Question: Can you be sure that all the

> At the University Hospital, five blood samples must be scheduled through a blood-testing laboratory. Each sample goes through up to four different testing stations. The times for each test and the due dates for each sample are as follows: a. Using a Ga

> What is the purpose of a planning and control system related to scheduling?

> A company produces to a seasonal demand, with the forecast for the next 12 months as given below. The current labor force can produce 500 units per month. Each employee can produce 20 units per month and is paid $2,000 per month. The inventory-carrying c

> The XYZ Company manufactures a seasonal product. At the present time, the company uses a level labor force as a matter of company policy. The company is afraid that if it lays off workers, it will not be able to rehire them or find qualified replacements

> Compute the errors of bias and absolute deviation for the forecasts in problem 6. Which of the forecasting models is the best?

> What are the advantages of exponential smoothing over the moving average and the weighted moving average?

> The producer of electronic circuits in problem 4 has reconsidered the method of quality control and has decided to use process control by variables instead of attributes. For variables control, a circuit voltage will be measured using a sample of five ci

> How is a Pareto chart used to improve quality?

> How can supplier certification contribute to quality products or services? Should all suppliers be certified? Why or why not?

> What are the major problems being faced by Eastern Gear?

> Suppose that a lean work center is being operated with a lot size of 50 units. Assume that 200 parts are demanded per hour and it takes three hours to circulate a container, including all setup, run, move, and idle time. a. Calculate the number of kanban

> Describe typical supplier relations before and after embracing lean tenets.

> Why is it important to define the system of interest before embarking on improvement? Give three reasons.

> Define a possible service guarantee for each of the following services: a. College classes b. A theater performance c. Buying a used car

> What are the strategies of the following organizations? Is the strategy defined in terms of product or process or both? a. McDonald’s b. AT&T Telephone Co. c. General Motors d. Harvard Business School

> What form does the product specification take for the following firms: a travel agency, a beer company, and a consulting firm?

> Define some of the strategic decisions that might be required in a grocery store’s operation and its supply chain depending on whether the strategy was emphasizing imitation or innovation.

> How should quality improvement be measured and knowledge disseminated?

> Give some examples of where offshoring has caused quality and delivery problems.

> Using the center-of-gravity model, locate the X and Y coordinates of a warehouse to serve three different customers as follows: Y Demand Customer coordinate coordinate (Ibs.) Bravo 100 20 8000 Delta 60 60 20,000 Lima 30 90 9000

> Calculate economic order quantities for each of the three types of toys. The EOQ formula is recommended from the supplement to Chapter 14 that considers uniform lot delivery of toys. EOQ = 2SD/iC

> Take a recent high visibility warehouse location decision and enumerate the relevant factors that were considered (e.g., taxes incentives, labor, etc.).

> A software company is considering outsourcing one of its software products to India for maintenance and support services. The annual costs in the U.S. and India are as follows: It will cost $90,000 o train the personnel in India to take over the mainte

> Considering the data and calculations from question 5: a. Which entities in the supply chain have the worst performance in terms of throughput time, cash-to-cash, added unit cost, and on-time delivery? b. Where should improvements be made to benefit the

> A firm makes a basic scissors consisting of three parts: the left side, the right side, and the screw that holds the sides together. At the present time, the firm has the following numbers of parts on hand and on order. The lead times for reorder of each

> Describe the advantages of cycle counting over an annual physical inventory.

> The Harvard Co-op orders sweatshirts with the Harvard University emblem on them and sells them for $50 each. During a typical month, 900 sweatshirts are sold (this includes all styles and sizes ordered from a particular supplier). It costs $25 to place a

> Suppose you are managing the Speedy Hardware Store. Give examples of items that might be managed by a P system and other items for which a Q system might be used. How do these items differ?

> In preparing to teach a new course, the professor has estimated the following activity times. a. Find the completion time of the project. b. What is the critical path? Start B End

> What is the management significance of finding the critical path through a network?

> The Security Life Insurance Company processes all new life insurance policies through three departments: incoming mail (I), underwriting (U), and policy control (P). The incoming mail department receives applications and customer payments and then routes

> What would you recommend that Joe Jr. do, assuming he takes control of Southern Toro?

> Why are m × n machine-scheduling algorithms not widely used in practice?

> S&OP or aggregate planning sometimes is confused with scheduling. What is the difference?

> Using the data in problem 2, prepare exponentially smoothed forecasts for the following cases: a. α = .1 and F 1 = 90 b. α = .3 and F 1 = 90

> What type of time-series components would you expect for the following products and services? a. Monthly sales of a retail florist. b. Monthly sales of milk in a supermarket. c. Daily demand in a call center.

> In a control chart application, we have found that the grand average over all past samples of 6 units is x = 30 and R = 5. a. Set up x and R control charts. b. The following measurements are taken from a new sample: 38, 35, 27, 30, 33, and 32. Is the pro

> Define the purpose of continuous improvement of quality.

> Can you name products and services that, in your opinion, have relatively poor quality? Relatively high quality? Are companies that provide better quality more successful? How can you tell?

> A company is in the business of machining parts that go through various work centers. Suppose work center A feeds work center B with parts. The following times (in minutes) are given for each work center. A standard kanban container holds 50 parts that

> How can lot sizes and inventories be reduced in a lean production system? Discuss specific approaches.

> A furniture factory makes two types of wooden tables, large and small. See the flowchart below. Small tables are made in batches of 100, and large tables are made in batches of 50. A batch includes a fixed setup time for the entire batch at each proces

> Design an inventory control system for this business. Provide the formulas that you would use for a P System, Q system or other system you design. Compare these to the formulas currently used. Examine the data from the Appendix to note any peculiarities

> What kinds of problems are presented by the redesign of existing processes that are not encountered in the design of a new process?

> Identify the front office and back office services for the following organizations. Could these services be improved by increasing or decreasing the degree of customer contact? By separating low- and high-contact services? a. Hospital b. Trucking firm c.

> A company is in the business of making souvenir spoons to customer order. The customers select the size of the spoons and may specify the design to be embossed on them. One or more spoons may be ordered. The company is considering going into the make-to-

> What is the proper role of the operations function in product design?

> Evaluate a couple of local hospitals in terms of its emphasis on the four operations objectives: cost, quality, delivery, and flexibility. Are all departments focused on the same objectives? What are the order winners and the order qualifiers?

> How is the operations management function related to activities in human resources, information systems, and accounting?

> How should Andrea deal with the organization issues presented in this case?

> The ABC Company plans to locate a warehouse using the center-of-gravity model to serve four different customers. Find the coordinates for the warehouse given the following information: Y Demand Customer coordinate coordinate (Ibs.) 20 80 9000 50 05

> From the Internet find examples of distribution centers or warehouses and list the functions that they serve.

> Do you think electric cars may become a viable alternative to gasoline-powered vehicles? What is the future of the electric car? Explain your answers.

> A line of furniture is made by the Drazal Company in South Carolina and is being considered for outsourcing to China. The unit manufacturing costs in the U.S. are: Unit Cost of Goods Sold Direct labor……………………………… 53 Materials……………………………….. 122 Over

> Look up advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing on the Internet.

> A supply chain has the following information: a. Compute the total supply chain throughput time for all the entities from beginning to end. b. Compute the cash-to-cash cycle time for each of the four entities separately. Based on this calculation, who

> The master scheduler in the ABC Widget Company is in the process of revising the master schedule. At the present time, he has scheduled 400 widgets for week 5 and is considering changing this to 500 widgets. a. What information would you need to decide w

> How much safety stock should be carried in an MRP system? What is the role of safety stock in MRP systems? Where should safety stock be carried?

> The famous Widget Company sells widgets at the rate of 80,000 units per year. Each widget sells for $100, and it costs 30 percent to carry widgets in inventory for a year. The process of widget production has been automated over the years, and it now cos

> For a given service level, why does a P system require a larger inventory investment than a Q system? What factors affect the magnitude of the difference?

> An entrepreneur is starting a new business. The activities and times required are given below: a. Find the critical path and the project completion time. b. What are the ES, LS, EF, and LF for each activity? c. How much slack is there in activity D?

> Define the terms critical path, ES, and LF.

> In problem 2, assume there are two machines of type A and two of type B. a. Prepare a finite capacity schedule. b. How does your FCS compare to the performance of the Gantt chart in problem 2?

> What criteria—limit to four—should Scott Nolan use to screen suppliers to be integrated into the early phases of the Deere skid-steer loader development process? Why?

> Describe the differences between Gantt charting, FCS, and the theory of constraints

> An urgent care clinic is staffed by two physicians who can each see four patients per hour. The clinic is open 6 p.m. until midnight, seven days per week. The clinic tracked the average number of patients arriving by hour for a month and observed the fol

> In what ways does corporate strategy affect capacity decisions?

> Management of the ABC Floral Shop believes that its sales are seasonal in nature with a monthly seasonal pattern and no trend. The demand data and seasonal ratios for the past three years are given as follows. a. Calculate a forecast for Year 3 using A0

> The Yummy Ice Cream Company uses the exponential smoothing method. Last week the forecast was 100,000 gallons of ice cream, and 90,000 gallons was actually sold. a. Using α = .1, prepare a forecast for next week. b. Calculate the forecast using α = .2 an

> Qualitative forecasts and causal forecasts are not particularly useful as inputs to inventory and scheduling decisions. Why is this statement true?

> Widgets are made in a two-shift operation. Management is wondering if there is any difference in the proportion of defectives produced by these two shifts. a. How would you use the p control chart to determine if there is a difference between the two sh

> Why are most processes not in statistical control when they are first sampled for control chart purposes?

> Suppose you manufacture 10,000 wooden pencils per day. What would be an appropriate quality planning and control system for this product? Consider such factors as product attributes, measures of quality, tests, and so forth.

> Suppose a work center has a setup plus run time of 30 minutes to make 50 parts. Also assume it takes 10 minutes to move a standard container of 50 parts to the next work center and the demand rate is one part per minute throughout the day. a. Schedule th

> Which location provides Polaris the greatest cost advantage? Calculate the NPV of the three locations using a 10% discount rate.

> Consider the following financial data from the past year for Midwest Outdoor Equipment Corporation. a. Compute the receivable turnover ratio. b. Compute the inventory turnover ratio. c. Compute the asset turnover ratio. Gross Income $25,240,000 Total

> Why is a stable master schedule desirable for a lean production system? What is the effect if it is not stable?

> The Swanky Hotel provides room service for its guests. The process for room service begins with a room service manager who takes orders by phone at an average of 2 minutes per order. The manager then sends the order to the kitchen, where it takes a cook

> Explain the differences between capacity, flow rate, and demand.

> Critique the customer contact model. What are its strengths and weaknesses?

> Compare the expensive restaurant, fast-food restaurant, and cafeteria in terms of process characteristics, such as capital, product type, labor, planning, and control systems.

> How can the modular design concept control production variety and at the same time allow product variety?

> How would you determine whether a company has an operations and supply chain strategy? What specific questions would you ask, and what information would you gather?

> How does the work of an operations manager differ from the work of a marketing manager or a finance manager? How are these functions similar?

> How does Lean Six Sigma in 3M differ from traditional TQM programs?

> What purpose does the Quality Academy serve and how should it operate?

> Develop a forecast to use as a basis for Sales and Operations Planning.

> How should the hotel handle service recovery and service guarantees? Suggest some options they could implement.

> What recommendations would you make for the business as a whole to overcome its weaknesses and threats and then capitalize on its strengths and opportunities?

> Why are facilities decisions often made by top management? What is the role in these decisions of operations, marketing, finance, accounting, engineering, and human resources?

> A company has a shipment to make from Dallas, Texas to Phoenix Arizona, a distance of 1065 miles. It plans to ship 8 pallets weighing 650 pounds each. Which is the best mode of transportation considering the following information?

> Compare the environmental impact of the five different modes of transportation.

> The Doright Door Company is considering outsourcing production of its door to Mexico. Use the weighted scoring method to evaluate the costs and risks of the offshore supplier, Perfect Door Company (Puertas Perfectos). The Mexican company has quoted a pri

> How is offshoring of services different from products?

> How can coordination be increased both internally within the firm and externally with customers and suppliers?

> Can the ABC principle be applied to manufacturing component inventories? Discuss.

> A producer of electronic parts wants to take account of both production rate and demand rate in deciding on its lot sizes. A particular $50 part can be produced at a rate of 1000 units per month, and the demand rate is 200 units per month. The firm uses

> The SureGrip Tire Company produces tires of various sizes and shapes. The demand for tires tends to follow a quarterly seasonal pattern with a trend. For a particular type of tire the company’s current estimates are as follows: A0 = 10,000, T0 = 1,000, R

> Compare and contrast the management of finished goods inventory in a manufacturing firm with that in a retail or wholesale firm.

> A plant start-up is based on the following network: a. Draw a network for this project. b. What is the project completion time? c. Identify the critical path. Immediate Activity Activity Predecessor Time A B 3 D A 3 E A 6 5 B, D 6