1. What factors enter into the choice of a value for the smoothing constant in exponential smoothing?
2. What are the major tradeoffs in capacity planning?
3. Layout decisions affect a wide range of facilities, from factories, supermarkets, offices, department stores, and warehouses, to malls, parking lots, and garages, and kitchens. Layout is also important in the design of some products such as interiors of automobiles and the arrangement of components inside computers and other electronic devices. Select three different items from this list, or other similar items, and explain for each what are the four or five key considerations for layout design are.
4. If an average worker could be identified, what advantage would there be in using that person for a time study? What are some of the reasons why an average worker might not be studied?
5. a. As a manager, how would you deal with the possibility that a customer satisfaction does not always lead to customer satisfaction?
b. How does the "break-even" concept impact your response?
6. How does "Acceptance Sampling" differ from "Process Control"?
7. What is "aggregate planning"? What is its purpose? Why is it needed?In operations management, as in life, a balanced approach is often the best policy. One of the best examples of the benefits of this in operations management is the "leans approach".
8. a. What is the key factor in the implementation of JIT/Lean systems?
b. Explain the basic factors that must be in place in order to achieve a "balanced lean system".
9. What are the strategic, tactical, and operations responsibilities in supply chain management?
10. a. Why might a probabilistic estimate of the project completion time based solely on the variance of the critical path be misleading?
b. Under what circumstances would it be acceptable?