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In a two-bin system for inventory, items are used from one bin and the second bin provides a large enough amount to ensure that the stock can be replenished before running out. Answer: A key decision point in the generic […]

CPM is an abbreviation for Critical Path Method. Answer: In Japan we would expect a focused factory to be small and have only somewhere between 30 and 1,000 workers. Answer: TRUE Heijunka is a Japanese word that means to smooth […]

MRP provides the schedule specifying when each part and component of an end item should be ordered or produced. Answer: Independent demand is the demand for a product or service caused by the demand for other products or services. Answer: […]

Finding the optimal combination of products to stock in a retail store cannot be solved using linear programming. Answer: A business education is complete with an understanding of modern approaches to managing operations. Answer: FALSE One form of gap analysis […]

The Poisson probability distribution is used in waiting line management when we are interested in the number of arrivals to a queue during some fixed time period. Answer: In order to develop the random number intervals for a simulation study […]

The aggregate operations plan differs in virtually every aspect in service operations as contrasted with manufacturing operations. Answer: Expected value is the anticipated selling price of a fixed asset, like corporate real estate. Answer: FALSE Activity-system maps are useful in […]

The “Z” value used to calculate the probabilities in CPM analysis is based on the Beta probability distribution. Answer: Attributes are those quality characteristics that are classified as either conforming or not conforming to specifications. Answer: TRUE Implementing ERP may […]

The demand on a hospital’s emergency medical services is considered an uncontrollable arrival pattern of the calling population. Answer: A synchronous manufacturing system does not have excess capacity throughout the system, except for a bottleneck. Answer: FALSE A department of […]

Finding the optimal routing for a product that must be processed sequentially through several machine centers, with each machine in a center having its own cost and output characteristics cannot be solved using linear programming. Answer: Make-to-stock production processes can […]

A responsibility chart is used in operations consulting in planning the task responsibilities for a project. Answer: Breakthrough projects are those that provide fundamental improvements to existing products. Answer: FALSE Computer aided manufacturing has not been widely adopted because newer […]

Maximum practical capacity is defined by the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis as “That output obtained within the normal operating schedule of shifts per day and days per week excluding the use of high-cost and inefficient facilities”. Answer: The most […]

MRP is based on dependent demand. Answer: One methodology used to evaluate equipment investment decisions where the investment entails a large initial investment, fixed costs and variable costs is break-even analysis. Answer: TRUE Which of the following statements holdsTRUE for […]

One of the implementation tools from the operations consulting tool kit is the responsibility chart. Answer: Process control is concerned with monitoring quality after the product or service has been produced. Answer: FALSE The smaller the capacity cushion the better. […]

Mental fatigue is a reason workers should be given some extra time to do their jobs. Answer: Most services contain a mix of tangible and intangible attributes known as the service package which is the major output of the development […]

Compared with a service operation, which of these statements isTRUE for a manufacturing operation’s capacity? A.Manufacturing is more dependent on time and location B.manufacturing is subject to more volatile demand fluctuations C.Utilization more directly impacts quality D.Demand can be smoothed […]

A tracking signal (TS) can be calculated using the arithmetic sum of forecast deviations divided by the MAD. Answer: The activity direct costs associated with a project might include giving workers overtime to complete a project in less-than the expected […]

Services often take the form of cycles of encounters involving face-to-face interactions. Answer: Depreciation is a method for allocating costs of capital equipment to future time periods when it will continue to be used. Answer: TRUE Computing the quantity of […]

In a forecasting model using simple exponential smoothing the data pattern should remain stationary. Answer: Profitability in consulting firms is achieved by leveraging the skills of the partners through use of midlevel and junior consultants. Answer: TRUE The second step […]

A good forecaster is one who develops special skills and experience at one forecasting technique and is capable of applying it to widely diverse situations. Answer: The fixed-order quantity inventory model requires more time to maintain because every addition or […]

Safety stock can be computed when using the fixed-order quantity inventory model by multiplying a “z” value representing the number of standard deviations to achieve a service Level or probability by the standard deviation of daily demand. Answer: Break-Even Analysis […]

When we have performed a simulation run of a model another simulation experiment might be called for that requires a change in parameters or variables. Answer: One of the assumptions of CPM is that project activity times can be estimated […]

“Available to promise” is a term referring to unsold finished goods inventory. Answer: For an activity in a Single Time Estimate CPM analysis, the Early Finish time is 8 and the Late Finish time is 10. Which of the following […]

Central to the concept of operations and supply strategy is the notion of operations focus and trade-offs. Answer: A doctor completes a surgical procedure on a patient without error. The patient dies anyway. In operations management terms, we could refer […]

Industrial robots are programmable, multifunctional machines that may be equipped with an end effector. Answer: Sunk costs are expenses or investments that continue to exist and do not change regardless of the decision. Answer: TRUE Job design is defined as […]

The economic life of a machine is the period over which it provides the best method for performing its task. Answer: SAP modules are updated twice each year. Answer: TRUE When stocked items are sold, the optimal inventory decision using […]

The master production schedule states the number of items to be produced during specific time periods. Answer: A traveler is an input to an airline’s transformation system. Answer: TRUE Focus forecasting is the most accurate of all forecasting models. Answer: […]

One of the current issues of operations and supply management is decreasing “commoditization” of suppliers. Answer: You time someone completing a single task the first time at 10 minutes and the second time they do the task it takes 9 […]

Because a Level production strategy does not require adjustment in the short-to-medium term, aggregate sales and operations planning is not required. Answer: Most project work is controlled by PERT or CPM and thus team leadership is less crucial than in […]

While business organizations can seek to achieve the Baldrige National Quality Award educational institutions, like universities, can’t. Answer: CAE and CAD software systems are both used in the evaluation of products. Answer: TRUE The most common production management tools used […]

The objective of strategic capacity planning is to determine the overall capacity level of capital intensive resources (including facilities, equipment and overall labor force size) that best supports the company’s long-range competitive strategy. Answer: The process when a company seeks […]

When work is scheduled in detail using the setup and run time required for each order, then theoretically all schedules will be feasible. Answer: Avoidable costs can reduce the cost of a new investment. Answer: TRUE Finding the optimal product […]

One of the basic purposes of inventory analysis in manufacturing and stockkeeping services is to specify when items should be ordered. Answer: At some point, the size of a growing plant can become too large and diseconomies of scale become […]

“Informating” ordinary workers means using electronic methods to give them instructions. Answer: The fixed-order quantity inventory model is more appropriate for important items such as critical repair parts because there is closer monitoring and therefore quicker response to a potential […]

Aggregation in sales and operations planning is by groups of customers on the supply side and by product families on the demand side of the firm’s supply chain. Answer: A key decision point in the generic development process during “Phase […]

Economies of scope exist when multiple products can be produced at a lower cost in combination than they can separately. Answer: A mathematical technique that is only used in aggregate planning for service operations is the transportation method of linear […]

TQM was defined in the textbook as managing the entire organization so that it excels on all dimensions of products and services that are important to the customer. Answer: One of the principles of work center scheduling is that the […]

TQM is an acronym meaning “total quality measurement”. Answer: The least unit cost method (LUC) of lot-sizing technique adds ordering and inventory carrying cost for each trial lot size and divides by the number of units in each lot size, […]

Activity-based costing is sometimes referred to as transaction costing. Answer: One of the assumptions made using CPM is that project activities can be identified with clear beginning and ending points. Answer: TRUE A key use of a customer survey used […]

Company unions in Japan exist to foster a cooperative relationship with management. Answer: mySAP.com is an internet interface that allows users to have the full functionality of the SAP software without requiring the deployment of any special software. Answer: TRUE […]

While benchmarking is an inward looking process of quality improvement, continuous improvement is an outward looking process that extends outside the organization. Answer: Firms that make multiple products can produce the same number of each product with a given level […]

The Shingo system approach to quality is totally compatible with statistically based approaches to quality control. Answer: A variable arrival rate is more common in waiting line management than a constant arrival rate. Answer: TRUE The “dollar days” inventory measurement […]

The synchronous manufacturing approach uses backward scheduling. Answer: The fixed-order quantity inventory model favors less expensive items because average inventory is lower. Answer: FALSE The “Z” distribution used to calculate the probability of completing a project on time is only […]

Variation that is inherent in a production process itself is called assignable variation. Answer: DHL and United Parcel Service are transportation companies which are prohibited from functioning as a third-party logistics company the way Federal Express does. Answer: FALSE Inventory […]

One of the basic purposes of inventory analysis in manufacturing and stockkeeping services is to determine the Level of quality to specify. Answer: Fixed cost includes variable overhead expenses such as utility bills. Answer: FALSE We assume in CPM analysis […]

The LCFS and Johnson’s priority rules are basically the same except LCFS uses due dates as a major determiner of job sequence. Answer: In exponential smoothing, it is desirable to use a higher smoothing constant when forecasting demand for a […]

McDonald’s fast food restaurants have traditionally used a Make-To-Order production process. Answer: JIT production means that we produce the product before it is required so the customer does not wait for the product. Answer: FALSE AS/RS stands for automated storage […]

Generally, determining lot sizes in MRP systems is simple. Answer: CAPP stands for computer aided purchasing program. Answer: FALSE Sociotechnical systems is an approach to job design that focuses on the interaction between technology and the work group. Answer: TRUE […]

Once an operations and supply strategy is adopted and articulated, the primary emphasis becomes perfecting the system of activities that make up the strategy through detailed refinements over a long period of time. Answer: Managing global supplier, production and distribution […]

The standard fixed-time period model assumes that inventory is never counted but determined by EOQ measures. Answer: Capacity can be defined as the amount of available resource inputs relative to requirements for output over a particular period of time. Answer: […]

You are managing a project and need to cut the cost of the project. You decide to transfer workers to another job to cut the project’s costs. Costs associated with transferring the workers are an example of project indirect costs. […]

One of the tools of a quality control department that is used in a TQM program is process sampling. Answer: Requiring little or no education is one of the advantages for management in adopting specialization of labor as a job […]

Facility location analysis considers the competitive imperative of a favorable business climate as indicated by the presence of other companies in the same industry. Answer: Break-even analysis can only be used in production equipment decision making and deals solely with […]

The optimal strategy for functional products is to utilize a responsive supply-chain. Answer: Complex projects are often subdivided into a series of tasks that are typically configured to be not longer than several months in duration. Answer: TRUE In the […]

In inventory models, high holding costs tend to favor high inventory Levels. Answer: The equation for exponential smoothing states that the new forecast is equal to the old forecast plus the error of the old forecast. Answer: FALSE You time […]

It is not necessary that a well-designed service system be robust. Answer: From an operations standpoint, one of the goals of the firm under the theory of constraints is to increase throughput while simultaneously reducing inventory and reducing operating expense. […]

Work groups can handle many production problems better than management if they are permitted to make their own decisions on scheduling and work allocation. Answer: A shop-floor control system is a system that uses data from the shop floor as […]

A capacity cushion is the amount of capacity less than expected demand. Answer: Facility location analysis considers the competitive imperative of locating near the appropriate labor pool to take advantage of high technical skills. Answer: TRUE The ‘sawtooth effect”, named […]