Operation Management Chapter 6
State the American Society for Quality's definition of quality. Of the three "flavors" or categories of quality definitions, which type is it? Explain.
"The totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs." This is user based, as evidenced by the reference to needs, not to specifications or ingredients.
Identify the five steps of DMAIC.
(1) Define the project's purpose, scope, and outputs and then identify the required process information, keeping in mind the customer's definition of quality; (2) Measure the process and collect data; (3) Analyze the data, ensuring repeatability (the results can be duplicated), and reproducibility (others get the same result); (4) Improve, by modifying or redesigning, existing processes and procedures; and (5) Control the new process to make sure performance levels are maintained.
The focus of ISO 9000 is to enhance success through what eight quality management principles?
(1) top management leadership, (2) customer satisfaction, (3) continual improvement, (4) involvement of people, (5) process analysis, (6) use of data-driven decision making, (7) a systems approach to management, and (8) mutually beneficial supplier relationships
ISO 9000 International Quality Standards
A set of quality standards developed by the international organization for standardization (ISO). It focuses to enhance success through eight quality management principles
A Six Sigma program has how many defects per million?
A) 3.4
PDCA, developed by Shewhart, stands for which of the following?
A) Plan-Do-Check-Act
A fishbone chart is also known as a:
A) cause-and-effect diagram.
The goal of inspection is to:
A) detect a bad process immediately.
Regarding the quality of design, production, and distribution of products, an ethical requirement for management is to:
A) determine whether any of the organization's stakeholders are being wronged by poor quality products.
Quality can improve profitability by reducing costs. Which of the following is not an aspect of reduced costs by quality improvements?
A) flexible pricing
The "four Ms" of cause-and-effect diagrams are:
A) material, machinery/equipment, manpower, and methods.
Costs of dissatisfaction, repair costs, and warranty costs are elements of cost in the:
A) quality loss function.
Stakeholders who are affected by the production and marketing of poor quality products include:
A) stockholders, employees, and customers.
The work by ________ regarding how people learn from each other's successes led to the field of cross-functional teamwork.
Armand Feigenbaum
The process improvement technique that sorts the vital few from the trivial many is:
B) Pareto analysis.
Total quality management emphasizes:
B) a commitment to quality that goes beyond internal company issues to suppliers and customers.
"Quality lies in the eyes of the beholder" is:
B) a user-based definition of 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:
B) flowchart.
If a sample of parts is measured and the mean of the measurements is outside the control limits, the process is:
B) out of control and the process should be investigated for assignable variation.
Three broad categories of definitions of quality are:
B) user based, manufacturing based, and product based.
"Quality Is Free," meaning that the costs of poor quality have been understated, is the work of:
C) Philip B. Crosby.
Which of the following statements is NOT true? A) Self-promotion is not a substitute for quality products. B) Inferior products harm a firm's profitability and a nation's balance of payments. C) Product liability transfers from the manufacturer to the retailer once the retailer accepts delivery of the product. D) Quality-be it good or bad-will show up in perceptions about a firm's new products, employment practices, and supplier relations. E) Legislation such as the Consumer Product Safety Act sets and enforces product standards by banning products that do not reach those standards.
C) Product liability transfers from the manufacturer to the retailer once the retailer accepts delivery of the product.
"Making it right the first time" is:
C) a manufacturing-based definition of quality.
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:
C) benchmarking.
PDCA is most often applied with regard to which aspect of TQM?
C) continuous improvement
Which of the determinants of service quality involves having the customer's best interests at heart?
C) credibility
Building high-morale organizations and building communication networks that include employees are both elements of:
C) employee empowerment.
Pareto charts are used to:
C) organize errors, problems, or defects.
______ diagrams use a schematic technique to discover possible locations of quality problems.
Cause-and-effect, or Fishbone or Ishikawa
________ are graphical presentations of data over time that show upper and lower control limits for processes we want to control.
Control charts
A Three Sigma program has how many defects per million?
D) 2700
"The employee cannot produce products that on average exceed the quality of what the process is capable of producing" expresses a basic philosophy in the writings of:
D) W. Edwards Deming.
To become ISO 9000 certified, organizations must: A) document quality procedures. B) have an onsite assessment. C) have an ongoing series of audits of their products or service. D) all of the above
D) all of the above
A successful TQM program incorporates all EXCEPT which of the following? A) continuous improvement B) employee involvement C) benchmarking D) centralized decision-making authority E) JIT
D) centralized decision-making authority
Which of the four major categories of quality costs is particularly hard to quantify?
D) external failure costs
Which of the four major categories of quality costs is particularly hard to quantify? A) prevention costs B) appraisal costs C) internal failure costs D) external failure costs E) None is hard to quantify.
D) external failure costs
According to the manufacturing-based definition of quality:
D) quality is the degree to which a specific product conforms to standards.
Which of the determinants of service quality involves performing the service right the first time?
D) reliability
A quality loss function includes all of the following costs EXCEPT: A) the cost of scrap and repair. B) the cost of customer dissatisfaction. C) inspection, warranty, and service costs. D) sales costs. E) costs to society.
D) sales costs.
A successful quality strategy features which of the following elements? A) an organizational culture that fosters quality B) an understanding of the principles of quality C) engaging employees in the necessary activities to implement quality D) A and C E) A, B, and C
E) A, B, and C
Techniques for building employee empowerment include: A) building communication networks that include employees. B) developing open, supportive supervisors. C) moving responsibility from both managers and staff to production employees. D) building high-morale organizations. E) All of the above are techniques for employee empowerment.
E) All of the above are techniques for employee empowerment.
What is a set of quality standards developed by the International Organization for Standardization?
E) ISO 9000
Which of the following is not a typical inspection point?
E) after a costly process
The philosophy of zero defects is:
E) consistent with the commitment to continuous improvement.
Kaizen is a Japanese term meaning:
E) continuous improvement.
All of the following costs are likely to decrease as a result of better quality EXCEPT: A) customer dissatisfaction costs. B) inspection costs. C) scrap costs. D) warranty and service costs. E) maintenance costs.
E) maintenance costs.
A good description of source inspection is inspecting:
E) one's own work.
Benchmarking requires the comparison of your firm to other organizations; it is not appropriate to benchmark by comparing one of your divisions to another of your divisions.
FALSE
In a sentence or two, summarize the contribution of Philip Crosby to quality management.
In his book, Quality Is Free, Crosby pointed out that the costs of poor quality are understated, and that understatement made it easier for firms to accept low quality results. He also promoted "zero defects" and doing the job right the first time.
______ costs result from production of defective parts or services before delivery to the customer.
Internal failure
Explain how just-in-time processes relate to the quality of an organization's outputs.
JIT reduces costs of quality by lowering waste and scrap. JIT improves quality by shortening the time between error detection and error correction. Meanwhile, better quality means less inventory and a better JIT system.
_______ is the Japanese word for the ongoing process of unending improvement.
Kaizen
Total Quality Management (TQM)
Refers to a quality emphasis that encompasses the entire organization, from supplier to customer
A cause-and-effect diagram helps identify the sources of a problem.
TRUE
Continuous improvement is based on the philosophy that any aspect of an operation can be improved.
TRUE
Kaizen is similar to TQM in that both are focused on continuous improvement.
TRUE
One of the ways that just-in-time (or JIT) influences quality is that by reducing inventory, bad quality is exposed.
TRUE
Pareto charts are a graphical way of identifying the few critical items from the many less important ones.
TRUE
Quality circles empower employees to improve productivity by finding solutions to work-related problems in their work area.
TRUE
TQM is important because each of the ten decisions made by operations managers deals with some aspect of identifying and meeting customer expectations.
TRUE
The phrase Six Sigma has two meanings. One is statistical, referring to an extremely high process, product, or service capability; the other is a comprehensive system for achieving and sustaining business success.
TRUE
What is the quality loss function (QLF)?
The quality loss function identifies all costs connected with poor quality and shows how these costs increase as the product quality moves away from being exactly what the customer wants.
What steps can be taken to develop benchmarks?
The steps are: (1) determine what to benchmark, (2) form a benchmarking team, (3) identify benchmarking partners, (4) collect and analyze benchmarking information, and (5) take action to match or exceed the benchmark.
Identify the ten determinants of service quality. Describe two of them in a sentence or two each.
The ten are reliability, responsiveness, competence, access, courtesy, communication, credibility, security, understanding/knowing the customer, and tangibles.
What is the difference between conformance-oriented quality and target-oriented quality?
With conformance-oriented quality, any unit that meets specifications is acceptable, whether it is on the edges or center of the specification range. Target-oriented quality treats output as better the closer it is to exactly what the customer wants.
Target-oriented quality
a philosophy of continuous improvement to bring the product exactly on target.
Attribute inspection
an inspection that classifies items as being either good or defective (not degree of failure)
Company reputation
an organization can expect its reputation for quality to follow it.
A(n) ________ is a type of poka-yoke that lists the steps needed to ensure consistency and completeness in a task.
checklist
Variable inspection
classification of inspected items as falling on a continuum scale, such as dimension or strength
Source inspection
controlling or monitoring at the point of production or purchase (source)
Prevention cost
costs associated with reducing the potential for defective parts or services
Statistical process control (SPC)
process used to monitor standards, make measurements and take corrective action as a product or service is being produced.
Quality robust
products that are consistently built to meet customer needs in spite of adverse conditions in the production process; removing the effects is often cheaper than removing the causes and more effective in producing a robust product
Product based
quality as a precise and measurable variable
A group of employees that meet on a regular basis with a facilitator to solve work-related problems in their work area is a(n) ________.
quality circle
Manufacturing based
quality means conforming to standards and "making it right the first time"
What refers to training and empowering frontline workers to solve a problem immediately?
service recovery
Not only customers, but stockholders, suppliers, and others, are among the ________ whose values must be protected in making ethical decisions concerning the quality of products.
stakeholders
Quality
the ability of a product or service to meet customer needs
How is source inspection related to employee empowerment?
Source inspection involves the operator ensuring that the job is done properly. These operators are empowered to self-check their own work. Employees that deal with a system on a daily basis have a better understanding of the system than anyone else, and they can be very effective at improving the system.
Identify the four costs of quality. Which one is hardest to evaluate? Explain.
The four costs are internal failure, external failure, prevention, and appraisal. The hardest category to estimate is external failure costs, or costs that occur after delivery of defective parts or services. These costs are very hard to quantify.
Identify the seven major concepts of TQM.
The major concepts of total quality management are (1) continuous improvement, (2) Six Sigma, (3) employee empowerment, (4) benchmarking, (5) just-in-time (JIT), (6) Taguchi concepts, and (7) knowledge of TQM tools.
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.
Quality has at least three categories of definitions; identify them. Provide a brief explanation of each.
The three categories of quality are user based (in the eyes of the beholder), manufacturing based (conforming to standards), and product-based (measurable content of product).
Appraisal cost
costs related to evaluating products, processes, parts, and services
External failure cost
costs that occur after deliver of defective parts or services
Internal failure cost
costs that result from production of defective parts or services before deliver to customers
Enlarging employee jobs so that the added responsibility and authority is moved to the lowest level possible in the organization is called ________.
employee empowerment
Control charts
graphic presentation of process data over time, with predetermined control limits
User-based
high quality means better performance
Quality loss function (QLF):
identifies all costs connected with poor quality and shows how these costs increase as the product moves away from being exactly what the customer wants. Loss to society = square of the distance from the target value - cost of the deviation at the specification limit.