Introduction to Operations & Supply Chain Management, 5e (Bozarth)
Chapter 13 JIT/Lean Production
13.1 The Lean Perspective on Waste
1) Inflexible or unreliable processes cause organizations to produce goods before they are required; this is
called:
A) excess motion.
B) inappropriate processes.
C) overproduction.
D) defects.
2) Scrap or rework are examples of the Lean waste recognized as:
A) defects.
B) inappropriate processing.
C) unnecessary motion.
D) waiting.
3) The delivery lead time was highly variable as was the quality of the product being shipped. These two
factors combined to contribute to the waste of:
A) unnecessary transportation.
B) unnecessary inventory.
C) unnecessary motion.
D) waiting.
4) The receiving department accepts a shipment, confirms it matches the purchase order, and moves it to
an area they call “deep storage.” As the time approaches for the shipment to be used, they move it from
deep storage to the week’s holding pen, and on the day of use, it is transferred to the line near where it
will fall into the product stream. When the worker needs it, she goes to where it is stored and brings it to
her work station. This illustrates the waste of:
A) unnecessary inventory.
B) overproduction.
C) unnecessary transportation.
D) underutilization of employees.
5) The MBA recruiter had worked in one of several different positions at the university; student advisor,
adjunct professor, even MBA director at a previous employer. Her sole responsibility as recruiter was
attending MBA and job fairs in the area to talk to prospective students about the possibility of continuing
their education. This illustrates the waste of:
A) unnecessary inventory.
B) overproduction.
C) unnecessary transportation.
D) underutilization of employees.
6) The champagne magnums were filled with the amber, effervescent liquid but the corks were nowhere
to be found. Unfortunately, the order for a crate of corks was somehow translated into an order for a
single cork and corks have a one month lead time. The champagne master was concerned because
without corks, there were be far fewer bubbles to tickle the noses of the end users once the product was
sold. This illustrates the waste of:
A) waiting.
B) overproduction.
C) unnecessary transportation.
D) underutilization of employees.
7) JIT or Lean can be used in:
A) repetitive production.
B) job shop production.
C) many service industries.
D) All of these settings are appropriate for JIT/Lean.
8) Which of the following is NOT an element of Lean production?
A) to have only the required inventory when needed
B) to increase waiting time
C) to improve quality
D) to reduce setup times
9) Unnecessary transportation is waste according to the Lean philosophy.
10) The ability of a process to produce quality output is unknown and the time to ship the output to a
customer is highly variable. The combination of these two factors will lead to the waste of waiting.
11) One definition of waste is underutilizing employees.
12) Since a Lean manufacturer has very little inventory, it is vital that all incoming parts receive a
thorough inspection.
13) The just-in-time philosophy applies only to the production floor of a manufacturing company.
14) The term just-in–time production is used synonymously with the term Lean production.
15) Companies employing the Lean philosophy use only kanban as a production control method.
16) Lean thinking in the production environment has received considerable attention in the last decade,
but tools such as kanbans cannot be used in all production environments.
17) Any activity that does not add value to the good or service in the eyes of the consumer is ________.
18) Just-in–time production is also referred to as ________.
19) The underlying emphasis of Lean is the elimination of ________.
20) Describe any five of the wastes and their causes identified by the Lean philosophy.
21) What is the difference between Lean and kanban?
22) Provide a definition by description of the Lean philosophy. Where can Lean be deployed?
13.2 The Lean Perspective on Inventory
1) In the water and rocks analogy for Lean:
A) water represents problems.
B) water represents inventory.
C) rocks represent inventory.
D) water wears away rocks gradually just like continuous improvement programs improve quality.
2) In a lean system when a process is running smoothly:
A) workers are underutilized.
B) there is too little inventory in the system.
C) there is too much inventory in the system.
D) workers are overutilized.
3) A company has successfully implemented Lean practices in their three station process. The stations are,
in order, Station A, Station B, and Station C and product moves from A to B to C smoothly. One day, the
equipment at Station B experiences catastrophic failure. What happens and what is the appropriate
response for a Lean-thinking company?
A) Continue producing at Station C and restore capacity at Station B.
B) Continue producing at Station A and restore capacity at Station B.
C) Continue producing at Station A and C and restore capacity at Station B.
D) Everything stops and attention is focused on restoring capacity at Station B.
4) A reduction in inventory levels forces a company to address poor manufacturing practices.
5) Lean’s focus on inventory reduction prioritizes raw materials as most important to reduce, followed by
work in process and finally finished goods.
6) A typical application of Lean would call for a gradual reduction in system inventory until a problem
surfaces. Once this problem is fixed, the cycle begins again, i.e., inventory is reduced until another
problem is surfaced and fixed.
7) The analogy of rocks in a river is often used when discussing Lean principles. In the analogy, the rocks
represent ________ while the water represents ________.
8) Once a system has been “leaned out” with all excess inventory removed, if a piece of production
equipment breaks, all activity on the production line ________.
9) What is the Lean perspective on inventory?
13.3 Recent Developments in Lean Thinking
1) Lean supply chain management focuses on eliminating waste:
A) in a firm’s sourcing and logistics activities.
B) within a firm’s internal operations.
C) in flows of information and money among supply chain partners.
D) in all of the above areas.
2) One recent development in Lean thinking is the combination of Lean and Six Sigma into Lean Six
Sigma, which combines the rigor of statistical analysis and DMAIC approach with Lean’s focus on waste
reduction.
3) Lean Six Sigma combines the organizational elements and tools of Lean with the broad focus on waste
reduction of Six Sigma.
4) Lean supply chain management also seeks to optimize flows of information and money in addition to
physical flows.
5) ________ combines the focus on waste reduction with the discipline of define, measure, analyze,
improve, and control.
6) ________ could result in workers from one company working to eliminate waste for a company from
which they purchase components.
7) Recent developments in Lean thinking have combined these principles with Six Sigma and with supply
chain management. Pick either one of these programs and describe its elements. Then provide an
example from current business news of an operation or supply chain that has embraced these principles.
13.4 Kanban Systems
1) A kanban can be:
A) a container.
B) a card.
C) a visual cue.
D) All of these can be kanbans.
2) In a two-card kanban system:
A) the production card signals when a move card should be moved to the next process step.
B) the move card signals when a container of parts should be produced.
C) the production card signals when a container that held parts should be returned to inventory.
D) the move card signals when a container of parts should move to the next process step.
3) In a two-card kanban system:
A) each box of finished goods has a move card so it can be sent to the next step.
B) each box of raw material has a production card so it can be made into finished goods.
C) a downstream station pulls finished material out of a production area.
D) demand for more raw materials pushes finished goods to the finished goods area.
4) In a single-card kanban system:
A) the single card is the production card.
B) the empty container serves as the production card.
C) the single card is the move signal.
D) None of the above is correct in a single-card system.
5) Olivia has had enough of the theoretical equations and rejects the higher math needed to calculate the
number of kanbans for her system. One approach that some organizations take in lieu of the kanban
equation is to:
A) start with one kanban and operate as fast as they can with the one, before adding more kanbans to
bring them up to speed.
B) start with too many kanbans and gradually remove them until a problem arises.
C) fully load their system with inventory and produce until they cannot build product.
D) eliminate all inventory from the system and add material and parts until they can fill a customer
order.