Operations Management, 12e (Heizer/Render/Munson)
Chapter 6 Managing Quality
Section 1 Quality and Strategy
1) Managers at Arnold Palmer Hospital take quality so seriously that the hospital typically is a national
leader in several quality areas—so that continuous improvement is no longer necessary.
2) An improvement in quality must necessarily increase costs.
3) Improved quality can increase profitability via allowing flexible pricing.
4) Which of the following statements regarding Arnold Palmer Hospital is FALSE?
A) The hospital uses a wide range of quality management techniques.
B) The culture of quality at the hospital includes employees at all levels.
C) The hospital scores very highly in national studies of patient satisfaction.
D) The hospital’s high quality is measured by low readmission rates, not patient satisfaction.
E) The design of patient rooms, even wall colors, reflects the hospital’s culture of quality.
5) Arnold Palmer Hospital uses which of the following quality management techniques?
A) Pareto charts
B) flowcharts
C) benchmarking
D) just-in-time
E) The hospital uses all of the above techniques.
6) Companies with the highest levels of quality are how many times more productive than their
competitors with the lowest quality levels?
A) 2
B) 3
C) 4
D) 5
E) None of the above because quality has no impact on productivity (units/labor hr.).
7) A successful quality strategy features which of the following elements?
A) an organizational culture that fosters quality
B) an understanding of the principles of quality
C) engaging employees in the necessary activities to implement quality
D) A and C
E) A, B, and C
8) Quality can improve profitability by reducing costs. Which of the following is not an aspect of reduced
costs by quality improvements?
A) flexible pricing
B) increased productivity
C) lower rework and scrap costs
D) lower warranty costs
E) All of the above are aspects of reduced costs by quality improvements.
9) Arnold Palmer Hospital uses ________ to seek new ways to reduce readmission rates.
Section 2 Defining Quality
1) The definition of quality adopted by The American Society for Quality is a customer-oriented (i.e., user
based) definition.
2) Conforming to standards is the focus of the product-based definition of quality.
3) Internal failure costs are associated with scrap, rework, and downtime.
4) Philip Crosby is credited with both of these quality catch–phrases: “quality is free” and “zero defects.”
5) Deming’s writings on quality tend to focus on the customer and on fitness for use, unlike Juran’s work
that is oriented toward meeting specifications.
6) “Making it right the first time” is the focus of the user-based definition of quality.
7) “Quality lies in the eyes of the beholder” is:
A) an unrealistic definition of quality.
B) a user-based definition of quality.
C) a manufacturing-based definition of quality.
D) a product-based definition of quality.
E) the definition of quality proposed by the American Society for Quality.
8) “Making it right the first time” is:
A) an unrealistic definition of quality.
B) a user-based definition of quality.
C) a manufacturing-based definition of quality.
D) a product-based definition of quality.
E) the definition of quality proposed by the American Society for Quality
9) Three broad categories of definitions of quality are:
A) product quality, service quality, and organizational quality.
B) user based, manufacturing based, and product based.
C) internal, external, and prevention.
D) low-cost, response, and differentiation.
E) Pareto, Shewhart, and Deming.
10) According to the manufacturing-based definition of quality:
A) quality is the degree of excellence at an acceptable price and the control of variability at an acceptable
cost.
B) quality depends on how well the product fits patterns of consumer preferences.
C) even though quality cannot be defined, you know what it is.
D) quality is the degree to which a specific product conforms to standards.
E) quality lies in the eyes of the beholder.
11) Which of the following is NOT one of the major categories of costs associated with quality?
A) prevention costs
B) appraisal costs
C) internal failure costs
D) external failure costs
E) None of the above; they are all major categories of costs associated with quality.
12) All of the following costs are likely to decrease as a result of better quality EXCEPT:
A) customer dissatisfaction costs.
B) inspection costs.
C) scrap costs.
D) warranty and service costs.
E) maintenance costs.
13) Which of the four major categories of quality costs is particularly hard to quantify?
A) prevention costs
B) appraisal costs
C) internal failure costs
D) external failure costs
E) None is hard to quantify.
14) GE’s recall of 3.1 million dishwashers cost the company more in repairs than the value of the actual
dishwashers. This is an example of which quality principle?
A) PDCA
B) internal failure costs
C) appraisal costs
D) cost of poor quality is underestimated
E) prevention costs
15) Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A) Self-promotion is not a substitute for quality products.
B) Inferior products harm a firm’s profitability and a nation’s balance of payments.
C) Product liability transfers from the manufacturer to the retailer once the retailer accepts delivery of the
product.
D) Quality–be it good or bad–will show up in perceptions about a firm’s new products, employment
practices, and supplier relations.
E) Legislation such as the Consumer Product Safety Act sets and enforces product standards by banning
products that do not reach those standards.
16) “The employee cannot produce products that on average exceed the quality of what the process is
capable of producing” expresses a basic philosophy in the writings of:
A) Vilfredo Pareto.
B) Armand Feigenbaum.
C) Joseph M. Juran.
D) W. Edwards Deming.
E) Philip B. Crosby.
17) “Quality Is Free,” meaning that the costs of poor quality have been understated, is the work of:
A) W. Edwards Deming.
B) Joseph M. Juran.
C) Philip B. Crosby.
D) Crosby, Stills, and Nash.
E) Armand Feigenbaum.
18) Stakeholders who are affected by the production and marketing of poor quality products include:
A) stockholders, employees, and customers.
B) suppliers and creditors, but not distributors.
C) only stockholders, creditors, and owners.
D) suppliers and distributors, but not customers.
E) only stockholders and organizational executives and managers.
19) Regarding the quality of design, production, and distribution of products, an ethical requirement for
management is to:
A) determine whether any of the organization’s stakeholders are being wronged by poor quality
products.
B) gain ISO 9000 certification for the organization.
C) obtain a product safety certificate from the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
D) have the organization’s legal staff write disclaimers in the product instruction booklets.
E) compare the cost of product liability to the external failure cost.
20) To become ISO 9000 certified, organizations must:
A) document quality procedures.
B) have an onsite assessment.
C) have an ongoing series of audits of their products or service.
D) all of the above
E) none of the above
21) What is a set of quality standards developed by the International Organization for Standardization?
A) Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
B) Deming Prize
C) ISO 14000
D) IOS 2009
E) ISO 9000
22) ________ costs result from production of defective parts or services before delivery to the customer.
23) The work by ________ regarding how people learn from each other’s successes led to the field of
cross-functional teamwork.
24) Not only customers, but stockholders, suppliers, and others, are among the ________ whose values
must be protected in making ethical decisions concerning the quality of products.
25) Identify the four costs of quality. Which one is hardest to evaluate? Explain.
26) State the American Society for Quality’s definition of quality. Of the three “flavors” or categories of
quality definitions, which type is it? Explain.
27) Quality has at least three categories of definitions; identify them. Provide a brief explanation of each.
28) In a sentence or two, summarize the contribution of Philip Crosby to quality management.
29) The focus of ISO 9000 is to enhance success through what eight quality management principles?
30) Describe how ISO 9000 has evolved in the past several years.
Section 3 Total Quality Management
1) Quality is mostly the business of the quality control staff, not ordinary employees.
2) TQM is important because each of the ten decisions made by operations managers deals with some
aspect of identifying and meeting customer expectations.
3) The phrase Six Sigma has two meanings. One is statistical, referring to an extremely high process,
product, or service capability; the other is a comprehensive system for achieving and sustaining business
success.
4) Continuous improvement is based on the philosophy that any aspect of an operation can be improved.
5) Kaizen is similar to TQM in that both are focused on continuous improvement.
6) Quality circles empower employees to improve productivity by finding solutions to work-related
problems in their work area.
7) Benchmarking requires the comparison of your firm to other organizations; it is not appropriate to
benchmark by comparing one of your divisions to another of your divisions.
8) Line employees need the knowledge of TQM tools.
9) One of the ways that just-in-time (or JIT) influences quality is that by reducing inventory, bad quality is
exposed.
10) The quality loss function indicates that costs related to poor quality are low as long as the product is
within acceptable specification limits.
11) The philosophy of zero defects is:
A) the result of Deming’s research.
B) unrealistic.
C) prohibitively costly.
D) an ultimate goal; in practice, 1 to 2% defects is acceptable.
E) consistent with the commitment to continuous improvement.
12) Based on his 14 Points, Deming is a strong proponent of:
A) inspection at the end of the production process.
B) an increase in numerical quotas to boost productivity.
C) looking for the cheapest supplier.
D) training and knowledge.
E) all of the above.
13) PDCA, developed by Shewhart, stands for which of the following?
A) Plan-Do-Check-Act
B) Plan-Develop-Check-Accept
C) Problem-Develop Solution-Check-Act
D) Problem-Do-Continue-Act
E) Prepare-Develop-Create-Assess
14) PDCA is most often applied with regard to which aspect of TQM?
A) Six Sigma
B) employee empowerment
C) continuous improvement
D) benchmarking
E) JIT
15) A Three Sigma program has how many defects per million?
A) 34
B) 3
C) 3 times the standard deviation
D) 2700
E) 1500
16) A Six Sigma program has how many defects per million?
A) 3.4
B) 34
C) 1000
D) 6 times the standard deviation
E) 2700
17) A hospital benchmarked against a Ferrari racing team in an effort to:
A) improve patient handoff quality.
B) increase surgery prep time.
C) lengthen surgery duration.
D) reduce the number of doctors.
E) all of the above
18) One of Britain’s largest children’s hospitals working with a Ferrari racing team is an example of:
A) internal benchmarking.
B) external benchmarking.
C) Taguchi concepts.
D) employee empowerment.
E) corporate responsibility.
19) If 1 million passengers pass through the St. Louis Airport with checked baggage each month, a
successful Six Sigma program for baggage handling would result in how many passengers with
misplaced luggage?
A) 3.4
B) 6.0
C) 34
D) 2700
E) 6 times the monthly standard deviation of passengers
20) Suppose that a firm has historically been achieving “Three Sigma” quality. If the firm later changes its
quality management practices such that it begins to achieve “Six Sigma” quality, which of the following
phenomena will result?
A) The average number of defects will be cut in half.
B) The specification limits will be moved twice as far from the mean.
C) The average number of defects will be cut by 99.9997%.
D) The average number of defects will be cut by 99.87%.
E) The average number of defects will be cut by 99.73%.
21) Total quality management emphasizes:
A) the responsibility of the quality control staff to identify and solve all quality-related problems.
B) a commitment to quality that goes beyond internal company issues to suppliers and customers.
C) a system where strong managers are the only decision makers.
D) a process where mostly statisticians get involved.
E) ISO 14000 certification.
22) A successful TQM program incorporates all EXCEPT which of the following?
A) continuous improvement
B) employee involvement
C) benchmarking
D) centralized decision-making authority
E) JIT
23) Kaizen is a Japanese term meaning:
A) a foolproof mechanism.
B) just-in-time (JIT).
C) a fishbone diagram.
D) setting standards.
E) continuous improvement.
24) Which of the following statements regarding “Six Sigma” is TRUE?
A) The term has two distinct meanings–one is statistical; the other is a comprehensive quality system.
B) Six Sigma means that about 94 percent of a firm’s output is free of defects.
C) The Six Sigma program was developed by Toyota in the 1970s.
D) The Six Sigma program is for manufacturing firms and is not applicable to services.
E) Six Sigma certification is granted by the International Standards Organization (ISO).
25) Members of quality circles are:
A) paid according to their contribution to quality.
B) external consultants designed to provide training in the use of quality tools.
C) always machine operators.
D) all trained to be facilitators.
E) None of the above; all of the statements are false.
26) Techniques for building employee empowerment include:
A) building communication networks that include employees.
B) developing open, supportive supervisors.
C) moving responsibility from both managers and staff to production employees.
D) building high-morale organizations.
E) All of the above are techniques for employee empowerment.
27) Building high-morale organizations and building communication networks that include employees
are both elements of:
A) ISO 9000 certification.
B) Six Sigma certification.
C) employee empowerment.
D) Taguchi methods.
E) the tools of TQM.
28) The process of identifying other organizations that are best at some facet of your operations and then
modeling your organization after them is known as:
A) continuous improvement.
B) employee empowerment.
C) benchmarking.
D) copycatting.
E) patent infringement.
29) Costs of dissatisfaction, repair costs, and decreased future demand are elements of cost in the:
A) quality loss function.
B) Pareto chart.
C) ISO 9000 quality cost calculator.
D) process chart.
E) Ishikawa diagram.
30) What shape does the quality loss function exhibit?
A) quadratic
B) linear
C) S-shaped
D) concave
E) bell-curve
31) A manager tells her production employees, “It’s no longer good enough that your work falls
anywhere within the specification limits. I need your work to be as close to the target value as possible.”
Her thinking is reflective of:
A) internal benchmarking.
B) Six Sigma.
C) ISO 9000.
D) Taguchi concepts.
E) process control charts.
32) ________ is the Japanese word for the ongoing process of unending improvement.
33) Enlarging employee jobs so that the added responsibility and authority is moved to the lowest level
possible in the organization is called ________.
34) ________ selects a demonstrated standard of performance that represents the very best performance
for a process or an activity.
35) A group of employees that meet on a regular basis with a facilitator to solve work–related problems in
their work area is a(n) ________.
36) Identify the five steps of DMAIC.
37) What steps can be taken to develop benchmarks?
38) Explain how just-in-time processes relate to the quality of an organization’s outputs.
39) What is the difference between conformance-oriented quality and target-oriented quality?
40) Identify the seven major concepts of TQM.
41) What is the quality loss function (QLF)?
Section 4 Tools of TQM
1) Pareto charts are a graphical way of identifying the few critical items from the many less important
ones.
2) A cause-and-effect diagram helps identify the sources of a problem.
3) Pareto charts are used to:
A) identify inspection points in a process.
B) outline production schedules.
C) organize errors, problems, or defects.
D) show material flow.
E) show the range of values of a measurement and the frequency with which each value occurs.
4) The “four Ms” of cause-and-effect diagrams are:
A) material, machinery/equipment, manpower, and methods.
B) material, methods, men, and mental attitude.
C) named after four quality experts.
D) material, management, manpower, and motivation.
E) mentality, motivation, management, and manpower.
5) Among the tools of TQM, the tool ordinarily used to aid in understanding the sequence of events
through which a product travels is a:
A) Pareto chart.
B) flowchart.
C) check sheet.
D) Taguchi map.
E) poka-yoke.