Exam 25: Learning Curve Analysis

Case I.1 The production schedule for a new product follows. The first unit took 100 hours to complete,and the rate of learning is 80 percent.Each employee works 40 hours per month.Refer to the copy of Table I.1 appended to this exam. -Using the information in Case I.1,how much time will it take to produce the units in month 1?

Two contract labor companies are competing for work being outsourced by Febrero SpA.One contractor,Terza,has a learning rate governed by a tripling of output at a 90% rate and the other contractor,Segundo,has a learning rate governed by the conventional doubling of output at a 90% rate.Both Terza and Segundo take 20 minutes to complete the first unit they are given for bid estimation purposes.How many more units must Terza make than Segundo before their time per unit drops below 15 minutes? [Note: a calculator is required to answer this question.]

Which of the following statements about learning curves is generally TRUE?

In Troix City,the learning rate is based on a tripling of output instead of the traditional doubling.The first unit of a long production run was produced in 20 hours.In Deux City across the river,the learning rate is based on the usual doubling of output.The first unit of the production run in Deux City took 30 hours.At what level of output will the workers in Deux City become faster than those in Troix City if both locations enjoy an 80% learning rate?

Which one of the following statements is NOT a typical assumption related to developing learning curves?

Given that the third unit took 100 minutes and the rate of learning is 80 percent,how much time will it take to build unit 96?

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

The first unit took 12 hours to produce and the learning rate is expected to be 85 percent.How long will it take to produce the eighth unit?

Suppose the average time for the first 1,000 units you have manufactured is 2.375 minutes.Your rate of learning is 90 percent,and you need to find the total time required to manufacture the next 1,000 units.Refer to the copy of Table I.1 appended to this exam.The total time is:

A task that obeys learning effects will,in general,have a positive result to the equation tn+1tn,where tn is the completion time of the nth unit.

How long will it take to make units 11 through 20 if the first one took 8 hours and there is a 90 percent learning rate? Refer to the copy of Table I.1 appended to this exam.

The first unit took 18 hours to produce and the learning rate is expected to be 80 percent.How long will it take to produce the eighth unit?

The mathematical model that is used to generate a learning curve is ________.

It took 100 hours to produce the first unit and the learning rate is 80 percent.How much time will it take to produce units 16 through 20? Refer to the copy of Table I.1 appended to this exam.

Once the learning curve has flattened,i.e. ,reached a mostly horizontal shape,the per-unit time could be described as ________.

In Troix City,the learning rate is based on a tripling of output instead of the traditional doubling.The first unit of a long production run was produced in 25 hours.The process has an estimated learning rate of 80 percent.How long will the 9th unit take to produce?

Under learning curve theory,with a learning rate of 70 percent,the:

Tim usually exhibits an 80% learning rate for the mechanical tasks he undertakes.His next big project,the fence along the street,will require 35 iterations of the fencepost task.If he has 80 hours available to work on the project,how fast must he perform the first iteration in order to finish all 35 within his allotted time? Refer to the copy of Table I.1 appended to this exam.

For a company that produces hand held calculators,the Operations Manager knows that in the early stages of production for a new product,the expenditures exceed receipts,whereas in the latter stages,the reverse is true.Give an explanation for this phenomenon.

An 80% learning rate means that the time falls by 20% at each doubling of output.