Deck 20: Total Quality Management

Question 1

True or False Six Sigma is a philosophy that focuses on small,ongoing improvements rather than relying on large-scale innovations,such as might come from advances in technology or equipment.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

True or False Where traditional quality control tended to be results oriented,total quality management is process oriented.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

True or False Control charts are available for individual observations,moving averages,and moving ranges.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

True or False The process flow chart is used to tally frequency counts or record measurements and is a mechanism for entering and retaining data that may be subject to further analysis by another statistical tool.

Question 5

True or False The Pareto diagram,also known as the Juran diagram,is a bar chart describing the relative frequencies with which various kinds of defects,or nonconformities,have occurred.

Question 6

True or False When the purpose of sampling is to detect when a process becomes too variable,the chart of choice will be a c-chart.

Question 7

True or False Assignable variation occurs due to identifiable causes that have changed the process.

Question 8

True or False In general,as long as random variation is absent and assignable variation remains within acceptable limits,the process is deemed to be stable,or in statistical control.

Question 9

True or False Control charts for variables are appropriate whenever we are interested in monitoring measurements,such as weights,diameters,or temperature.

Question 10

True or False The cause-and-effect diagram visually depicts the operations (or subprocesses)involved in a process,showing the sequential relationships between them.

Question 11

True or False If a point is more than 3 sigmas away from the centerline,or if two out of three consecutive points are on the same side of the centerline and more than 2 sigmas away from it,the process is deemed to be in control.

Question 12

True or False If six points in a row are all headed either upward or downward,or if nine points in a row are on the same side of the centerline,the process is judged to be out of control.

Question 13

True or False Acceptance sampling involves inspection of a sample of products after an entire production run or shipment lot has been produced.As such,it represents a defect-detection approach to quality management.

Question 14

True or False Competitive benchmarking involves studying,and attempting to emulate,the strategies and practices of organizations already known to generate world-class products and services.

Question 15

True or False The p-chart and the c-chart are examples of control charts for attributes

Question 16

True or False Perceived quality refers to attributes that relate to the human senses,for example,how a product looks,feels,tastes,or smells.

Question 17

True or False When the purpose of sampling is to detect when a process becomes too variable,the chart of choice will be an R chart.

Question 18

True or False Although both statistical process control (SPC)and acceptance sampling make inferences on the basis of samples,SPC uses sampled products to make inferences about a larger population of the products,while acceptance sampling uses the sampled products to make inferences about the process from which they came.

Question 19

True or False Random variation occurs due to identifiable causes that have changed the process.

Question 20

True or False One of Dr.Deming's earliest contributions to total quality management was the Deming cycle,also known as the Deming wheel and the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act)cycle.

Question 21

Which of the following describes the purpose of acceptance sampling (defect-detection)?

A) Computer chips received by a computer maker are sampled before the shipment is accepted or rejected.
B) The manufacturer of pocket knifes samples its process at three stages before allowing the pocket knives to be assembled.
C) The manufacturer of gypsum wallboard subjects samples of its fireproof version to tests in controlled fire situations.
D) Each worker is responsible for the quality of his/her output and tests each item before sending them on to packaging.
E) A quality checksheet for each division is completed before the product is released to retailers.

Question 22

When the only sources of variation in a production process are caused by chance,and random variation remains within acceptable limits,the process is said to be:

A) stable.
B) in statistical control.
C) out of control.
D) out of luck.
E) Both A and B since they are the same.

Question 23

Individual units can have higher quality than others,even while meeting traditional specifications.Deviations from the target lead to lower and lower quality of the unit.This concept is associated with a:

A) cause and effect diagram.
B) process flow chart.
C) check sheet.
D) Taguchi method.
E) Pareto diagram.

Question 24

A random sample of 100 rods from a process with a mean of 20 feet produced a sample mean of 20.01 feet and a standard deviation of 0.015.This difference between the process mean and the sample mean is likely to be:

A) assignable variation.
B) special-cause variation.
C) random variation.
D) homoscedasticity.
E) costs of attrition.

Question 25

Variations in process output that can usually be identified and eliminated without changing the process are:

A) assignable variations.
B) chance variations.
C) out of control variations.
D) random variations.
E) All of these.

Question 26

Variations in process output that are caused by specific events or factors that are frequently temporary such as machine malfunction are:

A) assignable variations.
B) chance variations.
C) out of control variations.
D) random variations.
E) All of these.

Question 27

Which of the following describes the purpose of statistical process control (defect-prevention)?

A) A consumer buys a TV and plugs it in.It doesn't work and she returns it.
B) A soft drink company samples its product at 25 retail establishments to determine if the canner's mixture meets the soft drink company's standard.
C) The Army purchases hammers and tests 10 of them before accepting the entire shipment.
D) Computer chips received by a computer maker are sampled before the shipment is accepted or rejected.
E) The manufacturer of pocket knifes samples its process at three stages before allowing the pocket knives to be assembled.

Question 28

Which of the following relates to costs of non-conformance?

A) Coordination with suppliers.
B) Defective products that reduce goodwill.
C) Periodic customer surveys.
D) Worker involvement.
E) Revisions to product design.

Question 29

In statistical process control (SPC),a Type I error occurs if we conclude that the process is:

A) in control when in fact it is not.
B) out of control when in fact it is not.
C) in control when this is really true.
D) out of control when this is really true.
E) None of these.

Question 30

True or False The TQM philosophy of defect prevention has quality integrated throughout the organizational structure and central to corporate thinking in all matters.

Question 31

Variations in process output that are caused by events that in general cannot be eliminated without changing the process are:

A) assignable variations.
B) random variations.
C) out of control variations.
D) None of these.
E) All of these.

Question 32

An electronics part manufacturer reprimanded an employee.The number of defective parts produced by the employee increased.The increase in the number of defective parts is probably an example of:

A) assignable variation.
B) common-cause variation.
C) random variation.
D) homoscedasticity.
E) costs of attrition.

Question 33

Which of the following statements is correct with regard to random variation?

A) It occurs as the result of chance
B) It is inherent in practically any process
C) It leads to random variation in the product
D) It can often be reduced by using more expensive machines or materials
E) All of these statements are correct

Question 34

When no point lies outside the control limits of a chart,we conclude that:

A) variation in the process is caused by assignable causes and there is enough evidence to infer that the process is in statistical control.
B) variation in the process is caused by chance and there is enough evidence to infer that the process is out of control.
C) variation in the process is caused by chance and there is not enough evidence to infer that the process is out of control.
D) variation in the process is caused by assignable causes and there is not enough evidence to infer that the process is out of control.
E) None of these.

Question 35

Which of the following relates to costs of conformance?

A) Defective products that reduce goodwill.
B) Poor quality requiring product recalls.
C) Periodic worker training.
D) Poor quality requiring warranty expenses.
E) Product liability lawsuits.

Question 36

Although both statistical process control and acceptance sampling make inferences on the basis of samples,

A) acceptance sampling involves inspection of a sample of products during the production run.
B) SPC uses sampled products to make inferences about the process from which they came.
C) acceptance sampling uses sampled products to make inferences about a larger population of the products.
D) Both B and C
E) All of the above statements are true.

Question 37

True or False Much of the emphasis in TQM is on understanding and reducing variation within the process through which the product is produced,and samples of output are used in reaching inferences about the stability of the process.

Question 38

A company maintains a minimum of inventory of parts to keep its production process going.If there is any interruption in the delivery of quality parts,production stops until quality is restored.This company is using:

A) competitive benchmarking.
B) acceptance sampling.
C) just-in-time manufacturing.
D) random variation.
E) a quality circle.

Question 39

Perry Company,a variety store,sends a team of five executives to Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville,Arkansas,to observe the distribution and logistics practices so that Perry Company can improve in these areas.This firm is engaging in:

A) worker training.
B) statistical process control.
C) a quality circle.
D) competitive benchmarking.
E) acceptance sampling.

Question 40

True or False A popular and important tool for applying TQM is statistical process control,where sampled products are used in making inferences about the process from which they came.

Question 41

Forty samples of size 1,000 were drawn from a manufacturing process and the number of defectives in each sample was counted.The mean sample proportion was 0.05.The centerline for the p chart is:

A) 0.05.
B) 50.0.
C) 2.00.
D) 25.0.

Question 42

____________________ is a graphical procedure to make inferences about the process from which a sample was taken.

Question 43

For control chart,the lower and upper control limits are usually set at:

A) five standard deviations from the centerline.
B) four standard deviations from the centerline.
C) three standard deviations from the centerline.
D) two standard deviations from the centerline.
E) one standard deviation from the centerline.

Question 44

Thirty samples of size 1200 were drawn from a manufacturing process and the number of defectives in each sample was counted.The mean sample proportion was 0.04.The upper control limit for the 3-sigma p chart is:

A) 0.0170.
B) 0.0570.
C) 0.1518.
D) 0.0230.

Question 45

The four letters in W.Edwards Deming's PDCA cycle stand for ____________________.

Question 46

Which of the following are among the statistical tools discussed in your text and used in applying TQM?

A) The process flow chart
B) The cause-and-effect diagram
C) The Pareto diagram
D) The Taguchi view of quality loss
E) All of these

Question 47

A 3-sigma mean chart for a normally distributed random variable shows that one mean lies out of the control limits.What is the probability that this observation is a result of random chance?

Question 48

Ground coffee empties into a chute containing a roll of plastic,which forms a sealed bag of coffee.The weight on the coffee bag states the weight is 6 ounces.From every ten bags filled,four are randomly sampled and weighed to see if the mean is correct (the process in control).The standard deviation of the filling process is 0.05 ounces.Compute the 3-sigma lower control limit for the mean chart.

Question 49

____________________ involves inspection of a sample of products after an entire production run or shipment lot has been produced.

Question 50

Control charts that are used to monitor a process whose results are categorized as either defective or non-defective are called:

A) control charts for attributes.
B) control charts for variables.
C) control charts for normality.
D) control charts for out of luck.
E) None of these.

Question 51

Ground coffee empties into a chute containing a roll of plastic,which forms a sealed bag of coffee.From every ten bags filled,four are randomly sampled and weighed to see if the mean is correct (the process in control).The average mean for twenty samples of four equals 6.01 ounces.The average range of the twenty samples is 0.08 ounces.What will be the 3-sigma lower control limit for the mean chart?

Question 52

Costs that occur as the result of poor quality are also known as ____________________.

Question 53

Fifty samples of size 600 were drawn from a manufacturing process and the number of defectives in each sample was counted.The mean sample proportion was 0.025.The lower control limit for the 3-sigma p chart is:

A) 0.1561.
B) 0.0059.
C) 0.0064.
D) 0.0191.

Question 54

When a process that is governed by a Six Sigma approach to quality improvement is found to be in statistical control,the expected number of defects per million products or opportunities is

A) 1.2.
B) 1.5.
C) 2.0.
D) 3.4.
E) 6.0.

Question 55

Costs of preventing poor quality are also known as ____________________.

Question 56

When a given process is operating properly,the percentage of defectives is 10%.For a 3-sigma p-chart in which the upper and lower control limits are 4 percentage points apart,how large will each sample have to be?

Question 57

A chart for a normally distributed random variable shows that one sample mean is outside the control chart limits.The probability that this happened by chance is:

A) 0.9554.
B) 0.5000.
C) 0.9974.
D) 0.0300
E) 0.0026

Question 58

The visual display of effects and their possible causes as a method of problem solving is associated with a:

A) cause and effect diagram.
B) process flow chart.
C) check sheet.
D) Taguchi method.
E) Pareto diagram.

Question 59

Which of the following statements are not true?

A) Both Minitab and Excel (with the Data Analysis Plus add-in)provide a complete battery of tests regarding the state of control of the process.
B) Minitab automatically does all available diagnostic tests regarding the state of control of the process,but with Excel we must select "Test" option and specify "Select all tests".
C) Self-diagnosis regarding the state of control of the process with both Excel and Minitab takes the form of looking for and reporting any of 8 conditions and patterns.
D) All of these statements are true.
E) All of these statements are not true.

Question 60

The "fraction-defective" control chart is an alternative term for the:

A) c-chart.
B) chart.
C) p-chart.
D) R-chart.

Question 61

NARRBEGIN: Bottles
A bottle filling machine fills bottles with 16 oz of soda.Each hour,3 bottles are weighed on a precision scale to determine if the process is under control.The following data has been collected from the last 4 hours.Each value in the table represents the weight of an individual bottle.

Assuming this data was collected when the process was operating satisfactorily,construct 3-sigma limits for the mean chart.

Question 62

An approach to quality improvement that involves studying,and attempting to emulate,the strategies and practices of organizations already known to generate world-class products and service is known as ____________________.

Question 63

NARRBEGIN: Bottles
A bottle filling machine fills bottles with 16 oz of soda.Each hour,3 bottles are weighed on a precision scale to determine if the process is under control.The following data has been collected from the last 4 hours.Each value in the table represents the weight of an individual bottle.

At 11:00 AM,the weights of the following three bottles were recorded: 16.0,16.7,15.2.According to this sample,is the process in control?

Question 64

The Cattleman's Bar and Grille would like to use statistical process control to monitor the time that elapses between a customer's arrival and when the food is served.The manager has determined that the average time between customer arrival and service is 19.5 minutes with a standard deviation of 2.5 minutes.Each evening,the manager plans on selecting 4 tables at random and will measure the elapsed time.What would the 3-sigma control limits be for the X-bar chart?

Question 65

A dispenser of yogurt fills cups with an average of 4 ounces with a standard deviation of 0.25 ounces.Determine the centerline,lower and upper control limits for a 3-sigma mean chart when sample size is 9 cups.
Centerline = ____________________
Lower value = ____________________
Upper value = ____________________

Question 66

NARRBEGIN: Bottles
A bottle filling machine fills bottles with 16 oz of soda.Each hour,3 bottles are weighed on a precision scale to determine if the process is under control.The following data has been collected from the last 4 hours.Each value in the table represents the weight of an individual bottle.

Assuming this data was collected when the process was operating satisfactorily,construct 3-sigma limits for the range chart.

Question 67

Based on an earlier model called the Shewhart cycle,the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA)cycle was popularized in the 1950's by ____________________.

Question 68

A bar chart describing the relative frequencies with which various kinds of defects or nonconformities have occurred is called ____________________.

Question 69

Control charts may be constructed for either ____________________ (measurements)or ____________________ (counts).

Question 70

Industry often refers to assignable variation as ____________________ variation.

Question 71

The Statistical Process Control (SPC)Chart was developed by ___________________________________ during the 1920s.This is a graphical procedure for determining whether a production process is operating properly.

Question 72

Applicable to attributes,the ____________________-chart shows the proportion of defects in successive samples,while the ____________________-chart reflects a count of the number of defects found in units of the output.

Question 73

Each sample involves a 9 square foot piece of carpet.The number of flaws found in a piece would be entered on a(n)____________________ chart.

Question 74

The idea of total quality management in a word from the Japanese is "Kaizen" or improvement.In his 1986 book,Kaizen,author ____________________ describes the concept that Kaizen represents.

Question 75

Organizations seeking to improve the quality of their goods and services are increasingly adopting the principles and practices of ________________________________________.

Question 76

Use the following data to prepare the upper and lower control limits for a mean chart.Each sample contains 3 values. Compute the lower and upper control limits.
Lower value = ____________________
Upper value = ____________________

Question 77

The quality improvement program that,if properly implemented,is expected to experience only 3.4 defects per million products or opportunities is known as ____________________.

Question 78

The two sources of process variation are ____________________ (common-course)variation and ____________________ (special-cause)variation.

Question 79

The practices of TQM are closely related to the ____________________ philosophy of continuing improvement and include guidelines such as Deming's 14 points,quality audits,competitive benchmarking,just-in-time manufacturing,and worker empowerment.

Question 80

The cause-and-effect diagram,developed by Kaoru Ishikawa,assists problem solving by visually depicting effects and their possible causes.Because of its appearance,it is sometimes called a ____________________.