SCO - 3001 Exam 2

Facilities Decisions

Long-term (years/decades) operations planning focused on strategy, capacity expansion, location, and plant size.

Aggregate Planning

Medium-term (6–18 months) planning to balance aggregate supply and demand by adjusting workforce size, inventory levels, and subcontracting.

Scheduling

Short-term (days/weeks/hours) planning focused on resource allocation, machine sequencing, and shift assignment.

Level Strategy

An aggregate planning approach that maintains a constant workforce and production rate, using inventory as a buffer during demand fluctuations.

Chase Strategy

An aggregate planning approach that varies workforce and production rate dynamically to match customer demand.

Capacity Cushion Strategy (Large Cushion)

Reserving substantial excess capacity; ideal for make-to-order environments where flexibility and meeting sudden demand is critical.

Capacity Cushion Strategy (Small Cushion)

Operating close to maximum capacity with minimal buffer; ideal for make-to-stock environments focused on high efficiency and high-volume standardization.

Quality of Design

The inherent value of the product in the marketplace and how well customer wishes are translated into specifications.

Quality of Conformance

The degree to which the physical product meets design specifications and fitness for use.

Poka-Yoke

A Toyota concept meaning mistake-proofing, designed to make processes fail-safe so errors are impossible or immediately detected.

SERVQUAL Model Dimensions

The five core dimensions of service quality: Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, Empathy, and Tangibles.

Common Causes (Random Variation)

Variation inherent to a process that is stable, predictable, and falls within normal statistical bounds.

Special Causes (Assignable Variation)

Variation arising from external, identifiable factors that make a process unpredictable and require root cause elimination.

Pareto Chart

A bar and line graph used to prioritize quality problems based on the 80/20 rule, identifying the vital few causes.

Fishbone Diagram

A brainstorming cause-and-effect tool used to map potential root causes into categories like People, Process, Equipment, and Materials.

Qualitative Forecasting Methods

Forecasting techniques relying on expert judgment, market surveys, or the Delphi method when historical data is scarce.

Time-Series Components

The underlying patterns in demand data: Level, Trend, Seasonality, Cycle, and Random Error.

First-Come, First-Served (FCFS)

A service dispatch rule where jobs are processed in the exact order of arrival, widely perceived as fair.

Shortest Processing Time (SPT)

A manufacturing dispatch rule that prioritizes quickest jobs first to minimize average throughput time.

Gantt Charts

Visual timeline tools used to sequence work, identify delivery times, monitor machine idle times, and track task dependencies.

Critical Ratio

A priority scheduling rule used to sequence jobs by calculating the ratio of time remaining until the due date to the processing time remaining.

Preemptive Priority

A scheduling rule where a higher-priority task or customer immediately interrupts an ongoing lower-priority task to be processed right away.

Availability

Ensures the continuity of usefulness to customers over time, which can be measured using MTBF and MTTR.

Field Service

Encompasses aftermarket support, warranty service, repair reliability, and customer service responsiveness.

Maintainability

How easily and quickly a product or service can be restored to a working condition after a failure occurs. This is directly measured by the Mean Time To Repair (MTTR).

Infant Mortality (Early Failures)

The failure rate is initially high but drops rapidly over time due to manufacturing defects, poor assembly, or substandard components; caught early via burn-in testing.

Useful Life (Stable Failures)

The failure rate levels off and remains relatively low and constant for a long duration, representing the highest reliability and operational lifetime of the product.

Wear-Out Period

The failure rate increases sharply toward the end of the product's lifecycle driven by aging, fatigue, corrosion, and wear-and-tear.

Variable Measurement

Measures continuous physical characteristics that can be quantified on a scale (like weight, length, or temperature), evaluated using x-charts and R-charts.

Attribute Measurement

Counts discrete characteristics classified into binary categories (like pass/fail or defective/non-defective), evaluated using p-charts.

Quantitative Forecasting

Relies on mathematical models, statistical analysis, and historical numerical data (such as moving averages or causal regression) for short- to medium-term planning.

Delphi Method

Qualitative forecasting technique that gathers and refines experts' opinions through multiple rounds of anonymous questionnaires to reach a consensus on complex or long-term predictions.

Focus Groups & Surveys

Qualitative methods that capture direct consumer opinions, preferences, and buying intent to estimate demand when historical sales data is missing.

Time-Series Analysis

A quantitative forecasting method that projects future demand based entirely on past numerical data and historical patterns (like trends and seasonality).

Causal (Regression) Forecasting

A quantitative forecasting method using regression models ($y = a + bx$) to predict demand based on related external independent variables (like ad spend or temperature).