Question 1

Which of the following statements about learning curves is FALSE?

Accepted Answer

A) Learning rates differ from company to company and from industry to industry. 
B) Learning curves are mostly applicable to direct materials and labor. 
C) Learning curves provide the actual times of activities/tasks. 
D) Learning curves have limited use in mass production situations,as the improvements through learning are negligible.

Question 2

Acme,Inc.,produces widgets.To manufacture a new type of widget,it took 52 hours for the first widget.Acme estimates it has an 82% learning rate.Using the logarithmic approach,calculate the time it will take to manufacture the 87th widget.

Accepted Answer

A) 17.78 hours 
B) 14.51 hours 
C) 16.52 hours 
D) 15.94 hours

Question 3

Purple Airlines has ordered 30 small jets from its supplier.The supplier has estimated the first aircraft will require 350 days of direct labor to manufacture and assemble.Based on past experience,the supplier estimates the learning curve to be 75%.Estimate the number of days of direct labor for all 30 jet aircrafts.

Accepted Answer

A) 3,000.5 days 
B) 4,006.1 days 
C) 3,456.7 days 
D) 4,567.3 days

Question 4

Weston,Inc.,produces widgets.To manufacture a new type of widget,it took 15 iterations before the process reached a steady state of 27 hours.If Weston has a 94% learning rate,use the logarithmic approach to calculate the time it took to manufacture the first widget.

Accepted Answer

A) 36.10 hours 
B) 32.53 hours 
C) 33.51 hours 
D) 34.38 hours

Question 5

Which of the following statements is FALSE about limitations of learning curves?

Accepted Answer

A) If a worker is bored by conducting repetitive tasks,very little learning occurs. 
B) Changes to workers or job designs may alter the trajectory of the curve,causing a temporary downward spike in the curve. 
C) If worker interests drop toward the end of the project,the learning curve will prematurely level off. 
D) Time estimates for subsequent repetitions of an activity or unit production are based on the time it takes to perform the first iteration of the activity or the first unit produced.

Question 6

Under the learning curve,as the number of repetitions or units of an item produced doubles,the processing time per unit of that item decreases by a constant percentage.This constant percentage is typically in the ______ range.

Accepted Answer

A) 30% to 50% 
B) 10% to 20% 
C) 40% to 50% 
D) 1% to 10%

Question 7

Weston,Inc.,produces widgets.To manufacture a new type of widget,it took 18 iterations before the process reached a steady state of 6 hours.If Weston has a 78% learning rate,use the logarithmic approach to calculate the time it took to manufacture the first widget.

Accepted Answer

A) 16.91 hours 
B) 18.20 hours 
C) 15.87 hours 
D) 15.35 hours

Question 8

Weston,Inc.,produces widgets.To manufacture a new type of widget,it took 11 iterations before the process reached a steady state of 18 hours.If Weston has a 95% learning rate,use the logarithmic approach to calculate the time it took to manufacture the first widget.

Accepted Answer

A) 21.49 hours 
B) 22.26 hours 
C) 19.58 hours 
D) 20.80 hours

Question 9

Acme,Inc.,produces widgets.To manufacture a new type of widget,it took 100 hours for the first widget.Acme estimates it has a 95% learning rate.Using the logarithmic approach,calculate the time it will take to manufacture the 75th widget.

Accepted Answer

A) 62.89 hours 
B) 72.70 hours 
C) 56.55 hours 
D) 76.42 hours

Question 10

Learning curves are most useful for measuring performance improvements for ______.

Accepted Answer

A) routine jobs 
B) simple jobs 
C) one-time jobs 
D) complex jobs

Question 11

Acme,Inc.,produces widgets.To manufacture a new type of widget,it took 62 hours for the first widget.Acme estimates it has a 98% learning rate.Using the logarithmic approach,calculate the time it will take to manufacture the 56th widget.

Accepted Answer

A) 55.18 hours 
B) 59.30 hours 
C) 64.55 hours 
D) 49.94 hours

Question 12

Weston,Inc.,produces widgets.To manufacture a new type of widget,it took 25 iterations before the process reached a steady state of 32 hours.If Weston has an 83% learning rate,use the logarithmic approach to calculate the time it took to manufacture the first widget.

Accepted Answer

A) 76.02 hours 
B) 76.72 hours 
C) 76.07 hours 
D) 73.53 hours

Question 13

The first unit produced in a process takes 480 hours.As the number of units produced doubles,production time decreases by 18%.Using the arithmetic approach,calculate the production time for the 64th unit.

Accepted Answer

A) 217 hours 
B) 146 hours 
C) 178 hours 
D) 156 hours

Question 14

Understanding learning curves will enable procurement specialists to determine the number of units of the specialized item that they plan to order and then negotiate with the supplier based on the order size.This statement is an application of learning curves in which of the following functions?

Accepted Answer

A) workforce planning and scheduling 
B) cost estimation and budgeting 
C) new product pricing 
D) procurement negotiations in supply chains

Question 15

Acme,Inc.,produces widgets.To manufacture a new type of widget,it took 28 hours for the first widget.Acme estimates it has a 95% learning rate.Using the logarithmic approach,calculate the time it will take to manufacture the fourth widget.

Accepted Answer

A) 24.71 hours 
B) 22.68 hours 
C) 25.28 hours 
D) 18.76 hours

Question 16

A construction firm wants to estimate the direct labor of a worker who will perform multiple iterations of tasks.The worker must do a total of 20 of these activities to reach steady state.The time estimated to perform the 20th iteration is 2 hours,and the learning rate for this repetitive activity is 70%.The cost of labor is $40/hr.Estimate the direct labor cost for 20 iterations of these activities.

Accepted Answer

A) $2,767.25 
B) $2,341.45 
C) $3,456.65 
D) $1,234.12

Question 17

There are ______ approaches to solving learning curve problems.

Accepted Answer

A) three 
B) four 
C) five 
D) six

Question 18

Acme,Inc.,produces widgets.To manufacture a new type of widget,it took 60 hours for the first widget.Acme estimates it has a 60% learning rate.Using the logarithmic approach,calculate the time it will take to manufacture the 60th widget.

Accepted Answer

A) 1.85 hours 
B) 3.70 hours 
C) 4.55 hours 
D) 2.94 hours

Question 19

ABC Hospital completed its first transplant,and the procedure took 50 hours.The hospital has five more transplants scheduled.Based on other similar procedures carried out,the hospital estimates that it has an 85% learning rate.Estimate the time it will take to complete the third transplant.

Accepted Answer

A) 34.5 hours 
B) 36 hours 
C) 38.67 hours 
D) 40 hours

Question 20

______ is suitable only for estimating the number of hours required to produce the nth unit,where n is the doubled value.It cannot be used to find the time required to find intermediate units.

Accepted Answer

A) The arithmetic approach 
B) Using a table of learning curve coefficient values 
C) The logarithmic formula approach 
D) The quadratic formula approach

Exam 28: Learning Curves