Knowledge Check
OPS/571 Version 5 / 1

OPS/571 Knowledge Checks

Contents

Week 1: Introduction to Process Design 1

Concept: Product Development Process 1

Concept: Process Design 2

Concept: Service System Design Matrix 2

Concept: Service Blueprinting and Fail-safing 3

Concept: Service Designs 3

Week 2: Theories of Leadership 4

Concept: Value Stream Mapping 4

Concept: Cost Impact and Payoff Analysis 5

Concept: Business Process Reengineering 5

Concept: Process Types 6

Concept: Lean 6

Concept: Process Performance Metrics 7

Concept: Economies and Diseconomies of Scale 7

Week 3: Supply Chain Design 7

Concept: Determine demand management performance in a supply chain 8

Concept: Determine Capacity Utilization Rate 8

Concept: Determine Inventory Management tools/techniques to measure performance 9

Concept: Determine Supplier Management Relationships and Performance 9

Concept: Sales and Operations Planning 10

Concept: Master Schedule 10

Concept: Materials Requirement Planning and Factory Scheduling 11

Week 4: Project Management 11

Concept: Work Breakdown Structure 11

Concept: Control Charts 12

Concept: Implementation 12

Week 5: Introduction to Process Improvement 13

Concept: International Standards 13

Concept: Three Forms of Certification 13

Concept: Analytical Tools 14

Week 6: Process Improvement 14

Concept: Six Sigma Methodology 15

Concept: Politics: Shingo System-Fail Safe Design 15

Concept: Theory of Constraints 15

Concept: Performance Measurements 16

Concept: Bottleneck Effect 16

Week 1: Introduction to Process Design

Read Ch. 3 of Operations and Supply Chain Management

Read Ch. 6 of Operations and Supply Chain Management

Read Ch. 7 of Operations and Supply Chain Management

Concept: Product Development Process

Question #1
Why is the planning phase often referred to as Phase 0 (Zero) of the generic product development process?
a. This phase is not necessary.
b. This phase requires $0 to complete.
c. This phase is not completed until after the project has been funded.
d. This phase happens before the project is approved.
Correct Answer Feedback: d
The planning phase happens before the actual project development process is launched.
Reading:
Ch. 3 of Operations and Supply Chain Management
“Phase 0: Planning” pp. 42
“Exhibit 3.1: The Generic Product Development Process” p. 43,
“Product Development Process” pp. 42–44

Concept: Process Design

Question #4
Using a project layout for building an aircraft, why would you want to place rivets close to or even in the fuselage?
a. Rivets are small and you don’t want to lose them
b. Rivets are used one time only in the construction process
c. Rivets are used consistently throughout the construction process
d. Rivets should actually be placed farthest away from the fuselage.
Correct Answer Feedback: c
Items, such as rivets, that are used consistently throughout a manufacturing process should be placed closest to the project site in a project layout.
Reading:
Ch. 6 of Operations and Supply Chain Management
“Project Layout” p. 166
“Production Processes” pp. 160–162,
“How Production Processes are Organized” pp. 162–164

Concept: Service System Design Matrix

Question #7
What happens to production efficiency as the customer exerts more influence on the system?
a. Production efficiency is increased
b. Production efficiency is decreased
c. There is no effect on production efficiency
d. Production efficiency is eliminated
Correct Answer Feedback: b
The greater the amount of customer contact in a system, production efficiency is decreased as the customer may have greater customization requests.
Reading:
Ch. 7 of Operations and Supply Chain Management
“Structuring the Service Encounter: Service-System Design Matrix” pp. 221–222,
“Exhibit 7.3: Service –System Design Matrix” p. 222,
“An Operational Classification of Services” pp. 219–221,
“Designing Service Organizations” p. 221

Concept: Service Blueprinting and Fail-safing

Details
A service process design flowchart is referred to as a service blueprint to emphasize what?
a. The importance of process design
b. The impact of blueprints
c. The importance of system engineering
d. The impact of customer service
Correct Answer Feedback: a
The importance of process design has become more and more recognized in recent years.
Reading:
Ch. 7 of Operations and Supply Chain Management
“Structuring the Service Encounter: Service-System Design Matrix” pp. 221–222,
“Exhibit 7.3: Service –System Design Matrix” p. 222,
“An Operational Classification of Services” pp. 219–221,
“Designing Service Organizations” p. 221

Concept: Service Designs

Details
Even though they use different models, both the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Group and Nordstrom Department Stores are known for what?
a. Poor customer service
b. Customer-facing employees who only talk to rich customers
c. A self-service approach to customer service
d. The personal attention they provide their customers
Correct Answer Feedback: d
Customers may find themselves willing to pay more for similar products (or upscale products) especially if they are provided with personalized customer service.
Reading:
Ch. 7 of Operations and Supply Chain Management
“The Personal Attention Approach” pp. 227–229
“An Operational Classification of Services” pp. 219–221,
“Designing Service Organizations” p. 221,
“Three Contrasting Service Designs” pp. 226–230

Week 2: Theories of Leadership

Ch. 4 of Operations and Supply Chain Management

Ch. 4A of Operations and Supply Chain Management

Ch. 5 of Operations and Supply Chain Management

Ch. 12 of Operations and Supply Chain Management

Ch. 13 of Operations and Supply Chain Management

Ch. 13A of Operations and Supply Chain Management

Concept: Value Stream Mapping

Details
Which of the following terms refers to a special type of flowcharting tool that is valuable for the development of lean processes?
a.Kaizen
b.Kanban production control system
c.Value stream mapping
d.JIT production
Textbook/edition: Operations and Supply Chain Management (8th ed.)
Correct Answer Feedback: c
“Value stream mapping is a special type of flowcharting tool that is valuable for the development of lean processes. The technique is used to visualize product flows through various processing steps” (Jacobs & Chase, 2011, p. 423).
Reading:
Ch. 13 of Operations and Supply Chain Management
“Value Stream Mapping” p. 426
“Lean Supply Chains” pp. 421–423

Concept: Cost Impact and Payoff Analysis

Details
Which of the following operations consulting tools are used in the cost impact and payoff analysis stage in the operations consulting process?
a.Customer surveys and gap analysis
b.Decision trees and stakeholder analysis
c.SPC tools and bottleneck analysis
d.Plant audits and statistical tools
Textbook/edition: Operations and Supply Chain Management (13th ed.)
Correct Answer Feedback: b
Decision trees, balanced scorecard, and stakeholder analysis are used in the cost impact and payoff analysis stage in the operations consulting process.
Reading:
Ch. 13A of Operations and Supply Chain Management
“Cost Impact and Payoff Analysis” pp. 460–461

Concept: Business Process Reengineering

Details
In contrast to TQM, what approach seeks radical change through innovation?
a. Lean manufacturing
b. JIT distribution
c. Project management
d. Reengineering
Textbook/edition: Operations and Supply Chain Management (8th ed.)
Correct Answer Feedback: d
“Michael Hammer, the management expert who initiated the reengineering movement, defines reengineering as ‘the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service, and speed’” (Jacobs & Chase, 2011, p. 461).
Reading:
Ch. 13A of Operations and Supply Chain Management
“Business Process Reengineering (BPR)” pp. 461–463

Concept: Process Types

Details
Which of the following production process terms best describes the situation when activities in a stage of production must stop because there is no work?
a. Blocking
b.Buffering
c.Starving
d.Multiple-stage processing
Correct Answer Feedback: c
“Starving occurs when the activities in a stage must stop because there is no work” (Jacobs & Chase, 2011, p. 112).
Reading:
Ch. 5 of Operations and Supply Chain Management
“Types of Processes” pp. 112–113

Concept: Lean

Details
Lean production seeks to achieve high volume production using which of the following?
a. Minimize inventory of raw materials
b. Maximize inventory of work-in-process
c. Maximize capacity
d. Minimize utilization
Correct Answer Feedback: a
Lean production is an integrated set of activities designed to achieve high-volume production using minimal inventories of raw materials, work-in-process, and finished goods.
Reading:
Ch. 13 of Operations and Supply Chain Management
“Lean Logic” pp. 419–421,
“Lean Supply Chains” pp. 421–446

Concept: Process Performance Metrics

Details
Which of the following are possible examples of cycle times?
a. Time to set up a new assembly line
b. Time that a part waits in queue
c. Time it takes for an instructor to grade an exam
d. Time required to produce a batch of parts
Correct Answer Feedback: c
The cycle time of a repetitive process is the average time between completions of successive units, such as the time it takes to grade an exam.
Reading:
Ch. 5 of Operations and Supply Chain Management
“Measuring Process Performance” p. 117

Concept: Economies and Diseconomies of Scale

Details
The basic notion of economies of scale assumes which of the following?
a. A piece of equipment with twice the capacity of another piece typically costs twice as much to purchase and to operate
b. Two plants can be operated at the same cost as a single plant
c. Average cost per unit of output drops as a plant gets larger and volume increases
d. Total cost of output drops as volume increases
Correct Answer Feedback: c
“The basic notion of economies of scale is that as a plant gets larger and volume increases, the average cost per unit of output drops” (Jacobs & Chase, 2011, p. 73).
Reading:
Ch. 4 of Operations and Supply Chain Management
“Economies and Diseconomies of Scale” p. 73

Week 3: Supply Chain Design

Ch. 8 of Operations and Supply Chain Management, 13e

Ch. 11 of Operations and Supply Chain Management, 13e

Ch. 15 of Operations and Supply Chain Management, 13e

Ch. 17 of Operations and Supply Chain Management, 13e

Ch. 16 of Operations and Supply Chain Management, 13e

Ch. 18 of Operations and Supply Chain Management, 13e

Concept: Determine demand management performance in a supply chain

Details
In most cases, demand for products or services can be broken into several components. Which of the following is considered a component of demand?
a. Cyclical elements
b. Future demand
c. Past demand
d. Inconsistent demand
Textbook/edition: Operations and Supply Chain Management (15th ed.)
Correct Answer Feedback: a
“In most cases, demand for products or services can be broken down into six components: average demand for the period, a trend, seasonal elements, cyclical elements, random variation, and autocorrelation” (Jacobs & Chase, 2011, p. 486).
Reading:
Ch. 15 of Operations and Supply Chain Management
“Components of Demand” pp. 486–487
“Forecasting Demand” p. 606

Concept: Determine Capacity Utilization Rate

Details
Which of the following is an essential resource that flows through a hospital supply chain?
a. Doctors and Nurses
b. Information
c. Medicine
d. Patients
Textbook/edition: Operations and Supply Chain Management (15th ed.)
Correct Answer Feedback: d
A hospital supply chain shows the flow of three essential resources: information, funds, and goods and services (Jacobs & Chase, 2011).
Reading:
Ch. 9 of Operations and Supply Chain Management
“Group Decision-Making Techniques” pp. 295–296,
“The Nominal Group Technique” p. 295,
“Exhibit 9-7: Evaluating Group Effectiveness” p. 296

Concept: Determine Inventory Management tools/techniques to measure performance

Details
Which of the following is one of the categories of manufacturing inventory?
a. Economic Order Inventory
b. Work-in-process
c. Quality units
d. JIT Inventory
Textbook/edition: Operations and Supply Chain Management (13th ed.)
Correct Answer Feedback: b
“Manufacturing inventory is typically classified into raw materials, finished products, component parts, supplies, and work-in-process” (Jacobs & Chase, 2011, p. 559).
Reading:
Ch. 17 of Operations and Supply Chain Management
“Purposes of Inventory” p. 559

Concept: Determine Supplier Management Relationships and Performance

Details
What is the effect of the lack of synchronization among supply-chain members?
a. Forward buying
b. Continuous replenishment
c. Bullwhip effect
d. Metcalf's Law
Textbook/edition: Operations and Supply Chain Management (13th ed.)
Correct Answer Feedback: c
The bullwhip effect “indicates a lack of synchronization among supply chain members” (Jacobs & Chase, 2011, p. 376).
Reading:
Ch. 11 of Operations and Supply Chain Management
“The Bullwhip Effect” p. 377

Concept: Sales and Operations Planning

Details
The main purpose of aggregate operations planning is to specify the optimal combination of which of the following?
a. Workforce levels and inventory on hand
b. Inventory on hand and financing costs for that inventory
c. The strategic plan and the products available for sale
d. The workforce level and the degree of automation
Textbook/edition: Operations and Supply Chain Management (13th ed.)
Correct Answer Feedback: a
“The main purpose of the aggregate plan is to specify the optimal combination of production rate, workforce level, and inventory on hand” (Jacobs & Chase, (2011), p. 532).
Reading:
Ch. 16 of Operations and Supply Chain Management
“The Aggregate Operations Plan” p. 532

Concept: Master Schedule

Details
Which of the following is an input to the master production schedule (MPS)?
a. Inventory records file
b. The aggregate plan
c. Bill of materials
d. Exception report
Textbook/edition: Operations and Supply Chain Management (13th ed.)
Correct Answer Feedback: b
“Although the aggregate plan provides the general range of operation, the master scheduler must specify exactly what is to be produced” (Jacobs & Chase, 2011, p. 598).
Reading:
Ch. 18 of Operations and Supply Chain Management
“Master Production Scheduling” p. 598

Concept: Materials Requirement Planning and Factory Scheduling

Details
Which of the following is an input to the master production schedule?
a. Prototype products from product development
b. Aggregate component schedule
c. Peg reports from factory records
d. Forecasts of customer demand
Textbook/edition: Operations and Supply Chain Management (13th ed.)
Correct Answer Feedback: d
Demand “originates from two sources: regular customers that place firm orders and unidentified customers that make the normal random demands for these items. The random requirements were forecast using one of the usual techniques described in Chapter 15 and past demand data” (Jacobs & Chase, 2011, p. 606).
Reading:
Ch. 18 of Operations and Supply Chain Management
“Material Requirements Planning System Structure” pp.601–606

Week 4: Project Management

Ch. 10 of Operations and Supply Chain Management

Concept: Work Breakdown Structure