Operations Management Homework - Midterm

59,400

A Rhode Island company produces communion wafers for churches around the country and the world. The little company produces a lot of wafers, several hundred million per year. When in production, the process produces wafers at the rate of 110 per second. During this production process the wafers must spend 9 minutes passing through a cooling tube. How many wafers does the cooling tube hold on average when in production?

B

Because of long set-up times, a company chooses to run big production batches. Which of the following actions will level the production schedule? A. Using overtime B. Mixing the models on the final line C. Making sure that rework is kept low D. Reducing the waste of the process

25

CodeDeck Inc. matches programmers with freelance jobs. They have 26 employees who staff their online chat room. They receive on average 245 chat requests per hour and the average chat session takes 6 minutes to complete. On average how many chat sessions are active? (Round to nearest integer)

7.6

Consider the baggage check-in process of a small airline. Check-in data indicates that from 9am to 10am, 220 passengers checked in. Moreover, based on counting the number of passengers waiting in line, airport management found that the average number of passengers waiting for check-in was 28. How long did the average passenger have to wait in line? (Round to 1 decimal, answer in minutes)

B

For one and the same process, what scenario corresponds to a higher variation? A. a six sigma process B. a three sigma process C. cannot be determined from the given information

C

From the perspective of process analysis, which of the following could be appropriate flow units for a hardware store? A. Number of workers B. Number of cash registers C. Number of customers D. Number of suppliers

B

If a process has a six sigma capability, what is the process capability index? A. 1 B. 2 C. 6 D. 12

B

If the takt time increases, the operation requires: A. More workers B. Fewer workers

C

In a p-chart, the upper control limit is how many estimated standard deviations above the average p-bar? A. 1 B. 2 C. 3 D. 6

D

In a process for which we have to use discrete probabilities to describe if an activity was carried out correctly or not, which of the following statements determines the defect probability of the entire process? A. The product of the individual defect probabilities B. The highest value of the individual defect probabilities C. The smallest value of the individual defect probabilities D. This really depends on the process, as it is possible that one process is more robust than the other

D

In the production of pizza, which of the following four variables is not an input variable? A. The amount of dough prepared for the pizza B. The temperature of the oven C. The type of cheese on the pizza D. The time that the customer leaves the pizza in the fridge

B

Is the capacity of the bottleneck larger than, equal to, or smaller than the capacity of the process? A. Larger than B. Equal to C. Smaller than D. The answer depends on the specific process under consideration

7,785

Last year there were 3,100,000 visitors to a national park and, on average, each visitor spent 22 hours in the park. On average, how many visitors were in the park at any particular time last year? (Round final answer to nearest integer)

B

Mary and Tom operate a lemonade stand. They are concerned that the lemonade does not taste fresh at the end of the day. Which of the following variables is an environmental variable in their operation? A. The temperature of the lemonade when they take it out of their fridge in the morning B. The temperate of the air during the day C. The temperature of the lemonade D. The temperature of the water used to make the lemonade

348

One of the chair lifts at a ski resort unloads 1,900 skiers per hour at the top of the slope. The ride from the bottom to the top takes 11 minutes. How many skiers are riding on the lift at any one time? (Round to nearest integer)

B

Over the course of a day, fans pour into a NASCAR venue at the rate of 8,000 people per hour. The rate at which fans leave the venue A. must be less than 8,000 people per hour B. must be exactly 8,000 people per hour C. must be more than 8,000 people per hour D. could be more or less than 8,000 people per hour

C

The batch size is tripled on a resource that has a setup time. What is the likely impact on the resource's capacity? A. decreased by 1/3rd B. decreased by less than 1/3rd C. increased by less than 300% D. inceased by 300%

False

The efficient frontier is given by the cheapest company in the industry. True or False?

C

The information turnaround time is driven primarily by: A. The number of workers B. The IT system C. The inventory in the process D. The amount of waste in the process

False

There can be no more than two firms on the efficient frontier. True or False?

A

What does X-bar stand for? A. The average of a sample B. The unknown standard deviation in a process that we have to solve for C. A shady bar in West Philadelphia D. The maximum observed value in a sample

A

What happens to the number of Kanban cards in the process if the replenishment time goes up? A. The number of Kanban cards increases B. The number of Kanban cards stays the same C. The number of Kanban cards decreases D. Cannot determine from the given information

B

What happens to the target manpower if the labor content is doubled? A. Increases by 50% B. Doubles C. Decreases by 50% D. Decreases by a factor of 2

Performance

Which dimension of customer utility does the slogan emphasize? The fastest internet in the nation

C

Which of the following is most likely to be a concern if batches are very large? A. the flow rate will be too high B. utilization will be too high C. inventory will be too high D. too much time will be spent on product change overs

D

A machine makes 3 different components that are used in a gyroscope. Call these components A B and C. The following repeating schedule is used to make components: make 100 units of A, make 50 units of B, and then make 200 units of C. How many components are made in the production cycle? A. 50 B. 100 C. 200 D. 350

C

A manager is concerned that there isn't enough time spent on production and too much time spent on setups. The manager decides to double all production batch sizes. This change has no impact on demand. What impact will this likely have on the average inventory in the process? A. decrease bc the capacity of the resources will increase B. remain the same bc the demand has not changed C. increase bc the larger batches require more time to be completed D. Cannot determine from the given information

Small

A process has low fixed cost and high variable costs. It is currently capacity constrained. Will the impact of an efficiency improvement be small or large? Small or Large

B

Henry Ford proclaimed "You can have any color you want, as long as it is black". Which of the following best reflects his motivation for this position? A. He believed that customers didn't actually like other colors, so why go through the hassle of making different color cars? B. With more than one color, the process would have switch over times and that could reduce the overall utilization of the process C. He wanted to establish "black" cars as part of his company's brand image at that time D. Assembling non-black cars takes longer than black cars E. He understood that increasing inventory in a process can lead to a longer flow time through the process

C

How does the takt time change as the demand rate increases? A. increases B. stays the same C. decreases D. cannot determine from the given information

C

How many standard deviations is the UCL above the long-run center line, X-bar-bar? A. 1 B. 2 C. 3 D. 6 E. 12

B

John is a newly minted quality engineer at MakeStuff Inc. His boss tells him to increase the process capability index of their main product. John is somewhat lazy and so he does not want to tackle the variation in the process. So he decides to simply increase the upper specification limit and reduce the lower specification limit. Does this increase the process capability index? A. No, it does not, as the variation in the process stays unchanged B. Yes, it does, through one might question if the underlying process is really better C. That depends on many other variables, including control limits D. No, the process capability index would only change if the control limits were changed

120

LaVilla is a village in the Italian Alps. Given its enormous popularity, all of its beds are always booked in the winter season and there are on average 1200 skiers in the village. On average, skiers stay in LaVilla for 10 days. How many new skiers are arriving-on average-in LaVilla every day? (Round to nearest integer)

D

Over the course of a month, which of the following is most likely to describe an appropriate flow unit for a process analysis of a hospital? A. The number of physicians B. The number of beds C. The square footage of the building D. The number of patients

900,000

Patients take a drug for severe acne for 6 months and there are 150,000 new patients each month. How many patients are taking this drug on average at any given time? (Round to nearest integer)

A

The primary purpose of the "Single minute exchange of die" philosophy is to: A. Reduce the setup time for a resource B. Increase the flow rate of a process C. Decrease the utilization of a process D. Eliminate resources that have setup times

False

True or False? A computer server experiences large fluctuations in the amount of data requests it receives throughout the day. Because of this variation, Little's Law does not apply.

False

True or False? A single inspection system with experts testing the output of the process will help reduce the information turnaround time.

Price

Which dimension of customer utility does the slogan emphasize? We match any price in town

D

Which of the following terms is not part of the Toyota Production System (TPS)? A. Ikko-nagashi B. Kanban C. Jidoka D. Yakimono E. Genchi genbutsu

B

You and three of your friends run a car wash for a fundraiser. Between interior and exterior cleaning, you spend about 40 minutes per vehicle. You are so successful that the next day, you invite four more friends to help. How does this impact the labor content? A. goes up B. stays the same C. goes down D. cannot determine from the given information

C

You are sitting in a restaurant and the waiter brings you the food that you ordered a while ago. If you think about you being the flow unit in the process of the restaurant - which step of this process will be downstream relative to your current position in the process? A. Waiting to order B. Being seated at a table C. Paying the bill D. Reviewing the menu

D

You look at a process that has three activities, each one can potentially go wrong. How many leaves does the event tree of this process have? A. 2 B. 3 C. 6 D. 8 E. 24

A

You measure the exact size of 100 ping pong balls from manufacturer A and then of another 100 balls of manufacturer B. The balls of manufacturer B have a much larger variation. Means and specification limits for the two manufacturers are identical. Which of the two manufacturers has a higher process capability index? A. Manufacturer A B. Manufacturer B C. Cannot be determined from the given information

C

You observe a bank and notice that a customer leaves the bank about every five minutes. These five minutes between customers are: A. the capacity of the process. B. the processing time of the last resource. C. the cycle time. D. the lead time.

A

You observe a long line at the airport security. The process currently is: A. capacity constrained. B. demand constrained. C. unconstrained. D. linearly constrained.

B

You observe a vehicle registration department at your local township. Assume that all employees are ready to work at 9 a.m. You arrive at 9 a.m. sharp and are the first customer. Is your time through the empty process longer or shorter than flow time averaged across all customers that arrive over the course of the day? A. Longer than the average flow B. Shorter than the average flow

C

Which of the following inefficiencies in a bank's operations results from variability? A. Customers directed to the wrong associate for a particular service B. Associates read the terms and conditions of each amount to the customer C. Customers incorrectly list information on forms D. Employee work schedules set a week in advance

D

Which of the following is not a dimension or sub-dimension in a customer's utility function? A. Convenience B. Price C. Location D. Customer Satisfaction E. Performance

C

Which of the following is not one of the three system inhibitors? A. Waste B. Variability C. Fatigue D. Inflexibility

B

Which of the following items would be considered a resource in the operations of a movie theater? A. Popcorn B. Projector C. Printer ink D. Floor cleaner

B

Which of the following items would be considered a resource in the operations of a soft drink manufacturer? A. Water B. Bottling machines C. Empty bottles D. Sugar and/or concentrate

C

Which of the following items would be considered an input in the operations of a soft drink manufacturer? A. Brand image B. Bottling machines C. Empty bottles D. Workers

D

Which of the following items would be considered resources in a restaurant? A. Recipes B. Food C. Brand image D. Chefs

C

Which of the following operational decisions correspond to the consumption utility component of the consumer utility function? A. When will the demand be fulfilled? B. How efficiently will the products or the services be delivered? C. What is the product or service to be delivered? D. Where will the demand be fulfilled?

B

Which of the following questions is not related to Operations Management? A. When will the demand by fulfilled? B. How much do we pay the CEO? C. Who are the customers? D. How efficiently are the products or services delivered? E. Where will the demand be fulfilled? F. What is the product or service?

B

Which of the following questions would be asked in a process analysis of a college admissions office? A. When was the college founded? B. How long does it take the office to process an application? C. How much is the yearly tuition at the college? D. How long does it take the average student to complete a degree program at the college?

A

Which of the following statements about takt time and cycle time is true? A. Takt time only depends on demand, not capacity. Cycle time does depend on capacity. B. Takt time only depends on capacity, not demand. Cycle time does depend on demand. C. Takt time and cycle time only depend on capacity. D. Takt time and cycle time only depend on demand.

C

A chemical process involves adding various agents to a vat and then waiting for the agents to react to make a final compound. The vat holds up to 1000 gallons. Chemical agents are added to the vat at a rate of 4.5 gallons per minute. Once the agents have been added to the vat, the reaction takes 85 minutes no matter the actual number of gallons in the batch. After the batch is complete, the vat must be cleaned for 15 minutes. What is the setup time of this process? A. 15 mins B. 85 mins C. 100 mins D. 222.22 mins

6.3

A consulting company must hire 18 new associates per year to replace those who have left the company for other positions or have retired. The company employs 113 associates overall. How long is the average associate employed at the consulting company? (Round to 1 decimal place, answer in years)

1,500

A large-scale bakery is laying out a new production process for their packaged bread, which they sell to several grocery chains. It takes 20 minutes to bake the bread. How large on an oven is required so that the company is able to produce 4,500 units of bread per hour? (Round to nearest integer)

A

A non-bottleneck worker currently has an idle time of 20 seconds per unit. Because of the large demand, the company improves the process by adding more capacity to the bottleneck. How does this impact the idle time of the worker? A. The idle time would decrease B. The idle time would stay the same C. The idle time would increase D. Cannot determine from the given information

A

A process is replicated in another country where wages are 50% lower. Staffing and processing times are the same. What would be the effect on the costs of direct labor? A. 50% lower B. stay the same C. 50% higher D. cannot determine from the given information

D

A product requires 4 parts that are made on the same lathe. Call them parts A B C and D. The product requires 1 unit of A, 2 of B, 4 of C, and 8 of D. Which of the following production cycle is most appropriate? A. A: 100, B: 100, C:100, D: 100 B. A: 101, B: 102, C: 104, D:108 C. A: 100, B: 150, C: 200, D: 400 D. A: 100, B: 200, C: 400, D: 800

A

SmartPhones are made on a 40-step assembly process. All 40 steps are connected through a conveyor belt and all of the 40 steps must work at the same rate even if some of them have more capacity than others. Is this process a machine-paced process or a worker-paced process? A. machine-paced B. worker-paced

A

Stopping the line can cause a loss of output. For this reason, an employee should stop the line: A. Whenever a problem occurs B. Whenever the employee sees the cost of stopping the line as lower than the costs of not stopping C. Whenever he or she needs to go on a break D. Never

B

Students have to change buildings between classes, which often times involve walks of 5 minutes or more. Walking from one building to another is: A. Waste B. Non-value add time C. Value add time D. Cannot determine from the given information

True

True or False? Following the announcement of a major quality problem, the share price of a company falls substantially. This decrease is a result of assignable cause variation.

False

True or False? Genchi Genbutsu requires the implementation of a pull system.

True

True or False? If the takt time is shorter than the cycle time, the process needs to run faster.

False

True or False? Kaizen favors automation and investment in technology.

False

True or False? Specialization increases the costs of labor as specialists will command a higher wage rate.

False

True or False? Taiichi Ohno built the Toyota Production System with the metaphor of a tiger in mind. Rapid and decisive movements were in his view the best way to match supply with demand.

False

True or False? You harvest 50 tomatoes. You notice that the tomatoes vary in size and weight. If some of the tomatoes were exposed to extra sunshine or irrigation, this would be a common cause variation.

True

True or false? If the batch size is increased, inventory increases, which implies that flow units are likely to spend more time in the process.

True

True or false? If the flow rate of a process increases, then the utilization of a resource with a setup time must also increase.

False

True or false? Increasing the batch size on a resource with setups always increases the capacity of the process.

Yes

Two retailers compete on costs and ambiance of the retail store. They are identical on all other dimensions of customer utility. Retailer A is cheaper than retailer B. Retailer A also has the better ambiance. Does this mean that retailer A is on the efficient frontier? (Yes or no?)

D

What is the difference between a fishbone diagram and an Ishikawa diagram? A. The Ishikawa diagram has more arrows B. The Ishikawa diagram is base don empirical data, the fishbone diagram is not C. The Ishikawa diagram is an operations management tool, the fishbone diagram is just something made up for this question D. There exists no difference

C

What is the difference between p-charts and attribute based control charts? A. P-charts are more quantitative B. Attribute based control charts really are a marketing tool and have nothing to do with operations C. They are one and the same thing D. P-charts monitor binary outcome variables, and attribute based control charts monitor continuous outcome variables

D

What is the maximum utilization a resource can achieve? A. A value equal to the demand B. A value equal to the capacity C. There is no maximum utilization D. 1.00

B

What is the relationship between the number of Kanban cards in a process and the inventory level? A. There is no relationship between the two B. There never can be more inventory in the process than what was authorized via Kanban cards C. The inventory of the process grows with the square root of the number of Kanban cards D. The inventory of the process can be reduced by adding more Kanban cards

B

What is the relationship between the processing time at a resource and its capacity?' A. They are the same B. They are reciprocals of each other C. They are multiples of each other D. They are not related

Timing

Which dimension of customer utility does the slogan emphasize? Get your burger in 1 minute or less, otherwise you eat free

Location

Which dimension of customer utility does the slogan emphasize? Our dealership network provides service, wherever in the country you may be

Fit

Which dimension of customer utility does the slogan emphasize? We build lenses uniquely to the needs of your eyes

C

Which of the following elements is not part of an X-bar control chart? A. The long run center line, X-bar-bar B. The control limits, LCL and UCL C. The specification limits, LSL and USL D. X-bar values from each sample