Archives: Quiz

When developing the operations strategy for a new manufacturing organization, one of the most important considerations is that it A) requires minimal capital investment B) utilizes as much automation as possible C) utilizes an equal balance of labor and automation […]

Distribution resource planning (DRP) is A) a transportation plan to ship materials to warehouses B) a time-phased stock replenishment plan for all levels of a distribution network C) a shipping plan from a central warehouse to retail warehouses D) material […]

FedEx chose Memphis, Tennessee, as its U.S. hub because A) the city is in the center of the U.S., geographically B) the airport has relatively few hours of bad weather closures C) it needed a means to reach cities to […]

Operations managers will need to consider ethical and social responsibility issues when location decisions involve A) child labor issues B) sweatshop conditions C) allegiance to the firm’s current location D) corruption E) all of the above Which of the following […]

Therbligs A) were invented by Frederick W. Taylor B) were used during the scientific management era, and are no longer in use C) are hyperactive rodent-like pets, whose name is associated with time standards D) were named by Frank Gilbreth […]

Which of the following is not a reason for variability? A) Employees, machines, and suppliers produce units late. B) Customer demand is unknown. C) Employees, machines, and suppliers produce units that conform to standards. D) Engineering drawings are inaccurate. E) […]

Predetermined time standards are an outgrowth of basic motions called A) flow diagrams B) activity charts C) SAE standards D) man-machine charts E) therbligs Which of the following is false regarding learning curves? A) Learning curves differ from company to […]

By convention, the top level in a bill of material is A) level 0 B) level 1 C) level T D) level 10 E) level 100 Each R requires 2 of component S and 1 of part T. The lead […]

Given the following bill of material If the demand for product A is 50 units, what will be the gross requirement for component E? A) 50 B) 100 C) 150 D) 200 E) 300 A quality loss function includes all […]

A manufacturer has the following jobs waiting on a single work center. The firm has not decided which dispatching rule to apply in order to prioritize the jobs and fix them into the schedule. Processing time in 15-minute time blocks […]

A full-service restaurant is considering opening a new facility in a specific city. The table below shows its ratings of four factors at each of two potential sites. The score for Gary Mall is __________ and the score for Belt […]

The concept of customizing in a warehouse layout A) is possible, but causes serious loss of oversight of the quality function B) cannot be considered seriously in today’s high efficiency factories C) is theoretically sound, but several years away in […]

A location decision for a traditional department store (Macy’s) would tend to have a(n) A) cost focus B) labor focus C) revenue focus D) environmental focus E) education focus The transportation method, when applied to location analysis A) minimizes total […]

A production line is to be designed to make 500 El-More dolls per day. Each doll requires 11 activities totaling 16 minutes of work. The factory operates 750 minutes per day. The required cycle time for this assembly line is […]

Which of the following actions is consistent with the use of pure level strategy? A) use inventory to meet demand requirements B) use overtime to meet higher-than-average demand requirements C) vary production levels to meet demand requirements D) vary work […]

The first product took 10 hours to build and the learning curve is estimated to be 90%. How long with it take to make the fourth unit? A) 10 hours B) 9 hours C) 8.1 hours D) 7.5 hours E) […]

One of the disadvantages of simulation is that it A) does not allow for very complex problem solutions B) is not very flexible C) may be very expensive and time-consuming to develop D) is very limited in the type of […]

A project being analyzed by PERT has 60 activities, 13 of which are on the critical path. If the estimated time along the critical path is 214 days with a project variance of 100, the probability that the project will […]

What term has been created to describe the return of business activity to the purchasing firm? A) renewal B) backsourcing C) reversal D) reversesourcing E) insourcing A Type I error occurs when A) a good lot is rejected B) a […]

An assembly drawing lists the operations necessary to produce the component. Production technology has had a major impact on services, but as yet there has been little reduction in service labor requirements. Answer: FALSE Experience differentiation is an extension of […]

Operations management is the set of activities that creates value in the form of goods and services by transforming inputs into outputs. A simulation is “Monte Carlo” when the elements of a system being simulated exhibit chance in their behavior. […]

In a regression equation where Y is demand and X is advertising, a coefficient of determination (R2) of .70 means that 70% of the variance in advertising is explained by demand. In PERT analysis, the identification of the critical path […]

Many suppliers feel that having a variety of customers is better than being tied to long-term contracts with one customer. When innovation replaces cost as a firm’s focus for location decisions, the presence of other state-of-the-art firms is a plus, […]

To measure the voltage of batteries, one would sample by attributes. A transportation problem with a total supply of 500 and a total demand of 400 will have an optimal solution that leaves 100 units of supply unused. Answer: TRUE […]

The typical full-service restaurant uses a product-focused process. The bullwhip effect refers to the increasing fluctuations in orders that often occur as orders move through the supply chain. Answer: TRUE The definition of quality adopted by The American Society for […]

The critical path can be determined by use of either the “forward pass” or the “backward pass.” Security is the determinant of service quality that means freedom from danger, risk, or doubt. Answer: TRUE A time-series model uses a series […]

The four phases of the product life cycle are incubation, introduction, growth, and decline. In general, the lot-for-lot approach should be used whenever economical. Answer: TRUE Some business activities, such as human resources and legal processes, cannot be outsourced. Answer: […]

Normal time equals the average observed time multiplied by the allowance factor. False Labor standards based on historical experience are the preferred method of choice. Answer: FALSE The World Trade Organization helps provide governments and industries around the world with […]

Work sampling estimates the percent of time that a worker spends on various tasks. Closed-loop MRP systems allow production planners to move work between time periods to smooth the load or to at least bring it within capacity. Answer: TRUE […]

A bank office with five tellers, each with a separate line of customers, exhibits the characteristics of a multi-phase queuing system. Outsourcing refers to transferring a firm’s activities that have traditionally been internal to external suppliers. Answer: TRUE The Cpk […]

In the logarithmic approach formula to compute the time for the Nth unit, TN = T1N, the exponent b is the learning curve rate L, expressed as a decimal. “How much inventory of this item should we have?” is within […]

One goal of JIT partnerships is the removal of in-plant inventory by delivery in small lots directly to the using department as needed. When using the stepping-stone method, the improvement index for an unused cell equals the shipping cost associated […]

The learning curve in the steel industry and the learning curve in heart surgery have both been estimated at 79 percent. Deming’s writings on quality tend to focus on the customer and on fitness for use, unlike Juran’s work that […]

A project organization works best for an organization when the project resides in only one of its functional areas. A waiting-line system has three parts: the size of the arrival population, the behavior of arrivals, and the statistical distribution of […]

One of the ways that Just-In-Time (or JIT) influences quality is that by reducing inventory, bad quality is exposed. Random number intervals are based on cumulative probability distributions. Answer: TRUE An advantage of work sampling is that it completely breaks […]

Reliability is the probability that a machine part or product will function properly for a specified time regardless of conditions. If setup times and costs can be reduced enough, the JIT ideal of “Lot Size = 1” can be achieved. […]

Analytic decision making is based on logic and considers all available data and possible alternatives. A simulation model is designed to arrive at a single specific numerical answer to a given problem. Answer: FALSE Some degree of variability is present […]

UPS may run the “tightest ship in the shipping business,” but they got that high level of efficiency without time standards, because their contract with the Teamsters Union forbids them. Logistics management can provide a competitive advantage through improved customer […]

Work sampling and time studies are similar in that the analyst in both cases records the time taken by the worker to accomplish each step of the task. Gross material requirements do not take into account the amount of inventory […]

In the M/M/1 waiting line model with an arrival rate of 2 per hour and a service rate of 6 per hour, the utilization factor for the system is approximately 0.333. A useful tactic for increasing capacity is to redesign […]

The allowance factor that increases normal time to standard time compensates for inadequate worker training and lack of worker dexterity. The transportation model calculates an optimal shipping system between a central facility and several outlying customers. Answer: FALSE A process […]

The earliest application of learning curves appears in the work of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Modular design exists only in tangible products; it makes no sense in services. Answer: FALSE Balk and renege are elements of queue discipline. Answer: FALSE […]

The word “finite” in finite capacity scheduling refers to the use of finite or limited capacity rather than unlimited capacity. One effective use of simulation is to study problems for which the mathematical models of operations management are not realistic […]

One advantage of exponential smoothing is the limited amount of record keeping involved. A process-oriented layout is the traditional way to support a product differentiation strategy. Answer: TRUE Experience curves may be valid for industrial applications, but have no role […]

A time-study procedure involves timing a sample of worker’s performance and using it to set a standard. A waiting-line system with one waiting line and three sequential processing stages is a multi-channel single-phase system. Answer: FALSE Process maps use distance, […]

The forecasting time horizon and the forecasting techniques used tend to vary over the life cycle of a product. An enlarged job has more responsibility than the same job enriched. Answer: FALSE Conforming to standards is the focus of the […]

Waste is anything that does not add value, such as storage or inspection of items; waste also includes any activity that does not add value from the consumer’s perspective. Break-even analysis is a powerful analytical tool, but is useful only […]

In queuing problems, the term “renege” refers to the fact that some customers leave the queue before service is completed. The arithmetic approach (or successive doubling approach) to learning curve calculations allows us to determine the hours required for any […]

The customer may participate in the design of, and in the delivery of, services. A value-stream map includes both (1) inventory quantities, and (2) symbols for customers and suppliers. Answer: TRUE Robust design is a method that ensures that small […]

A project manager bases his time and labor estimates on a learning curve of 86%. The actual learning curve turns out to be 89%. The manager, because of the decreased learning, will complete his project in more time and with […]