Exam 26: Learning Curves

The first unit of a product took 832 hours to build,and the learning curve is 75%.How long will it take to make the 30th unit? (Use at least three decimals in the exponent if you use the formula approach. )

You are about to undertake the manufacture of a labor-intensive electronics component.The first unit took 300 hours.You are not sure whether the learning curve is 70% or 80%.The initial phase of the contract calls for 6 of these components. a.How much time will it take to complete all six at 70% learning? b.How much time will it take to complete all six at 80% learning?

A learning curve:

Joe's Manufacturing is considering bidding on a small order for 5 units.Based on similar products that they have made in the past,they believe that the first unit will take 500 labor hours.They also believe that there will be an 80% learning curve.How many hours of labor should Joe include for his bid?

Learning curves can be used to establish budgets.

"By tradition,learning curves are defined in terms of the complements of their improvement rates." Explain.

Reevaluation of learning curves is inappropriate.

What cautions are in order when using learning curves?

The earliest industrial application of learning curves came from a report by ________.

A 100% learning curve implies that:

Your company is making experimental turbochargers for a new design of high-powered farm tractors.The production schedule for these new components is contained in the table below. The first turbocharger,a trial unit,took 900 hours to produce.Based on your experience with similar products,the learning curve is 85%.You have 20 employees,and each employee works 160 hours per month.How many hours will be required in each month? In which month(s)will overtime be required to meet the production schedule?

Your firm has expertise with a special type of hand-finished furniture.The learning curve is known to be 82%.If the first piece of furniture took 6 hours,estimate (using the doubling approach)how long it will take to complete the third unit.

A small manufacturer builds wooden pleasure boats in a craftsman manner by traditional labor-intensive methods.The first boat is estimated to take 650 hours of skilled labor,which cost $40 per hour.They currently have three workers that can work 2,000 hours a year.They assume that there is a 90% learning curve.How many boats can they build in their first year?

A contractor builds large ships for the Department of Defense.A recent contract called for 12 amphibious landing platforms.It was originally estimated that the first of these would cost $1 billion and that 80 percent learning would be appropriate.In fact,the first ship cost $1.6 billion and the second $1.12 billion.What is the revised learning curve? What will be the total cost of the twelve ships? Is it higher or lower than the original estimate? If the defense department cuts the contract from 12 ships to 9,what happens to the average cost per ship?

A defense contractor has just started producing engines for a new government contract.The first engine took 800 hours to produce.If the learning curve is 80%,how long will it take to produce the first 20 engines?

Sally suspects strongly that there is a learning curve associated with solving problems assigned for operations management.She notes that it took her approximately 33 minutes to solve the first problem and 20 minutes to solve the fifth problem. a.Estimate Sally's learning curve. b.Using your answer from part a,estimate how much longer it will take Sally to finish the three problems that remain.

Which of the following statements is most appropriate with respect to a 70% learning curve?

Companies pursuing a learning curve strategy MUST increase which of the following?

The learning curve for a product is 80 percent.The first unit took 100 hours to complete.The manufacturer wants to determine how many hours the fifth unit will take by using the formula approach.What is the coefficient b for that calculation?

The first unit took 10 hours and the fourth unit 8.1 hours.What is the improvement rate?