Exam 25: Learning Curves

A product was priced assuming an 80% learning rate. How much extra labor (in $) will be required on the 4ᵗʰ product if the learning rate is actually 90%? Assume that labor costs $10/hour and the first unit cost $100 to produce.

A product was priced assuming an 80% learning rate. How much extra labor (in %) will be required on the 4ᵗʰ product if the learning rate is actually 90%?

Why do different organizations have different learning curves?

The first unit of a product took 50 hours to build, and the learning curve is 80%. How long will it take to make the third unit? (Use at least three decimals in the exponent if you use the logarithmic approach.)

Describe the earliest application of learning curve concepts to industry.

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 10th unit? (Use at least three decimals in the exponent if you use the logarithmic approach.)

A job with a 90% learning curve required 20 hours for the initial unit. The fourth unit should require approximately how many hours?

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 rate. How many hours of labor should Joe include for his bid?

The first unit took 10 hours and the eighth unit took 1.25 hours. What is the learning curve?

Learning curves (or experience curves) were first applied to industry by __________ who was studying __________.

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

An 80% learning curve means that with each unit increase in production, labor requirements fall by 20%.

The __________ is the simplest approach to learning curve problems.

Which one of the following statements about learning curves is true?

A metal works fabricator is about to release a new model of his firm's copper sculpture and fountain. The operations manager estimates that this product is subject to a 90 percent learning rate on labor only-the material bill is not affected by experience. The firm prices its work based on cost-the sum of materials plus 30 percent and labor plus 50 percent. (This allows the firm to practice a little "demand management" for its very popular works.) The first item has already been finished; the material bill was $800 and labor totaled 40 hours. The firm pays its metalworking artisans an average of $18 per hour. What should be the asking price of the first unit? The second?

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 percentage. 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 is False regarding learning curves?

Explain how learning curves might be applied in a scheduling application.

A firm that successfully pursues a steeper-than-industry-average learning curve and manages costs down may still fail if, by underestimating a strong competitor, it fails to gain the added volume necessary for the learning curve to exist.

In the logarithmic approach to learning curve calculations, you have used the formula TN = T₁. (Nᵇ). For a problem with a 92 percent learning rate, what is b?