Production and Operations Management Quiz Questions

All of the following are typically considered the reasons for an organization's failure, EXCEPT:

Removing internal communications barriers.

The following statements are true about models as used in business operations: 1. Models are an abstraction of reality. 2. Models are simplification of a real-life phenomenon.

True

The following statements are true with regard to competitiveness, order winners and order qualifiers (Check all that apply):

As products mature, order winners become order qualifiers In the restaurant industry, cleanliness is considered an order qualifier. Order winners can also come from non-manufacturing areas, such as after sale service. In the 'Baby Stroller Cleaning Services' article, a company's ability to repair a stroller would be considered an order winner.

Which of the following statements is incorrect?

Make-to-stock items are partially completed before a customer's order is received.

The set of goals and policies that guide operations decisions in the structural and infrastructural areas' is called

operations strategy

The Pareto Phenomenon, also called the 80/20 Rule, helps with prioritizing such that focusing on a relatively few factors (20%) we can get a disproportionately high percentage (80%) of the results. T/F

True

Operations managers participate in the following decisions in an organization, EXCEPT:

Deciding retirement benefits for workers

All of the following are higher in manufacturing operations compared to service operations. 1. Uniformity of inputs 2. Customer contact 3. Labor content of jobs T/F

False

Which of the following is NOT a benefit of using models for decision-making?

Quantitative information may be emphasized more than the qualitative information

The Operations function helps businesses compete by doing the following (Check all that apply)...Identifying an appropriate location Correct! Managing inventories Correct! Offering a variety of products and customizing them as needed Correct! Delivering the product/service faster than its competitors Correct! Managing quality of its products and/or services

Identifying an appropriate location Managing inventories Offering a variety of products and customizing them as needed Delivering the product/service faster than its competitors Managing quality of its products and/or services

Which of the following are true with regard to Operations Strategy (check all that apply):

When operations strategy is aligned with other functional strategies, such as finance and marketing, then horizontal alignment is said to be achieved. Operations strategy is formulated to guide the structural and infrastructural decisions in the operations/manufacturing function. Operations strategy is a functional strategy because operations is a function in an organization When operations strategy is aligned with business strategy and corporate strategy, it is called vertical alignment. Operations strategy cannot be developed independent of the business strategy and corporate strategy.

Which of the following statements are true about the SWOT analysis (Check all that apply)?

facilities and equipment are considered internal factors. opportunities and threats are considered a part of the external analysis. financial resources are among the key internal factors

As per the Operations Strategy Framework, Technology and Performance Measurement Systems are examples of a(an) _______ decision and a(an) ___________ decision respectively.

structural, infrastructural

The Operations function in an organization is primarily responsible for (pick the most appropriate response)

the creation of goods or provision of services.

All of the following relate to the system design or structural decisions, EXCEPT:

Inventory planning

Based on the service classification taxonomy using labor intensity and customer contact as two dimensions, one-on-one tutoring service will be classified as a:

Professional Service

Coordinating the activities among various organizations, including suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers is called...

Supply Chain Management

All of the following are operations that convert some form of inputs into desired outputs: 1. Manufacturing operations, such as laptop assembly, food processing, etc. 2. Service operations, such as banks, hospitals, airlines, hair salons, etc. T/F

True

An operations manager faces different managerial decisions/challenges in the 'Front Room' than in the 'Back Room' of a service operation because, in the back room, there is no customer contact.

True

As per the systems perspective, the objectives of an organization as a whole take precedence over those of any one subsystem

True

Ethical issues that may arise in many aspects of operations management relate to: •Worker safety •Product safety •Quality •Workers rights

True

Operations managers generally do not like variability or variations in production or service requirements for the following reasons: 1. Variations are disruptive 2. Variations may result in additional costs or delays 3. Variations do not facilitate the uninterrupted production of larger quantities using the same setup. T/F

True

Service operations, such as movie theaters, provide "psychological utility" for customers. T/F

True

Supply Chain Management deals with processes across multiple firms whereas Operations Management deals with processes within a single firm.

True

The following are the four basic sources of process variation or variability ... 1. Product mix or the variety of goods and services offered 2. Demand variations. 3. Natural or inherent variability in a process, also called random variation 4. Assignable variations caused by defective materials, incorrect processes, out-of-adjustment equipment, people errors, and environmental factors such as extreme weather. T/F

True

The study of operations and supply chain management is important because: 1. Operations is at the core of every business 2. Every aspect of business affects or is affected by operations, and many service jobs are closely related to operations. 3. Through learning about operations, we get a better understanding of the world we live in, the global dependencies of companies and nations, the importance of working with others, etc. 4. Operations is one of the three primary functions in any organization, and even though the activities in operations are different from those in other departments, such as marketing and finance, the decisions made by the operations department may impact other areas of the organization. Correct!

True

There are three categories of business processes--Upper-management, Operational, and Supporting. Operational processes, such as purchasing, production, sales, etc., are the core processes that add value.

True

Vertical integration refers to the extent of ownership of a supply chain. For example, if a company owned the farms to grow wheat, the grinding mill to make flour, the bakery to bake breads, and the retail stores to sell the bread, it would be considered a highly vertically integrated company. T/F

True

Which of the following statements are true with regard to the Japanese Perspective on competitive priorities, The Sand Cone Model, and how World Class Manufacturers (WCMs) view competitive priorities as mutually supportive (Check all that apply)?

While pursuing product flexibility, the delivery speed and delivery reliability may be simultaneously improved It is possible for companies to pursue multiple competitive priorities simultaneously It is possible for companies to pursue more than one competitive priority. When the emphasis on 'quality-of-conformance' increases, then scrap, defect rates, frequency of rework, etc., all reduce, which in turn reduce the production costs

The skill or ability of a firm that gives it a competitive edge is called:

core competency