Part -1:
Question 1: You are designing a grocery delivery business. Via the internet, your company will offer staples and frozen foods in a large metropolitan area and then deliver them within a customer-defined window of time. You plan to partner with two major food stores in the area. What should your competitive priorities be and what capabilities do you want to develop in your own core and support processes?
Is it possible for a project to have more than one critical path? Discuss the implications of such a situation with respect to each of the following aspects:
a. Project risk
b. Total available slack
c. Resource dependencies
d. Responsibilities of the project manager
Question 2: A flowchart helps us see all of the steps in a process, which in turn helps us improve the process. It also helps us identify and eliminate any redundant steps in a process. Using Word tools (SmartArt under the Insert tab), design a process flow chart for the grocery delivery business in Question 1 above. In the discussion element of your response, clearly define the steps within the process and provide a rationale for each step. Include all elements that you feel are necessary and appropriate to the process of a singular customer. The assumption is that the process is repeatable for every customer using the service. Think of the elements that you will be addressing or answering in the succeeding questions.
Question 3: For the grocery delivery business addressed in Question 1, the grocery chains that you are planning to partner with use differing inventory control models. Company A utilizes the Just-in-Time (JIT) inventory control model and Company B uses an Economic Order Quantity model. In reviewing your business plan, the bank loan officer has noticed this. As the loan officer is not overly familiar with either model, a request has been made of you to provide a description of each model and an explanation of why partnering with these companies would or would not create a conflict within your operations. Provide a detailed analysis of the situation in your business model.
Question 4: A Quality Assurance (QA) Program is essential to the success of any business.In establishing your grocery delivery business, what are some of the Quality Control (QC) processes that you envision employing? Why? Provide examples of potential metrics. Justify your choices.
Question 5: Efficiency is a critical element both in terms of individuals and machinery in any business. Describe some efficiency measures that you would implement in your grocery delivery business. What are the analysis tools that you would utilize to determine the effectiveness of these efficiency measures?
Part -2:
Problem 1.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics collects input and output data from various countries for comparison purposes. Labor hours are the standard measure of input. Calculate the output per hour from the following data. Which country is most productive?
|
|
Labor Hours
|
Units of Output
|
|
United States
|
89.5
|
136
|
|
Germany
|
83.6
|
100
|
|
Japan
|
72.7
|
102
|
Problem 2.
Construct a network from the information in the following table and identify all the paths in the network, compute the length of each, and indicate the critical path. Determine the earliest start and finish times, latest start and finish times, and slack for each activity. Indicate how the critical path would be determined from this information.
|
Activity
|
Activity Predecessor
|
Time (weeks)
|
|
1
|
-
|
7
|
|
2
|
-
|
10
|
|
3
|
1
|
6
|
|
4
|
2
|
5
|
|
5
|
2
|
4
|
|
6
|
3, 4
|
3
|
|
7
|
5, 6
|
2
|
Problem 3.
Burger Doodle is a fast-food restaurant that processes an average of 680 food orders each day. The average cost of each order is $6.15. Four percent of the orders are incorrect, and only 10% of the defective orders can be corrected with additional food items at an average cost of $1.75. The remaining defective orders have to be thrown out.
a. Compute the average product cost.
b. In order to reduce the number of wrong orders, Burger Doodle is going to invest in a computerized ordering and cash register system. The cost of the system will increase the average order cost by $0.05 and will reduce defective orders to 1%. What is the annual net effect of this quality improvement initiative?
c. What other indirect effects on quality might be realized by the new computerized order system?
Problem 4.
A firm is faced with the attractive situation in which it can obtain immediate delivery of an item it stocks for retail sale. The firm has therefore not bothered to order the item in any systematic way. However, recently profits have been squeezed due to increasing competitive pressures, and the firm has retained a management consultant to study its inventory management. The consultant has determined that the various costs associated with making an order for the item stocked are approximately $70 per order. She has also determined that the costs of carrying the item in inventory amount to approximately $27 per unit per year (primarily direct storage costs and forgone profit on investment in inventory). Demand for the item is reasonably constant over time, and the forecast is for 16,500 units per year. When an order is placed for the item, the entire order is immediately delivered to the firm by the supplier. The firm operates 6 days a week plus a few Sundays, or approximately 320 days per year. Determine the following:
a. Optimal order quantity per order
b. Total annual inventory costs
c. Optimal number of orders to place per year
d. Number of operating days between orders, based on the optimal ordering.
Problem 5.
The Commonwealth Banking Corporation issues a national credit card through its various bank branches in five southeastern states. The bank credit card business is highly competitive and interest rates do not vary substantially, so the company decided to attempt to retain its customers by improving customer service through a reduction in billing errors. The credit card division monitored its billing department process by taking daily samples of 200 customer bills for 30 days and checking their accuracy. The sample results are as follows:
|
Sample
|
Number of Defectives
|
Sample
|
Number of Defectives
|
|
1
|
7
|
16
|
10
|
|
2
|
12
|
17
|
12
|
|
3
|
9
|
18
|
14
|
|
4
|
6
|
19
|
16
|
|
5
|
5
|
20
|
15
|
|
6
|
8
|
21
|
13
|
|
7
|
10
|
22
|
9
|
|
8
|
11
|
23
|
10
|
|
9
|
14
|
24
|
12
|
|
10
|
10
|
25
|
15
|
|
11
|
9
|
26
|
14
|
|
12
|
6
|
27
|
16
|
|
13
|
3
|
28
|
12
|
|
14
|
2
|
29
|
15
|
|
15
|
8
|
30
|
14
|
Develop a p-chart for the billing process using 3σ control limits and indicate if the process is out of control.