Exam 25: Learning Curves

A certain product under development took 200 hours for the production of its 2nd unit and 180 hours for its 4th unit. a. What is the learning rate? b. How much time did the first unit take? c. How much time would the production of the 10th unit take? (Use both the logarithmic and the Table E.3 approach. Do the two versions agree? )

A small manufacturer that offers "hand crafted" furniture has developed a new style of desk that they believe will be very successful in the marketplace. It is expected that the first desk will take about 60 hours of craftsmen's time to complete. They expect a 90% learning curve for this desk. How long will it take to make the 20ᵗʰ desk? The firm is considering accepting an order for 25 desks. How many hours of labor will this require for all 25?

Which one of the following courses of actions would not be taken by a firm wanting to pursue a learning curve steeper than the industry average?

__________ are based on the premise that people and organizations get better at their tasks as the tasks are repeated.

A project manager bases his time and labor estimates on a learning curve of 86%. The actual learning curve turns out to be 89%. The manager, because of the decreased learning, will complete his project in more time and with more labor use.

Your firm has expertise with a special type of hand-finished furniture. The learning rate is known to be 82%. If the first piece of furniture took 6 hours, how long will it take to do the second? How long will it take to do the fourth?

The first unit took 10 hours and the fourth unit took 8.1 hours to complete. What is the learning curve?

The arithmetic approach (or successive doubling approach) to learning curve calculations allows us to determine the hours required for any unit.

Learning curves have a variety of purposes, which can be placed into these broad categories:

The learning curve coefficient approach may be simpler to use than the logarithmic approach, but it requires the presence of a table of learning coefficients.

In the logarithmic approach to learning curve calculations, you have used the formula TN = T₁. (Nᵇ). Your manager shows you a problem for which b is specified as -.18442. What learning rate does that value represent?

A defense contractor has just started producing turbines for a new government contract. The first turbine took 7000 hours to produce. If the learning curve is 90%, how long will it take to produce the 10th turbine? (Use at least three decimals in the exponent if you use the logarithmic approach.)

The first unit of a product took 50 hours to build, and the learning curve is 85%. How long will it take to make the 10th unit? (Use at least three decimals in the exponent if you use the logarithmic approach.)

Learning curves can be used to establish budgets.

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 logarithmic method. The coefficient b for that calculation is approximately

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

A manager is trying to estimate the appropriate learning curve for a certain job. The manager notes that the first four units had a total time of 30 minutes. Which learning curve would yield approximately this result if the first unit took 9 minutes?

The learning curve for a product is 90 percent. The first unit took 10 hours to complete. The manufacturer wants to determine how many hours the fourth unit will take by using the logarithmic method. The coefficient b for that calculation is approximately

Your firm has a contract to make 20 specialty lenses for night vision equipment. The first one took 40 hours. Learning is expected at the 85% rate. How long will it take to finish all 20 units?

The second unit of production took 9 hours. If the learning curve is 90% how long did the first unit take?