OPER 3204 Exam 2

The strategy of segmenting demand is feasible only when:

a) demand is not from a homogeneous source.

b) demand is cyclic and predictable.

c) arrivals for service are random.

d) making appointments is impossible.

a

The purpose of differential pricing is to:

a) make peak period usage unattractive.

b) make off-peak usage attractive.

c) charge customers according to their ability to pay.

d) adjust capacity to demand.

b

A good overbooking strategy should:

a) minimize the expected opportunity cost of idle service capacity.

b) balance the expected opportunity cost of idle service capacity and expected cost of turning away customers who have reservations.

c) minimize the expected cost of turning away reservations.

d) none of the above; services should try to avoid overbooking.

b

Bars that offer happy hours in the afternoon are using the strategy of:

a) creating adjustable capacity.

b) developing complementary services.

c) increasing customer participation.

d) promoting off-peak demand.

d

Which of the following is not a strategy for managing capacity?

a) Developing complementary services.

b) Using part-time employees

c) Forecasting demand

d) Scheduling shifts

a

Which of the following strategies is inappropriate for managing capacity and demand?

a) Smooth customer demand by offering price incentives.

b) Scheduling staff to meet variations in forecasted customer demand.

c) Decrease customer participation in the service process.

d) Promoting off-peak use of facilities.

c

What one of the following is not a characteristic of yield management?

a) Capacity is relatively fixed.

b) There is one homogeneous customer class.

c) The service is considered a perishable inventory.

d) Demand fluctuates yet is somewhat predictable.

b

Which one of the following four steps in "daily workshift scheduling" is out of order?

a) Forecast demand.

b) Convert to operator requirements.

c) Assign operators to shifts.

d) Schedule shifts.

c

Which one of the following is not a strategy to manage demand?

a) cross-training employees

b) offering price incentives

c) developing reservation systems

d )partitioning demand

a

Benchmarking measures a firm's quality performance by comparing it to the performance of other companies that are known for being "best in class."

True

The fishbone chart offers a structured approach for a team to identify, explore, and display graphically all of the possible causes of a problem.

True

The Deming wheel is a repetitive cycle where quality improvements result from continuous incremental turns of the wheel.

True

Process capability index measures the variability in a process.

False

The objective of lean service is a purposeful flow of satisfied customers.

False

Because customers participate directly in the service process, the success of technological innovation is dependent upon:

a) the user-friendliness of the innovation

b) the ability of customers to pay for the service

c) customer acceptance

d) market research

c

Which of the following statements is not part of Deming's 14-point philosophy?

a) Create constancy of purpose for improvements of product and service

b) Promote numerical goals for the workforce

c) Constantly and forever improve the system of production and service

d) Cease dependence on mass inspection

b

Which one of the following is not a principle of Deming's philosophy?

a) Customer satisfaction

b) Management by facts

c) Employee loyalty

d) Respect for people

c

All but one of the following are quality tools for analysis and problem solving.

a) run chart

b) control chart

c) flow chart

d) bar chart

d

Which one the following is not a guiding principle of lean philosophy?

a) Satisfy the needs of customers by doing only value-added activities

b) Be flexible in response to customer demands

c) Define the value stream by flowcharting the process

d) Eliminate waste

b

In the physical goods supply chain, information moves to the left and material to the right.

True

Customer demand variability is the most difficult factor to determine in a goods supply chain.

True

Bidirectional optimization could be considered an example of a win-win outcome.

True

Service tangibility increases as the focus of the service moves from property to people to process.

False

Product postponement is the strategy of stocking a product in generic form for later customization.

True

The bullwhip effect is a phenomenon in the physical supply chain that describes the inventory stocking levels at various stages.

False

A good supply chain management strategy places a strong emphasis on promotional pricing.

False

Customer-supplier duality acknowledges the customer inputs in a service relationship.

True

A bank is an example of a service provider with a single-level bi-directional service supply relationship.

True

Outsourcing can expose a firm to data security and customer privacy issues.

True

The impact of pricing on service chain management was _____ before and _____ after.

a) high, low

b) passive, active

c) static, dynamic

d) fixed, variable

d

Which of the following is not a source of uncertainty in managing a supply chain?

a) supplier delivery performance

b) manufacturing reliability

c) customer demand

d) quality control

d

The term interarrival time refers to the time elapsed between initiation of service and its completion.

True

The term queue configuration refers to the number of queues, their locations, their spatial requirements, and their effect on consumer behavior.

True

If the number of arrivals in an interval of time follows an exponential distribution, the interarrival time is known to follow a Poisson distribution.

False

The main advantage of the multiple queue configuration is that it guarantees fairness to all by ensuring that a first-come-first-served rule applies to all arrivals.

False

Concealment of the waiting line or at least part of it is a very effective deterrent against reneging.

False

For a multiple channel queuing system with multiple queues, allowing customers to jockey will enhance service utilization

TRue

Balking is the term used to describe the phenomenon of customers leaving a queue that they have joined before service is rendered.

False

For the exponential distribution we have:

a) the mean equal to the reciprocal of the variance.

b) the mean equal to its standard deviation

c) the variance equal to the standard deviation.

d) no specific relationship between mean and variance.

b

When the number of arrivals per unit time follows a Poisson distribution, the most important implication is that:

a) the rate of completion of service is also Poisson distributed

b) the time between arrivals is exponentially distributed

c) eventually the queue length will stabilize

d) the arrivals are dependent and non-random

b

Which one of the following is not true of multiple queue configurations?

a) Division of labor is possible.

b) Jockeying is eliminated.

c) The FCFS rule is not always followed.

d) Service provided can be differentiated.

b

According to Maister, one of the following statements is not true of waits.

a) Unoccupied time feels longer than occupied time.

b) Unfair waits feel longer than fair waits.

c) Anxiety makes waits feel longer.

d) In-process waits feel longer than preprocess waits.

d

The following are all advantages of the single queue system, except:

a) the customer has the option of selecting a particular server of preference.

b) the arrangement guarantees fairness by ensuring that the FCFS rule applies.

c) the problem of line cutting is reduced.

d) the anxiety of "Am I in the fastest line?" is eliminated.

a

Which queue configuration permits opportunities for division of labor and service differentiation?

a) single queue

b) multiple queue

c) take a number

d) self serve

b

After selecting a line in a multiple queue system, a customer is ________ when she or he switches to a different line perceive it to be moving faster.

a) balking

b) reneging

c) jockeying

d) weaving

c

Capacity planning decisions deal implicitly with decisions on the cost of making consumers wait and the extent to which these costs can be borne.

True

A system is said to be in a transient state when the values of its governing parameters in this state are expected to change uncontrollably with time.

True

A queue is said to be finite if there is an upper limit on the number of consumers who are allowed to be in it. Consumers who come after the queue is full, either balk or are refused entrance.

True

Pooling of services is an approach toward achieving economies of scale in services through better utilization of services.

True

A Poisson process describing the distribution of departures from a busy server with an average rate of 15 per hour is equivalent to the negative exponential distribution of service times with a mean of 5 minutes.

False

The average time a customer should expect to wait can be calculated using just the mean arrival rate and the mean service rate.

True

Capacity usually is measured in terms of outputs (e.g. guest nights) rather than inputs (e.g. number of hotel rooms) in service firms

False

For the system to operate satisfactorily over the long run,

a) the number of servers must equal the average number of arrivals per unit time.

b) the expected waiting time for each customer must not exceed average service time.

c) he capacity to serve must be greater than the average demand.

d) the arrival rate must be less than the service rate.

c