Chapter 10 Test Questions
10.3.1. A supplier of Toyota is planning to implement Heijunka. Toyota has recommended that the
supplier cut the batch sizes from the current level of 50 down to 10. In order to achieve this, the
supplier should reduce setup costs by a factor of
5
25
5
Reducing setup costs has no relationship with batch size
10.3.2 Indicate which of the following statements is (are) correct
10.3.3 Tower Automotive, a major manufacturer of auto parts based in Michigan, has just learnt
about the Toyota production system and wants to implement JIT. Traditionally there has
been no control on the amount of work in process inventory between stages (it has been
zero inventories
advice, Tower Automotive is considering as a first step to limit the amount of work in
process inventory between stages to a maximum of 5 parts. What, if any, impact will this
have on the output rate from the factory in the short term?
10.3.4 Company ABC manufactures widgets using a two–stage system in which there is one
machine in the first stage and 3 identical machines in the second stage. The machine in the
first stage can produce at an average rate of 5 jobs per shift. Each machine in the second
stage can produce at an average rate of 2.5 jobs per shift. Each product has to be first
processed on the first machine and then on one of the three second stage machines. The
demand for widgets is 5 jobs/shift. Recently a Japanese company entered the market and
ABC faces severe competition. The CEO of ABC has heard about the Japanese approach to
operations and after visits to several facilities in Japan concludes that the key to Japanese
cost and time competitiveness is zero inventories. Based on the data supplied by the
accountant, the CEO acts as follows:
He observes that there is excess capacity in the second stage. The first stage
produces at 5 jobs/shift and the second stage at 7.5 jobs per shift. To reduce costs, he
disposes off one machine in the second stage.
He dictates that no inventories be carried in the shop floor.
You are hired as a consultant. Preliminary data collection shows that the first machine
produces at the rate of 8 jobs per shift 50% of the time and 2 jobs per shift the other 50%;
similarly, each machine in the second stage produces at 4 jobs/shift 50% of the time and 1
job/shift the other 50%.
equal to, or greater than 5 jobs per shift? Why?
How would you approach this problem and achieve the JIT ideal of zero inventories with
existing resources. You realize that you cannot make the machines completely reliable
overnight.
10.3.5 The lock box operation at NBD bank involves three stages. Envelopes arrive from the post
office every half hour in batches of 30. In the first stage the envelopes are automatically
opened at a rate of 60 per hour. In the second stage the contents (deposit slips) are scanned
and printed. This optical character recognition machine is capable of processing 60 deposit
slips per hour. In the final third stage, deposit confirmation records are inserted into
envelopes at a rate of 60 records per hour, to be mailed to customers. Between each stage
the contents of envelopes are moved in batches of 30.
of 15 rather than 30. As a result the cycle time taken to process each batch of 30 envelopes
coming from the post office is expected to
Remain unchanged.
from 60/min to 90/min, leaving the rest as in the original process. What, if any, impact
would you expect on the time to process each batch of 30 from the post office?
10.3.6 The pop-group Hootie & The Operations Fish came out with a smash hit, singing about
.
from 4 crates of beer per week to 8 crates per week (and remained at 8 crates per week
during the next 30 weeks). Lead times in the supply chain are large and stages only
communicate with each other through the orders they place.
(a) What will be the main effect observed in the supply chain?
(b) List two key actions that need to be taken in order to avoid this effect.
10.3.7 In Reengineering Work , Michael Hammer advances
What do they mean by this suggestion?
Give two major benefits that result from this principle?
What is the major disadvantage of this principle?
10.3.8 admissions staff has embarked on a re-engineering project. Inspired by
Reengineering the Corporation, they are considering
empowering each admissions employee so that each employee will handle an entire
application. That is, each employee will receive the application package, enter all
administrative data in the computer data base, read all essays and make an application
decision (accept, ask a second opinion, put on waiting list, reject). This contrasts to the
current process where employees are dedicated to either data entry or reading and
deciding which are done sequentially. If this new process vision were implemented,
Kellogg can expect
(a) total theoretical cycle time to process an application to
decrease
remain the same
increase
(b) total actual cycle time to process an application to
decrease
remain the same
increase
10.3.9 List three causes of the bullwhip effect in a supply chain. For each cause identify one
countermeasure that can be used to dampen the bullwhip effect.
10.3.10Why do shortages lead to increased fluctuation in orders? What can a firm do to counter
this phenomenon?