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business
operations management
Questions and Answers of
Operations Management
A simple product has eight elements (a to h) whose times and immediate predecessors are shown in Table 7.5. Devise a product layout that will produce products at a rate of at least six products an
Visit a 'print services' operation of some kind. This could be one of the many high-street shops that offer to copy and bind documents. It could be the print services department of a university,
Visit a building site (you will need permission for this), preferably a large one. Examine how the various contractors have located themselves relative to the fixed position of whatever is being
Visit two service operations (for example, a cinema and a department store). Identify the types of layout used in these operations and look for the bottlenecks that impede flow. Identify ways of
The flow of materials through eight departments is shown in Table 7.6. Assuming that the direction of the flow of materials is not important, construct a relationship chart, a schematic layout and a
A loan application process involves eight separate tasks. Task A takes 10 minutes and does not require any other of the tasks to be performed before it can be started. Similarly, Task B can be
Doctor Carlson was frustrated. 'I just don't understand why my colleagues are proving so resistant to this innovation. Computer-based diagnostic systems have been proved to be more effective than a
How do you think Auto-ID could benefit operations process in (a) A hospital, (b) An airport, (c) A warehouse?
(a) Visit a number of fast-food restaurants and observe the technology used to prepare, cook, store and serve food. When these technologies are being developed, what do you think are the main
Dr Rhodes was losing his temper. 'It should be a simple enough decision. There are only two alternatives. You are only being asked to choose a machine!' The management committee looked abashed.
A local government housing office is considering investing in a new computer system for managing the maintenance of its properties. The system is forecast to generate savings of around £100,000 per
Consider the following journey taken by an application for a fishing licence. The customer requesting the licence either calls the licensing office, writes to them or on-line requests an application
Consider how setup reduction principles can be used on the following:(a) Changing a tyre at the side of the road (following a puncture).(b) Cleaning out an aircraft and preparing it for the next
Using an internet search engine, enter ‘kanban’ and capture who uses such devices for planning and control. Contrast the way in which they are used.
Your company has developed a simple but amazingly effective mango peeler. It is constructed from a blade and a supergrip handle that has a top piece and a bottom piece. The assembled mango peeler is
How would you organize a ‘virtual university’? What would be the advantages and disadvantages of such an arrangement?
Step 1 – Read the description that David Garman gives of the different types of companies that offer distribution services, from ‘haulage’ and ‘storage’ companies through to those companies
A warehouse employs five people to pick items off its shelves and pack them into boxes. It has derived set times for each element of the job as follows: make up case (0.5 minutes), pick items off
Using a web search, find information on three different ERP suppliers’ products. Compare and contrast, ideally using a tabular presentation:(a) The main modules offered;(b) The extent to which
The mango peeler described above was a huge success. Demand is now level at 800 items per week. You have also developed two further products, a melon baller and a passion fruit pulper. Both new
Based on web searches, identify two examples of ‘successful’ ERP implementation, one from manufacturing and the other from a service or government organization. Summarize the claimed benefits
Revisit the worked example earlier in the chapter that analyzed a journey in terms of value-added time (actually going somewhere) and non-value-added time (the time spent queueing, etc.). Worked
'There must be a better way of running this place!' said Dean Hammond, recently recruited General Manager of B&B, as he finished a somewhat stressful conversation with a complaining customer, a large
In the above example, if all information within the licensing process is moved electronically as soon as it is processed rather than being batched and transported the next day, how will it affect the
(a) Visit the websites of two or three airlines and examine their business-class and first-class services to look for ideas that reduce the non-value-added time for customers who are willing to pay
Examine the value-added versus non-value-added times for some other services. For example:(a) Handing in an assignment for marking if you are currently studying for a qualification (what is the
If the licensing process offers an on-line application service whereby customers can access and submit their application on-line, how might this affect the throughput efficiency?
A simple process has four stages, A, B, C and D. The average amount of work needed to process items passing through these stages is as follows: Stage A = 68 minutes, Stage B = 55 minutes, Stage C =
The activities, their durations and precedences for designing, writing and installing a bespoke computer database are shown in Table 16.6. Draw a Gantt chart and a network diagram for the project and
In the example above, the operations manager in charge of the process re-allocates the work at each stage to improve the ‘balance’ of the process. Now each stage has an average of 64 minutes of
A production process is required to produce 1,400 of product X, 840 of product Y and 420 of product Z in a fourweek period. If the process works seven hours per day and five days per week, devise a
Anuar Kamaruddin, COO of United Photonics Malaysia (UPM), was conscious that the project in front of him was one of the most important he had handled for many years. The number and variety of the
Identify a project of which you have been part (for example moving apartment, a holiday, dramatic production, revision for an examination, etc.).(a) Who were the stakeholders in this project? (b)
In the example above, if the sales manager cannot be hired for three weeks, how will that affect the total project?ExampleThe implementation of a new logistics operation involves the purchase of a
A business is launching a new product. The launch will require a number of related activities as follows - hire a sales manager (5 weeks), require the sales manager to recruit sales people (4 weeks),
Identify your favourite sporting team (Manchester United, the Toulon rugby team, or if you are not a sporting person, choose any team you have heard of). What kind of projects do you think they need
Visit the websites of some companies that have developed computer-based project management software (for example, primavera.com, welcome.com, microsoft.com, or just put ‘project management
Peter Townsend knew that he would have to make some decisions pretty soon. His sports goods manufacturing business, Psycho Sports, had grown so rapidly over the last two years that he would soon have
The Novelty Pencil Company described in the worked example in this chapter has asked you to calculate its ordering schedules for the first and second levels of its ‘Pointy Pencil’ product.
Using a cookery book, choose three similar, fairly complex recipe items such as layered and decorated gateaux (cakes) or desserts. For each, construct the indented bill of materials and identify all
Figure 14.13 shows component structure, lead time in weeks, order quantities and inventory ‘on hand’ quantities for a product. Calculate the net requirements in week 10 for each part if demand
Working in a small study group, construct a model of the information systems that you think would be needed to plan and control the most important day-to-day operations and finances of a large
For the previous problem, at week 6 you discover that the lead time for components E and I will be 4 weeks in the future.(a) How will it affect the net requirements at week 10?(b) What will be the
A film post-production company with six technical staff has accepted a project that must be completed within ten weeks. There are seven activities involved, as detailed in Table 16.7.(a) Draw a
In the previous example, if the whole project launch operation is to be completed as rapidly as possible, what activities must have been completed by the end of week 16?ExampleThe implementation of a
The Channel Tunnel project was the largest construction project ever undertaken in Europe and the biggest single investment in transport anywhere in the world. The project, which was funded by the
Find two products, one a manufactured food item (for example, a pack of breakfast cereals, packet of biscuits, etc.) and the other a domestic electrical item (for example, electric toaster, coffee
A call centre for a bank answers customers' queries about their loan arrangements. All calls are automatically timed by the call centre's information system and the mean and standard deviation of
'Before the crisis, the quality department was just for looks, we certainly weren't used much for problem solving, the most we did was inspection. Data from the quality department was brought to the
In the above call centre, if the mean call length changes to 3.2 minutes and the standard deviation to 0.9 minutes, how does this affect the Cp and Cpk? Do you think this is an appropriate way for
Many organizations check up on their own level of quality by using ‘mystery shoppers’. This involves an employee of the company acting the role of a customer and recording how they are treated by
A vaccine production company has invested in an automatic tester to monitor the impurity levels in its vaccines. Previously all testing was done by hand on a sample of batches of serum. According to
Step 1 – Decide on some timed event that you can regularly sample, either by yourself or (preferably) as a group. This could be the arrival time of your colleagues at work each morning, the start
A utility has a department which does nothing but change the addresses of customers on the company's information systems when customers move house. The process is deemed to be in control at the
Visit the website of a local airport or airline or train company or bus company etc. that publishes the proportion of late arrivals for a given time period. (For example, some airports regularly
'This is not going to be like last time. Then, we were adopting an improvement programme because we were told to. This time it's our idea and, if it's successful, it will be us who are telling the
A firm of tax advisers is offering a new phone-in service where, for a small fee, customers can get 10 minutes of tax advice over the phone. The firm wants to monitor the length of calls so as not to
The First National Broadminster Bank of Carpintaria (FNBOC) has recently launched a redesigned website for its loan services. Now is the time to check customers' reactions to the new site. So it
Visit a library (for example, a university library) and consider how it could start a performance measurement programme which would enable it to judge the effectiveness with which it organizes its
Sophie was sick of her daily commute. ‘Why,’ she thought, ‘should I have to spend so much time in the morning stuck in traffic listening to some babbling half-wit on the radio? We can work
At 1.24 in the early hours of Saturday morning on 26 April 1986, the worst accident in the history of commercial nuclear power generation occurred. Two explosions in quick succession blew off the
‘We have a test bank where we test batches of 100 of our products continuously for seven days and nights. This week only three failed, the first after 10 hours, the second after 72 hours and the
Conduct a survey among colleagues, friends and acquaintances of how they cope with the possibility that their computers might ‘fail’, either in terms of ceasing to operate effectively or in
A complex baggage handling system at an airport has 50 separate sub systems, each with an average reliability of 0.98. Using the data in Figure 19.3, what will be the reliability of the whole system?
An automatic testing process takes samples of ore from mining companies and subjects them to four sequential tests. The reliability of the four different test machines that perform the tasks is
Survey a range of people who own and/or are responsible for the performance of the following pieces of equipment. What is their approach to maintaining them and how is this influenced by the
Visit the websites of some of the many companies that offer advice and consultancy to companies wishing to review their ‘business continuity’ plans. Based on your investigation of these sites,
For the product testing example in Problem 1, what is the mean time between failures (MTBF) for the products?Data From Problem 1‘We have a test bank where we test batches of 100 of our products
The previous evening's banquet for Plastix International had been a complete disaster and Walter Hollestelle, the hotel General Manager, was still recovering from the series of telephone
In terms of its effectiveness at managing the learning process, how does a university detect failures? What could it do to improve its failure detection processes?
A hospital has a specialized X-ray machine that, because of its delicate mechanisms, has a ‘mean time between failure’ of 95 hours. When it does fail, it takes, on average, eight hours for
Reread the ‘Operations in practice’ piece at the beginning of the chapter on ‘Taxing quality’ which describes the improvement initiative carried out by the Aarhus Region customs and tax
Using the four categories of quality-related costs discussed in this chapter, make a list of the costs that fall within each category for the following operations.(a) A university library.(b) A
Electro-connect is a manufacturer of specialist computer system cables and interface devices. Three years ago it started an improvement initiative that placed a significant emphasis on 'quality right
'I can't say that this was our finest hour! The total bill for the product recall was over $4 million and if you count the cost to our reputation, it was probably even higher. Even before that the
Consider how a service level agreement could be devised for the following:(a) The service between a library and its general customers.(b) The service given by a motor vehicle rescue service to its
What are the differences and similarities between the approach taken by the Aarhus customs and tax unit and the example described in the short case on ‘Improvement at Heineken’?
Using an internet search engine (such as Google.com), look at the consultancy organizations that are selling help and advice on:(a) Total quality management, and(b) Six Sigma.How do the TQM and Six
Visit the website of the European Foundation for Quality Management (www.efqm.org).(a) Look at the companies that have won or been finalists in the European Quality Awards and try to identify the
Compare and contrast the approaches taken by Xchanging described in the short case and that taken by Heineken, also described in the short case.
Ruggo Carpets encourages continuous improvement based around the 'drive for customer focus'. The company's total quality process has graduated from 'total customer satisfaction' to 'total customer
Find an operation and assess its overall performance using a polar diagram. You will have to devise the ‘dimensions’ of the polar diagram so that they are meaningful to the operation in question.
The Printospeed Laser printer company was proud of its reputation for high-quality products and services.Because of this it was especially concerned with the problems that it was having with its
A Swedish hotel and restaurant group has been developing self-managed improvement groups within its hotels. At one hotel reception desk, staff were concerned about the amount of time the desk was
Step 1 - Devise a benchmarking programme that will benefit the course or programme that you are currently taking (apologies to anyone who is reading this for light entertainment rather than because
Think back to the last product or service failure that caused you some degree of inconvenience. Draw a cause-effect diagram that identifies all the main causes of why the failure could have occurred.
Step 1 - As a group, identify a 'high-visibility' operation that you all are familiar with. This could be a type of quickservice restaurant, record store, public transport system, libraries, etc.Step
The following are extracts from the corporate social responsibility sections of four reputable companies' websites.HSBC (bank)For HSBC, … 'CSR' means addressing the expectations of our customers,
Khushi’s Kitchen offers both vegetarian and nonvegetarian lunch for office workers. The peak period for the business is between 12:15 p.m. and 14:15 p.m. Due to limited space, customers form a
The Pet Training Academy offers a 5-day training program for troubled dogs. As seen in Table 11.5, the training process requires 5 days, beginning with the dog’s arrival at 8 a.m. on day 1 and
Consider a hospital that specializes in treating patients with cardiac problems. The surgery team is facing delays due to missing items before an operation. How can the principles of MRP and BOR be
Joeblog imports spectrometers for forensic laboratories and educational institutions. The item’s demand forecasts for the next 6 weeks are 25 units, followed by forecasts of 20 units for weeks 7
Olympic Enterprises plans to assemble a new breed of mountain bikes as per the bill of materials (BOM) in Figure 11.33.a. Which component has more than one parent?b. How many unique components does
Draw the BOM for an object that you use daily. For example, the BOM for your laptop.
A partially completed inventory record for the motor subassembly is shown in Figure 11.39.a. Complete the last three rows of the record by using the L4L rule.b. Complete the last three rows of the
A firm’s cost of goods sold last year was $3,410,000, and the firm operates 52 weeks per year. It carries seven items in inventory: three raw materials, two work-in-process items, and two finished
“Organizations don’t compete but supply chains do.” Explain how taking a supply chain approach can make a firm cost effective and improve performance at the same time.
Crayola, LLC, is a profitable, wholly owned subsidiary of Hallmark Cards of Kansas City, Missouri. The company’s world headquarters are located in Easton, Pennsylvania; departments there include
Busy Bee Limited, an e-commerce retailer specializing in household decorative items, ended the year with annual sales (at cost) of £3 million. During the year, the inventory of decorative items
Raj Cycles Limited is a leading bespoke cycle retailer and it operates throughout the year. The cost of goods sold last year was £835,000. The firm modifies eight items to customize cycles as per
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