Deck 6: Process Analysis

Question 1

A rectangle is conventionally used in a process flowchart to represent a task or operation.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

When a make-to-order production process is used,production is based on forecasts.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Buffering in a production process refers to a storage area between stages of production activity where output of a stage is placed prior to being used in a "downstream" stage.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Make-to-order production processes are well suited for high volume production of a standardized product.

Question 5

McDonald's fast food restaurants have traditionally used a Make-To-Order production process.

Question 6

Hybrid processes combine some features of make-to-order and make-to-stock production processes.

Question 7

Cycle time is the ratio of the time that a resource is actually activated relative to the time that it is available for use.

Question 8

A diamond is conventionally used in a process flowchart to represent a storage area or queue.

Question 9

A bottleneck occurs when a stage in a production process is starving.

Question 10

Pacing in production processes refers to the fixed timing of the movement of items through the process.

Question 11

Blocking in production processes is when activities in a stage must continue because there in no place to deposit completed items.

Question 12

Make-to-stock production processes can easily handle requests for customized product features.

Question 13

One way to categorize a process is to determine whether it is a multiple-stage or a single-stage process.

Question 14

A service operation by its very nature is a make-to-stock type of production process.

Question 15

Process analysis can help answer many important questions such as why change in a process is necessary.

Question 16

A "process" is any part of an organization that takes inputs and transforms them into outputs that,hopefully,are of greater value to the organization than the original inputs.

Question 17

A triangle is conventionally used in a process flowchart to represent a storage area or queue.

Question 18

Productivity in a production process can be measured by the ratio of output to input.

Question 19

Process analysis can help answer many important questions such as how many customers can a process handle per hour.

Question 20

When we use a make-to-stock production process we base our production on forecast values.

Question 21

Which following production process term best describes the situation when activities in a stage of production must stop because there is no work?

A)Blocking
B)Buffering
C)Starving
D)Buffer
E)Setup time

Question 22

A process flowchart uses which of the following symbols to represent tasks or operations in a flow diagram?

A)Rectangle
B)Arrow
C)Inverted triangle
D)Diamond
E)A dashed line

Question 23

Utilization of a production process is the ratio of output to input.

Question 24

Benchmarking refers to the practice of comparing the production metrics of one firm with the production metrics of another.

Question 25

Process velocity is the ratio of the total throughput time to the value added time.

Question 26

Utilization of a production process is the ratio of time that a resource is actually being used relative to the time it is available for use.

Question 27

According to Little's Law,which of the following ratios is used to find throughput time?

A)Cycle time/Process time
B)Throughput time/Process velocity
C)Process velocity/Throughput time
D)Work-in-Process/Throughput rate
E)Value added time/Process velocity

Question 28

A process flowchart uses which of the following symbols to represent storage areas or queues in a flow diagram?

A)Rectangle
B)Arrow
C)Inverted triangle
D)Diamond
E)A dashed line

Question 29

Which of the following terms describes the time a unit spends actually being worked on together with the time spent waiting in a queue?

A)Cycle time
B)Throughput time
C)Run time
D)Setup time
E)Efficiency

Question 30

Throughput time of a production process is the amount of time a unit spends actually being worked on.

Question 31

Efficiency of a production process is the ratio of the actual output of a process to some standard.

Question 32

If you want to reduce process throughput time it has been suggested that you can reduce interruptions in the production process.

Question 33

A process flowchart uses which of the following symbols to represent a decision point in a flow diagram?

A)Rectangle
B)Arrow
C)Inverted triangle
D)Diamond
E)A dashed line

Question 34

Run time is calculated by multiplying the number of units in a batch by the set-up time.

Question 35

A process flowchart uses symbols to represent which of the following?

A)Factory location
B)Warehouse space available
C)Work force schedules
D)Flows of material or customers
E)Data analysis

Question 36

An advantage of a make-to-stock process is which of the following?

A)Rapid delivery of a standard product
B)All units of output are unique
C)It responds directly to customer orders
D)It allows the firm to avoid inventory costs
E)It combines the best features of other processes

Question 37

If you want to reduce process throughput time it has been suggested that you can perform activities in the process in parallel.

Question 38

Which of the following best describes the term cycle time?

A)Average time between completions of successive units
B)Ratio of the time a resource is activated over its use
C)Can be no more that 60 minutes
D)The same as utilization
E)The labor content of the item being measured

Question 39

A process flowchart uses which of the following symbols to represent flows of material or customers in a flow diagram?

A)Rectangle
B)Arrow
C)Inverted triangle
D)Diamond
E)A dashed line

Question 40

Setup time is the time required to prepare a process to produce a particular item.

Question 41

To reduce process throughput time you might try which of the following actions?

A)Perform activities in parallel
B)Change the sequence of activities
C)Reduce interruptions
D)Acquire additional equipment
E)All of the above

Question 42

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a make-to-order process compared to the advantages and disadvantages of a make-to-stock process in a manufacturing operation?

Question 43

What might you do in designing a two-stage process where each process had equal average process time but with high process time variability in the first stage and low variability in the second stage? Why?

Question 44

Three fast-food chains are discussed in the text.McDonald's traditional process is make-to-stock;Wendy's has a make-to-order process and Burger King has a process which is a hybrid of the other two.Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each of these approaches.Why do you suppose that each of these approaches can survive in the fast food industry?

Question 45

What are you doing when you compare the metrics of your company to another?

Question 46

The formula (Throughput time = Work-in-process/Throughput Rate)is known as what?

Question 47

What is the ratio of the average time to move a unit through a productive system divided by the value-added time?

Question 48

According to Little's law,which of the following can be used to estimate work-in-process inventory?

A)Process time/Cycle time
B)Throughput rate times throughput time
C)Process velocity/Throughput time
D)Set up time/Throughput rate
E)Value added time/Process velocity

Question 49

To reduce process throughput time you might try which of the following actions?

A)Outsource activities
B)Change the sequence of activities
C)Improve teamwork
D)Reduce management interference
E)Introduce incentive pay

Question 50

What is the ratio of output to input called?