What techniques or approaches can be used to achieve mass customization in practice?
> For the data in problem 11: a. Calculate the annual turnover as a function of service level. b. If sales were to increase by 50 percent, what would happen to the turnover at a 95 percent service level?
> Why is interfunctional cooperation important for newproduct design? What are the symptoms of a possible lack of interfunctional cooperation?
> The famous Widget Company uses simple exponential smoothing to forecast the demand for its best-selling widgets. The company is considering whether it should use α = .1 or α = .3 for forecasting purposes. Use the following dat
> Under what circumstances might CPFR be useful, and when is it not useful?
> A certain process has an upper specification limit of 220 and a lower specification limit of 160. The process standard deviation is 6, and the mean is 170. a. Calculate Cp and Cpk for this process. b. What could be done to improve the process capability
> How can lean and Six Sigma approaches work together in making process improvements?
> Contrast and compare the Deming and Juran approaches to quality improvement. How different are these two approaches?
> How can lean thinking be applied to accounting, finance, human resources, and marketing processes?
> Draw a service blueprint for the following: a. Pizza delivery b. Automobile repair
> What are the pros and cons of having a service guarantee?
> What is the difference between economies of scale and economies of scope? How do firms consider these when investing in processes?
> An entrepreneur is designing a sub sandwich shop that would be located on campus. Define the CAs that you would like to see for the service (not the product) delivered at this location. Then specify some ECs that can be used for measurement of the servic
> What are the reasons for formulating and implementing an operations and supply chain strategy?
> Give two examples of a distinctive competence that can be sustained and not easily duplicated. Explain why it is hard to copy these distinctive competencies.
> Explain how a distinctive competence in operations can be the basis for competition in the company.
> Find some examples of RFP bidding.
> Explain how companies use order placement and order fulfillment.
> How are MRP and ERP related?
> The Suregrip Tire Company carries a certain type of tire with the following characteristics: Average annual sales = 600 tires Ordering cost = $40 per order Carrying cost = 25 percent per year Item cost = $50 per tire Lead time = 4 days Standard deviation
> How would the theory of constraints be used to improve output for the operations in the following problems? a. Problem 2. b. Problem 3. c. Problem 6.
> What measures can be taken to provide more capacity at a bottleneck work center?
> A small textile company makes several types of sweaters. Demand is very seasonal, as shown by the following quarterly demand estimates. Demand is estimated in terms of standard hours of production required. An hour of regular time costs the company $12
> A barbershop has been using a level workforce of barbers five days per week, Tuesday through Saturday. The barbers have considerable idle time on Tuesday through Friday, with certain peak periods during the lunch hours and after 4 p.m. each day. On Frida
> Why study operations management in the supply chain?
> Explain how CPFR can be used to reduce forecasting error.
> Use the DMAIC steps to describe and improve the process of ordering a book from an Internet retailer. From the perspective of the retailer, what would be done in each of the steps?
> Find an example from the Internet of the application of lean thinking to a service operation. Describe how the lean tenets are applied in this setting.
> Use the what, who, where, when, and how questions to make improvements in problem 10.
> What attributes are required of a service guarantee to make it effective?
> A student would like to design a backpack for student books and supplies. The CAs are a (1) comfortable backpack that is (2) durable with (3) enough room and (4) not too heavy to carry. Think of some ECsthat can be used to measure these customer attribut
> What is the distinctive competence of the following companies? a. Starbucks Coffee Company b. Hewlett Packard c. Burger King
> Give some examples of reverse auctions.
> Why are cross-functional teams so widely used for supply chain improvement?
> Describe how MRP concepts could be used for the following service operations: a. Hotel b. Legal office
> What are the key operations and logistics issues faced by ShelterBox?
> The Toyota dealer from problem 3 is considering installing either a Q or a P system for inventory control. The standard deviation of demand has been 4 units per month, and the replenishment lead time is two months. A 95 percent service level is desired.
> What is the definition of the earliest and latest start times of an activity and the earliest and latest finish times of an activity?
> Using the Gantt charts developed in the following problems, which is the bottleneck work center? a. Problem 2. b. Problem 3. c. Problem 6.
> What scheduling rule should be applied to bottleneck work centers, and what scheduling rule should be applied to non bottleneck work centers?
> What factors are important in choosing the length of the planning horizon for aggregate planning?
> A candy store has sold the following number of pounds of candy for the past three days. Assuming α = .4, complete the following table. Tracking Period D. A F e, MAD, Signal 16 1 20 2 26 3 14
> In the Stokely Company, marketing makes a sales forecast by developing a sales force composite. Meanwhile, operations makes a forecast of sales based on past data, trends, and seasonal components. The operations forecast usually turns out to be 20 percen
> A grocery store purchases fresh fish every day from its supplier. It has ordered 100 pounds of fish each day, but the weight actually received varies from day to day with an average range of 6 pounds. Over the past five days it received the following wei
> It has been said that Six Sigma is a metric, a process for improvement, and a philosophy for managing a business. Explain these different perspectives.
> The following costs have been recorded: Incoming materials inspection………………… $20,000 Training of personnel ………………..……………..40,000 Warranty ………………………………..……………….45,000 Process planning …………………….……………….15,000 Scrap …………………………………….………………..13,000 Quality la
> What are the payback periods for the lawn-to-prairie conversion project, the dock blankets, the T-9 lighting fixtures, and the stormwater project?
> Are there repetitive manufacturing firms that should not use lean? Why?
> Using the correct symbols, draw a flowchart of the following processes: a. Preparing yourself for a job interview b. Going to the library to study and returning to your room
> Find some service guarantees in everyday life and bring them to class for discussion.
> What are the essential benefits of using a QFD approach to product design? Also, identify any negative effects that might apply to the use of QFD.
> Describe the decision-making view and the view of operations as a process. Why are both views useful in studying the field of operations management?
> What is the logistics strategy of firms such as Amazon, Target, or Best Buy?
> When would you want to use a preferred supplier?
> Explain how lean operations can have a powerful positive or negative effect on the entire supply chain.
> A small toy robot is assembled from six parts: a body, a head, two arms, and two legs. The firm uses a one-level bill of materials to assemble this product. The number of parts on hand and the lead times (weeks) to obtain more parts are shown below. Ther
> Calculate the control charts (UCL, CL and LCL) for each operator-machine combination separately. Do this for both x-bar (average) and range charts. Draw conclusions from the charts about each operator-machine combination.
> A materials manager said that her firm needed only an order-launching system. Should the loop be closed?
> Suppose you are managing a chain of retail department stores. As a top manager, how would you measure the overall inventory management performance of each store? How would you use this information in your relationship with the individual store managers?
> Why are a forward pass and a backward pass needed to produce a project schedule?
> Suppose you are in charge of dispatching for the University Hospital laboratory described in problem 7. Use the following dispatching rules for the first station (A) to determine which job should be processed first through station A. Hint: Decide between
> What is the definition of a bottleneck according to TOC?
> The Restwell Motel in Orlando, Florida, is preparing an aggregate plan for the upcoming twelve days. The motel has a maximum of 200 rooms, but demand varies during the week. Demand is listed in terms of rooms rented each day. The motel requires one emplo
> Every firm has multiple objectives such as good labor relations, low operating costs, high inventory turnover, and good customer service. What are the pros and cons of treating these objectives separately in an aggregate planning problem versus combining
> Only a portion of the following table for exponential smoothing has been completed. Complete the missing entries using α = .1 Tracking Signal Period D F. e, MAD, 20 1 300 290 280 3 309
> Describe the difference between fit and prediction for forecasting models.
> The Robin Hood Bank has noticed a decline in daily deposits. The average daily deposit has been running at $109 million with an average range of $15 million over the past year. The deposits for the past six days have been 110, 102, 96, 87, 115, and 106.
> What are the benefits and costs of a Lean Six Sigma program and how should they be tracked?
> A cause-and-effect diagram is used to identify the possible causes of defects. Draw a CE diagram for the following situations: a. Your car doesn’t start in the morning. b. You received a low grade on your last exam. c. A student fails to graduate from co
> Which of the four manufacturing quality dimensions are most likely to improve revenue? Which ones are related more to cost reduction or to both revenue and cost?
> Discuss how lean thinking can lead to a reduction of costs (material, labor, overhead), other than inventory. Be specific.
> Use the key questions of what, who, where, when, and how for problem 7 to suggest improvements in the processes.
> Describe service blueprinting in your own words, including examples of when it should be used.
> Why is the service-profit chain important to operations management?
> Give an example of mass customization not discussed in the chapter.
> Describe an operation where higher quality will cost more. What is your definition of quality? Why does higher quality cost more? If you use a different definition of quality, will higher quality cost less?
> For the organizations listed in question 7, describe the inputs, transformation process, and outputs of the production system.
> What services are provided by the following 3PL providers: C.H. Robinson, Ryder, and Penske Logistics?
> Why would a world-renowned organization, Mayo Clinic, already known for quality embark on a quality improvement journey?
> Daily demand for a certain product is normally distributed, with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. The supplier is reliable and maintains a constant lead time of 5 days. The cost of placing an order is $10 and the cost of holding inventory is
> What are the advantages and disadvantages of a single source?
> Relate off-shoring to outsourcing to global sourcing.
> A telephone is assembled from a handset and a base. The handset in turn is assembled from a handle and a cord, and the base is assembled from a case, a circuit board, and a face plate. A BOM and a sketch of the phone, along with the numbers of parts on h
> A company president said his firm was too small to afford an MRP system. Discuss.
> What is the appropriate role of inventory turnover as a measure for evaluating the management of inventory? Under what circumstances is high turnover detrimental to a firm?
> The professor from problem 6 is considering reducing the time for completion of the project. He can hire a teaching assistant (TA) to help with the new course, but this will cost additional money. The TA can help reduce the times only for activities A, D
> What is meant by the need to make trade-offs between cost, performance, and schedule? Give examples.
> A secretary is considering three dispatching rules for typing term papers. The following information is given on jobs that are waiting to be typed: Use the following dispatching rules to determine the sequence for term paper processing. a. SPT b. FCFS
> What is the goal as stated by the theory of constraints (TOC), and how is that goal achieved?
> Approximately 40 percent of a medical clinic’s weekly incoming calls for doctors’ appointments occur on Monday. Due to this large workload, 20 percent of the callers receive a busy signal and have to call back later. The clinic has one clerk for each two
> How would you describe the current situation facing U.S. Stroller?
> It has been said that aggregate planning is related to personnel planning, budgeting, and market planning. Describe the nature of the relationship among these types of planning.
> At the ABC Floral Shop, an argument developed between two of the owners, Bob and Henry, over the accuracy of forecasting methods. Bob argued that exponential smoothing with α = .1 would be the best method. Henry argued that the shop would get a better fo
> How should the choice of α be made for exponential smoothing?
> A machining operation requires close tolerances on a certain part for automobile engines. The current specification for this measurement is 3.0 cm ± .001. The quality control procedure is to take a sample of 4 units and measure each of the
> Which technique would be useful for each of the following situations? a. To rank-order the causes of a quality problem. b. To brainstorm the reasons why a product might have failed. c. To find an assignable cause. d. To determine if a process range is un
> What products have recently been recalled? Why? Check the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission website.
> A supplier provides parts to a manufacturing company that demands frequent deliveries. At the present time it takes six hours to make a round trip between the supplier’s warehouse and the customer, including loading, travel, and unloading time. The lot s
> How do workers and managers in a lean production system differ from their counterparts in traditional non lean environments?
> Give an example of the service-profit chain for movie theaters. Define each of the components in the chain and explain how you would measure each.
> Suppose that a firm is considering moving from a batch process to an assembly-line process to better meet evolving market needs. What concerns might the following functions have about this proposed process change: marketing, finance, human resources, acc
