobs so people are effectively and efficiently utilized
Labor standards can help a firm determine expected production, which in turn enables
managers and workers to know what constitutes a fair day's work.
A good layout requires determining
material handling requirements, capacity and space requirements, environment and aesthetics, & cost of moving between various work areas
The "four Ms" of cause-and-effect diagrams are
material, machinery/equipment, manpower, and methods
Which of the following does not support the retail layout objective of maximizing customer exposure to products?
maximize exposure to expensive items
In assembly line balancing, cycle time (the ratio of available production time to scheduled production) is the
maximum time that a product is allowed at each workstation
Acceptance sampling
may involve inspectors taking random samples (or batches) of finished products and measuring them against predetermined standards, may involve inspectors taking random samples (or batches) of incoming raw materials and measuring them against predetermined standards, is more economical than 100% inspection, & may be either of a variable or attribute type, although attribute inspection is more common in the business environment
Which of the following is not a heuristic rule for assigning tasks to workstations in a product layout?
median tasks first
The most common tactic followed in process-layout planning is to arrange departments or work centers so they
minimize the costs of material handling
The typical goal used when developing a process-oriented layout strategy is to
minimize the material handling costs
The transportation method, when applied to location analysis
minimizes total production and transportation costs
The major problem addressed by the process-oriented layout strategy is
minimizing difficulties caused by material flow varying with each product
The central problem in product-oriented layout planning is
minimizing the imbalance in the work loads among workstations
Flexibility can be achieved with
movable equipment, inexpensive equipment, sophisticated electronic equipment, & modular equipment
Which of the following is not an analytical target of methods analysis?
movement of capital
Flow diagrams are used to analyze
movement of people and materials
The causes of variation in statistical process control are
natural causes and assignable causes
Up to three standard deviations above or below the centerline is the amount of variation that statistical process control allows for
natural variation
For a time study, the three factors that determine how large a sample size to take are
needed accuracy, desired confidence, and absolute amount of error
A fabrication company wants to increase capacity by adding a new machine. The firm is considering proposals from vendor A and vendor B. The fixed costs for machine A are $90,000 and for machine B, $75,000. The variable cost for A is $15.00 per unit and for B, $18.00. The revenue generated by the units processed on these machines is $21 per unit. If the estimated output is 5000 units, which machine should be purchased?
no purchase because neither machine yields a profit at that volume
A shop wants to increase capacity by adding a new machine. The firm is considering proposals from vendor A and vendor B. The fixed costs for machine A are $90,000 and for machine B, $75,000. The variable cost for A is $15.00 per unit and for B, $18.00. The revenue generated by the units processed on these machines is $22 per unit. If the estimated output is 9,000 units, which machine should be purchased?
no purchase because neither machine yields a profit at that volume
A production line is to be designed for a product whose completion requires 21 minutes of work. The factory works 400 minutes per day. Can an assembly line with five workstations make 100 units per day?
no, it will fall short even with a perfectly balanced line
Which of the following transformations generally has the highest equipment utilization?
product-focused process
The assumption of stability of demand is important for justifying which of the following layout types?
product-oriented layout
Which layout type assumes an adequate volume for high equipment utilization?
product-oriented layout
Which of these layouts is most suitable for processing sugar from sugar beets or sugar cane?
product-oriented layout
Which of these factors would be considered when making a location decision at the region/community level?
proximity to raw materials and customers
Which of the following is a location analysis technique typically employed by a service organization?
purchasing power analysis
According to the manufacturing-based definition of quality,
quality is the degree to which a specific product conforms to standards
Intangible costs include which of the following?
quality of prospective employees, quality of education, & availability of public transportation
Which of the following is a common heuristic for assembly line balancing?
ranked positional weight
Industrial location analysis typically attempts to
reduce costs
Mutual trust is
reflected in reasonable, documented employment policies, honestly and equitably implemented to the satisfaction of both management and the employees
In location planning, environmental regulations, cost and availability of utilities, and taxes are
regional/community factors
Producer's risk is the probability of
rejecting a good lot
Which of the determinants of service quality involves performing the service right the first time?
reliability
Which of the following layouts generally has the best machine utilization?
repetitive and product-oriented layout
An assembly line is an example of a
repetitive process
Which of the following industries is likely to have low equipment utilization?
restaurants
A location decision for a traditional department store (Macy's) would tend to have a(n)
revenue focus
A quality loss function includes all of the following costs except
sales costs
Which of these is the most common predetermined time standard?
MTM
Which of the following statements best describes the relationship between quality management and product strategy?
Managing quality helps build successful product strategies
A Time Measurement Unit, or TMU, is
0.00001 hour
A product sells for $5, and has unit variable costs of $3. This product accounts for $20,000 in annual sales, out of the firm's total of $60,000. The weighted contribution of this product is approximately
0.133
The data below represent time study observations for an assembly operation. Assume a 7% allowance factor. What is the normal time for element 3? Observations (times in minutes) Element Performance Rating 1 2 3 4 5 1 100% 1.5 1.6 1.4 1.5 1.5 2 90% 2.3 2.2 2.1 2.2 2.4 3 115% 1.7 1.9 1.9 1.4 1.6 4 100% 3.5 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.2
1.96 min
A work sampling study requires an acceptable error level of 10 percent and z = 2 for 95.45 percent confidence. The adequate sample size is _______ if the sample proportion is thought to be as large as 50 percent, but ________ if the sample proportion is thought to be about 20 percent.
100; 64
A manager wishes to build a σ3 range chart for a process. The sample size is five, the mean of sample means is 16.01, and the average range is 5.3. From Table S6.1, the appropriate value of D3 is 0, and D4 is 2.115. The UCL and LCL for this range chart are
11.2 and 0
Sample observations of a claims processor made over a 160-hour work month reveal that the worker produced a total of 384 completed claims forms. The performance rating was 80%. The worker was idle 20% of the time (so that idle time should be subtracted from the total time when computing the average observed time). The allowance factor is 8%. What is the standard time per unit?
17.4 minutes
The statistical definition of Six Sigma allows for 3.4 defects per million. This is achieved by a Cpk index of
2
A Cpk index of 1.00 equates to a defect rate of
2.7 per 1,000 items
If x = 23 ounces, σ = 0.4 ounces, and n = 16, the ±3σ control limits will be
22.70 to 23.30 ounces
A process layout problem consists of 4 departments, each of which can be assigned to one of four rooms. The number of different solutions to this problem is _____, although not all of them may have different material handling costs.
24
A clothing chain is considering two different locations for a new retail outlet. They have identified the four factors listed in the following table as the basis for evaluation, and have assigned weights as shown on the left. The manager has rated each location on each factor, on a 100-point basis, as shown on the right. Factor Factor Description Weight Barclay Chester 1 Average community income .40 30 20 2 Community growth potential .25 40 30 3 Availability of public transportation .15 20 20 4 Labor cost .20 10 30
24.50
A bank manager wants to determine the percent of time the bank's tellers are working and idle. He decides to use work sampling, and his initial estimate is that the tellers are idle 20% of the time. Approximately how many observations should be taken to be 95% confident that the results will not be more than 5% away from the true result?
246
If 1 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?
3.4
A full-service restaurant is considering opening a new facility in a specific city. The table below shows its ratings of four factors at each of two potential sites. Factor Weight Gary Mall Belt Line Affluence of local population .20 30 30 Traffic flow .40 50 20 Parking availability .20 30 40 Growth potential .20 10 30 The score for Gary Mall is _____ and the score for Belt Line is ______.
34; 28
In work measurement, personal time allowances are often established in the range of
4 - 7%
Four hundred and eighty minutes of production time are available per day. Scheduled production is 120 units per day. What is the cycle time?
4 minutes
Fred's Fabrication, Inc. wants to increase capacity by adding a new machine. The firm is considering proposals from vendor A and vendor B. The fixed costs for machine A are $90,000 and for machine B, $70,000. The variable cost for A is $9.00 per unit and for B, $14.00. The revenue generated by the units processed on these machines is $20 per unit. The crossover between machine A and machine B is
4,000 units, with B more profitable at low volumes
A county wants to build one centrally-located processing facility to serve the county's four recycling drop-off locations. The four drop-offs have characteristics as given in the table below. What is the approximate center of gravity of these four locations? Location X-coordinate Y-coordinate Tonnage Drop-off point A 1 8 10 Drop-off point B 6 7 35 Drop-off point C 6 2 25 Drop-off point D 4 7 50
4.75, 6.04
Christopher's Cranks uses a machine that can produce 100 cranks per hour. The firm operates 12 hours per day, five days per week. Due to regularly scheduled preventive maintenance, the firm expects the machine to be running during approximately 95% of the available time. Based on experience with other products, the firm expects to achieve an efficiency level for the cranks of 85%. What is the expected weekly output of cranks for this company?
4845
Four hundred and eighty minutes of production time are available per day. The schedule calls for the production of 80 units per day. Each unit of the product requires 30 minutes of work. What is the theoretical minimum number of workstations?
5
A production line is to be designed for a job with four tasks. The task times are 2.4 minutes, 1.4 minutes, 0.9 minutes, and 1.7 minutes. The maximum cycle time is ______ and the minimum cycle time is ______ minutes.
6.4; 2.4
The actual average observed time for a given job is 10 minutes. The performance rating is 80%, and allowances are set by contract at 10%. What is the time standard?
8.88 minutes
An assembly line consists of 158 tasks grouped into 32 workstations. The sum of all task times is 105 minutes. Cycle time for the line is 4 minutes. The efficiency of this line is approximately
82 percent
An assembly line consists of 21 tasks grouped into 5 workstations. The sum of the 21 task times is 85 minutes. Cycle time for the line is 20 minutes. The efficiency of this line is
85 percent
The Academic Computing Center has five trainers available in its computer labs to provide training sessions to students. Assume that the capacity of the system is 1900 students per semester and the utilization is 90%. If the number of students who actually got their orientation session is 1500, what is the efficiency of the system?
87.7%
The staff training center at a large regional hospital provides training sessions in CPR to all employees. Assume that the capacity of this training system was designed to be 1200 employees per year. Since the training center was first put in use, the program has become more complex, so that 1050 now represents the most employees that can be trained per year. In the past year, 950 employees were trained. The efficiency of this system is approximately _____ and its utilization is approximately _____.
90.5 percent; 79.2 percent
The accuracy of a labor standard is to be within 5%, and the confidence level is 95%. The standard deviation of the sample is 2 and the mean is 8. What sample size should be used?
96
In the Office Relationship Chart, which rating reflects the highest importance for two departments' closeness to each other?
A
Which of the following statements on acceptance sampling is true?
Acceptance sampling draws samples from a population of items, tests the sample, and accepts the entire population if the sample is good enough, and rejects it if the sample is poor enough, The sampling plan contains information about the sample size to be drawn and the critical acceptance or rejection numbers for that sample size, & The steeper an operating characteristic curve, the better its ability to discriminate between good and bad lots.
A disadvantage of product-oriented layout is that
All of the above are disadvantages of product-oriented layouts.
A lot that is accepted by acceptance sampling
All of the above are false. has more defects than existed before the sampling, has had all its defects removed by 100% inspection, will have the same defect percentage as the LTPD, & has no defects present
Which of the following is not a limitation of job expansion?
All of the above are limitations of job expansion. higher capital cost, higher wage rates, smaller labor pool, & higher training costs
Which of the following is true regarding vision systems?
All of the above are true They are consistently accurate, They are modest in cost, & They do not become bored.
Which of the following is true regarding fabrication lines?
Balancing their assembly line is more technological than worker oriented.
Which of the following statements regarding "proximity" in the location decision is false?
Clustering among fast food chains occurs because they need to be near their labor supply.
The goal of inspection is to
Detect a bad process immediately
The role of quality in limiting a firm's product liability is illustrated by
Ensuring that contaminated products such as impure foods do not reach customers, Ensuring that products meet standards such as those of the Consumer Product Safety Act, Designing safe products to limit possible harm to consumers, & Using processes that make products as safe or as durable as their design specifications call for
Which of these assumptions is not associated with strategies for goods-producing location decisions?
High customer contact issues are critical
A quality circle holds a brainstorming session and attempts to identify the factors responsible for flaws in a product. Which tool do you suggest they use to organize their findings?
Ishikawa diagram
Which of the following is true regarding work sampling?
It can be used to estimate the percentage of time workers spend in unavoidable delays.
Which of the following is true about ISO 14000 certification?
It is not a prerequisite for ISO 9000 certification, It deals with environmental management, It offers a good systematic approach to pollution prevention, & One of its core elements is life-cycle assessment.
Which of the following is true regarding the concept of flexibility?
It is the ability to change production rates with little penalty in time, cost, or customer value, It can be accomplished with sophisticated electronic equipment, & It may involve modular, movable, even cheap equipment.
Which of the following is true of a focused factory?
It may be focused in ways other than by product or layout.
Which of the following characteristics best describes repetitive focus?
Its output is a standardized product produced from modules.
Which of the following is true regarding opportunities to improve service processes?
None of the above is true Automation can do little to improve service processes, because services are so personal, Layout is of little consequence, since services seldom use an assembly line, & If a work force is strongly committed, it need not be cross-trained and flexible.
Which of the following statements regarding ethical and environmentally friendly processes is true?
Operations managers can be environmentally sensitive and still follow a low cost strategy.
The process improvement technique that sorts the "vital few" from the "trivial many" is
Pareto analysis
"Quality Is Free," meaning that the costs of poor quality have been understated, is the work of
Philip B. Crosby
A firm is considering two location alternatives. At location A, fixed costs would be $4,000,000 per year, and variable costs 0.30 per unit. At alternative B, fixed costs would be $3,600,000 per year, with variable costs of $0.35 per unit. If demand is expected to be 10 million units, which plant offers the lowest total cost?
Plant B, because it is cheaper than Plant A for all volumes over 8,000,000 units
Process X has fixed costs of $10,000 and variable costs of $2.40 per unit. Process Y has fixed costs of $9,000 and variable costs of $2.25 per unit. Which of the following statements is true?
Process Y is cheaper than process X at all volumes; there is no crossover point.
Which of the following statements is not true?
Product liability transfers from the manufacturer to the retailer once the retailer accepts delivery of the product.
Which of the following technologies would enable a cashier to scan the entire contents of a shopping cart in seconds?
RFID
Management and labor share the labor cost reductions in which of these compensation schemes?
Scanlon Plan
Which of the following statements regarding incentive systems is false?
The Scanlon plan is based on team productivity.
Suppose that a firm has historically been achieving "three-sigma" quality. If the firm later changes its quality management practices such that begins to achieve "six-sigma" quality, which of the following phenomena will result?
The average number of defects will be cut by 99.87%
Which of the following statements regarding Starbucks Coffee is false?
The firm's cafes are exclusively in traditional settings: malls, tourist areas, and airports.
Arnold Palmer Hospital uses which of the following quality management techniques?
The hospital uses all of the above techniques.
Which of the following statements regarding Arnold Palmer Hospital is false?
The hospital's high quality is measured by low readmission rates, not patient satisfaction.
Which of the following are true regarding allowances in time studies?
They have a "constant" and a "variable" component, They are adjusted for work conditions such as heating, lighting, and noise, They include allowances for personal time, delay, and fatigue, They represent the adjustment between normal time and standard time.
Which of the following is true regarding the process capability index Cpk?
The larger the Cpk, the more units meet specifications.
Which of the following is true of a p-chart?
The lower control limit may be at zero
Which of the following statements describes job rotation?
The operator is allowed to move, for example, from one type of CNC machine to the other.
A sample of parts is measured. The mean of this sample is in the middle of the control limits, but some individual parts measure too low for design specifications and other parts measure too high. Which of the following is true?
The process is in control, but not capable of producing within the established control limits.
In assembly line balancing, the minimum number of workstations is
The ratio of the sum of all task times to cycle time, Always (when a fraction) rounded upward to the next larger integer value, & Not always possible to reach when tasks are actually assigned to stations
Which of the following statements about acceptance sampling is true?
The steeper an OC curve, the better it discriminates between good and bad lots.
Which of the following statements regarding "Six Sigma" is true?
The term has two distinct meanings—one is statistical; the other is a comprehensive quality system.
Which of the following is false regarding repetitive processes?
They allow easy switching from one product to the other.
Which of the following is false regarding control charts?
Values above the upper control limits always imply that the product's quality is exceeding expectations.
Plots of sample ranges indicate that the most recent value is below the lower control limit. What course of action would you recommend?
Variation is not in control; investigate what created this condition.
"Employees cannot produce goods that on average exceed the quality of what the process is capable of producing" expresses a basic element in the writings of
W. Edwards Deming
Which of the following statements regarding fixed costs is true?
While fixed costs are ordinarily constant with respect to volume, they can "step" upward if volume increases result in additional fixed costs.
East Texas Seasonings is preparing to build one processing center to serve its four sources of seasonings. The four source locations are at coordinates shown below. Also, the volume from each source is provided. What is the center of gravity? X-coordinate Y-coordinate Volume Athens, Texas 30 30 150 Beaumont, Texas 20 10 350 Carthage, Texas 10 70 100 Denton, Texas 50 50 200
X = 28.125; Y = 31.25
If a layout problem is solved by use of "heuristics," this means that
a "satisfactory" solution is acceptable
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 Pareto chart
A Type II error occurs when
a bad lot is accepted
Total quality management emphasizes
a commitment to quality that goes beyond internal company issues to suppliers and customers
The fixed-position layout would be most appropriate in which of the following settings?
a cruise ship assembly facility
A Type I error occurs when
a good lot is rejected
Which of the following is not an information requirement for solving a load-distance problem?
a list of product cycle times
"Making it right the first time" is
a manufacturing-based definition of quality
Which of the following is an ergonomics issue with ethical implications?
a noisy workplace
Traffic counts and purchasing power analysis of drawing area are techniques associated with
a retail or professional service location decision
"Quality is defined by the customer" is
a user-based definition of quality
Which one of the following is not common to repetitive and product-oriented layouts?
ability to adjust to changes in demand
Standard time
accounts for performance rating factors and for allowances
The major problem addressed by the warehouse layout strategy is
addressing trade-offs between space and material handling
Ergonomics is not concerned with
adequate compensation schemes
Which of the following is not one of the requirements of cellular production?
adequate volume for high equipment utilization
Natural variations (1)
affect almost every production process, are the many sources of variation that occur when a process is under control, when grouped, form a pattern, or distribution, & are tolerated, within limits, when a process is under control
Which of the following is not a typical inspection point?
after a costly process
The Central Limit Theorem
allows managers to use the normal distribution as the basis for building some control charts
Labor standards are defined as the
amount of time required to perform a job or part of a job
An acceptance sampling plan's ability to discriminate between low quality lots and high quality lots is described by
an operating characteristics curve
"Designed to show economy of motion by pointing out waste motion and idle time" describes
an operations chart
Assignable causes
are causes of variation that can be identified and removed
Product Focused processes
are processes that are specialized for relatively few products or customer groups
Which of the following worker characteristics would likely be least important for U.S. firms looking to open up call centers in different countries?
are young
Balancing a work cell is done
as part of the process of building an efficient work cell
The type of inspection that classifies items as being either good or defective is
attribute inspection
Which of the following products is likely to be assembled on a repetitive process line?
automobiles, personal computers, dishwashers, & television
When a worker has a say in the work methods that he/she wishes to utilize, his/her job is characterized by
autonomy
In a stopwatch time study, the average time it takes a given worker to perform a task a certain number of times, without correction for performance rating or allowances, is the
average observed time
In time studies, normal time is
average observed time multiplied by a performance rating factor
To set x-chart upper and lower control limits, one must know the process central line, which is the
average of the sample means
Control charts for variables are based on data that come from
averages of small samples
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
benchmarking
Which of the following best describes mutual commitment in an organization?
both management and the employees are committed to the same objective
Techniques for building employee empowerment include
building communication networks that include employees, developing open, supportive supervisors, moving responsibility from both managers and staff to production employees, & building high-morale organizations
Which of the following costs would be incurred even if no units were produced?
building rental costs
Building high-morale organizations and building communication networks that include employees are both elements of
employee empowerment
The difference between job enrichment and job enlargement is that
enriched jobs involve vertical expansion, while enlarged jobs involve horizontal expansion
A regional bookstore chain is about to build a distribution center that is centrally located for its eight retail outlets. It will most likely employ which of the following tools of analysis?
center-of-gravity model
The local newspaper receives several complaints per day about typographic errors. Over a seven-day period, the publisher has received calls from readers reporting the following number of errors: 4, 3, 2, 6, 7, 3, and 9. Based on these data alone, what type of control chart(s) should the publisher use?
c-chart
The statistical process chart used to control the number of defects per unit of output is the
c-chart
A nationwide parcel delivery service keeps track of the number of late deliveries (more than 30 minutes past the time promised to clients) per day. They plan on using a control chart to plot their results. Which type of control chart(s) would you recommend?
c-charts
Making environmentally sound products through efficient processes
can still be profitable
Effective capacity is the
capacity a firm expects to achieve given the current operating constraints
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 categories. This is most closely related to the ____________ tool of TQM.
cause and effect diagram
A fishbone diagram is also known as a
cause-and-effect diagram
Cycle time is computed as
daily operating time divided by the scheduled output
Acceptance sampling's primary purpose is to
decide if a lot meets predetermined standards
Which of the following is not an advantage of work cells?
decreased use of equipment and machinery
The main issue in designing process layouts concerns the relative positioning of
departments
One of the elements of ergonomics is
designing tools and machines that facilitate human work
Regarding the quality of design, production, and distribution of products, an ethical requirement for management is to
determine whether any of the organization's stakeholders are violated by poor quality products
Statistical process control charts
display upper and lower limits for process variables or attributes, and signal when a process is no longer in control
The center-of-gravity method is used primarily to determine what type of locations?
distribution center locations
To become ISO 9000 certified, organizations must
document quality procedures, have an onsite assessment, & have an ongoing series of audits of their products or service
Ambient conditions, spatial layout and functionality, and signs, symbols, and artifacts are all
elements of servicescapes
Ethical and environmentally friendly processes include which of the following?
emission controls, recycling, efficient use of resources, & reduction of waste by-products
A firm is seeking a new factory location, and is considering several countries worldwide. In some of these countries, child labor is prevalent; in others, working conditions and worker safety are inferior to conditions in the U.S. An operations manager paying attention to __________will factor these issues into the location decision.
ethical and social responsibility issues
Utilization in process-oriented facilities is frequently low because
excess capacity for peak demands is desirable
What is sometimes referred to as rated capacity?
expected output
An approach to location analysis that includes both qualitative and quantitative considerations is
factor rating
Evaluating location alternatives by comparing their composite (weighted-average) scores involves
factor rating analysis
Which of the following methods best considers intangible costs related to a location decision?
factor rating analysis
Community attitudes, zoning restrictions, and quality of labor force are likely to be considered in which of the following location decision methods?
factor rating method
Location analysis techniques typically employed by service organizations include
factor rating method, center-of-gravity method, purchasing power analysis of area, & traffic counts
When a worker obtains clear and timely information about his/her performance, his/her job is characterized by
feedback
A manufacturing firm finds a location that has a significant cost advantage over alternatives, but rejects that location because the educational infrastructure was insufficient to train the firm's workers in its special production technologies. The firm's action illustrates the link between __________ and location.
innovation
A job shop is an example of a(n)
intermittent process
The concept of customizing in a warehouse layout
is a new trend in value-added activities in warehouses
Value Stream Mapping
is a variation on time function mapping, examines the supply chain to determine where value is added, extends time function mapping back to the supplier, & starts with the customer and works backwards
For an x-bar chart where the standard deviation is known, the Upper Control Limit
is nσ⋅3 above the mean of sample means for a σ3 control chart
Net present value
is the discounted value of a series of future cash receipts
Process redesign
is the fundamental rethinking of business processes, can focus on any process, tries to bring about dramatic improvements in performance, & focuses on activities that cross functional lines
Assignable variation
is to be identified and eliminated
Acceptance sampling
is used to determine whether to accept or reject a lot of material based on the evaluation of a sample
Methods analysis focuses on
issues such as the movement of individuals or materials
A disadvantage of work sampling is that
it tends to be less accurate, particularly when task times are short
A big advantage of a process-oriented layout is
its flexibility in equipment and labor assignments
Job rotation is an example of
job enlargement
The behavioral approach to job design that involves giving the worker a larger portion of the total task is
job enlargement
Which of the following terms implies an increase in responsibility and control?
job enrichment
Four of the components of job design are
job specialization, job expansion, psychological components, and self-directed teams
Which of the following is not a use of labor standards?
labor content of items produced, cost and time estimates prior to production, crew size and work balance, & basis of wage-incentive plans
The visual workplace includes
painted symbols to indicate the proper place for tools and equipment, labeling of parts, bins, and tools to reduce waste, kanbans, andons, and statistical process control (SPC) charts, & color-coded lights and signs to indicate that there is a problem
Which one of the following products is most likely made in a job shop environment?
paper forms
A jewelry store is more likely than a jewelry manufacturer to consider __________ in making a location decision.
parking and access
Which of the following is most likely to affect the location decision of a service firm rather than a manufacturing firm?
parking and access
Governmental attitudes toward issues such as private property, intellectual property, zoning, pollution, and employment stability may change over time. The term associated with this phenomenon is
political risk
The basic break-even model can be modified to handle more than one product. This extension of the basic model requires
price and variable cost for each product, and the percent of sales that each product represents
ISO 9000 seeks standardization in terms of
procedures to manage quality
Among the tools of TQM, the tool ordinarily used to aid in understanding the sequence of events through which a product travels is a
process chart
The use of information technology to monitor and control a physical process is known as
process control
Three types of processes are
process focus, repetitive focus, and product focus
The normal application of a p-chart is in
process sampling by attributes
The type of layout which features departments or other functional groupings in which similar activities are performed is
process-oriented
Strategies for improving productivity in services are
separation, self-service, automation, and scheduling
Traffic counts and demographic analysis of drawing areas are associated with
service location decisions
What refers to training and empowering frontline workers to solve a problem immediately?
service recovery
Which of the following is not among the eight components of revenue and volume for a service firm?
shipment cost of finished goods
A job characterized by _______ allows a worker to use his/her dexterity, physical strength, and skills to do his/her work.
skill variety
Ethical work environment decisions by managers may be guided by
state agencies, trade associations, insurers, & employees
When decision trees are used to analyze capacity decisions,
states of nature are often demand-based, as in "market favorability"
A product-oriented layout would be most appropriate for which one of the following businesses?
steel-making
Stakeholders who are affected by the production and marketing of poor quality products include
stockholders, employees, and customers
Tangible costs include which of the following?
taxes
Which of the following is not one of McDonald's "seven major innovations"?
the Happy Meal
A time study is being conducted to determine the standard time for a job that is made up of several elements. This standard time requires as input(s)
the average observed time for each element
Break-even analysis can be used by a firm that produces more than one product, but
the break-even point depends upon the proportion of sales generated by each of the products
FedEx chose Memphis, Tennessee, as its U.S. hub because
the city is in the center of the U.S., geographically, the airport has relatively few hours of bad weather closures, it needed a means to reach cities to which it did not have direct flights, & the firm believed that a hub system was superior to traditional city-to-city flight scheduling
The smaller the percentage established for allowances
the closer is normal time to standard time
Solving a load-distance problem for a process-oriented layout requires that
the difficulty of movement be the same for all possible paths
Which of the following is among the eight components of revenue and volume for a service firm?
uniqueness of the firm's and the competitor's locations, quality of the competition, quality of management, & purchasing power of the customer-drawing area
Three broad categories of definitions of quality are
user-based, manufacturing-based, and product-based
Of the four approaches to capacity expansion, the approach that "straddles" demand
uses incremental expansion & at some times leads demand, and at other times lags
The visual workplace
uses low-cost visual devices to share information, is an effective means of rapid communication in a dynamic workplace, helps with both "big picture" and "housekeeping" issues in the workplace, & eliminates non-value added activities by making problems and standards visual
LaQuinta Motor Inns has a competitive edge over its rivals because it
uses regression analysis to determine which variables most influence profitability
Harley Davidson
uses work cells to feed its assembly line
Which of the following is most likely to affect the location strategy of a manufacturing firm?
utility costs
Activity charts help analyze
utilization of an operator and machine
The center-of-gravity method does not take into consideration the
value of the goods shipped
Basic break-even analysis typically assumes that
variable costs and revenues increase in direct proportion to the volume of production
The assumptions necessary for a successful product layout include all of the following except
volatile product demand
Balancing low-cost storage with low-cost material handling is important in a(n)
warehouse layout
Therbligs
were named by Frank Gilbreth
An organization's process strategy
will have long-run impact on efficiency and flexibility of production, is the same as its transformation strategy, must meet various constraints, including cost, & is concerned with how resources are transformed into goods and services
"A special arrangement of machinery and equipment to focus on production of a single product or group of related products" describes what layout type?
work cell
A technique for estimating the proportion of time a worker spends on various activities is
work sampling
Jars of pickles are sampled and weighed. Sample measures are plotted on control charts. The ideal weight should be precisely 11 oz. Which type of chart(s) would you recommend?
x- and R-charts
Which of the following is usually not one of the top considerations in choosing a country for a facility location?
zoning regulations