Exam 10: Operations Management, Productivity, and Quality

The operations transformation process involves the management of inputs that are transformed into outputs.

___________, which is used to help track down what is causing quality problems, is also known as __________. The Ishikawa diagram; the fishbone diagram Total quality assurance; quality control Company productivity; department productivity Value-added analysis; statistical process control Quality improvement; the quality circle

Which of the following is an advantage to a firm with increasing productivity? Machine breakdowns will be less likely Raw materials will decline in price The firm can afford to pay workers higher wages without raising prices Workers will not want to unionize The standard of living of its employees will fall

Give an example of an external failure.

Pauline is an operator monitoring a production process. Which one of the following should she use during the production process to monitor quality of the product? A process capability study A control chart Competitive product analysis A pacing meter system Quality circles

What is operations capability?

With respect to the management of quality, which of the following is correct? Performance quality may or may not be related to quality reliability in a product. Separate quality control departments are necessary, but not sufficient for achieving the high quality levels demanded by modern consumers. Planning for quality should begin before products are designed. Leading for quality means getting employees to accept quality ownership. All of these statements are correct.

The typical layout in automobile, food-processing, and computer assembly plants is the ________ layout. product cellular process customer fixed-position

What is involved in supply chain management? What are the advantages of effective supply chain management?

Fabrication processes involve the alteration of the physical shapes of the raw materials.

Lumber companies convert raw lumber into dimensional lumber and paper products through a(n) ________ process. synthetic fabrication assembly analytic chemical

In the 2011 OECD productivity study, Canada had a higher productivity level than Germany. Japan. Belgium. the United States. Switzerland.

Betty is a production supervisor in a leather goods factory. Her main responsibility is operations control. Betty would probably be most concerned with determining what products to produce. deciding how to produce products. deciding on product pricing. ensuring that production plans or schedules are met. deciding where to produce the products.

________ is a measure of economic performance that compares how much is produced relative to the resources used to produce it. Re-engineering Services Total quality management Productivity Quality

Layout must be planned for different types of space. Identify and briefly discuss the three different types of space.

Merritt Corp. implements the best practices from its own past performance and those of other companies to improve its own products. This is an example of re-engineering.

In low-contact systems, capacity should be set ____________ the average level of demand, while in high-contact systems managers must plan to meet __________ demand. less than; peak more than; peak equal to; average equal to; peak less than; average

Stardust 'n' Clay is a manufacturer and mass marketer of personal care products and nutritional supplements. The company plans to launch a line of organic beauty products that are made entirely from mineral pigments and organic plant extracts. These products, though expensive to process, offer much higher margins than the company's current lines of beauty products. The market for organic beauty products is relatively untapped, with just a handful of players. Which of the following, if true, would strengthen the case for Stardust 'n' Clay to begin developing organic beauty products? Retailers report a consumer preference for inexpensive skin-care and beauty products that do a better job than the ones currently available. Organic raw materials sourced from economically weak countries provide a source of livelihood for the local population. Organic raw materials for such products can be sourced from developing countries at a lower cost. The first mover in this industry is witnessing reasonable growth. A growing number of women 18-34 consider the health impact of chemicals found in a beauty product when making a cosmetics purchase decision.

ISO 9000 is the concept that all employees are valuable contributors to a firm's business, and should be entrusted with decisions regarding their work. a program certifying that a factory, laboratory, or office has met the quality management standards of the International Organization for Standardization. the principle of looking at the supply chain as a whole in order to improve the overall flow through the system. a certification program attesting to the fact that a factory, laboratory, or office has improved environmental performance. the redesigning of business processes to improve performance, quality, and productivity.

Suppose that economists are forecasting a short economic recession followed by strong economic growth. How might a large manufacturing company adjust its capacity planning to respond to this forecast?