Business Process Midterm

You have just performed a critical path method (CPM) analysis and have found more than one path through the project network has zero slack. What does this tell you (what can you conclude)?

There are multiple critical paths through the project network

According to the text, in business forecasting, a medium-term time period is defined as _____.

Three months to two years

According to Little's Law, as presented in the textbook, which can be used to estimate work-in-process inventory?

Throughput rate times flow time

According to the text, which is an important difference between capacity planning for services and capacity planning for manufacturing?

Time, Location, demand volatility, & utilization impacts service are all important differences between service & manufacturing capacity planning

In a make-to-stock environment, total production required for a chase production plan when the firm wants to increase inventory is given by _____.

Total production required = Forecast + (Desired Ending Inventory - Beginning Inventory)

In a make-to-stock environment, total production required for a chase production plan when the firm wants to decrease inventory is given by _____.

Total production required = Forecast - (Beginning Inventory - Desired Ending Inventory)

In a make-to-stock environment, total production required for a level production plan is given by _____.

Total production required = Total forecast + Backorders + Ending Inventory - Beginning Inventory

According to the textbook, which is a suggestion for managing queues?

Train your servers to be friendly

Supply and demand planning is needed to coordinate manufacturing, service and supply chain processes.

True

The term "value" refers to the relationship between quality and price paid by the consumer.

True

According to the text, in business forecasting, a long-term time period is defined as _____.

Two years or longer

As discussed in class, which is one of the three steps to achieving strategic fit?

Understand the current capabilities of the firm's supply chain processes

As discussed in class, which is not a factor influencing capacity available?

Unionized or non-unionized work force

According to the text, which forecasting methodology is considered a time series forecasting technique?

Weighted Moving Average

Which is not a question for production planning?

What do we want?

In production planning, the concept of priority refers to _____.

What outputs are needed, how much is needed & when is it needed

As discussed in class, supply chain priorities are defined in terms of _____.

What products or services are needed, in what quantities, by what time

According to the textbook, a project can be subdivided into:

Work packages

According to the video "Assembly Lines", the distinguishing characteristic of an assembly line production process is:

Work-in-process travels to the operator

According to the video "Assembly Lines", the Japanese term "kaizen" means _____.

Workers are responsible for continuously improving process work methods

The main purpose of aggregate operations planning is to specify the optimal combination of _____.

Workforce levels & on hand inventory

According to the textbook, which of these starts a project:

a statement of work

capacity utilization rate

capacity used/best operating level

capacity utilization rate=

capacity used/best operating level

According to the video "Assembly Lines", which is not an important characteristic of Toyota's lean production system?

capital intensive

A _____ production planning strategy involves matching the production output to demand by hiring and laying off employees as demand varies.

chase

According to the text, which is a major competitive dimension that forms a company's strategic operational competitive position in their strategic planning?

cost or price

As discussed in class, the objective of supply chain planning is to "define a set of operating policies to control operations and optimize process performance. The supply chain _____ imposes constraints on supply chain planning.

design

As discussed in class, which is not an example of a customer priority significant for operations and supply strategy?

digital advertising

As discussed in class, a firm's business process capacity depends on resources such as:

equipment, material, labor, capital

According to the video "Production Activity Control," bottleneck operations have cycle times that are _____ the takt time.

greater than

As discussed in class, which is not an advantage of an assemble-to-order process?

increased stock-out rate

A _____ production planning strategy involves maintaining a stable workforce working at a constant output rate while shortages and surpluses are absorbed by fluctuating inventory levels, order backlogs and allowing lost sales

level

According to the textbook, which is a basic category of production planning strategy?

level

Which is a basic production strategy discussed in class?

level

According to the text, capacity planning that involves acquisition or disposal of fixed assets such as buildings, equipment or facilities is considered the _____ planning horizon.

long-range

As discussed in class, _____ is when a firm satisfies customer demand from existing finished goods inventory.

make-to-stock

Using the assembly-line balancing procedure, which is the required cycle time in minutes per unit if the daily production time is 1440 minutes and the required daily output is 2000 units?

.72

Using the assembly line balancing procedure, you have just determined that the actual number of workstations to be used on an assembly line is 8. The cycle time of the line is 10 minutes and the sum of all the tasks required on the line is 60 minutes. Which is the correct value for the resulting line's efficiency?

.750

If the best operating level of a piece of equipment is at a rate of 400 units per hour and the actual output during an hour is 300 units, the capacity utilization rate = _____.

.75= 75%

The total output from a production system in one day is 900 units and the total labor necessary to produce the 900 units is 900 hours. Using the appropriate productivity measure, what is the resulting productivity ratio?

1.0

If the actual output of a piece of equipment during an hour is 500 units and it's best operating level is at a rate of 400 units per hour, the capacity utilization rate = _____.

1.25 = 125%

The total output from a production system in one day is 500 units and the total labor necessary to produce the 500 units is 350 hours. Using the appropriate productivity measure, which represents the correct productivity ratio?

1.428

If the best operating level of a piece of equipment is at a rate of 400 units per hour and the actual output during an hour is 300 units, the capacity cushion = _____.

100 units per hour

Using the assembly-line balancing procedure, which is the theoretical minimum number of workstations if the task times for the six tasks that make up the job are 4, 6, 7, 2, 6, and 5 minutes, and the cycle time is 10 minutes?

3

Using the assembly-line balancing procedure, which is the theoretical minimum number of workstations if the task times for the eight tasks that make up the job are 7, 4, 7, 8, 9, 4, 3, and 6 minutes, and the cycle time is 8 minutes?

6

Using the assembly-line balancing procedure, which is the required cycle time in minutes per unit if the daily production time is 480 minutes and the required daily output is 50 units?

9.60

What is a work breakdown structure?

A definition of the hierarchy of project tasks, sub-tasks and work packages

According to the text, which best describes an activity-system map?

A diagram that shows how a company's strategy is delivered

A functional project is one for which the project is housed in a functional division. Which of these is an advantage of functional projects?

A team member can work on several projects

An advantage of a level production strategy is _____.

Avoids costs of changing production output volumes

Information is required to perform aggregate planning. Which of these are considered external to the firm?

Competitor behavior & economic conditions

As discussed in class, which is a disadvantage of the make-to-stock scheduling environment?

Cost of carrying inventory & Increased supply chain risk

Information is required to perform aggregate planning. Which of these are considered internal to the firm?

Current workforce & physical capacity

According to the textbook, which of these approaches to aggregate planning involves the development of several alternative aggregate plans?

Cut & Try

In most cases, demand for products or services can be broken into several components. Which of the following is considered a component of demand?

Cyclical elements

According to the text, which of these are core goods?

Data storage system

According to the text, one of the "package of features" that make up a service is:

Facilitating goods

As discussed in class, which is not one of the process cycles of a supply chain?

Financial cycle

According to the text, which is not one of the basic types of forecasting?

Force field analysis

According to the text, which of these is not a step used in determining production capacity requirements?

Forecasting raw material usage

According to the service system design matrix presented in the textbook, we'd expect a face-to-face contact, loose specs service encounter to _____.

Have low production efficiency

According to the service system design matrix presented in the textbook, we'd expect a face-to-face total customization service encounter to _____.

Have low production efficiency

According to the video "Assembly Lines", mass production assembly lines (e.g., Ford Motor Company's Model T assembly line) "worked great" for:

High volume, low variety output

According to the text, when deciding to add capacity to a factory which of these factors need not be considered?

Immediate product demand

According to the text, current issues in operations and supply chain management do not include:

Increasing global supply chain employment.

As discussed in class, which is not an advantage of a responsive supply chain?

Inherently lower cost of inventory

According to the text, capacity planning that involves hiring, layoffs, some new tooling, minor equipment purchases, and subcontracting is considered the _____ planning horizon.

Intermediate range

According to Little's Law, as presented in the textbook, which ratio is used to find throughput rate?

Inventory divided by flow time

Operationally, yield management is most effective under which circumstances?

Inventory is perishable

According to the video "Production Activity Control," line balancing _____.

Is concerned with the linked production stages in a production area

Which is not a queue discipline discussed in the textbook?

Last in, first out

According to the text, in business forecasting, a short-term time period is defined as _____.

Less than 3 months

When faced with demand seasonality a firm must either manage capacity, manage inventory or manage demand. Which is not one of the tactics a firm faced with demand seasonality could use to manage its capacity?

Lifetime employment

A pure project is one for which self-contained teams work full time on the project. Which of these is an advantage of pure projects?

Lines of communication are shortened

According to the text, in general, which forecasting time frame is best to detect general trends?

Long range forecasts

According to the text, which is not a major strategic operational competitive dimension that forms a company's competitive position?

Management acumen

According to the text, which forecasting methodology is considered a qualitative forecasting technique?

Market research

As discussed in class, which is not a dimension of supply chain responsiveness?

Maximize the number of geographic locations in which the supply chain maintains physical facilities

In simple exponential smoothing forecasting, as the value of the smoothing constant (α) increases, _____ emphasis is put on the most recent data, so the forecast becomes _____ responsive.

More; More

Buying a ticket for a college football game where there are multiple windows to buy tickets represents which type of queuing system line structure?

Multichannel, single phase

Buying food at a large food store with multiple checkout lines represents which type of queuing system line structure?

Multichannel, single phase

Standing in line to buy a ticket for a movie where there are multiple windows to buy tickets represents which type of queuing system line structure?

Multichannel, single phase

According to the text, which forecasting methodology is considered a causal forecasting technique?

Multiple regression

According to the video "Assembly Lines", which was not a key factor in the development of the assembly line?

Not enough space available to use traditional production processes (e.g., craftsman-based production where a single operator is responsible for performing all the steps necessary to make an item)

As discussed in class, in a make-to-stock scheduling environment, which is not a factor influencing the tradeoff between inventory and availability?

Number of operations in the production process

According to the text, which of these is a multi-factor measure of productivity?

Output/(Labor + Capital + Energy)

According to the text, which of these is a total measure of productivity?

Output/Inputs

According to the text, which of these is a partial measure of productivity?

Output/Materials

According to the text, which forecasting method uses executive judgment as its primary component for forecasting?

Panel consensus

According to the text, if all you knew about a production system was that total daily output was 400 units, the total labor used to produce the 400 units was 350 hours, and the total materials used were 425 units, what kind of productivity measure could you use to measure productivity?

Partial measure and/or multi-factor measure

According to the textbook, which is not a suggestion for managing queues?

Periodically close the service channel to temporarily disperse the line

Which is considered a high-contact service operation?

Physician's medical practice

According to the text, _____ is a mechanism that can be used to implement the capacity focus concept.

Plant within a plant (PWP)

In simple exponential smoothing forecasting, if the numeric sign of the arithmetic mean of forecast deviations is _____, the forecast model IS biased and IS _____.

Positive; generating forecasts that are too small & Negative; generating forecasts that are too large

According to the video "Assembly Lines", the importance of the time-efficient start-up of new production processes is increasing because:

Product life cycles are getting shorter

According to the video "Assembly Lines", manufacturing flexibility is growing in importance as an order qualifier as:

Product proliferation increases (markets "breakdown" into smaller segments)

According to the video "Assembly Lines", productivity is "high" in a "lean production" plant because _____.

Production line workers do tasks usually done by "indirect support staff" (e.g., maintenance, house-keeping)

A disadvantage of a chase production strategy is _____.

Production rate varies to meet demand

As discussed in class, which is not a component of operations and supply strategy?

Promotion strategy

According to the text, a way to increase the flexibility of production workers is to _____.

Provide a broader range of training

According to the text, the Goods-Services Continuum consists of which set of categories?

Pure goods, core goods, core services, pure services

Information is required to perform aggregate planning. Which of these are considered external to the firm?

Raw material availability & competitor's behavior

According to the text, which is a measure of operations and supply management efficiency used by Wall Street?

Receivable turnover

According to the video "Production Activity Control," balancing a production process requires re-organizing bottleneck work centers by

Redesign of work layout & Re-organization of work methods

According to the video "Assembly Lines", the goal of a virtual assembly line ("eBuild") is to _____.

Reduce the time required to get the "real" assembly line up and running, building quality product

According to the video "Production Activity Control," the goal of line balancing is to _____.

Remove bottlenecks that cause delays in processing

According to the service system design matrix presented in the textbook, we'd expect a mail contact service encounter to _____

Represent a small opportunity for a sale

According to the textbook, which is a suggestion for managing queues?

Segment customers

Which, according to the text, is not a category of operations and supply processes?

Selecting

As discussed in class, which is not a circumstance under which a firm must use an assemble-to-order process?

Selling firm's total cycle time exceeds the amount of time the customer is willing to wait to receive the item

According to the text, which is not a characteristic that distinguishes services from goods?

Service jobs are unskilled.

Which, according to the textbook, is a characteristic that can be used to guide the design of service systems?

Services cannot be inventoried

In a college registration process, several department heads have to approve an individual student's semester course load. What is the queuing system line structure?

Single channel, multi-phase

A roller coaster ride in an amusement park represents which type of queuing system line structure?

Single channel, single phase

Getting an autograph from a famous person represents which type of queuing system line structure?

Single channel, single phase

Machine breakdown and repair in a twelve machine factory with one repair mechanic represents which type of queuing system line structure for machine breakdowns?

Single channel, single phase

When balancing an assembly line, which, according to the textbook, is not a way to reduce the longest task time so it's less than the required workstation cycle time?

Speed up the process transfer mechanism

According to the textbook, which of these is considered a "pure" production planning strategy?

Stable workforce, variable hours

According to the text, when a company offers its customers a variety of differing services, in an attempt to match the benefits of a successful position while maintaining its existing position this process called _____?

Straddling

Why is it important to have a listing of immediate predecessor activities in a critical path method (CPM) analysis?

Such data establishes the precedence relationships in the CPM network of activities

According to the video "Assembly Lines", "lean" processes are called lean because _____.

Such processes operate with only the "bare minimum" amount of resources necessary to get the job done

According to the text, in development of an operations and supply chain strategy, which is an important product-specific criteria to consider?

Supplier after-sale support

As discussed in class, which is true about supply chain profitability?

Supply chain profitability is defined as the total profit generated by all entities in the supply chain

According to the text, when developing an operations and supply chain strategy, which is an important product-specific criterion to consider?

Technical liaison

The video "Assembly Lines", describes manufacturing flexibility as:

The ability to produce whatever the market demands, whenever they demand it

For an activity in a CPM analysis the Early Finish time is 20 and the Late Finish time is 20. Which of the following statements is true?

The activity is on the critical path

As discussed in class, cash-to-cash cycle time refers to _____.

The amount of time it takes a firm to collect accounts receivable from customers once the firm has paid its accounts payable to suppliers

In production planning, the concept of capacity refers to _____.

The capability of the business process to produce & deliver output

As discussed in class, capacity available is _____.

The total amount of output the process can generate in a given amount of time

You have just been assigned to oversee a series of projects. Functional areas will loan you personnel for each project and separate project managers will be responsible for each project: these project managers will all report to you. This represents which type of project structure?

matrix

According to the text, in general, which forecasting time frame best captures seasonal effects?

medium term forecasts

Multifactor measure=

output/ labor+capital+(energy OR materials)

Partial Measure=

output/labor or output/capital or output/materials or output/energy

Total Measure=

outputs/inputs or goods & services produced/all resources used

According to the text, if all you knew about a production system was that total daily output was 400 units and the total labor necessary to produce the 400 units was 350 hours, what kind of productivity measure could you use to measure productivity?

partial measure

In most cases, demand for products or services can be broken down into several components. Which, according to the text, is not considered a component of demand?

past data

As discussed in class, business process priorities come from

process customers

cycle time

production time per day / required output per day (in units)

Using the assembly line balancing procedure, you have just determined that the actual number of workstations to be used on an assembly line is 6. The cycle time of the line is 5 minutes and the sum of all the tasks required on the line is 25 minutes. Which is the correct value for the resulting line's efficiency?

.833

According to the textbook, trade-offs occur when _____.

Activities (process elements) are incompatible

As discussed in class, which is not an obstacle to achieving strategic fit?

Advanced information and communication technology

As discussed in class, which is not an aspect of supply chain responsiveness?

All of the above are aspects of supply chain responsiveness

According to the video "Assembly Lines", before assembly line processes, equipment used in a production process was _____ and in an assembly line process the equipment used is _____.

Arranged by type; arranged in the sequence in which it is used in the process

As discussed in class, _____ is when a firm combines modules from an inventory of sub-assemblies to meet a customer's specifications for a finished product of a specific configuration.

Assemble-to-order

According to the textbook, which basic type of process structures is one in which equipment or work processes are arranged according to the progressive steps by which the product is made?

Assembly line

Which, according to the textbook, of these costs are relevant for aggregate planning?

Backordering costs

According to the text, "Success in today's global markets requires a business strategy that matches the preferences of customers with the realities of supply networks." As discussed in class, the challenge this presents to supply chain managers is to _____.

Balance priorities and capacities & Balance process efficiency with process responsiveness

As discussed in class, business process capacity refers to _____.

Capability to produce & deliver whatever customers demand

As discussed in class, which is not true of capacity utilization?

Capacity utilization increases as downtime increases

When faced with demand seasonality a firm must either manage capacity, manage inventory or manage demand. Which is not one of the tactics a firm faced with demand seasonality could use to manage its inventory?

Deeply discount prices during the peak demand season to maximize the demand response from price promotion

As discussed in class, a firm's competitive strategy _____.

Defines the set of customer needs the firm wants to serve

According to the text, which forecasting method is very dependent on the selection of the right people who's judgment will provide the basis for the forecast?

Delphi method

According to the text, which is true of manufacturing capacity but is not true of service capacity?

Demand can be smoothed by inventory policies

Operationally, yield management is least effective under which circumstances?

Demand is stable & close to capacity

According to the textbook, which is not a suggestion for managing queues?

Determine an acceptable waiting time for your customers

Which, according to the textbook, is not a step in developing a manufacturing cell layout?

Disposing of leftover machinery and outsourcing ungrouped processes

In project management, which type of chart would include lines labeled BCWS and BCWP?

Earned value management chart

According to the text, which is not a measure of operations and supply chain management efficiency used by Wall Street?

Earnings per share

According to the text, _____ is the ability to rapidly and inexpensively switch production from one product to another.

Economies of scope

Which is a queue discipline discussed in the textbook?

Emergencies first

According to the video "Production Activity Control," a production process is balanced when the production time (cycle time) of each stage of production (work center) is _____ the takt time.

Equal to (or as close as possible to)

According to the video "Production Activity Control," takt time is calculated by _____.

Establishing the total available production time in a production cell and dividing this by the quantity needed by customers (users)

You are hired as a consultant to decide if your client should purchase a new, highly specialized, piece of equipment. The forecast of worldwide demand for the item to be made by this equipment is 15,000 units over the entire product life. The initial investment to acquire and install the equipment is $256,000. The variable cost to produce each unit will be $15 and the selling price for the finished product will be $30. Which best describes the situation the firm is facing?

The company's total margin will be less than its investment

As discussed in class, supply chain efficiency is measured in terms of _____.

The cost of making & delivering product to customers

According to the textbook, which is an example of a finite population in a queuing system?

The faculty of a college department in line at the department's copy machine

As discussed in class, firms must use a make-to-stock process when _____.

The firm's total cycle time exceeds the amount of time a customer is willing to wait to receive the item

According to the text, the exponential smoothing method requires which data to generate a forecast?

The most recent forecast

Operationally, yield management is least effective under which circumstances?

The product can be inventoried to be sold when demand is stronger

As discussed in class, in the short run, business process capacity is

The quantity of work that labor & equipment can perform in a given time period

According to the video "Production Activity Control," takt time is _____.

The rate at which customers (users) demand (use) a particular part or component

As discussed in class, efficiency refers to _____.

The ratio between inputs & outputs (i.e., an efficient firm maximizes output per unit of input)

According to the textbook, which of these represents a difference between project and continuous flow process flow structures?

The size and bulk of the product

Which, according to the textbook, are the three major components of a queuing system?

The source population; how the customers exit the system; the servicing system

You have been placed in charge of a large project. Shortened communication lines are required to ensure quick resolution of problems as they arise. You recognize that the project is going to take a lot of time and require strong team pride, motivation and commitment from all team members. Which project management structure should you use?

pure

According to the text, capacity planning involving consideration of production scheduling and inventory position is _____ planning

short-range

According to the text, in general, which forecasting time frame compensates most effectively for random variation and short term changes?

short-term forecasts

According to the text, which forecasting methodology is considered a time series forecasting technique?

simple moving average

Efficiency

sum of task times/ actual number of work stations*work station cycle time

number of workstations

sum of task times/cycle time

There are many applications of poka-yokes in service organizations. Which is one of the three T's used to classify poka-yokes?

task

There are many applications of poka-yokes in service organizations. Which is one of the three T's used to classify poka-yokes?

treatment

Effectiveness means doing the right things to create the most value for the company.

true

According to the textbook, which basic type of process structure is one in which similar equipment or functions are grouped together?

work center