Deck 7: Process Management

Question 1

Simplifying a product's design frequently reduces product cost,but rarely improves quality.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Unlike kaizen,the goal of reengineering is to achieve large and dramatic improvements in performance.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Concurrent engineering processes improve product design quality but cause product development times to increase.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

A well-run manufacturing operation can usually compensate for a poor product design.

Question 5

Agility is crucial to customer-focused strategies.

Question 6

Reengineering usually results in additional process steps or activities in order to improve a process.

Question 7

Process design is more readily applied to manufacturing operations than to services.

Question 8

The act of taking apart a competitor's product and analyzing it is referred to as process benchmarking.

Question 9

The first step in the product development process is preliminary concept development.

Question 10

Automation is the most valuable asset in the kaizen philosophy.

Question 11

Support processes generally do not directly add value to products and services.

Question 12

One component of a control system is the comparison of actual results with a standard or goal.

Question 13

Stretch goals often result from benchmarking activities.

Question 14

Process management is defined as the controlling and improving of processes after they have been designed.

Question 15

Improvements under kaizen usually require minimal financial investment.

Question 16

The entire ISO 9000:2000 standards are focused on an organization's ability to understand,define,and document its processes.

Question 17

Product liability issues are best addressed once the product design phase has been completed.

Question 18

The configuration of Dell computers to meet individual customer requirements is an example of mass customization.

Question 19

Processes must be both measurable and repeatable to be improved.

Question 20

Long-term improvements cannot be made to a process unless the process is first brought under control.

Question 21

Which of the following terms best describes kaizen?

A)Concurrent engineering
B)Continuous improvement
C)Innovation
D)Statistical process control

Question 22

Documenting a process involves all of the following EXCEPT:

A)defining workforce distribution.
B)describing how it is performed.
C)developing a process "map" or flowchart.
D)writing standard operating procedures and work instructions.

Question 23

Which type of process drives the creation of products and services,is critical to customer satisfaction,and has a large impact on the organization's strategic goals?

A)Value-creation process
B)Support process
C)Outsourced process
D)Supplier process

Question 24

Enablers of agility include all of the following EXCEPT:

A)detachment from customers.
B)empowerment of employees as decision makers.
C)close supplier and partner relationships.
D)breakthrough improvement.

Question 25

Most cross-functional business value-creation processes and all support processes are primarily _____.

A)service-oriented
B)customer-oriented
C)supplier-oriented.
D)technology-oriented

Question 26

Which of the following is TRUE?

A)Process improvement is more efficiently undertaken within one organizational function.
B)Process improvement does not affect traditional organizational structures.
C)Processes generally cut across traditional organizational functions.
D)Process improvement is an operational decision, not a strategic decision.

Question 27

Internal activities are primarily concerned with _____,while external activities require attention to _____.

A)employees; customers
B)efficiency; effectiveness
C)production; service delivery
D)standardization; customization

Question 28

Process management consists of:

A)design, installation, and improvement.
B)design, control, and improvement.
C)design, control, and standardization.
D)analysis, control, and improvement.

Question 29

A graphical representation of a process sequence is known as:

A)an affinity diagram.
B)a Pareto chart.
C)a flowchart.
D)a control chart.

Question 30

The employees of an insurance firm are given the task of studying the very successful employee training program at a bank.This is an example of:

A)process management.
B)strategic reengineering.
C)benchmarking.
D)quality control.

Question 31

Which of the following is NOT a goal in designing a service?

A)The goal is to provide a service whose elements are internally consistent.
B)The service is directed at meeting the needs of a specific target market segment.
C)Too much or too little emphasis on one component is encouraged as a differentiator in the market.
D)Services differ in the degree of customer contact and interaction, labor intensity, and customization.

Question 32

Which of the following is NOT TRUE regarding kaizen?

A)Kaizen requires substantial investment to fund cutting-edge innovation.
B)Kaizen is different than reengineering.
C)Kaizen concentrates on small, gradual improvements over the long term.
D)Any improvement activity is a part of the kaizen philosophy.

Question 33

Rapid changeover from one product to another,rapid response to changing demands,or the ability to produce a wide range of customized services are all examples of:

A)motility.
B)mobility.
C)agility
D)flexibility.

Question 34

Which of the following is NOT one of the three basic components of a service?

A)Physical facilities, processes, and procedures
B)Customers' involvement
C)Employees behavior
D)Employees' professional judgment

Question 35

_______ are accountable for process performance.

A)Process managers
B)Process owners
C)Process workers
D)Process black belts

Question 36

In the context of process management,_____ is the activity of ensuring conformance to the requirements and taking corrective action when necessary to correct problems and maintain stable performance,whereas _____ implies enhancing performance.

A)performance, innovation
B)control, improvement
C)inspection, anticipation
D)standardization, customization

Question 37

The employees of a manufacturing company who bill customers are involved in a(n)_________ for this manufacturing company.

A)value-creation process
B)support process
C)outsourced process
D)supplier process

Question 38

Which of the following is TRUE of support processes?

A)Support processes are those that are most important to an organization's value- creation processes.
B)They provide infrastructure and add value directly to the product or service.
C)Support processes do not include administrative services.
D)Value creation processes require a higher level of attention than do support processes.

Question 39

Which of the following is NOT TRUE of process owners?

A)They are accountable for process performance.
B)They have the authority to manage and improve their process.
C)They may range from high-level executives to workers in the shop floor.
D)They assign sub-owners to manage the process and optimize its effectiveness.

Question 40

In many companies,value creation processes take the form of _____ temporary work structures that start up,produce products or services,and then shut down.

A)projects
B)outsourcing
C)crisis teams
D)product teams

Question 41

Which of the following does NOT represent a service standard?

A)Ninety five percent of customers checked in within three minutes of arrival.
B)Hamburger fat content of 98 percent plus or minus one percent.
C)Airplane departure plus or minus 15 minutes from scheduled time.
D)Telephone answered within five seconds of first ring.

Question 42

As customization increases,_____ becomes a bigger factor in the customer's perception of service quality.

A)employee behavior
B)process and procedures
C)physical facilities
D)professional judgment

Question 43

When considering effective service designing,a fast food restaurant would be considered _____ in customer contact and ______ in customization.

A)low, high
B)high, high
C)high, low
D)low, low

Question 44

A service is more similar to a manufacturing operation if it is _____ in degree of customer contact,_____ in degree of labor intensity,and _____ in degree of customization..

A)low, low, low
B)low, high, low
C)low, high, high
D)high, high, low

Question 45

Poka-yoke is:

A)an approach for mistake-proofing processes.
B)a Japanese organizational hierarchy.
C)an error-detection machine used in engineering industries.
D)a computer program used in streamlining processes.

Question 46

Which of the following is NOT one of the typical types of service errors and related poka-yokes?

A)Tangible errors
B)Customer errors at the resolution
C)Customer errors during an encounter
D)Customer errors in application

Question 47

In the implementation of kaizen,the principle asset is considered to be:

A)technology.
B)automation.
C)financial investment.
D)people.

Question 48

In services,_____ take(s)the place of the dimensions and tolerances applicable in manufacturing.

A)customer behavior
B)service level agreements
C)flow charts
D)quality standards

Question 49

These goals and standards set as part of a control system are reflected by measurable quality characteristics like all of the following EXCEPT:

A)workforce engagement.
B)product dimensions.
C)service times.
D)employee behavior.

Question 50

Which one of the following is NOT one of the three levels of mistake-proofing?

A)Designing potential errors out of the process.
B)Identifying potential defects and stopping a process before the defect is produced.
C)Training the workforce in implementing and monitoring the modified process.
D)Finding defects that enter or leave a process.

Question 51

Poka-yoke focuses on two aspects:

A)design and control.
B)prediction and detection.
C)production and delivery.
D)machine errors and human errors.

Question 52

_____ is a process in which all major functions responsible for bringing products to the market are continuously involved in product development activities.

A)Reengineering
B)Value engineering
C)Concurrent engineering
D)Design for marketability

Question 53

A goal to reduce the time required to fulfill a customer's order addresses the dimension of:

A)accuracy.
B)cycle time.
C)flexibility.
D)reliability.

Question 54

In a total-quality manufacturing environment,the burden of inspecting the quality of purchased material rests with the:

A)transporter of the material.
B)supplier of the material.
C)user of the material.
D)purchaser of the material.

Question 55

With higher levels of _____,appropriate staff behavior becomes increasingly important.

A)contact and interaction
B)customization
C)labor intensity
D)technology dependence

Question 56

In services low in _____,the customer's impression of physical facilities,processes,and procedures is important.

A)market appeal
B)customer contact
C)customization
D)labor intensity

Question 57

Customer errors _____ stage of a service include failure to signal service inadequacies,to learn from experience,to adjust expectations,and to execute appropriate post-encounter actions.

A)at the delivery
B)at the resolution
C)in the preparation
D)during an encounter

Question 58

Any process control system has all of the following EXCEPT:

A)a backup process.
B)comparison of actual results with the standard.
C)a means of measuring accomplishment.
D)a standard or goal.

Question 59

_____ arise in the contact between the server and the customer.

A)Customer errors in preparation
B)Tangible errors
C)Treatment errors
D)Task errors

Question 60

Providing personalized,custom-designed products to meet individual preferences at competitive prices is known as:

A)concurrent engineering.
B)strategic benchmarking.
C)mass customization.
D)volume flexibility.

Question 61

The term _____ refers to approaches that produce exceptional results,are usually innovative in terms of the use of technology or human resources,and are recognized by customers or industry experts.

A)value creation
B)benchmarking
C)stretch goals
D)best practices

Question 62

Benchmarking:

A)is a cost-benefit tool for justifying investment.
B)is a process improvement technique for assigning workers to the correct workstations.
C)is a form of process variance reduction.
D)uses information from industry leaders to set stretch goals.

Question 63

Long-term remedial action for a process is the responsibility of:

A)the workers.
B)management.
C)engineers.
D)the maintenance staff.

Question 64

An after-action review or debrief consists of asking the following basic questions EXCEPT:

A)What was supposed to happen?
B)What actually happened?
C)Who is/are responsible?
D)Why was there a difference?

Question 65

The major obstacle in describing and classifying the behavioral observations is:

A)the lack of management involvement in driving customer-facing skills.
B)identifying instances of behavioral inconsistencies.
C)developing operational definitions of behavioral characteristics.
D)the resistance of the frontline workforce to such classifications.

Question 66

Spell-checkers in word processing software help reduce document misspellings.This poka-yoke is an example of:

A)customer errors in preparation.
B)customer errors at the resolution.
C)a task error.
D)a tangible error.

Question 67

Removing the causes of abnormalities and maintaining consistent performance is the essence of _____.

A)control
B)quality assurance
C)feedback
D)process design

Question 68

A successful kaizen program within a company requires all of the following EXCEPT:

A)total employee involvement.
B)significant training.
C)substantial financial investment.
D)operating practices.

Question 69

_____ force an organization to think in a radically different way,and to encourage major improvements as well as incremental ones.

A)Kaizen blitzes
B)Stretch goals
C)Quality circles
D)Strategy maps

Question 70

A _____ is an intense and rapid improvement process in which a team or a department throws all its resources into an improvement project over a short time period,as opposed to traditional applications,which are performed on a part-time basis.

A)continuous improvement team
B)quality circle
C)kaizen blitz
D)poka-yoke

Question 71

Two approaches for breakthrough improvement that help companies achieve stretch goals are _____ and _____.

A)brainstorming; team development
B)Kaizen blitzes; quality circles
C)benchmarking; reengineering
D)innovation; feedback

Question 72

Which of the following is NOT a feature of Kaizen blitz teams?

A)It is comprised of employees from all areas involved in the process.
B)Compared to other approaches, this is long-term approach.
C)The team can implement changes on the spot.
D)Improvement is immediate and satisfying for all those involved in the process.

Question 73

In the Deming cycle,the three fundamental questions to consider are all of the following EXCEPT:

A)What are we trying to accomplish?
B)What changes can we make that will result in improvement?
C)What time period will it take for the improvement to be standardized?
D)How will we know that a change is an improvement?

Question 74

According to Deming and Juran,the majority of quality problems are management controllable - the result of:

A)special cause variation.
B)common cause variation.
C)short-term variation.
D)long-term variation.

Question 75

Documented control procedures are usually written down in a(n):

A)operations manual.
B)flow chart.
C)data control sheet.
D)process control plan.

Question 76

Long-term improvements in a process cannot be made until:

A)the process is considered a value-creation process.
B)process improvement teams reach a consensus.
C)the process in under control.
D)the defect rate is defined.

Question 77

The four stages (PDSA)of the Deming cycle are:

A)plan, do, study, and act.
B)product, delivery, systems, and accounts.
C)plan, discuss, structure, and assess.
D)prepare, deliver, simplify, and act.

Question 78

_____ refers to discontinuous change,as opposed to gradual,continuous improvement.

A)Quality circles
B)Poka-yoke
C)Kaizen
D)Breakthrough improvement

Question 79

Which of the following are the quality characteristics in services that are easily measurable as opposed to observable?

A)Competency
B)Wrong delivery
C)Promptness
D)Nonconformance

Question 80

Breakthrough improvements are often motivated by _____.

A)stretch goals
B)business objectives
C)cost drivers
D)economies of scale