Deck 8: Quality Improvement and Control Tools

Question 1

6)A histogram ______.

A)is similar to a scatter diagram
B)shows the frequency of occurrences of values
C)is also referred to as a heat map
D)has been replaced by pie charts

Answer 1

B

Question 2

17)Which of the following is NOT true regarding a process flow chart?

A)It graphically displays the dollar cost of a step in a process.
B)It helps a firm's quality improvement team understand how the process currently works and identify quality-related issues and redundant steps.
C)It shows how much value is added by each step in a process.
D)It displays compliance with government regulations.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

9)In a Pareto chart,______.

A)the height of an individual bar represents how often a particular problem has occurred
B)the taller the bar the less significant the problem
C)the color of an individual bar represents how often a particular problem has occurred
D)it is easy to spot the correlation between two variables

Answer 3

A

Question 4

10)The Pareto chart ______.

A)is based on the Alfredo principle
B)states that 20% of quality problems stem from 80% of causes
C)shows bars arranged in decreasing height from left to right
D)shows bars in different colors based on the value they represent

Question 5

19)Which of the following is true of SPC?

A)It resembles a fishbone and is hence also known as a fishbone diagram.
B)It is applicable only in manufacturing.
C)It tells us whether a process is stable and conforms to specifications.
D)It tells us whether a process is capable of meeting customer expectations.

Question 6

3)Quality improvement tools and techniques that managers use to manage quality include ______.

A)scatter diagrams
B)scrap and rework processes
C)complete inspection
D)employee termination on defect detection

Question 7

20)A quality characteristic ______.

A)can be a variable or an attribute
B)is always an independent variable
C)is usually an ordinal value
D)is not easily measured

Question 8

8)A Pareto chart ______.

A)is a vertical bar chart
B)shows bars arranged in increasing height from left to right
C)shows the values in different colors
D)is similar to a pie chart

Question 9

7)In a histogram,meaningful information is provided by ______.

A)the size of the pie chart
B)the color of the pie chart
C)the colors used in the heat map
D)the shape and size of the bars

Question 10

5)Which of the following statements is NOT true with regard to check sheets?

A)These are used for repeated processes and operations.
B)These are forms used to collect and record quality-related data.
C)These sheets are difficult to design.
D)These sheets are easy to understand.

Question 11

12)A scatter diagram is a tool that can be used to ______.

A)visually determine if two variables are related or correlated
B)show the different causes that contribute to an effect
C)determine if a process is in control
D)show the contribution of different products to total revenue

Question 12

16)Which of the following is NOT one of the categories in a fishbone diagram?

A)machines (e.g.,equipment used in manufacturing)
B)methods (e.g.,processes)
C)materials (e.g.,materials and semifinished goods)
D)middle-men (e.g.,wholesalers)

Question 13

1)With regard to the terms quality control and quality assurance,______.

A)there is no difference between the two terms
B)quality assurance is the term we use today for what was formerly known as quality control
C)quality control is concerned with the quality of a product or service after it is produced or delivered
D)quality control is concerned with the application of government regulations governing quality

Question 14

13)Which of the following terms is correctly paired with its description?

A)An independent variable is a variable whose value changes for one reason or another.
B)A dependent variable is a variable directly affected as a result of a change in an another dependent variable.
C)A correlation coefficient shows the frequency of occurrence of a dependent variable.
D)A correlation coefficient shows the frequency of occurrence of an independent.variable

Question 15

14)If two variables are negatively correlated,an increase in one variable ______.

A)has a proportional increase in the other variable
B)is associated with a decrease in the other variable
C)is associated with an increase in the other variable
D)has no effect on the other variable

Question 16

11)The Pareto chart is a good tool to use ______.

A)when the data from a manufacturing or a service process can be broken down into categories and the frequency of occurrences in each category can be counted
B)when we are considering only services
C)when we want to show the correlation between two variables
D)when we want show changes over a period of time

Question 17

4)Which of the following is NOT one of the quality appraisal tools that managers and employees use?

A)check sheets
B)Pareto charts
C)histograms
D)quick rework

Question 18

15)The cause-and-effect diagram ______.

A)is also known as a fishbone diagram because of the way it looks
B)graphically displays the frequency of occurrence of a quality problem
C)was developed by W.Edwards Deming
D)shows the relationship between two variables

Question 19

2)With regard to the terms quality control and quality assurance,______.

A)quality control is concerned with the quality of a product or service after it is produced or delivered
B)quality assurance aims to improve a product or service's quality after it is produced or delivered
C)quality control is concerned with the quality of a product or service before it is produced or delivered
D)quality control is concerned with the application of government regulations governing quality

Question 20

18)Which of the following is NOT one of the tools used to prevent defects?

A)statistical process control (SPC)
B)process capability analysis
C)Taguchi methods
D)scrap and rework

Question 21

27)Which of the following is a feature of a control chart?

A)a center line
B)an upper specification limit
C)a lower specification limit
D)the modal value of a process defect

Question 22

37)The central limit theorem states that ______.

A)as the size of a sample gets larger and larger,its distribution approaches the normal distribution only if the underlying population from which the samples were collected is normally distributed
B)as the size of a sample gets smaller and smaller,its distribution approaches the normal distribution,if the underlying population from which the samples were collected is not normally distributed
C)as the size of a sample gets larger and larger,its distribution approaches the normal distribution,even if the underlying population from which the samples were collected is not normally distributed
D)as the size of a population gets larger and larger,its distribution approaches the normal distribution,even if the population is not normally distributed to begin with

Question 23

38)Which of the following statements is true with regard to the proportion of normally distributed data and number of standard deviations from the mean?

A)The percentage of data from the mean to one standard deviation to the left of the mean is 42%.
B)The percentage of data from the mean to two standard deviations to the right of the mean is 68%.
C)The percentage of data within three standard deviations (plus/minus)from the mean is about 99%.
D)The percentage of data within one standard deviations (plus/minus)from the mean is about 95%.

Question 24

21)Attributes are characteristics that ______.

A)are counted using whole numbers
B)are presented with decimal values
C)are always ratio type of data
D)are usually independent variables

Question 25

32)Which of the following is an appropriate point for the use of a control chart?

A)after a product has been manufactured but prior to delivery to customer
B)before costly or irreversible operations are performed
C)once customer complaints exceed a predetermined threshold level
D)when liability costs from products exceed a certain level

Question 26

33)Which of the following is associated with a control chart?

A)center line
B)upper specification limit
C)lower specification limit
D)cumulative defect line

Question 27

30)A control chart shows ______.

A)the reason a process is out of control
B)the time period when the process became out of control
C)the costs that result when a process is out of control
D)the costs that result when a process does not meet customer specifications

Question 28

36)A sampling distribution ______.

A)describes the randomness of the variation in a sample's values
B)shows how much of the entire population varies from the sample
C)is similar to a histogram
D)shows from which parts of the population a sample is chosen

Question 29

28)Generally speaking,a process is presumed to be stable and in control when ______.

A)the values on the control chart are randomly distributed around the center line
B)the values on the control chart fall outside the upper control limit
C)the values on the control chart fall outside the lower control limit
D)the values on the control chart can be traced to a special cause

Question 30

25)Examples of assignable causes include ______.

A)defective raw materials and components
B)defects caused by government regulation
C)defects caused by ISO requirements
D)defects caused in the natural course of manufacturing

Question 31

24)Common cause variations ______.

A)are the result of random natural differences
B)are so called because they occur frequently
C)occur only occasionally under special circumstances
D)are the result of government interference in business

Question 32

22)Variables are quality characteristics that are ______.

A)measured on a continuous scale
B)are counted using whole numbers
C)are always nominal type of data
D)are usually independent variables

Question 33

29)If the values in a control chart follow a pattern (instead of being random),then ______.

A)we can say that a special cause is present
B)the process is within control
C)the operator is out of control
D)there is excessive common cause variation

Question 34

35)In taking a sample,the quality control manager needs to ensure ______.

A)that the sample is representative of the population
B)that each observation in the sample is collected from a different process
C)that the population is representative of the sample
D)that government regulations governing sampling are followed

Question 35

40)The most frequently used control charts for monitoring the variable quality characteristics are ______.

A)mean charts and range charts
B)mean charts and median charts
C)mean charts and mode charts
D)median charts and variance charts

Question 36

31)A control chart ______.

A)should be used frequently as it can catch defective processes early
B)should be used only when a process is known to be defective
C)should be used only at critical stages in a process
D)should never be used as it is expensive

Question 37

23)Common cause variations are ______.

A)the consequence of government regulations
B)the consequence of ISO requirements
C)the result of poor raw materials
D)not avoidable

Question 38

26)A control chart ______.

A)shows the correlation between two variables
B)monitors the consistency of a process
C)shows the causes of a particular defect
D)displays whether a process meets with customer specifications

Question 39

34)Samples are used because measuring every product or service produced is ______.

A)time consuming
B)easy to do
C)inexpensive
D)not required by government regulations

Question 40

39)In designing control charts,companies usually use ______.

A)two standard deviations because narrower control limits may a lead a manager to erroneously conclude that the process is out of control when in fact the variation that led to the points falling out of the control limits was purely random
B)two standard deviations because broader control limits may a lead a manager to erroneously conclude that the process is out of control when in fact the variation that led to the points falling out of the control limits was purely random
C)three standard deviations because narrower control limits may a lead a manager to erroneously conclude that the process is out of control when in fact the variation that led to the points falling out of the control limits was purely random
D)three standard deviations because broader control limits may a lead a manager to erroneously conclude that the process is out of control when in fact the variation that led to the points falling out of the control limits was purely random

Question 41

48)Which of the following is true about the assumptions underlying the Poisson distribution?

A)The probability of occurrence of an event (defect)over a narrow interval of time,area,or space is small and directly proportional to the size of that interval.
B)The probability of two such events (defects)occurring in that same narrow interval is so large that it is highly likely.
C)The probability of two such events (defects)occurring as a result of the same cause is so large that it is highly likely.
D)The probability of two such events (defects)having identical liability costs is so small that it is highly likely.

Question 42

50)Design specification limits are also known as ______.

A)tolerances
B)CTQs
C)VOC
D)defects

Question 43

57)It is common for companies to aim for ______.

A)a process capability index value of 1.33 or greater
B)a process capability index value of 1.32 or lower
C)a control chart index of 1.33 or greater
D)a control chart index of 1.32 or lower

Question 44

60)As a rule of thumb,to do a process capability analysis ______.

A)we should collect a minimum of 20 samples
B)each sample in our data collection should have at least 500 items
C)we should collect a maximum of 20 samples
D)each sample in our data collection should be from a different population

Question 45

41)Which of the following statements is correct?

A)A mean chart monitors the variation between samples.
B)A range chart monitors the variability due to special causes.
C)A range chart monitors the variability due to common causes.
D)A range chart monitors the standard deviation resulting from common causes.

Question 46

53)The process capability index ______.

A)is a measure of how well a process meets its control limits
B)is the ratio of the range of design tolerances to the range of the variability of the process
C)is the product of the range of design tolerances to the range of the variability of the process
D)is the reciprocal of the range of design tolerances to the range of the variability of the process

Question 47

46)Which of the following types of charts can only classify an item as defective or nondefective?

A)p-charts
B)c-charts
C)mean-charts
D)range charts

Question 48

55)If Cp is less than 1,then ______.

A)the specification width is less than the range of the process
B)the process is capable of consistently meeting its design specifications
C)the process is incapable of being compliant with government regulations
D)the process is incapable of being compliant with ISO requirements

Question 49

45)In general,control charts for attributes require ______.

A)larger sample sizes to develop meaningful quality measures
B)smaller sample sizes to develop meaningful quality measures
C)the population size to be larger to develop meaningful quality measures
D)the population size to be smaller to develop meaningful quality measures

Question 50

51)The upper and lower control limits of a control chart ______.

A)are similar to design specification limits
B)represent the voice of the customer
C)represent the voice of the process
D)represent the voice of the management

Question 51

44)C-charts are used to monitor ______.

A)counts of defects per unit
B)proportion of defects per unit
C)timing of defects per unit
D)costs of defects per unit

Question 52

47)The theoretical basis for constructing a c-chart is ______.

A)the normal distribution
B)the Poisson distribution
C)the beta distribution
D)the exponential distribution

Question 53

56)If Cp is greater than 1,then ______.

A)the specification width is greater than the range of the process
B)the process is incapable of consistently meeting its design specifications
C)the specification width is less than the range of the process
D)the process is incapable of meeting government requirements

Question 54

43)Which of the following types of charts are correctly paired with its description?

A)C-charts are used to monitor countable occurrences,such as the number of nonconformities or defects per unit.
B)P-charts are used to monitor the timing of defects or errors in a product or service.
C)C-charts are used to monitor the timing of defects or errors in a product or service.
D)P-charts are used to monitor the defects per million opportunities in a product or service.

Question 55

59)The process capability index ______.

A)shows whether a process is capable or not
B)may need to be supplemented by the Pareto chart
C)is similar to the cause-and-effect diagram
D)shows the costs of noncompliance with government regulations

Question 56

49)Process capability analysis is a technique used to determine whether ______.

A)a process is able to meet a set of design specification limits
B)a process falls within a set of control limits
C)a process is compliant with government regulations
D)a process is compliant with ISO requirements

Question 57

58)The process capability index (Cp)______.

A)is the primary measure used to track process capability
B)shows how well a process is centered between specification limits
C)shows the cost of noncompliance with government regulations
D)shows the cost of noncompliance with ISO requirements

Question 58

54)Which of the following is true with regard to the process capability index?

A)It is represented by Cp.
B)The actual capability of the process is inversely related to the process capability index.
C)It is represented by Pc.
D)The actual capability of the process is inversely related to customer expectations.

Question 59

42)The two most common types of attribute control charts are ______.

A)c-charts and range-charts
B)c-charts and p-charts
C)mean-charts and range-charts
D)p-charts and range-charts

Question 60

52)Two commonly used measures to calculate the capability of a process are ______.

A)the process capability index and process centering capability index
B)the process centering capability index and the control index
C)the control index and the range specification
D)the range specification and the process capability index

Question 61

78)Which of the following statements is true with regard to categories of control charts?

A)P-Charts are used for monitoring services; c-charts are for monitoring manufacturing processes.
B)There are three categories of control charts: one for monitoring signals,one for monitoring control attributes,and the third for monitoring noise factors.
C)There are two categories of control charts: one for use in manufacturing and the other for use in services.
D)There are two categories of control charts: one for monitoring attributes and the other for monitoring variables.

Question 62

72)Which of the following,according to Taguchi,represents the two categories that affect the design of any product or system?

A)control factors and noise factor
B)special causes and assignable causes
C)variations due to supplier and variations due to manufacturer
D)variations due to manufacturer and variations due to consumer

Question 63

79)To check if a process is in control,we need ______.

A)both a mean chart and a range chart
B)only a mean chart
C)only a range chart
D)only a process capacity index

Question 64

64)In a Six Sigma process,a defect is ______.

A)anything that falls outside of customer specifications limits (USL and LSL)
B)something that occurs less than 99.9997% of the time
C)anything that does not meet government regulations
D)anything that does not meet ISO requirements

Question 65

71)Parameter design focuses on ______.

A)determining the optimal design of a product and the processes used to produce it so as to minimize variations
B)ensuring that the process capability index is greater than 1.33
C)ensuring that the process capability index is less than 1.33
D)minimizing variations in raw materials

Question 66

80)If the standard deviation of the population is not known,______ as a measure of dispersion.

A)we can take an educated guess
B)we can use the range value (the difference between the maximum and minimum values)
C)we can use the variance
D)we can use the mean plus or minus three standard deviations

Question 67

76)Which of the following is a factor that is difficult for a designer to control?

A)control factors
B)signal factors
C)noise factors
D)input factors

Question 68

69)According to Taguchi,any deviation from the product's quality target results in ______.

A)a loss to society
B)a loss to the employee
C)a failure to be compliant with government regulations
D)increased customer dissatisfaction

Question 69

63)The goal of a Six Sigma effort is ______.

A)to produce 3.4 defects in a million opportunities
B)to produce no fewer than 3.4 defects in a million opportunities
C)to produce at very high levels of quality
D)to produce no more than 3.4 defects in a million opportunities

Question 70

70)The Taguchi-loss function is known as ______.

A)the quadratic function
B)material-loss function
C)compliance failure
D)loss of process capability

Question 71

75)Which of the following is NOT one of the factors in parameter design?

A)control factors
B)signal factors
C)noise factors
D)input factors

Question 72

66)The greatest impact on a product's quality comes from ______.

A)the design of the product
B)the company's ability to rework defective products
C)the quality inspection process
D)firing workers for producing poor quality products

Question 73

62)Which of the following is true with regard to sigma levels for the health care industry?

A)Operating at the 4σ quality level can be too demanding.
B)Operating at lower sigma levels given the inherent variation from one patient to another.
C)Operating at the 3σ quality level can be too risky.
D)Operating at the 3σ quality level can be too expensive.

Question 74

67)Which of the following is NOT an important tool for robust product design?

A)the Taguchi-loss function
B)the parameter design process
C)a design of experiments (DOE)
D)a Pareto analysis

Question 75

77)Which pair of terms fill in the blanks in the statement: The design of experiments help determine which _______ and __________ impact product/process or system performance.

A)Controllable factors,noise factors
B)Special factors,assignable factors
C)Noise factors,assignable factors
D)Controllable factors,signal factors

Question 76

68)Which of the following is NOT a goal of robust design?

A)designing products that are insensitive to changes in different environmental conditions
B)designing products that are not easily affected by machine wear and tear
C)designing products that can handle minor differences in raw materials
D)designing products that can handle variations in the price of raw materials

Question 77

65)Which of the following is NOT related to quality improvement?

A)quality control charts
B)statistical process control
C)Six Sigma
D)termination of employees who produce a single defect

Question 78

73)Signal factors in a process are ______.

A)controlled by the designer or operator of the product
B)outside the control of the designer or operator of the product
C)factors that occur randomly
D)also known as noise factors

Question 79

74)Factors that a designer can control include ______.

A)random factors
B)signal factors
C)noise factors
D)ISO factors

Question 80

61)When we need to be particularly sure about the quality of a product,we should ______.

A)do a process capability analysis at the start of the production run to ensure the process is working well and repeat the process capability analysis frequently
B)do a Pareto analysis frequently to ensure that the mean is not shifting
C)do a physical inspect of each unit produced to ensure compliance with customer requirements
D)do a specification conformance test