Chapter 8– Production and Operations Management

Fuzzy Fabrics, Inc. is a specialty manufacturer that produces custom blankets according to customer specifications. Fuzzy Fabrics should probably use an intermittent process in production.

True

Spokes Bikes has 18 different bicycle models that can be created in over 2 million combinations. Each combination is designed to fit the needs of a specific customer. Therefore, the customer chooses the model, size, color, and design they want. An analysis of this company's operation would indicate that it uses

mass customization

Ahmed, an operations manager for a smartphone manufacturer, just accepted a new operations position with a service company. Ahmed will find that operations management at the new job will differ significantly from operations management at the manufacturer.

False

Kimber Cross is majoring in operations management at a local university. Unfortunately, the evolution of the United States from a manufacturing-oriented to a service-oriented economy means that Kimber will not likely find job openings in her field of study.

False

For most service businesses, the quality standard has become

pleasing customers by anticipating their needs

ISO is a worldwide, nongovernmental federation that sets global measures of quality.

True

Corie is a development engineer for a company that manufactures solar panels for both residential and commercial purposes. Her company uses PERT network software for all development projects. As she nears the final month of her timeline for completing a new panel, Corie will focus on those activities that are

on the critical path of the PERT network

Operations management in service industries is about creating a good experience for the customer.

True

Businesses that provide services typically cannot use mass customization because services are not tangible products that can be customized.

False

Process manufacturing refers to combining components and raw materials to make a product.

False

B&B Brothers Manufacturing typically creates large batches of standardized products used by plumbers, such as pipefittings and valves that must be produced in standard sizes. A continuous production process would work well for B&B.

True

_____ means tailoring products to meet the needs of a large number of individual customers

mass customization

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) goes beyond the capabilities of materials requirement planning (MRP) because it

monitors the computerized functions of all the divisions and subsidiaries of the firm in a single software program

A just-in-time inventory system usually reduces costs for

the producer

The three basic requirements of production are: (1) creating a finished good, (2) making sure you created it at the lowest cost possible, and (3) selling it

False

MRP is the acronym for

materials requirement planning

Online-focused strategies don't affect operations managers since it is not essential for operations managers to negotiate in an interfirm environment.

False

According to the Making Ethical Decisions box "Should We Stay or Should We Go?", a firm must give its employees ___ before closing and/or moving to another location.

60 days notice

A process manufacturing layout is frequently used in operations that serve different customers' different needs.

True

Companies that achieve lean manufacturing use less of everything (raw materials, labor, etc.) to produce the same amount of products.

True

The production process requires inputs, controls, and outputs.

True

Process manufacturing physically or chemically alters materials to create finished goods.

True

Which statement about facility location is most accurate?

Manufacturers often seek to reduce time-to-market by locating facilities in areas with access to key modes of transportation

_____ examines statistical samples of a product components at each stage of the production process and plots the results on a graph in order to spot and correct any variances from desired quality levels

Statistical process control

Facility layout is the function of operations management that considers the physical arrangement of resources (including people) in the production process.

True

The critical path identified by PERT analysis is the sequence of tasks that can be completed in the shortest amount of time.

False

In the process of operations management, a firm transforms resources such as raw materials, supplies, and even human resources into goods and services.

True

A major trend in business is _____, where employees work at least part time at home using a computer

telecommuting

A production process characterized by long production runs to turn out finished goods over time is known as a(n) ______ process.

continuous process

As the service industries became a larger part of U.S. GDP, companies have become more concerned about measuring productivity in the service sector.

True

_____ has transformed the purchasing function in recent years by helping firms find the best suppliers and the best prices

the internet

Operations management is a specialized area in management that converts resources into

both goods and services

Flexible manufacturing systems use machines that are designed to do a multitude of tasks so that they can produce a variety of goods.

True

Someday, _____ could revolutionize the production of many items. For now, however, it is mostly used to crease protoypes and molds

3D printing

U.S. manufacturers are focusing on quality as a way to become more competitive globally.

True

ISO 14001 is a collection of the best practices for managing an organization's impact on the environment.

True

Your favorite photo can now be printed on your favorite credit card. You can design your own dresses online and have them sent to you in a few days. You can even create your own orthotics to fit inside your shoes. These are examples of the trend toward

mass customization

Under the Six Sigma quality standard the idea is to detect potential problems, in order to prevent their occurrence.

True

Operations management moves from knowing the needs of consumers to actually satisfying those needs.

True

The quality standard for service industries such as luxury hotels is meeting the customers' requests.

False

A benefit of CAD is

it permits customization without a significant increase in price

The operations planning practice of using sales forecasts created by a computer to accurately predict the amount and timing of materials needed to complete products and projects is

materials requirement planning

For many firms, operations management has become an interfirm process.

True

_____ involves computers directly in the production process

CAM

Contemporary operations management planning is an interfirm process. An interfirm process is

a process where several firms work closely together to design, produce, and ship products to customers

The Deming Cycle approach to quality control consists of: Plan, Do, Check, Act.

True

Which statement describes past processes that existed in manufacturing that negatively affected a firm's competitive advantage?

Companies tended to produce a large quantity of the same product at a very low cost

Manufacturers use computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) to create three-dimensional designs of products before they are built

False

Cassandra was planning a new product launch. She knew that the art department was ready to work on the promotional pieces now, but they couldn't start until the marketing strategy group established the price point and the purchasing department obtained the paper needed to design the promotional piece. Establishing price points would take about a week and was dependent on manufacturing getting the costs to the marketing strategy group. This was expected a week from today. The purchasing group indicated the paper could be obtained locally the same day it was requested. Assuming things go as planned and based on this information, which task could be as much as a week late without jeopardizing the deadline for the entire project?

obtaining the paper

Which program would be most helpful to a production manager who wanted to determine the minimum time required to complete a proposed project?

PERT

The process layout simplifies production by using the same sequence of processes regardless of the design of the item being produced.

False

One of the best ways to maintain consistently high quality in the production process is to give a group of specialists in a separate quality control department the authority to inspect each product at the end of the production process.

False

General Automotive currently uses an ERP system to manage all of its production operations and coordinate them with the other operations of the company. The company also wants to implement a just-in-time (JIT) inventory system. Unfortunately for General Automotive, ERP is incompatible with JIT, so if it adopts the new inventory system it will have to abandon ERP.

False

Retailing is one area where technology is unlikely to make a big difference in how services are provided.

False

Production manager Ryan McNealy wants to link all the divisions and subsidiaries of his firm's computerized functions into a single, integrated software program that uses a single database. In order to achieve this goal, Ryan could make use of

enterprise resource planning

One of the reasons mass-production techniques lost favor is that, despite their ability to keep costs relatively low, mass production lacks flexibility.

True

Actually, it is much easier to custom-design service programs than it is to custom-make goods.

True