Deck 14: Lean Supply Chains

Question 1

JIT is typically applied to nonrepetitive manufacturing.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Lean production requires a "push and pull" system of inventory replenishment.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Uniform plant loading is a process of smoothing the production activity flow to dampen the reaction waves that normally occur in response to schedule variations.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Lean production replaced JIT in the 1990s because JIT did not address the problem of reducing waste.

Question 5

Value stream mapping is used to visualize product flows through various processing steps.

Question 6

A principle of value stream mapping is to concentrate on speeding up value-added operations.

Question 7

JIT production means that we produce the product before it is required so the customer does not wait for the product.

Question 8

Lean production is a management philosophy and a pull system throughout the plant.

Question 9

Group technology includes the set of psychological tests and training exercises given to group workers to ensure a high level of teamwork.

Question 10

In the textbook, the expression "quality at the source" means that we need to purchase the best quality a supplier or vendor can provide.

Question 11

"Quality at the source" requires factory workers to become their own inspectors.

Question 12

Lean production makes implementing green strategies in manufacturing processes more difficult.

Question 13

Henry Ford used JIT concepts as he streamlined his moving assembly lines to make automobiles in the early 1900s.

Question 14

Group technology is a philosophy wherein similar parts are grouped together and the processes required to make the parts are arranged as a work cell.

Question 15

Uniform plant loading is where you schedule production with different amounts of the same product each day of the week to permit variation to meet changing demand requirements.

Question 16

The goal of JIT production is to drive all inventory queues lower.

Question 17

JIT manufacturing forces a firm to work with a lower water level despite safety hazards.

Question 18

Group technology cells help to eliminate movement and queue (waiting) time between operations.

Question 19

One of the aims of value stream mapping is to eliminate waste in a process.

Question 20

A kanban control system uses a signaling device to regulate JIT flows.

Question 21

One of the many lean techniques that have been successfully applied in service firms is the upgrading of housekeeping.

Question 22

A kaizen burst is an overfilled kanban container.

Question 23

"Kanban squares" is an educational game played in kanban training sessions.

Question 24

Value stream mapping is used to identify all of the value-adding as well as non-value-adding processes that materials are subjected to within a plant.

Question 25

Automation is a key to lean procurement.

Question 26

The term "freeze window" refers to the practice of building quality into the process and not identifying quality by inspection.

Question 27

One of the many lean techniques that have been successfully applied in service firms is leveling facility load.

Question 28

One of the many lean techniques that have been successfully applied in service firms is the eliminating of unnecessary activities.

Question 29

Firms in Japan tend to have short-term relationships with their suppliers and customers.

Question 30

Subcontractor networks are not very important in Japanese manufacturing.

Question 31

One of the few lean techniques that does not work well in service firms is demand-pull scheduling.

Question 32

Using the formula in the textbook, the only parameters we need to determine the number of kanban card sets is the average number of units demanded over some time period, the container size, and the safety stock.

Question 33

Respect for people is a key to Toyota's improvement ideas in manufacturing.

Question 34

Company unions in Japan exist to foster a cooperative relationship with management.

Question 35

One of the many lean techniques that have been successfully applied in service firms is the upgrading of quality.

Question 36

In Japanese manufacturing, automation and robotics are used extensively to perform dull or routine jobs so employees are free to focus on important improvement tasks.

Question 37

Kanban means "symbol" or "box" in Japanese.

Question 38

A kaizen burst is a symbol on a value stream map.

Question 39

Value stream mapping involves materials, not information.

Question 40

Preventive maintenance is emphasized in lean production to ensure that flows are not interrupted by downtime or malfunctioning equipment.

Question 41

Periodic inspection and repair designed to keep equipment reliable is called

A) Kaizen
B) Preventive maintenance
C) Lean maintenance
D) Group technology
E) Quality at the source

Question 42

Calculating how many of each part were used in production and using these calculations to adjust actual on-hand inventory balances is called

A) Material requirements planning
B) Backflushing
C) Uniform plant loading
D) Master production schedule
E) Kanban pull system

Question 43

Applying lean concepts to logistics is difficult unless either the manufacturer or the customer owns the logistics activities.

Question 44

Smoothing the production flow to dampen schedule variation is called

A) Level schedule
B) Minimal loading
C) Uniform plant loading
D) Lean loading
E) Kanban pull system

Question 45

An inventory or production control system that uses a signaling device to regulate flows is a

A) Level schedule
B) Lean scheduling
C) Uniform plant loading
D) Kanban
E) Kanban pull system

Question 46

The key to lean procurement is speed.

Question 47

Lean suppliers tend to charge more; although, the extra charge is generally a good investment.

Question 48

Lean production and Six Sigma work best in chaotic situations.

Question 49

The term lean-procurement relates to automatic transaction, sourcing, bidding and auctions using Web-based applications, and the use of software that removes human interaction and integrates with the financial reporting of the firm.

Question 50

In the textbook, Toyota's Tai-ichi Ohno identified which of the following types of waste to be eliminated?

A) Underproduction
B) Excess quality
C) Preventive maintenance
D) Product defects
E) Kaizen

Question 51

Which of the following are related to lean production?

A) A philosophy of waste elimination
B) Lean consumption
C) Never running out of inventory
D) The Wahei-Subaru method
E) Full use of capacity

Question 52

A schedule that pulls material into final assembly at a constant rate is a

A) Level schedule
B) Lean schedule
C) Uniform schedule
D) Master production schedule
E) Kanban pull system

Question 53

The focus of the Toyota Production System is on elimination of waste and reduction in inventory.

Question 54

There is less uncertainty in service demand than with manufacturing.

Question 55

A signaling device used to control production is

A) Lean signaling
B) Backflush
C) Uniform plant loading
D) Kanban
E) Kanban flag

Question 56

Applying lean concepts in manufacturing balances increases in cost with quality improvement.

Question 57

A philosophy in which similar parts are combined into families, and the processes required to make the parts are arranged in a specialized workcell.

A) Lean manufacturing
B) Preventive maintenance
C) Lean maintenance
D) Group technology
E) Quality at the source

Question 58

In the textbook, Toyota's Tai-ichi Ohno identified which of the following types of waste to be eliminated?

A) Excess quality
B) Overproduction
C) Underproduction
D) Environmental
E) Overthinking

Question 59

The philosophy of making workers personally responsible for the quality of their output and where workers are expected to make the part correctly the first time and to stop the process immediately if there is a problem is called

A) Kaizen
B) Personal responsibility
C) Lean maintenance
D) Worker inspection
E) Quality at the source

Question 60

There is less uncertainty in service task times than with manufacturing.

Question 61

In implementing a lean production system you should work with suppliers to do which of the following?

A) Calculate lead times.
B) Use quality circles.
C) Freeze windows.
D) Make frequent deliveries.
E) Achieve bottom-round management.

Question 62

In implementing a lean production system, you should work with suppliers to do which of the following?

A) Open facilities near your factory.
B) Focus workstation capacities.
C) Backflush.
D) Provide quality at the source.
E) Reduce lead times.

Question 63

In setting up a kanban control system you need to determine the number of kanban card sets needed. If the expected demand during lead time is 25 per hour, the safety stock is 20 percent of the demand during lead time, the container size is 5, and the lead time to replenish an order is 5 hours, what the number of kanban card sets is needed?

A) 5
B) 20
C) 27
D) 30
E) 34

Question 64

Imagine comparing a manufacturing operation using regular lot-sizing and the same operation with a kanban/lean production approach. What would be your expectations of the difference between the total cost (i.e., inventory holding costs + setup/ordering costs) of each?

A) Inventory holding cost will increase nonlinearly with inventory.
B) Total costs will be lower for the regular lot-size operation.
C) Total costs will be lower for the kanban/lean production operation.
D) The order quantity will be larger for the kanban/lean production approach.
E) As long as the total quantity is the same, total costs will be the same.

Question 65

To develop a lean manufacturing system a firm might do which of the following?

A) Eliminate anything that does not add value for the customer.
B) Standardize product configurations.
C) Process design with product design.
D) Adopt a kaizen philosophy.
E) Implement top-down management controls.

Question 66

To implement a flow process in developing a lean system a firm might do which of the following?

A) Improve capacity utilization.
B) Build product in anticipation of demand.
C) Reduce setup/changeover time.
D) Eliminate some fixed costs.
E) Implement groupware.

Question 67

Which of the following statements holds true for kanban production control systems?

A) The authority to produce or supply additional parts comes from upstream operations.
B) In a paperless control system, containers can be used instead of cards.
C) The cards or containers make up the kanban push system.
D) They require substantial quantitative analysis prior to implementation.
E) They have not been successful outside of Japan and the United States.

Question 68

Which of the following is an element that addresses elimination of waste under lean production?

A) Production ahead of demand
B) Group plant loading technology
C) Kanban production control system
D) Minimized run times
E) Full capacity utilization

Question 69

When implementing a lean production system, a stabilized schedule is achieved using which of the following?

A) Level scheduling
B) Demand pull
C) Freeze window
D) Reduced lot sizes
E) Bottom-round management

Question 70

You have been called in as a consultant to set up a Kanban control system. The first thing to do is to determine the number of Kanban card sets needed. Your research shows that the expected demand during lead time for a particular component is 150 per hour. You estimate the safety stock should be set at 25 percent of the demand during lead time. The tote trays used as containers can hold 8 units of stock, and the lead time it takes to replenish an order is 2 hours. Which of the following is the number of Kanban card sets necessary to support this situation?

A) 42
B) 47
C) 68
D) 89
E) 94

Question 71

In a lean production system, we expect to see which of the following?

A) No extra inventory
B) Extra inventory of critical parts held "just-in-case"
C) More parts and fewer standardized product configurations
D) Managers being held responsible for quality of the work turned out
E) Closer management-labor relationships

Question 72

To implement lean production schedules, a firm would do which of the following?

A) Have excess capacity.
B) Force demand.
C) Hire a consultant.
D) Achieve bottom-up management.
E) Implement kanban groups.

Question 73

In designing a lean production facility layout, a designer should do which of the following?

A) Design for workflow balance.
B) Locate flexible workstations offline.
C) Link operations through a push system.
D) Balance capacity using job shop analysis.
E) Always keep operations on a single floor of the factory.

Question 74

An activity where the parts that go into each unit of a product are periodically removed from inventory and accounted for based on the number of units produced is called which of the following?

A) Frozen window
B) Backflush
C) Level schedule
D) Group technology
E) Kanban

Question 75

Group technology (GT) is credited with which of the following benefits?

A) Reducing waiting time between process operations
B) Improving inventory discipline
C) Reducing required workforce skills
D) Improved labor relations
E) Improved small group functioning

Question 76

Which of the following is a lean production technique that is not reported in the textbook to have been successfully applied in service firms?

A) Organization of problem-solving groups
B) Upgraded housekeeping
C) Upgraded quality
D) Frozen windows
E) Elimination of unnecessary activities

Question 77

Which of the following address elimination of waste under lean production?

A) Info-matic warehouse networks
B) Outsourced housekeeping
C) Quality at the source
D) Backflush
E) Bottom-round management

Question 78

In the textbook, Toyota's Tai-ichi Ohno identified which of the following types of waste to be eliminated?

A) Excess quality
B) Motion
C) Excess capacity
D) Underproduction
E) Excess demand

Question 79

You have been called in as a consultant to set up a kanban control system. The first thing you do is to determine the number of kanban card sets needed. Your research shows that the expected demand during lead time for a particular component is 1,200 per hour. You estimate the safety stock should be set at 5 percent of the demand during lead time. The tote trays used as containers can hold 2 units of stock, and the lead time to replenish an order is 10 hours. Which of the following is the number of kanban card sets necessary to support this situation?

A) 5,000
B) 5,500
C) 6,300
D) 6,500
E) 7,000

Question 80

In setting up a Kanban control system you need to determine the number of kanban card sets needed. If the expected demand during lead time is 50 per hour, the safety stock is 20 percent of the demand during lead time, the container size is 4, and the lead time to replenish an order is 8 hours, what number of Kanban card sets is needed?

A) 60
B) 80
C) 90
D) 120
E) 150