Deck 20: Constraint Management

Question 1

Buffer inventory in front of a bottleneck is called a time buffer.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Synchronous manufacturing refers to the entire production process working together in harmony to achieve the goals of the firm.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The operational measure of throughput is "the rate at which money is generated by the system through production of goods and services that might be sold".

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Dr.Eli Goldratt feels that the goal of a firm is to make useful products efficiently.

Question 5

According to the theory of constraints,Throughput is the rate at which money is generated by the system through sales.

Question 6

Mr.Goldratt's "Theory of Constraints" is useful only in manufacturing settings.

Question 7

According to the theory of constraints it is wrong to for manufacturers to try to match capacity with demand by attempting to balance capacity across a sequence of processes.Unbalanced capacity is better.

Question 8

From an operations standpoint,one of the goals of the firm under the theory of constraints is to increase throughput while simultaneously reducing inventory and reducing operating expense.

Question 9

A way to find a bottleneck is to use one's knowledge of a particular plant,look at the system in operation and talk with supervisors and workers.

Question 10

OPT stands for optimal purchasing technique.

Question 11

On an assembly line a process batch can be infinite.

Question 12

According to the theory of constraints the term productivity is defined as all those actions that bring a company closer to its goals.

Question 13

According to the theory of constraints,a capacity-constrained resource (CCR)is one whose utilization is close to capacity and could be a bottleneck if it is not scheduled carefully.

Question 14

According to the theory of constraints a bottleneck is any resource whose capacity is greater than the demand placed on it.

Question 15

According to the theory of constraints a non-bottleneck is any resource where capacity is less than the demand placed on it.

Question 16

A synchronous manufacturing system does not have excess capacity throughout the system,except for a bottleneck.

Question 17

According to the theory of constraints,capacity is the time available for production.

Question 18

An MRP system can allow for product rejects by building a larger batch than is demanded,but a JIT system cannot tolerate poor quality.

Question 19

One way to find a bottleneck is to run a capacity resource profile.

Question 20

According to the theory of constraints,throughput is the rate at which product is passed through the manufacturing system.

Question 21

Looking at the loads that are placed on each resource by the products that are scheduled through them is called process flow profiling.

Question 22

JIT requires a stable production Level.When compared to synchronous manufacturing this is viewed as a negative aspect of JIT.

Question 23

Which of the following is a "focusing step" of Dr.Eli Goldratt's theory of constraints?

A)Reduce system constraints
B)Reinforce system constraints
C)Support system constraints
D)If you have no system constraints,make some
E)Identify system constraints

Question 24

On an assembly line a transfer batch can be one unit.

Question 25

JIT requires vendors to be located nearby.When compared to synchronous manufacturing this is viewed as an advantage of JIT.

Question 26

The "dollar days" inventory measurement is chiefly used to focus management's attention on where inventory is located.

Question 27

The "dollar days" inventory measurement can be used in purchasing to discourage large work-in-process and producing earlier than is needed.

Question 28

According to the theory of constraints which of the following is a financial measurement that can be used to measure the firm's ability to make money?

A)Net profit
B)Throughput
C)Inventory
D)Sales
E)Retained earnings

Question 29

A process batch can be no larger than the transfer batch.

Question 30

Rather than try to adjust the master production schedule to change resource loads,it is more practical to control the flow at each bottleneck or CCR to bring capacities in line.

Question 31

JIT requires work-in-process when used with kanban so there is inventory to pull.When compared to synchronous manufacturing this is viewed as a negative aspect of JIT.

Question 32

The term Dependent Events refers to a process sequence.

Question 33

Smaller transfer batches give lower work-in-process inventory and faster product flow.

Question 34

The "dollar days" inventory measurement results from a complex algorithm used to compute individual units of inventory and their respective ordering and holding costs.

Question 35

Which of the following is one of Dr.Eli Goldratt's rules of production scheduling for optimized production technology?

A)Utilization and activation of a resource are not the same
B)Do not allow bottlenecks to govern the flow of the line
C)An hour lost at a bottleneck saves an hour for the entire system
D)Balance the capacities,not the flows
E)The Level of utilization of a bottleneck resource is not determined by its own potential but by some other constraint in the system

Question 36

The synchronous manufacturing approach uses backward scheduling.

Question 37

Larger transfer batches give shorter lead times and lower inventories and there is more material handling than smaller transfer batches.

Question 38

Departments within a firm often are at odds with each other because reward systems are often not synchronized with the basic goal of the firm: to make money.

Question 39

Transfer batch is another term for process batch.

Question 40

Which of the following is one of Dr.Eli Goldratt's rules of production scheduling for optimized production technology?

A)If you lose an hour at a bottleneck it is better than making scrap
B)Do not balance capacity,balance the flow
C)Do not allow bottlenecks to govern the flow of the line
D)An hour saved at a bottleneck operation is a mirage
E)A the amount in a process batch should be fixed when the batch is begun and not changed over time or along its route

Question 41

What is a word indicating a resource whose capacity is less than the demand placed on it?

Question 42

According to the theory of constraints which of the following is a financial measurement that can be used to measure the firm's ability to make money?

A)Operating expenses
B)Cash flow
C)Inventory
D)Sales
E)Dividends

Question 43

You have run a capacity resource profile on your shop.Products have been routed sequentially through resources A,B,C & D.The capacity resource profile tells you that recourse A is scheduled at 95 percent of capacity,recourse B at 80% of capacity,recourse C at 130% of capacity and recourse D at 100% of capacity.Assuming that the data we used to calculate the capacity resource profile was reasonably accurate,what would we expect to find when we go out to the shop?

Question 44

Which of the following is not an important concept in TOC?

A)CCR
B)Rope
C)Drum
D)Buffer
E)File

Question 45

What are the three measurements that give guidance to the firm's operations?

Question 46

According to the theory of constraints which of the following can be a CCR?

A)Factory layout
B)Product design
C)An employee
D)A customer
E)Sales literature

Question 47

A useful measure of inventory performance is called "dollar days".In which of the following areas are dollar days measurements not useful?

A)Marketing
B)R & D
C)Manufacturing
D)Project management
E)Purchasing

Question 48

According to Dr.Goldratt,what is the goal of the firm?

Question 49

How many rules of make up Goldratt's Rules of Production Scheduling?

Question 50

According to the theory of constraints which of the following is an operational measurement that can be used to measure the firm's ability to make money?

A)Inventory
B)Sales
C)Operating revenue
D)Unit cost
E)Overhead per unit

Question 51

According to the theory of constraints which of the following is a kind of time that makes up the cycle time in production?

A)Quality time
B)Idle time
C)Research time
D)Just-in-time
E)Break time

Question 52

According to the theory of constraints which of the following is a kind of time that makes up the cycle time in production?

A)Process time
B)Starting time
C)Quitting time
D)Information time
E)Finish time

Question 53

Which of the following is a negative aspect to JIT compared to synchronous manufacturing?

A)JIT can not deal with outside vendors
B)JIT needs broadly fluctuating production Levels
C)JIT does not allow very much flexibility in the products produced
D)JIT requires a great deal of workforce computational skills
E)JIT does not deal well with bottlenecks

Question 54

Which of the following is an approach to dealing with a bottleneck?

A)Keep a buffer inventory in front of it to insure that it always has something to work on
B)Use Johnson's sequencing rules on bottleneck operations
C)Don't worry about the bottleneck;it will take care of itself
D)Move things to a faster bottleneck
E)Pay an incentive bonus to workers on the bottleneck operation

Question 55

In Goldratt's approach to project management,what is the longest set of sequential tasks called?

Question 56

What is the rate at which money is generated by the system through sales called?

Question 57

What are the three financial measures of the firm's ability to make money?

Question 58

According to the theory of constraints which of the following is an operational measurement that can be used to measure the firm's ability to make money?

A)Net profit
B)Throughput
C)Return on investment
D)Sales
E)Direct labor hours

Question 59

Name the five kinds of time that make up production cycle time according to Dr.Eli Goldratt's theory of constraints.

Question 60

You have run a capacity resource profile on your shop.Products have been routed sequentially through resources A,B,C &D.The capacity resource profile tells you that recourse A is scheduled at 95 percent of capacity,recourse B at 80% of capacity,recourse C at 130% of capacity and recourse D at 100% of capacity.Assuming that the data we used to calculate the capacity resource profile was reasonably accurate,what have we discovered about the process A,B,C & D?

Question 61

Where should an in-process quality inspection be placed? Why there?

Question 62

Describe how cost accounting is sometimes antithetical to TOC?

Question 63

In discussing batch size on an assembly line the text makes the point that "one" and "infinity" are equally correct Answers.How can this be?

Question 64

You have run a capacity resource profile on your shop.Products have been routed sequentially through resources A,B,C &C.A rope (communication)should be directed back to the start of the process,resource A to prevent inventory from building up.Depending upon the situation,a second rope can extend from the finished goods inventory location (another buffer)to resource C as described in the text.C.A small buffer inventory should be held between resource B and resource D.The capacity resource profile tells you that recourse A is scheduled at 95 percent of capacity,recourse B at 80% of capacity,recourse C at 130% of capacity and recourse D at 100% of capacity.Assuming that the data we used to calculate the capacity resource profile was reasonably accurate,how would you employ the "drum,buffer,rope" thinking?
This concept is discussed in the text on pages 690-693.The drum or control of the process is at the bottleneck,resource