Questions from General Operations Management


Q: Quentin Cakes make about 20,000 cakes per year in two

Quentin Cakes make about 20,000 cakes per year in two sizes, both based on the same recipe. Sales peak at Christmas time when demand is about 50 per cent higher than in the quieter summer period. Its...

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Q: A publishing company plans to replace its four proofreaders who look for

A publishing company plans to replace its four proofreaders who look for errors in manuscripts with a new scanning machine and one proofreader in case the machine breaks down. Currently the proofreade...

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Q: The owner of a small wedding photography business realizes that the market

The owner of a small wedding photography business realizes that the market is changing. “I used to take a few photos during the wedding ceremony and then formal group shots outside. It rarely took mor...

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Q: Re-read the ‘Operations in practice’ example ‘Ryanair reforms

Re-read the ‘Operations in practice’ example ‘Ryanair reforms its view of service quality’. What does this example tell us about the trade-off between service quality and cost?

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Q: Understanding type I and type II errors is essential for surgeon’s quality

Understanding type I and type II errors is essential for surgeon’s quality planning. Appendectomy operations, for example, removal of the appendix is necessary because of the risk of it bursting, caus...

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Q: Tea and Sympathy’ (not a made-up name) was

Tea and Sympathy’ (not a made-up name) was a British restaurant and café in the heart of New York’s West Village. It became fashionable not only with expatriate Brits but also with native New Yorkers,...

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Q: Look again at the ‘Operations in practice’ example that includes a

Look again at the ‘Operations in practice’ example that includes a description of the Four Seasons Canary Wharf. (a) The company has what it calls its Golden Rule; ‘Do to others (guests and staff) as...

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Q: An animal park in Amsterdam has decided to sample 50 visitors each

An animal park in Amsterdam has decided to sample 50 visitors each day (n) to see how many visitors are from overseas. The data below is for the last 7 days. If it decided to continue recording this d...

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Q: The manager of a sweet shop decides to sample batches of sweets

The manager of a sweet shop decides to sample batches of sweets to check that the weight is reasonably consistent. She takes nine samples, each with 10 bags. The data below shows the average mean weig...

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Q: Although rare, air crashes do happen. Predominantly, the reason

Although rare, air crashes do happen. Predominantly, the reason for this is human failure such as pilot fatigue. One kind of accident which is known as ‘controlled flight into terrain’, where the airc...

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