Exam 9: Production and Operations Management

Computers and robots are only useful in continuous production processes where the same type of product is produced many times.

Upon their return from a recent scuba diving and snorkeling trip on the island of Cozumel,Mexico,Tyler and Diana highly recommended the resort where they stayed.Guest services were extremely prompt in assisting with diving excursions.All resort employees were trained to greet every guest each time they encountered them,whether it was on a pathway to the pools and beaches,or in the restaurants.Many times,the employees even referred to each guest by name._____________ in the service sector is about creating a good experience for customers.

Today,Manufacturers in the U.S.have become so efficient;they require fewer workers to produce the same amount of output.

A firm that is certified as meeting both ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 standards has demonstrated:

Contemporary operations management planning is an interfirm process.This means:

Both PERT diagrams and Gantt charts are useful to managers concerned with:

Operations management planning is concerned with finding the ideal location for a business and also with materials requirement planning.It leaves decisions about purchasing and inventory control to marketing.

Maintaining ___________ involves producing what the customer wants while reducing errors before and after delivery to the customer.

____________ standards are concerned with the best practices for managing an organization's environmental impacts.

Mini-Case "These are exciting times for our company.We've made a lot of changes over the past two years that have really improved our operations and lowered our costs.Now we are ready to expand into new markets.Minimotors is on its way to becoming a global player." The speaker was Sparky Weyer,president and CEO of Minimotors,Inc. ,a growing manufacturer of small (some of them downright tiny)electric motors used in a variety of power tools and appliances.Sparky was meeting with potential financial backers in an effort to obtain funding for some expensive new machinery he wanted to purchase."You may have heard about some of the ways we've cut costs," Sparky continued."We've developed a new arrangement with several of our biggest suppliers.They've agreed to make more frequent deliveries tied directly to our production schedules.This will help us reduce our inventory costs dramatically.We've also greatly reduced the number of defective motors we produce by carefully keeping tabs on all of our manufacturing processes.In fact,we have set a goal of reducing our defects to 3.4 parts per million.The main purpose of my meeting with you today is because we want to install some sophisticated new machinery and software that will allow us to quickly design and produce motors to the exact specifications of our customers.The machinery is computer-controlled and can produce custom-designed products at very little increase in cost compared to our mass produced motors.We feel this flexibility and quick response time will give us a tremendous competitive advantage and help us attract new customers.Installing the new equipment and training our workers to use it properly will be a complex project,but I'm confident that once we get everything up and running we'll be able to strengthen our position as the leading maker of high-quality electric motors." -In order to schedule deliveries,Minimotors's suppliers need detailed information about when parts are needed.Minimotors will purchase a sophisticated computer application that will link its operation to sales forecasts to make sure needed parts and supplies are available at the right time to meet customer demands.This planning system is known as:

The concept: "Just-In-Time" (JIT)works well if a company works with lots of suppliers.It also helps avoid the breakdowns that occur when operating with an enterprise resource planning system.

Brian is a construction manager who wants to determine how long a new project will take to complete and which tasks in the project have the greatest potential for delaying the project.The PERT Network model will help Brian answer these questions.

Process manufacturing refers to combining components and raw materials to make a product.

In today's quality control programs,emphasis is placed on:

Gantt charts will show the production manager if certain activities in the production process are lagging behind their acceptable time of completion.

Process manufacturing physically or chemically alters materials to create finished goods.

Improvements in technology have significantly increased the quality of products,as well as helped reduce costs.

Production creates:

A production process characterized by long production runs to turn out finished goods over time is known as a(n):

One limitation of materials requirement planning (MRP)is that it is not a computer-based approach.