Exam 24: Learning Curve Analysis

Centurion Processing finishes the first unit in 100 hours and learns at a 75% rate.Their competitor,Ochenta Incorporated,completes their fist unit in 80 hours but learns at an 80% rate.If they match total output with each other how many more units must each fierce rival make before Centurion is faster than Ochenta?

The production for a new product follows: The first unit will take 2,000 hours to produce and the learning rate is 90 percent.Currently,the company employs 40 workers,who each work 200 hours regular time per month.In which months will overtime be needed for the production schedule shown? Refer to the copy of Table I.1 appended to this exam.

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

Tim usually exhibits a 90% learning rate for the mechanical tasks he undertakes.His next big project,the fence along the street,will require 24 iterations of the fencepost task.If he has 40 hours available to work on the project,how fast must he perform the first iteration in order to finish all 24 within his allotted time? Refer to the copy of Table I.1 appended to this exam.

The first learning curve was developed by the aircraft industry.

When production time standards are being developed for a brand new process for several of the hand assembly components of the production line,what are the implications of learning effects on the time standards and the line balance? What could be done to address this situation?

The simpler the product,the more pronounced the learning rate.

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 90 percent.How long will the 15th unit take to produce?

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

The learning rate depends on factors such as ________ and ________.

The annual report for Luddite Corporation boasted of their ERP implementation and noted that,"while there were initially some growing pains,our learning rate for this system has been calculated at 100%." What are the implications of this statement?

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.

Centurion Processing finishes the first unit in 120 hours and learns at a 70% rate.Their competitor,Ochenta Incorporated,completes their fist unit in 80 hours but learns at an 80% rate.If they match total output with each other how many units must each fierce rival make before Centurion's cumulative processing time is lower than Ochenta's?

Which statement regarding the effect of automating some of the direct labor in a process is BEST?

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

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.]

A business that relies on learning effects to achieve their strategic objectives is most likely in a ________ volume ________ variety production sector.

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

How are learning curves useful in financial planning?

Why is the learning rate more pronounced for complex products than for simple products?