Deck 8: Supplier Quality Management

Question 1

Most suppliers are afraid to challenge specifications for fear of losing the bid.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

One of the primary causes of nonconforming supplier quality involves inconsistent communication and the resulting misunderstanding of specifications,expectations,and requirements among supply chain members.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Slogans,signs,and posters are highly effective in changing worker behavior because they assume that most,if not all,quality problems are due to human behavior.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

In recent years,the concept of quality has changed radically from meeting customer requirements or expectations to exceeding them.

Question 5

The lowest purchase price of an item may be good in the short run for the supply management department but may cause increased costs somewhere else in the production system over the long run.

Question 6

Designed-in systemic variation is a managerial concern,not a labor issue.

Question 7

For all practical purposes,leadership and management are the same.

Question 8

Buyers should focus only on the supplier's physical output,never on the supporting systems and processes that created the output.

Question 9

The focal point of the Deming philosophy is that the entire organization should be focused on satisfying customer needs,whether the customer is internal or external.

Question 10

Working with more suppliers allows the supply manager to concentrate on building trusting,collaborative relationships and supplier loyalty while improving quality in purchased goods and services.

Question 11

Supply management does not merely buy parts of services from suppliers; it buys (and sometimes must help manage)supplier capabilities that result in quality products and services.

Question 12

There is never room for improvement if the organization is a market leader.

Question 13

A buyer cannot realistically expect the highest levels of supplier performance when the supplier must respond to frequent or short lead time changes.

Question 14

Reliance on a firm's suppliers for raw materials,components,subassemblies,and even finished products is steadily decreasing.

Question 15

Deming's quality philosophy has often been criticized because it does not prescribe specific actions and programs for management to follow.

Question 16

Quality is only for manufacturing.

Question 17

Deming's 14 points are an a la carte menu of quality improvement activities from which a company can pick and choose only those with which they agree.

Question 18

Most specifications are precise and succinct.

Question 19

Deming indicates that the proper way of dealing with defects is to inspect for and remove them from the process.

Question 20

Part of supply management's role in supplier quality management involves being a good customer to its suppliers.

Question 21

The C_pk value is always larger than the C_p index.

Question 22

Most traditional cost accounting systems do an excellent job of providing clear and concise information on just where funds are spent on quality-related expenses.

Question 23

Once a firm fully rationalizes and optimizes its supply base,improvement will occur primarily by developing the capabilities of existing suppliers rather than by switching suppliers on a large scale.

Question 24

Inconsistency is the enemy of total quality.

Question 25

Performance appraisal systems create barriers to pride in workmanship in that they promote competitive behavior and quantity over quality.

Question 26

The objective of supplier certification is to ensure that nonconforming items are not created or do not leave a supplier's facility.

Question 27

All delivery activities can be considered wasteful.

Question 28

Supplier certification applies only to entire companies or finished products,rather than a specific part,process,or site.

Question 29

The cost of quality should actually be considered the cost of "poor quality."

Question 30

An emphasis on process rather than finished product demands that a supplier provide evidence of its process capability to buyers on a one-time basis.

Question 31

According to Genichi Taguchi,any deviation from a target value carries with it some level of opportunity loss due to scrap,rework,and customer dissatisfaction.

Question 32

The extensive use of corrective action requests supports prevention of nonconforming defects.

Question 33

One property of normally distributed data is that 99.73 percent of all possible observations of process output are between within plus-or-minus standard deviations from the process mean.

Question 34

When given the proper climate in which to work,most people do not want to do a good job.

Question 35

A process that is stable and in control can be expected to produce virtually all of its output within its natural tolerance limits.

Question 36

It is far less expensive and more efficient in the long run to avoid generating the defect in the first place than it is to inspect for it once it is created.

Question 37

Companies that are unable to commit the necessary resources to assess or certify supplier quality on their own will never accept ISO 9000:2008 registration as proxy evidence of a supplier's quality capability.

Question 38

The most dramatic difference between traditional quality control methods and total quality management thinking involves a shift from a process orientation to a product orientation.

Question 39

A grassroots TQM effort that emanates from the lower levels of the organization is doomed to failure without active and visible top management commitment and support.

Question 40

To be considered capable,the outputs from a process must fall outside upper and lower specification limits.

Question 41

The ____ the proportion of the final product that suppliers provide,the ____ the impact they will have on overall product cost and quality.

A) smaller....greater
B) larger....smaller
C) smaller....more significant
D) larger....greater
E) There is no relationship between proportion of final product provided by suppliers and impact on overall product cost and quality.

Question 42

Which of the following is not one of Deming's 14 points?

A) Create a vision and demonstrate commitment.
B) Utilize fear to motive workers.
C) Improve constantly and forever.
D) Eliminate exhortations.
E) Remove barriers to pride in workmanship.

Question 43

Which of the following is not one of Deming's 14 points?

A) Encourage education and self-improvement.
B) Take action.
C) Institute leadership.
D) Optimize the efforts of teams.
E) Utilize numerical quotas and measurement by objective to motivate management.

Question 44

Which of the following is not one of the eight key principles of total quality management?

A) Strive for zero defects.
B) Define quality in terms of customers and their requirements.
C) Focus on output rather than process.
D) Make quality everyone's responsibility.
E) Stress objective rather than subjective analysis.

Question 45

Which of the following is not one of the unique features of Deming's philosophy?

A) Variation is the primary source of quality nonconformance.
B) Although quality is everyone's responsibility, senior management has the ultimate responsibility for quality improvement.
C) Intrinsic motivation is more powerful than extrinsic motivation.
D) Interacting parts of a system must be treated individually, not as a whole.
E) Predictions must be grounded in theory that helps to understand cause-and-effect relationships.

Question 46

All of the following are factors that influence how much attention supply management should commit to managing supplier quality except ____.

A) the distance between the supplier and buyer facilities
B) the ability of a supplier to affect a buyer's total quality
C) the resources available to support supplier quality management and improvement
D) the ability of the buying firm to practice world-class quality
E) a supplier's current quality levels

Question 47

The average North American manufacturing firm spends ____ of its sales dollar on purchased goods and services.

A) < 10%
B) 25%
C) 55%
D) 75%
E) > 90%

Question 48

____ represents the ability to meet or exceed current and future customer expectations or requirements within critical performance areas on a consistent basis.

A) Kaizen
B) Supplier quality
C) Strategic sourcing
D) Process capability
E) Supply base rationalization

Question 49

Which of the following is not one of the eight key principles of total quality management?

A) Pursue quality at the source.
B) Emphasize prevention rather than detection of defects.
C) Focus on process rather than output.
D) Establish continuous improvement as a way of life.
E) Stress subjective rather than objective analysis.

Question 50

ISO 14000:2004 does not build upon existing governmental regulations,establish emissions and pollution levels,or detail any specific testing methods.

Question 51

It can take only a few months for a company to adequately develop a quality management system that is competitive for the MBNQA.

Question 52

The MBNQA is a competition and implies that a winning organization excels not only in quality management but also in quality achievement.

Question 53

ISO 9000:2008 follows a product-based approach to quality management that stresses planning,acting,analyzing results,and making improvements.

Question 54

Which of the following is not one of the eight key principles of total quality management?

A) Define quality in terms of customers and their requirements.
B) Inspect for quality at the end of the production line.
C) Stress objective rather than subjective analysis.
D) Strive for zero defects.
E) Make quality everyone's responsibility.

Question 55

A thorough supplier quality manual does not need to address the supplier selection and evaluation processes.

Question 56

Suppliers that earn ISO 9000:2008 registration typically demonstrate lower levels of quality than those suppliers that are not registered.

Question 57

According to Armand Fiegenbaum,____ is the total composite of product and service characteristics of marketing,engineering,manufacturing,and maintenance through which the product or service in use will meet or exceed the expectations of the customer.

A) productivity
B) process capability
C) zero defects
D) quality
E) optimization

Question 58

Which of the following is one of the dimensions used in developing a clear understanding of the buyer's expectations and requirements?

A) The ability of the buying company to succinctly identify, clearly define, quantify, or specify its technical and sourcing requirements.
B) The seller's ability to effectively communicate its requirements.
C) How compatible the buyer's and supplier's respective corporate cultures are.
D) The ability of the selling company to succinctly identify, clearly define, quantify, or specify its technical and sourcing requirements.
E) None of these choices.

Question 59

A supplier quality manual may delineate the maximum process required for the supplier regarding inspections,use of statistical process control,continuous improvement,testing,sample evaluations,and performance improvement.

Question 60

Which of the following is not one of the expectations that suppliers have in a typical supply chain relationship?

A) Minimizing product design changes once production begins.
B) Providing visibility to future purchase volume requirements.
C) Sharing early access and visibility to new product requirements.
D) Valuing accurate and timely payment of invoices.
E) Having the buyer co-locate its buying, engineering, and quality staffs into a supplier's facility.

Question 61

____ is the ability of a process to generate outputs that meet engineering specifications or customer requirements and refers to the normal behavior of a process when operating in a state of statistical control.

A) Process optimization
B) Six Sigma
C) Supplier certification
D) Quality at the source
E) Process capability

Question 62

____ are incurred following production or after the customer takes possession.

A) Inspection costs
B) Appraisal costs
C) Internal failure costs
D) Prevention costs
E) External failure costs

Question 63

The ____ process capability index quantifies the relationship between the process's natural tolerance limits and the product's specifications using a two-sided approach.

A) C_pk
B) x-bar
C) MRP
D) C_p
E) Six Sigma

Question 64

____ include the direct costs of measuring quality,specifically checking for possible defects.

A) Six Sigma costs
B) Internal failure costs
C) Appraisal costs
D) External failure costs
E) Prevention costs

Question 65

____ is the avoidance of nonconformance in products and services by not allowing errors or defects to occur in the first place.

A) Detection
B) Inspection
C) Prevention
D) The hidden factory
E) Optimization

Question 66

All of the following are examples of appraisal costs except ____.

A) laboratory testing of samples
B) inspection activities during production
C) maintenance of a quality management system
D) supplier quality audits
E) incoming materials inspections

Question 67

Which of the following is not one of Deming's 14 points?

A) Institute training.
B) Drive out fear.
C) Optimize the efforts of individuals working alone.
D) Stop making decisions purely on the basis of price.
E) Improve constantly and forever.

Question 68

____ are costs incurred when production processes are designed or modified to prevent defects from occurring in the first place.

A) Appraisal costs
B) Internal failure costs
C) External failure costs
D) Prevention costs
E) Six Sigma costs

Question 69

According to Philip Crosby,the only performance standard that defines total quality is ____,which he defined as conformance to requirements.

A) zero defects
B) Six Sigma
C) process capability
D) optimization
E) rationalization

Question 70

____ occur before the product or service is provided.

A) Internal failure costs
B) Appraisal costs
C) External failure costs
D) Prevention costs
E) Zero defects costs

Question 71

Which of the following is not an example of an internal failure cost?

A) Troubleshooting.
B) Equipment calibration.
C) Reinspection following detection of a defect.
D) Production downtime caused by defects.
E) Scrap.

Question 72

The ____ process capability index does not adequately account for situations where the process is not centered on the nominal specification target value.

A) C_xy
B) optimization
C) Six Sigma
D) C_pk
E) C_p

Question 73

Which of the following is false concerning Deming's philosophy on numerical quotas and measurement by objective?

A) Workers may circumvent the system to make their production and output goals.
B) Many numerically-based goals and objectives are often arbitrary.
C) Goals are often shorn term in their focus.
D) Output standards fully support TQM improvements and other quality initiatives.
E) Many numerically-based goals and objectives are beyond the control of the worker.

Question 74

A/An ____ program is the formal process of verifying,usually through an intensive cross-functional site audit,that a supplier's processes and methods produce consistent and conforming quality.

A) supplier selection and evaluation program
B) supplier certification
C) Six Sigma
D) process capability
E) zero defects

Question 75

All of the following are positive results from early supplier design involvement except ____.

A) longer lead-times in order to find and fix product defects before they get to the customer
B) better quality and product design
C) establishing reasonable tolerances
D) suppliers can begin preproduction work
E) improved product quality and manufacturability

Question 76

A/An ____ is designed to provide information about the performance of the process under stable operating conditions,that is,when no special causes of variation are present.

A) make-buy analysis
B) process capability study
C) price analysis
D) cost analysis
E) Six Sigma study

Question 77

____ means continuous improvement.

A) Banzai
B) Optimization
C) Gung ho
D) Kaizen
E) Bonsai

Question 78

The concept of ____ consists of rework and disposal efforts.

A) the hidden factory
B) Six Sigma
C) continuous improvement
D) zero defects
E) kaizen

Question 79

____ occurs whenever value is added to a product or service as it moves through transformation processes in the supply chain.

A) Six Sigma
B) Process capability
C) Kaizen
D) Supply base rationalization
E) Quality at the source

Question 80

Which of the following is false concerning Deming's philosophy on fear in the workplace?

A) Employees may be fearful of making a mistake and being reprimanded for it.
B) Fear-free organizations are very common.
C) Most people have a fear of failure, so they don't want to try anything new or different.
D) People are creatures of habit and don't like to make changes to their routines.
E) Managers may be fearful of letting go of their traditional control-based power.