Operations and Supply Chain Management
ASSIGNMENT A
1. Discuss what do you understand by operations? Is operations management important for organisations? Why? Differentiate between manufacturing operations and service operations?
2. Describe the TQM philosophy and identify its major characteristics. Explain how TQM is different from the traditional notions of quality.
3. (a) Describe each of the four costs of quality: prevention, appraisal, internal failure, and external failure.
(b) Explain the meaning of the plan-do-act-study cycle. Why is it described as a cycle?
4. (a) Why do organisations keep inventory? What are the different types of costs associated with inventory?
(b) What is JIT? Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of JIT approach?
5. (a) Distinguish between Statistical Quality Control and Statistical Process Control?
(b) What are control charts? What are the different types of control charts?
ASSIGNMENT B
1. Define Process? Identify different types of Processes? Discuss the factors that influence Process Selection?
2. Define competitiveness? What different operations strategies can a company adopt to become competitive? Discuss using examples of specific organisations.
3. What are the different steps to be followed during product development process? How are these guidelines different for services?
CASE STUDY - Revamping the Supply Chain: The Ashok Leyland Way
Case Questions
1. Discuss the strategies and initiatives taken by Ashok Leyland to revamp its supply chain? Elaborate how these initiatives helped the organisation.
2. (a) What are inbound and outbound supply chains?
(b) What is reverse auctioning and how did Ashok Leyland used it to their advantage?
(c) How did Ashok Leyland use JIT to reduce their inventory?
(d) Briefly discuss OSCAR I and OSCAR II initiatives taken by the company?
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
1) Which of the following is not a key activity of an operations manager?
a. Understanding the needs of customer
b. Continually learning
c. Managing cash flows
d. Exploiting technology to produce goods and services
2) Which of the following is generally related to service operations?
a. Tangible product
b. Need for flexible capacity
c. Separation of production from consumption
d. Large amount of inventory
3) A measure of the success of an operation in producing outputs that satisfy customers is
a. Efficiency
b. Effectiveness
c. Quality
d. Profitability
4) A measure of the success of an operation in converting inputs to outputs is
a. Efficiency
b. Effectiveness
c. Quality
d. Profitability
5) Operations design choices include all of the following except
a. Operating plans and controls
b. Type of processes and alternative designs
c. Supply chain integration and outsourcing
d. Inventory
6) ____ is the reintroduction of an intermediary in a supply chain.
a. Disintermediation
b. Re-intermediation
c. Channel assembly
d. Warehousing
7) ____ are reductions in unit costs available from increasing the number of products produced.
a. Global networks
b. Focused operations
c. Economies of scope
d. Economies of scale
8) A ____ layout is an arrangement based on the sequence of operations that are performed during the manufacturing of a good or the delivery of a service.
a. Group
b. Process
c. Product
d. Fixed position
9) Location decisions should consider all of the following except
a. Product cost
b. Access to markets
c. Access to labour skills
d. Local government tax incentives
10) A ____ is a one-time variation that is explainable.
a. Cyclical pattern
b. Random Variation
c. Irregular variation
d. Seasonal pattern
11) Which of the following is not a statistical method?
a. Delphi
b. Exponential smoothing
c. Moving average
d. Linear regression
12) Which of the following is not a capacity planning decision option?
a. Promotion and advertising
b. Subcontracting
c. Layoffs
d. Building a new plant
13) The purpose of production planning is to
a. Minimize the work force size
b. Maximize the production rate
c. Minimize the cost of meeting demand
d. Optimize the inventory level
14) Which approach is most appropriate for forecasting demand for a new product?
a. A causal model
b. A Delphi study
c. A time-series model
d. A regression model
15) A key advantage of a process layout is
a. High levels of inventory
b. High degree of automation
c. Flexible equipment and resources
d. Smooth flow of materials
16) All of the following are valid purposes for layout studies except
a. Minimize delays in materials handling and customer movement
b. Increase bottlenecks
c. Promote employee morale and customer satisfaction
d. maintain flexibility
17) A pull system
a. Requires high levels of finished goods inventory
b. Relies heavily on accurate sales forecasts
c. Waits for customer orders
d. Necessitates standardized products
18) Steps which can be taken to reduce the impact of the bullwhip effect include all of the following except
a. Avoiding creating surges in demand due to price cutting and promotional campaigns
b. Reducing manufacturing lead times
c. Reducing information distortion
d. Adding a supply hub to the chain
19) According to the value chain model of Dell, Inc., which of the following is not a pre-production activity?
a. Billing
b. Corporate partnerships
c. Purchasing
d. Software and hardware licensing
20) A ____ is a statement of how many finished items are to be produced and when they are to be produced.
a. Aggregate Plan
b. Master Production Schedule
c. Material Requirements Planning
d. Shop Floor Control
21) Which of the following is not an aggregate planning decision option?
a. Promotion and advertising
b. Subcontracting
c. Layoffs
d. Building a new plant
22) The EOQ model
a. Is very sensitive
b. Is relatively flat (shallow) around the minimum
c. Balances holding costs and stockout costs
d. Allows for variable demand
23) ISO9000 standards consist of all of the following except
a. Definition of key terms
b. Minimum requirements for a quality management system
c. Process simulation
d. A means of demonstrating compliance principles to customers and third-party certification
24) All of the following relate to Six Sigma except
a. Clear financial returns
b. Measures defects per unit
c. Output critical to customers
d. A stretch goal
25) Which of the following is most closely related to Statistical Process Control (SPC)?
a. Acceptance sampling
b. Process specifications
c. Unwanted causes of variation
d. Self-audits
26) Control charts are all of the following except
a. Can determine the source of a problem
b. Useful for process improvement
c. Based on finding values outside of control limits
d. Looks for non-random patterns
27) When examining control charts, variations of characteristic measurements that are within control limits are assumed to be the result of
a. Chance
b. Defective input materials
c. Assignable causes
d. Poor machine tolerances
28) ____ is defined as the satisfaction of ____.
a. Service quality; expectation
b. Service quality; needs
c. Service value; expectation
d. Service value; imagination
29) A technique used to identify likely causes of failure and their consequences so that preventative actions can be taken is
a. Statistical quality control
b. Total quality management
c. Failure mode and effects analysis
d. Statistical process control
30) The cost of quality is
a. An expression of an organization's performance in quality in financial terms.
b. The difference between customers' expectations of a product or service and their perceptions of their experience of it.
c. A proactive approach towards quality management by seeking to prevent defects ever being produced.
d. The inspection and testing of the outputs from a transformation process.
31) Six Sigma was first developed at ____ in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
a. Motorola
b. General Electric
c. AlliedSignal
d. None of the above
32) ____ structures are based on loose relationships between different organizational sub-units
a. Matrix
b. Functional
c. Network
d. Multi-divisional
33) Japanese style teamworking has a number of distinctive features which include all of the following except
a. Individual reward systems
b. Multi-skilled workers
c. Assignment of tasks to teams
d. Continuous development of workers' skills
34) The "D" in the acronym QFD stands for
a. Development
b. Deployment
c. Design
d. Devolution
35) Regarding the first House of Quality, the interrelationship between any pair of technical features is found in
a. The voice of the customer
b. The relationship matrix
c. The roof
d. Technical requirement priorities
36) Which of the following is a chronological representation of stages within the NPD process?
a. Idea selection, preliminary design, testing, prototype
b. Testing, final design, preliminary design, prototype
c. Idea generation, idea selection, prototype, testing
d. Idea selection, prototype, testing, preliminary design
37) Which of the following is not compatible with BPR?
a. Fundamental re-thinking
b. Incremental re-design
c. Dramatic improvements
d. Business processes
38) Smaller batch sizes are facilitated by all the following except
a. Setup time reduction
b. Changes in plant layout
c. JIT policies
d. Changeover time increases
39) ____ is synonymous with environmental concerns.
a. Mass customization
b. Recycling
c. Empowerment
d. Globalization
40) Which is true regarding a responsive supply chain?
a. Demand is stable and predictable.
b. Product life cycles are short and change often because of innovation.
c. Customers require standardization.
d. Contribution margins are low.