Operations Management

Which of the following is not true about systems approach?

A systems approach concentrates on efficiency within subsystems.

Which of the following is essential to consider with respect to managing a process to meet demand?

ALL OF THE ABOVE ALL OF THESE PLAY A ROLE

Which of the following is not a benefit of using models in decision making?

ALL OF THE ABOVE ARE BENEFITS.

Which of the following statements about variation is FALSE?

Any variation makes a production process less productive.

The word "technology" is used only to refer to "information technology".

FALSE

Operations managers, who usually use quantitative approaches, are not really concerned with ethical decision-making.

FALSE Ethics issues are touching on all areas of management, including operations.

Managers should most often rely on quantitative techniques for important decisions since quantitative approaches result in more accurate decisions.

FALSE Just as other techniques do, quantitative techniques have limitations.

The lean production philosophy has been slow to be adopted in service industries.

FALSE Lean concepts apply very well in service industries.

Operations management and marketing are the two functional areas that exist to support activities in other functions such as accounting, finance, IT and human resources.

FALSE Operations management and marketing are supported by these functions.

Operations Management activities will be less important in the future because many firms are becoming service-oriented operations rather than goods producing operations.

FALSE Operations management is just as important for service firms.

A systems approach means that we concentrate on efficiency within a subsystem and thereby assure overall efficiency.

FALSE Subsystem efficiency doesn't necessarily translate into overall efficiency.

Measurement of productivity in service is more straightforward than in manufacturing since it is not necessary to take into account the cost of materials.

FALSE Materials cost must be considered in services as well.

The use of models will guarantee the best possible decisions.

FALSE Models are useful, but their use does not guarantee the best decisions.

Companies are either producing goods or delivering services. This means that only one of the two types of operations management strategies are used.

FALSE Most systems involve a blend of goods and services.

Goods producing organizations are not involved in service activities.

FALSE Most systems involve a blend of goods and services.

Operations managers are responsible for assessing consumer wants and needs and selling and promoting the organization's goods or services.

FALSE Operation managers are not responsible for promoting goods/services.

Most people encounter operations only in profit-making organizations.

FALSE Operations are also relevant to not-for-profit organizations such as the Red Cross.

Operations, marketing, and finance function independently of each other in most organizations.

FALSE Operations, marketing and finance are naturally dependent upon one another

Assembly lines achieved productivity but at the expense of standard of living.

FALSE Productivity and standard of living go hand in hand.

Service operations require additional inventory because of the unpredictability of consumer demand.

FALSE Service operations cannot use inventory as a hedge against unpredictable demand.

'Value added' by definition is always a positive number since 'added' implies increases.

FALSE Some transformations result in the output being worth less than the inputs.

Special-purpose technology is a common way of offering increased customization in manufacturing or services without taking on additional labor costs.

FALSE Special-purpose technology typically reduces costs through standardization.

The operations manager has primary responsibility for making operations system design decisions, such as system capacity and location of facilities.

FALSE The operations manager plays a role in these decisions but is not primarily responsible for them.

The fact that a few improvements in a few key areas of operations will have more impact than many improvements in many other areas is consistent with the:

Pareto phenomenon

Some companies attempt to maximize the revenue they receive from fixed operating capacity by influencing demands through price manipulation. This is an example of __________________:

Revenue management

Prior to the Industrial Revolution, goods were produced primarily by craftsmen or their apprentices using custom made parts.

TRUE After the Industrial Revolution, more standardized approaches became common.

Among Ford's many contributions was the introduction of mass production, using the concept of interchangeable parts and division of labor.

TRUE Ford made mass production a practical success.

Lean production systems use a highly skilled work force and flexible equipment.

TRUE Lean depends on a skilled workforce.

Lean production systems incorporate the advantages of both mass production and craft production.

TRUE Lean production blends the best of both worlds.

Many operations management decisions can be described as tradeoffs.

TRUE Managing tradeoffs is the essence of operations management.

As an abstraction of reality, a model is a simplified version of a real phenomenon.

TRUE Models are valuable abstractions and simplifications of real, complex phenomena.

The optimal solutions produced by quantitative techniques should always be evaluated in terms of the larger framework.

TRUE Quantitative techniques have limitations that must be considered.

A modern firm has two supply chain considerations - external links with suppliers and customers, and an internal network of flows to and between the operations function itself.

TRUE Supply chain considerations are at play both in and beyond the modern firm.

Elton Mayo's "Hawthorne Experiment" was the focal point of the Human Relations Movement, which emphasized the importance of the human element in job design.

TRUE The Hawthorne Experiments were the beginning of the Human Relations Movement.

Often, the collective success or failure of companies' operations functions will impact the ability of a nation to compete with other nations.

TRUE A nation is often only as competitive as its companies.

Service involves a much higher degree of customer contact than manufacturing.

TRUE Customer contact tends to be much higher in services.

The value of outputs is measured by the prices customers are willing to pay for goods or services.

TRUE Customers' willingness to pay for goods or services sets the value of these outputs.

The greater the degree of customer involvement, the more challenging the design and management of operations.

TRUE Greater customer involvement leads to more complexity in the design and management of operations.

One concern in the design of production systems is the degree of standardization.

TRUE How standardized outputs will be is a critical consideration in the system design question.

People who work in the field of operations should have skills that include both knowledge and people skills.

TRUE Operations management requires a blend of knowledge and people skills.

A systems approach emphasizes interrelationships among subsystems, but its main theme is that the whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts.

TRUE Optimizing the performance of individual subsystems does not guarantee optimal performance from the overall system.

The Pareto phenomenon is one of the most important and pervasive concepts that can be applied at all levels of management.

TRUE Pareto phenomena can be observed in a wide variety of organization situations.

Service often requires greater labor content, whereas manufacturing is more capital intensive.

TRUE Service operations tend to be more labor-intensive than manufacturing.

A 'product package' consists of:

a combination of goods and services Most firms are not pure service or manufacturing firms; they produce combinations of goods and services.

Which of the following is not a type of operations?

all the above involve operations

What is credited with gains in industrial productivity, increased standards of living and affordable products?

assembly lines.

Knowledge skills usually don't include:

communication skills.

The process of comparing outputs to previously established standards to determine if corrective action is needed is called:

controlling

Which is not a significant difference between manufacturing and service operations?

cost per unit

Which of the following is not a characteristic of service operations?

easy measurement of productivity

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

feedback

Budgeting, analysis of investment proposals, and provision of funds are activities associated with the _______ function.

finance.

Operations management involves continuous decision-making; hopefully most decisions made will be:

informed.

Which of the following does not relate to system design?

inventory management

Marketing depends on operations for information regarding ___________.

lead time.

Operations and sales are the two ________ functions in businesses.

line.

Which of the following is not an ongoing trend in manufacturing?

mass production

Two widely used metrics of variation are the __________ and the _________.

mean & standard deviation.

Farming is an example of:

non-manufactured goods

Manufacturing work sent to other countries is called:

outsourced.

Modern firms increasingly rely on other firms to supply goods and services instead of doing these tasks themselves. This increased level of _____________ is leading to increased emphasis on ____________ management.

outsourcing/supply chain.

The responsibilities of the operations manager are:

planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling.

Dealing with the fact that certain aspects of any management situation are more important than others is called:

recognition of priorities

Production systems with customized outputs typically have relatively:

skilled workers

Which one of the following would not generally be classified under the heading of transformation?

staffing.

Which of the following is a recent trend in business?

supply chain management

Business organizations consist of three major functions which, ideally:

support one another

Taking a systems viewpoint with regard to operations in today's environment increasingly leads decision-makers to consider ______________ in response to the ___________.

sustainability/threat of global warming

Product design and process selection are examples of _______ decisions.

system design.

Technology choices seldom affect:

union activity.