CoB 300 Operations: Test 1

Buffering

(Flowcharting) A storage area in between stages where the output of a stage is placed prior to being used in a downstream stage. This is signified on the flowchart with an upside triangle.

Blocking

(Flowcharting) Occurs when the activities in a stage must stop because there is no place to deposit the item. E.g. Has no buffer, stage 2 is slow and stage 1 is fast

Startving

(Flowcharting) Occurs when the activities in a stage must stop because there is no work. E.g. Stage 2 is fast and stage 1 is slow.

Bottleneck

(Flowcharting) Stage that limits the capacity of the process. E.g. the slowest part of the process.

IDEO product design process

- Brainstorming -

Ideas for Process Flow Time Reduction

- Perform activities in parallel - Change the sequence of activities - Reduce interruptions

Project teams

- Pure project Team members only report to one boss, lines of communication are shortened - Functional project - Matrix project There are two bosses, it is doomed to failure, unless the project manger has strong negotiation skills

Assemble-to-order (ATO)/ Hybrid

- partially manufactured and held in unfinished state - customer order dictates final and configuration - quicker response than MTO and more flexible than MTS

Project categories

- product change and process change - research and development - alliances and partnerships

Make-to-order (MTO)

- response to an actual order; standard or custom - WIP and finished goods inventory kept to a minimum - tends to have longer response time - sustainable for items with low-medium and variable demand

Make-to-stock (MTS)

-Meet expected/forecast demand. -Shorter lead time for stocked items, much longer for out of stock and risk of obsolescence - suitable for times with high and stable demand -required when customer lead time is less than manufacturing lead time

List and briefly explain the four basic sources of variation, and explain why it is important for mangers to be able to effectively deal with variation

1. The variety of goods or services being offered: The greater the variety of goods and services, the greater the variation in production or service requirements. Deliberate choice of a business. 2. Structural variation in demand, such as trends and seasonal variations. These are generally predictable. They are particularly important for capacity planning. 3. Random variation. This natural variability is present to some extent in all processes, and it also present in demand for services and products, and cannot generally be influenced by managers. 4. Assignable causes of variation: Variation caused by defective inputs, incorrect work methods, out of adjustment equipment, and so on. This type of variation can be reduced or eliminated by analysis and corrective action. Variations can be disruptive to operations and supply chain processes, interfering with optimal functioning. Variations result in additional cost, delays and shortages, poor quality, and inefficient work systems. Poor quality and product shortages or service delays can lead to dissatisfied customers and damage an organization's reputation and image.

Technology-push products

A firm with a new proprietary technology seeks out a market where that technology can be applied.

Supply Chain

A sequence of activities and organizations involved in producing and delivering goods or service

Processes

A set of activities that converts investment in resources to value for which customers pay. (Transforms inputs into outputs) Objectives: - add as much as value - keep cost as less as possible

System

A set of interrelated parts that must work together

Earned Value Management (EVM)

A technique that combines measures of scope, schedule and cost for evaluating project progress.

Critical path

Activities in a critical path will have 0 slack ;Longest path. The length will always be less than or equal to the sum of all activity times of a project.

Services

Activities that provide some combination of time, location, form, and psychological value

List five important differences between goods production and service operations; then list five important similarities.

Among the important differences between manufacturing and service operations are: a. The nature and consumption of output. b. Uniformity of input. c. Labor content of jobs. d. Uniformity of output. e. Measurement of productivity.

Model

An abstraction of reality; a simplified representation of something

How does seasonal variability in demand affect the flow and waiting time through a process? How might a company respond to reduce the effect of this variability?

As demand peaks during busy season the process can be overwhelmed if there is insufficient capacity in the system to meet demand when it occurs. Orders can backup, creating increased WIP inventory and extending the wait time for orders in the system. In a make-to-stock system the firm can manage the varying demand by building up inventory during the slow periods to augment production during peak periods. In a make-to-order system the company can try to level demand by offering promotions and discount pricing during the traditionally slow periods to shift some of the peak demand to the off-peak periods. Where feasible, another option is postponement, where the firm might build up inventory of partially completed products, and perform the final customizing steps as orders come in. Of course there is always the option of increasing the capacity of the system, but that can be quite expensive.

Division of Labor

Breaking up a production process into a series of tasks, each performed by a different worker. It enabled workers to learn jobs and become proficient at them more quickly; avoiding the delays of workers shifting from one activity to another.

List the key ways that organizations compete

Business organizations compete with one another in a variety of ways. Key among them are price, quality, product differentiation, flexibility, and delivery time.

Coca-Cola is a well-established consumer products company with a strong position in the global market. The sales of their core soda products have remained relatively stable for decades, yet the company has continued to grow and has remained extremely profitable. Discuss Coca-Cola's history in light of the statement that "generating a steady stream of new products to market is extremely important to competitiveness." Does Coca-Cola's success disprove that statement? Is the company an exception to the rule or an example of its application?

By growing into a global company, one could argue they have been introducing new products into markets they never served before, even though the products are not new to the company. They have also grown by acquisition of other drink companies and introduction of new drink products outside of their core soda business. As the products are not subject to great innovation or technological advances, Coca-Cola has needed to expand their product lines and global reach to continue to grow.

Explain the importance of identifying and differentiation order qualifiers and order winners

Characteristics such as price, quality, time, delivery speed, delivery reliability can all be order qualifiers or order winners. It is important to determine the set of order qualifier and order winner characteristics so that companies can emphasize or de-emphasize a given characteristic based on their classification of importance. Marketing must play a major role in determining order qualifiers and order winners. In classifying order winners and order qualifiers, marketing and operations must work together to match the market needs with the operational capability of the firm.

A process that emphasizes cross-functional integration and concurrent development of a product and its associated processes is known as...

Concurrent engineering

Trade-offs you would consider for speaking up in class versus waiting to get called on by the instructor

Control of the situation, class participation, perception, image, etc.

Trade-offs you would consider for buying a computer now versus waiting for an improved model

Cost, technology, productivity, convenience, software applicability, etc.

Describe cycle time as it relates to business processes. Why is it important to the management of business processes? How does it relate to concepts like productivity and capacity utilization?

Cycle time is the average time between completions of successive units in a process. It is directly related to the output capacity of the system - as cycle time is reduced, the process can produce more units in the same period of time, increasing the best operating level used in capacity analysis. Without an actual increase in production volume, capacity utilization will decrease as cycle time decreases but productivity remains the same. As the process produces more output per time period, productivity and capacity utilization will then increase.

Why is the degree of customization an important consideration in process planning?

Degree of customization has important implications throughout a business organization. Generally, higher degrees of customization involve more complexity in terms of production or service, involve different forms of layout (arrangement of the workplace), require higher worker skills, and have lower productivity.

What is it about service processes that makes their design and operation so different from manufacturing processes?

Direct customer involvement in the process

Do the concepts of complexity and divergence apply to an online sales company such as Dell Computer?

Due to the size of Dell and the number of market segments they serve, these concepts certainly apply. Consider as one example the technical support process for an existing customer. Service can vary from very simple like an individual customer needing a particular driver for her new computer to very complex in troubleshooting a network load problem in a server farm for an Internet service provider. In the first example there is a straightforward solution to the problem in emailing the customer a copy of the driver. In the latter, the service process may be quite divergent, with the process being adapted based on the symptoms of the problem and the skill of the customer's technical workforce. For a pure sales company like Amazon, the complexity and divergence would be much less.

How is efficiency different from productivity?

Efficiency relates to a fixed set of tools or conditions. Productivity is wider in scope. Efficiency can be improved by better use of existing labor and equipment; productivity can be improved by changing work methods, but also by changing equipment or conditions. The example of cutting grass with a pair of scissors is a good one: an efficiency approach would focus on the best way to use the scissors; a productivity approach would focus on use of a lawn mower. Note: use of a mower, while more productive than the scissors, may still have room for improvement in its efficiency.

High-risk products

Entail unusually large uncertainties about the technology or market. The development process takes steps to address those uncertainties.

Compare McDonald's old and new processes for making hamburgers. How valid is McDonald's claim that the new process will produce fresher hamburgers for the customers? Comparing McDonald's new process to the processes used by Burger King and Wendy's, which process would appear to produce the freshest hamburgers?

Exhibit 11.2 illustrates the various processes. McDonald's old process was a make-to-stock, where orders were pulled from finished goods. However, McDonald's new process will assemble-to-order. Therefore, McDonald's claim of a fresher hamburger should hold. Burger King's process is a combination of McDonald's old and new processes. The best Burger King can hope to do is match McDonald's with their orders that are assembled-to-order. The ones that are taken from finished goods will generally not be as fresh. Wendy's, on the other hand, should beat both McDonald's and Burger King on freshness, since they cook-to-order (Make-to-order)!

List some factors that can affect productivity and some ways that productivity can be improved

Factors affecting productivity: methods, capital, quality, technology, and management. Ways productivity can be improved: productivity measures for all operations, elimination of bottlenecks, soliciting ideas from workers, formation of work teams, study other firms, reexamination of work methods, establishment of reasonable goals for improvement, support from management, measure, reward, and publicize improvements, and finally, don't confuse productivity with efficiency since productivity is a much broader concept than efficiency

Why is non manufacturing important?

Farm products are an example of non-manufacturing goods because there is no production and the products naturally grow without human intervention.

Scientific Management

Frederick W. Taylor, who is often referred to as the father of scientific management, spearheaded the scientific management movement. The science of management was based on observation, measurement, analysis, improvement of work methods, and economic incentives. Management should be responsible for planning, carefully selecting and training workers, finding the best way to perform each job, achieving cooperation between management and workers, and separating management activities from work activities.

Why is productivity important?

High productivity rates relative to competitors can mean competitive advantages for companies. For countries, high productivity rates can reduce the risk of inflation and generate high standards of living for the country as a whole.

Designing products for aesthetics and with the user in mind is generally called what?

Industrial design

Discuss the product design philosophy behind industrial design and design for manufacture and assembly. Which one do you think is more important in a customer-focused product development?

Industrial design is concerned with designing a product from the end-user's point of view, such as aesthetics and user-friendliness of the product. Design for manufacturability, on the other hand, makes the product design less complicated and easier to manufacture. Very often it results in fewer parts, smaller size, increased reliability, and lower cost. Both philosophies are equally important for a customer-focused product development. In order to attract customers, the product must be aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly (industrial design). However, to sustain customer interests, it should also have a lower cost and higher reliability (design for manufacturability).

Trade-offs you would consider for driving a car versus public transportation

Initial cost, convenience, parking, taxes, time, repairs, upkeep, etc.

Trade-offs you would consider for buying a new car versus buying a used car

Initial cost, repairs, warranty, upkeep, monthly payments and interest, dependability, insurance costs, etc.

A process is part of an organization that takes _________________, turns them into _______________, and adds ___________________ while doing so.

Inputs, outputs, value

Inventory used in productivity measure

Inventory turnover equation is used. Measures how frequently average inventory is sold/ how efficiently inventory is used. Generally, higher the turnover better it is Desirable number of turns varies across industry.

In a flowchart, what is used to represent a storage activity in the process?

Inverted triangle

Quality Function Deployment (QFD)

Is a tool for translating customer requirements into concrete opening and engineering goals. In addition, facilitating inter-functional cooperation between marketing, engineering and manufacturing.

Slack time

Is the time an activity may be delayed without delaying the project. Is equal to = latest start time - earlier start time

Boeing's strategy appears to focus on its 777 midsize plane's ability to fly into smaller, non hub airports. Rival European strategy appears to focus on large planes. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of these two strategies

It appears that Boeing can concentrate on selling its smaller airplanes in larger volumes to smaller airline companies. The advantage of producing smaller airplanes is the fact that we can produce relatively large quantities at a lesser cost. The disadvantage of producing smaller airplanes is that most likely, the profit margin is less and larger quantities must be sold to generate the same income as when smaller quantities of larger airplanes are produced. The advantage of producing larger airplanes is that most likely the profit margin is higher and the Airbus company can afford to produce a smaller quantity of large airplanes to generate the same income as when larger quantities of smaller airplanes are produced by the rival company.

State in your own words what Little's Law means. Think of an example that you have observed where Little's Law applies.

Little's Law shows the relationship between throughput rate, throughput time, and the amount of work-in-process inventory. Specifically, it is throughput time equals amount of work-in-process inventory divided by the throughput rate. Little's Law is useful for examining the performance of a process. Example 11.1 illustrates an application of Little's Law.

Managing a supply chain

Managing a supply chain is important for several reasons, including matching supply and demand, reducing transportation costs, achieving a competitive advantage, managing inventories, and achieving supply chain visibility.

Why is manufacturing important?

Manufacturing is important in that it supplies a large proportion of exports and many service jobs are dependent on manufacturing because they support manufacturing.

Matching supply and demand

Matching supply and demand is an important objective for every business organization. Undersupply can result in dissatisfied customers, potential loss of business, and opportunity costs. Oversupply can potentially result in additional cost to store the excess, the need to sell the excess for a reduced cost, or the cost to dispose of the excess.

Feedback

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

What are models and why are they important?

Models provide an abstraction and simplification of reality. Mathematical models are the most abstract and most used in operations management. These models are used to assist in various decision-making scenarios. One of the main reasons for building mathematical models is that the experimentation with the model enables the decision-maker to analyze the model and make inferences about a problem without actually manipulating the real situation or problem. Therefore, the experimentation with the mathematical model rather than the actual problem or situation is less time consuming and less expensive.

Explain how having more work-in-process inventory can improve the efficiency of a process? How can this ever be bad?

More work-in-process inventory can be used to buffer multiple stage processes. Specifically, it can help with blocking or starving. Blocking is when the activities in the stage must stop because there is no place to deposit the item just completed. Starving is when the activities in a stage must stop because there is no work. Buffer inventories between operations can help relieve these problems, and improve the efficiency of the overall process. Increasing work-in-process inventory can be bad in that it involves more investment in inventory, as well as taking-up valuable floor space. Also, the JIT philosophy views work-in-process as being negative for a variety of reasons (more on JIT in a later chapter).

Process

One or more actions that transform inputs into outputs

Select two stores you shop at, and state how they compete

One store that many of us shop at is Wal-Mart. In the last decade, Wal-Mart has been steadily growing and gaining market share. There are numerous reasons why Wal-Mart has been successful in a very competitive market. Wal-Mart's ability to provide a very rich variety of goods with reasonable prices gives the company a competitive edge. Another reason involves the firm's ability to integrate various aspects of its operations with suppliers. In other words, successful supply chain management provided Wal-Mart with another competitive advantage. Many of us travel around the country and the world and stay at various hotels/motels. One of the hotel chains that has been successful is Super 8. The company is able to successfully compete because it is able to offer safe, clean overnight stay at very reasonable prices in small markets. The specific tactics followed by the company are consistent with the basic niche that the company has carved for itself.

What part of the organization has primary responsibility for productivity?

Operations

Contrast organization strategy and operations strategy

Operations strategy is the approach consistent with the organization strategy, which is used to carry out operations.

Discuss the various impacts of outsourcing

Outsourcing can result in lower costs, the ability to take advantage of others' expertise, and allow businesses to focus on their core business. Outsourcing generally results in layoffs and some loss of control. Also, outsourcing to companies in other nations may result in problems due to cultural or language differences, and increased shipping times for products.

Interchangeable parts

Parts of a product made to such precision that each part would fit any of the identical items bring produced. It meant that individual parts would not have to be custom made because they were standardized.

Goods

Physical items produced by business organizations

Discuss design-based incrementalism, which is frequent product redesign throughout the product's life. What are the pros and cons of this idea?

Pro: enhanced function, higher quality, and lower cost through continuously advancing technology. Con: time and money spent on frequent product and process redesigns, low priority given in servicing the existing and older products. Consumer reaction to frequent changes may be negative.

Fortnightly

Produced every two weeks

How is productivity defined?

Productivity is the ratio of output to input

How are productivity measures used?

Productivity measures are used to judge the effective use resources of countries, companies, and units within companies.

Platform products

Products are designed and built around a preexisting technological subsystem.

Describe the generic product development process described in this chapter. How does this process change for technology push products?

Products that are developed using the "technology push" would be more narrowly focused in phase 0 and phase 1 of Marketing. The focus would be narrower because you would only look at market segments that could benefit from the application of your technology. The rest of the generic process may be somewhat less complex as well since the technology of the product currently exists in your manufacturing facilities

How does the QFD approach help? What are some limitations of this approach?

QFD helps to get the voice of the customer into the design process using interfunctional teams. The limitations of QFD relate to the culture of the organization. In the United States, we tend to be vertically oriented and try to promote breakthrough. This can work against interfunctional teamwork, which is needed for QFD success. If a breakthrough culture can be maintained with a continuous improvement mentality through interfunctional teams, this would lead to tremendous improvements in productivity.

Types of Process flowchart

Serial flow process: a single path for all stages of production. Parallel process: Some of the operations has alternative paths where two or more resources are used to increase capacity. Logistics process: Movement of things such as materials, people, or finished goods.

What are the three general factors that determine the fit of a new or revised service process?

Service experience fit, operational fit, and financial impact

Contrast the terms strategies and tactics

Strategy is the basic approach used by an organization to achieve its goal where tactics are the methods and actions are taken to accomplish strategies and carry out operations.

Discuss the term sustainability, and its relevance for business organizations

Sustainability refers to service and production processes that use resources in ways that do not harm ecological systems that support both current and future human existence. Business organizations are increasingly facing sustainability regulations as well as pressures from environmental groups to act responsibly toward the environment. Some organizations are capitalizing on their "green" efforts in their advertising.

Explain the rationale of an operations strategy that seeks to increase the opportunity for use of technology by reducing variability in processing requirements

Technology usually works best when processing requirements are uniform. Therefore, reducing the variability provides more opportunities for implementing technology.

Which phase of the generic development process involves construction and evaluation of multiple preproduction versions of the product?

Testing and refinement

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution began in the 1770s in England, and spread to the rest of Europe and to the U.S. in the late eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century. A number of inventions such as the steam engine, the spinning Jenny, and the power loom helped to bring about this change. There were also ample supplies of coal and iron ore to provide the necessary materials for generating the power to operate and build the machines that were much stronger and more durable than the simple wooden ones they replaced.

Throughput

The amount of material or items passing through a system or process.

Cycle time

The average time between completions of successive units. Gap between when each customer leaves.

What is the Balanced Scoreboard and how is it useful?

The balanced scorecard is a top-down management system that helps managers focus attention on strategic issues related to finance, internal processes, customers, and learning and growth.

Value-added

The difference between the cost of inputs and the value or price of outputs

What factors must be traded off in the product development process before introducing a new product?

The factors that need careful attention for new products are product performance, development speed, product cost, and development program expense. Smith and Reinertsen identify six pairs of trade-offs in their book. These include all possible pairs among the four factors noted above.

Operations Management

The management of systems or processes that create goods and/or provide services. These processes involve the planning, coordination, and execution of all activities that create goods and services.

Value Analysis (VA)/ Value Engineering (VE)

The objective is to achieve equivalent or better performance at a lower cost. The purpose is to simplify products and processes. VA deals with products already in production VE is performed before the production stage

Describe operations function and the nature of the operations manager's job

The operations function consists of all activities that are directly related to producing goods or providing services. It is the core of most business organizations because it is responsible for the creation of an organization's goods or services. Its essence is to add value during the transformation process (the difference between the cost of inputs and value and price of outputs)

Recently some Operations Management experts have begun insisting that simple maximizing process velocity, which actually means minimizing the time that it takes to process something through the system, is the single most important measure for improving a process. Can you think of a situation when this might not be true?

The problem with focusing exclusively on process velocity is that other dimensions might be ignored, such as quality or safety. There are many examples. One would be if drying time was reduced, this might impact the quality of the process. Another example would be whiskey, reducing the aging time would probably impact its quality.

Process-intensive products

The production process has an impact on the product properties. Therefore, product design and process design cannot be separated.

Utilization

The ratio of the time that a resource is actually used/activates relative to the time that is available for use.

Why do people do thing that are unethical?

The reasons for doing unethical things vary from person to person and from one situation to another. Some of the possible reasons are listed below: a. The decision-maker cannot recognize his or her action as unethical because of a lack of morals or understanding or lack of sensitivity towards a given issue. b. Even though the decision-maker recognizes his or her behavior or action as unethical, he or she justifies it based on self-rationalization that involves justice theory. For example, the decision-maker may think that the consequences of his or her decision is not going to hurt other people or organizations in the short run but the potential long term effects may be devastating. c. The decision-maker knows that his or her action is unquestionably unethical. However, the type of ethical behavior required is not in the personal portfolio of the decision-maker and ethics in general is not important to him or her. d. The decision-maker does not think he or she will be caught. e. The self-interest of the decision-maker outweighs the ethical considerations.

Why are work measurement and time standards important for a firm? Are there any negatives to the implementation of these standards? Are there ways to achieve the same objectives without setting firm standards?

The reasons for work measurement and time standards are outlined in the chapter: 1. To schedule work and allocate capacity 2. To provide an objective basis for motivating the workforce and measuring workers' performance 3. To bid for new contracts and evaluate performance on existing ones 4. To provide benchmarks for performance. Essentially they are important to have a baseline measure against which to evaluate and set goals for the system. They can have a negative effect on workers' attitudes towards the job and the firm, especially if they are unreasonable or unachievable. Various managerial approaches can be used to try and increase workers' motivation for the job and improved performance. Job enrichment as discussed in the chapter is one such example.

Why are services important?

The service sector now accounts for more than 70 percent of jobs in the U.S. and that figure continues to increase.

Identify the three major functional areas of business organizations and briefly describe how they interrelate.

The three primary functions are operations, finance, and marketing. Operations is concerned with the creation of goods and services, finance is concerned with provision of funds necessary for operation, and marketing is concerned with promoting and/or selling goods or services.

Lead time

The time between ordering a good or service and receiving it. Beginning of appointment and when you leave.

Little's Law

There is a long-term relationship between inventory, throughput, and flow time. Inventory = Throughput X Flow Time

From time to time, various groups clamor for import restrictions or tariffs on foreign-produced goods, particularly automobiles. How might these be helpful? Harmful?

They would be helpful in the sense that they would give U.S. manufacturers time to step up the use of industrial robots and other measures which would make them better able to compete in domestic and world markets. The higher profits possible from reduced competition or higher prices on foreign cars could be used for research and development costs. Possible pitfalls include higher prices and less choice, which U.S. consumers would have to endure and the possibility that U.S. companies would not use this as an opportunity to improve, but merely a crutch. From the Japanese standpoint, they would be penalized for doing what many would see as a good job.

Trade-offs you would consider for a small business owner having a Web site versus newspaper advertising

This would depend on the nature of the product or service being offered as well as the type of customer. Computer literate customers might seek a web site. If customers are strictly local, newspaper advertising might be a reasonable choice, especially if potential customers were not actively seeking out the business. Also, if the business is seasonal, newspaper advertising might be preferred.

Measures of product development success can be organized in what three categories?

Time to market, productivity, and quality

Explain the term time-based strategies and give three examples

Time-based strategies are approaches that focus on reducing the time needed to conduct the various activities in a process. The rationale is that by reducing time, costs are generally less, productivity is higher, quality tends to be higher, product innovations appear on the market earlier, and customer service is improved.

What are the four basic techniques for measuring work and setting time standards?

Two direct methods: time study, work sampling; and two indirect methods: predetermined motion-time data systems (PMTS), elemental data.

Process flowcharting

Use of a diagram to present the major elements of a process. Elements including - taks or operations - flows of materials or customers - decision points - storage areas or queues An ideal methodology to be used to being analyzing a process. Flowchart symbols: square: tasks or operations upside down triangle: storage areas or queues (waiting lines) diamond: decision points arrow: flows of material or customers

Quick-build products

Uses a repeated prototyping cycle. Results from one cycle are used to modify priorities in the ensuing cycle.

Explain the term value-added

Value added is defined as the difference between the cost of inputs before the transformation process and the value or the price of output after the transformation process. In a manufacturing process as the inputs are transformed to outputs, value is added to products in a number of different ways. The value adding can take many different forms. For example, value can be added by changing the product structurally (physical change) or transporting a product (a product may have more value if it is located somewhere other than where it currently is).

What is the effect of waiting time on a manufacturing process? Why is it good to reduce waiting time? Can it be eliminated altogether?

Waiting time is non-productive time for material in the process. As waiting time increases, average WIP inventory increases. Decreasing wait time reduces the investment in inventory and improves the flow of material through the system. Completely eliminating waiting time would be very difficult if not impossible to eliminate in most systems. Variability in any process is likely to induce wait time at some point in the system.

Concurrent engineering

When marketing, engineering and operations simultaneously develop a process (cross-sectional integration)

Which work measurement technique is most appropriate for tasks that are infrequent or have a long cycle time?

Work sampling

Why might some workers prefer not to work in a lean production environment?

Workers may not like to work in a lean production environment because there are fewer opportunities for employee advancement, more worker stress due to higher levels of responsibility and greater variability and expansion of job requirements.

Name 1o ways that banks compete for customers

a. Interest rate on savings. b. Interest rate on checking and CDs. c. Loan rates. d. Quick loan application processing. e. No fees or low fee values (free checking, no or low ATM fees). f. Number of branches and locations to make it more convenient for the customers. g. Free on-line banking. h. Extended hours of service. i. Extra services. j. Lower minimum deposit before charging a service fee.

The first step in developing a house of quality is to develop a list of ______

customer requirements for the product

It has been said that a typical Japanese automobile manufacturer produces more cars with fewer workers that its US counterparts. What are some possible explanations for this, assuming that US workers are as hardworking as Japanese workers

he Japanese worker is probably working smarter if not harder than U.S. workers. By working smarter we mean the Japanese are using more productive work methods than American workers. One way the Japanese accomplish this is to use time-based strategies that focus on reducing the time needed to accomplish various tasks. Some of the areas in which their organizations benefit from time reduction are planning time, design time, processing time, changeover time, delivery time, and response time for complaints.

Mass production

involves producing a few standardized goods at high volume of output with low skilled workers utilizing specialized equipment. The main advantage is low cost, efficient production. The main disadvantage is that it does not allow easy changes in volume of output, product or process design. Examples: automobiles, computers, mail sorting, appliances, paper, soft drink bottling, etc.

Craft production

involves producing high variety of customized goods, low volume output with skilled workers, and utilizing general-purpose equipment. The main advantage is the flexibility to produce a wide variety of outputs providing many choices for the need of customers. The main disadvantage is its inability to produce at low cost. Examples: tailoring, machine shop, print shop,

Lean Production

involves producing more variety of goods than most production at moderate to high volume of output. It requires high skilled workers, quality, employee involvement, teamwork and flatter organizational structure with fewer levels of management. It combines the advantages of both mass production (high volume, low cost) and craft production (variety, flexibility). Examples: similar to mass production.

The purpose of value analysis/value engineering is to __________

simplify products and processes