SCMT: CH 4, 5, 6
This type of project represents a minimal amount of change.
Derivative projects
The early finish is calculated by
adding the early start and duration
True or false: When plant product becomes too large, economies of scale may occur.
false
Capacity________ means having the ability to rapidly increase or decrease production levels.
flexibility
A facility that limits its production to a single product or a set of very similar products.
focused factory
A _________ project has members from the same division.
functional
The crash-cost per day (or other time unit) is calculated using which of the following formulas?
(CC - NC) / (NT - CT)
In the following identification of Activity C, the number represents which of the following? C(4)
The expected duration
What term describes the group of activities assigned to a single organizational unit?
Work package
Which of the following are advantages of the functional project organizational structure?
A team member can work on several projects. The functional area is a home after the project is completed. Functional-area experts creates synergistic solutions to technical problems. Technical expertise is maintained within the functional area.
When a project is housed within a functional division, such as manufacturing, it is called a ________ project.
functional
With service capacity, utilization directly impacts service ________
quality
The two types of costs to consider when adding capacity are
the cost of upgrading too infrequently the cost of upgrading too frequently
In a service process such as the checkout counter in a discount store, what is a good target percent for capacity utilization?
70%
What is the biggest benefit to organizations of organizational learning?
A competitive advantage
What is the major assumption when determining the cost per unit of time to expedite each activity.
A linear relationship between time and cost
What are the essential features of any earned value management (EVM) system?
A project plan that identifies the activities to be accomplished. Predefined earning or costing rules to quantify the accomplishment of work. A valuation of each activity work. In the case of a project that generates revenue.
When production stages have different capacities, what are options for dealing with the imbalance?
Add capacity to stages that are bottlenecks. Use of buffer inventories in front of the bottleneck stage. Increasing the facilities of one department on which another is dependent.
Which of the following is not an option when estimating the learning percentage before production starts? Multiple choice question. Assume the learning percentage will be greater than it has for similar products Assume the learning percentage will be the same as it has for previous applications Analyze similarities and differences between the proposed start-up and previous start-ups Assume it will be the same as it has been for similar products
Assume the learning percentage will be greater than it has for similar products
At what point in the project planning process is the organizational structure of the project decided?
Before the project begins
The output level where average unit cost is minimized is known as what?
Best operating level
The volume of output at which average unit cost is minimized.
Best operating level
Which of the following types of projects represents the most amount of change?
Breakthrough projects
Which of the following are advantages of the matrix form of project organization?
Duplication of resources is minimized. Policies of the parent organization are followed A project manager is held responsible for successful completion of the project. Team members have a functional "home" after project completion. Communication between functional divisions is enhanced.
The idea that as a plant volume increases, the average cost per unit drops is known as what?
Economies of scale
When multiple products can be combined and produced at one facility at a lower cost than they can be produced separately is known as what?
Economies of scope
A chart that shows both the time and sequence for completing the activities in a project.
Gantt Chart
The amount of output that a system is capable of achieving over a specific period of time.
General business capacity
What are some things you can do to improve individual learning?
Have the worker do one or very few jobs at once. Use tools or equipment that assists performance. Provide quick and easy access for help. Allow workers to help redesign their tasks.
What is the biggest driver of organizational learning?
Individual learning of employees
In order to calculate the estimated labor hour for a specific unit or for cumulative group of units, what needs to be multiplied by the appropriate value taken from the learning curve table?
Initial unit labor hour figure
Which of the following are reasons for the volatility of demand on a service delivery system?
Intangibility Customer interaction
How many immediate predecessors does an activity have?
It depends
Which of the following applicants would make the best employee?
It depends, Only by knowing the starting point and learning rate of each employee can we know which will end up being faster.
A project has how many critical paths?
It is possible to have multiple critical paths.
What are the points in time that we need to calculate for each activity in the project?
Late start time Early finish time Early start time Late finish time
Which of the following terms best describes a line displaying the relationship between unit production time and the cumulative number of units produced?
Learning curve
Managers should be aware of which of the following factors when using and interpreting learning curves?
Learning on new jobs versus old jobs Individual learning and incentives Changes in purchasing practices.
_____- is a hybrid of pure and functional project structures.
Matrix
How many immediate predecessors does C have?
One (A)
The capacity utilization rate is expressed as what?
Percentage
This type of project represents a moderate amount of change.
Platform projects
What are the impacts of having excess capacity?
Underutilization of workers Lower profits Lower prices
Consider a job that is a mixture of hand assembly and machining. As the percentage of hand assembly in the job goes down, the percent learning value goes __________.
Up
Which of the following are important issues to consider when changing capacity?
Use of external capacity Frequency of additions Maintaining system balance
This defines the hierarchy of project tasks, subtasks, and work packages.
Work breakdown structure
This is all the tasks to be performed on the project.
Work breakdown structure
This is the hierarchy of project tasks, subtasks, and work packages.
Work breakdown structure
In a project, which of the following has the shortest duration?
Work package
Which technique combines measures of scope, schedule and cost for evaluating project progress?
earned value management
The concept that relates to gaining efficiency through the full utilization of dedicated resources, such as people and equipment.
economies of scale
This is a measure of the relationship between volume and cost.
economies of scale
When multiple (usually similar) products can be produced in a facility less expensively than a single product.
economies of scope
True or false: It is not possible to have a process change project that accommodates a large amount of change.
false
True or false: Service capacity is subject to less volatile demand fluctuations.
false
The newer the job, the ________ the improvement in labor hours and cost will be.
greater
In order to enhance worker learning, there must be adequate _______ for the worker and the organization.
incentives
The saying "practice makes perfect" is associated with what type of learning?
individual
What type of learning results from repeating a process and gaining skill or efficiency from experience?
individual
What type of learning results when people gain skills from their own experience?
individual
Improvement that results when people repeat a process and gain skill or efficiency from their own experience.
individual learning
When looking at capacity, operations managers need to look at both resource _________ and product ________
inputs outputs
If a delay of one activity delays the entire project, then this activity
is on the critical path.
When calculating the slack time of an activity, it is the difference between an activity's
late start and early start times
A line displaying the relationship between unit production time and the cumulative number of units produced.
learning curve
This is a listing of numbers used to look up values.
learning table
When using learning curve tables, you need to know all of the following information except: Multiple choice question. learning percentage initial unit labor hour number of units list of time-output combinations
list of time-output combinations
If capacity is inadequate, a company may ______ customers
lose/upset
The number of items that can be produced in a given period of time.
manufacturing capacity
In a _______ arrangement, each project member reports to two managers.
matrix
Which project organizational structure minimizes the duplication of resources?
matrix
While incentives must be included to motivate the individual worker, most improvement in output comes from better _________ and effective ________ systems rather than simply increased worker effort.
methods support
a project ________ is a specific event in a project.
milestone
Specific events that upon completion mark important progress toward completing a project.
milestones
Which type of learning results from both practice and changes in equipment?
organizational
Improvement that comes both from experience and from changes in administration, equipment, and product design.
organizational learning
Most industries measure and report their capacity in terms of...
outputs
Organizational learning results from all of the following areas except: product design administration pattern design equipment
pattern design
What are the four major categories of projects based on the type of change involved?
product change, process change, research and development, alliance and partnership
A project where all members of the team work on the project full time is an example of which project organizational structure?
pure
Which of the following decisions would not be made using a learning curve? quality pricing decisions operating costs capital investments
quality
This shows the relationship between an explainer variable (X) and an explained variable (Y).
regression line
A key assumption related to the resources needed to complete activities when using the critical path method.
resources are always available
Economies of ________ exist when multiple products can be combined and produced at one facility at a lower cost than they can be produced separately.
scope
The number of customers that can be handled during a given period of time.
service capacity
Crashing creates a _____ project that costs _____.
shorter, more
The difference between the late and early start time for an activity.
slack
For some activities in a project there may be some leeway in when an activity can start and finish. This is called the
slack time
Completion of one or more work packages results in the completion of a_________
subtask
This is a combination of work packages
subtasks
Activity A is a predecessor for Activities B and C. When determining the late finish time for Activity A, you select
the smaller of the late starts for B and C
The ultimate in plant flexibility is...
the zero-changeover-time plant.
Service capacity is more _______ and _________ dependent
time location
These attempt to develop a minimum-cost schedule for an entire project and to control expenditures during the project.
time-cost models
The extension of the critical path model that considers trade-offs between activity times and costs is often referred to as
time-cost models.
True or false: In a perfectly balanced plant, the plant should ensure the output of one stage provides the exact input for the next stage
true
True or false: Organizations expect to benefit from individual and organizational learning at the same time.
true
True or false: The hierarchy of project tasks, subtasks and work packages is known as a work breakdown structure.
true
True or false: The presence of the customer in a service delivery system increases the volatility of demand.
true
How many immediate predecessors does D have?
two (B and C)
Service capacity is subject to more _______ demand.
volatile
What term best describes the written description of the objectives to be achieved in a project?
Statement of work
Finding the overall capacity level of capital-intensive resources to best support the firm's long-term strategy.
Strategic capacity planning
Which of the following is a form of a matrix project?
Strong, Balanced, Weak
For the critical path method (CPM), place the following steps in order from the first one completed to the last one completed.
1. Identify each activity to be done in the project and estimate how long it will take to complete each activity. 2. Determine the required sequence of activities and construct a network reflecting the precedence relationships. 3. Determine the critical path 4. Determine the early start/finish and late start/finish schedule.
Place the following project terms in order from longest to shortest.
1. Work breakdown structure 2. Task 3. Subtask 4. Work Package 5. Milestone
This is a combination of subtasks.
Project tasks
What are some things you can do to improve individual learning?
Proper training Motivate the employees Proper selection of workers Make tasks simpler
Which of the following can be part of a statement of work?
Proposed schedule Objectives to be achieved Performance measures Work to be done
_____ projects have a stand-alone organizational structure.
Pure
Identify the three main forms of project.
Pure project Functional project Matrix project
A project structured where a self-contained team works full time on the project.
Pure project or skunkworks
Which of the following are advantages of a pure project?
Team pride, motivation, and commitment are high. The project manager has full authority over the project. Team members report to one boss. Lines of communication are shortened.
When activities are scheduled with probabilistic task times.
The Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)
When estimating the learning curve, which of the following is true? You cannot estimate the learning curve from production history. The longer the production history, the more accurate the estimate. The longer the production history, the less accurate the estimate. The shorter the production history, the more accurate the estimate.
The longer the production history, the more accurate the estimate.
What are the the differences between planning capacity for services versus manufacturing?
Time Volatility of demand Cost
Pieces of work in a project that consume time to complete.
activities
The term capacity implies an ______ rate of output.
attainable
The level of capacity for which a process was designed and at which it operates at minimum cost.
best operating level
_______ _______ _______ is the level of capacity for which the process was designed.
best operating level
One definition of ________ is "the ability to hold, receive, store, or accommodate."
capacity
The output that a system is capable of achieving over a period of time.
capacity
________ is the output that a system is capable of achieving over a period of time.
capacity
Capacity in excess of expected demand.
capacity cushion
The ability to serve more customers than expected.
capacity cushion
capacity utilization rate
capacity used/best operating level
Time-cost models attempt to develop a minimum-_______ schedule for an entire project.
cost
Which of the following is not one of the difference between planning capacity for services versus manufacturing?
cost
Project managers are as much concerned with the _______ to complete a project as with the ________ to complete the project.
cost/time duration
The procedure used to reduce project completion time by trading off time versus cost.
crashing
______ refers to the compression or shortening of the time to complete the project.
crashing
Activities that in sequence form the longest chain in a project.
critical path
What are the three types of projects based on the amount of change involved?
derivative, platform, breakthrough
A schedule that lists all activities by their early start times is a(n)
early start schedule