Aside from cost reduction, what major value does IBM envision for its interaction with suppliers?
> How might an executive’s comments to Wall Street analysts affect demand forecasts, and what are the consequences of doing so?
> Why might a company executive make bold predictions about future demand to Wall Street analysts?
> What are some of the consequences of poor forecasts? Explain.
> What are some of the ways Wegmans uses technology to gain an edge over its competition?
> Contrast the terms sales and demand.
> Explain how using a centered moving average with a length equal to the length of a season eliminates seasonality from a time series.
> What factors enter into the choice of a value for the smoothing constant in exponential smoothing?
> Who needs to be involved in formulating organizational strategy?
> How does the use of standard shipping containers and flat rate mailers help competitiveness?
> What effect does the increased use of e-mail have on postal productivity?
> What caused productivity to increase?
> Discuss the importance of the Dutch growers’ supply chain.
> Explain the rationale of an operations strategy that seeks to increase the opportunity for use of technology by reducing variability in processing requirements.
> Contrast the terms strategies and tactics.
> What is the Balanced Scorecard and how is it useful?
> List the key ways that organizations compete.
> In what ways are Hazel’s customers most likely to judge the quality of her lawn care services?
> While it is true that increases in efficiency generate productivity increases, it is possible to get caught in an “efficiency improvement trap.” Explain what this means.
> A U.S. company has two manufacturing plants, one in the United States and one in another country. Both produce the same item, each for sale in their respective countries. However, their productivity figures are quite different. The analyst thinks this is
> How would you formulate the constraint for material A if it was determined that there is a 5 percent waste factor for material A and equal quantities of each product are required?
> What is a possible qualitative issue that may very well influence productivity levels that the productivity ratios fail to take into account?
> What does sliding an objective function line toward the origin represent? Away from the origin?
> What is an iso-cost line? An iso-profit line?
> Explain the term redundant constraint.
> What is meant by the term feasible solution space? What determines this region?
> Should there be additional overtime and, if so, how much?
> Should additional wood be purchased and, if so, how much?
> Should additional laminate be purchased and, if so, how much?
> Who needs to be involved in assessing the cost of customers waiting for service if the customers are (a) the general public (b) employees of the organization?
> In a multiple-channel system, what is the rationale for having customers wait in a single line, as is now being done in many banks and post offices, rather than multiple lines? (Hint: The average waiting time is unaffected.)
> Under what circumstances would a multiple-priority waiting system be appropriate?
> Briefly describe the company’s strategy.
> Contrast finite and infinite population sources.
> What effect would decreasing arrival and service variability have on the effective capacity of a system?
> Why do waiting lines form even though a service system is under loaded?
> In what kinds of situations is queuing analysis most appropriate?
> What benefits do psychological approaches to waiting lines have over other approaches?
> Who needs to be involved in assessing the cost of a project?
> What trade-offs are associated with time and cost estimates for a proposed project?
> What is a work breakdown structure, and how is it useful for project planning?
> What is the main benefit of a project organization over more traditional forms of operations management for project work?
> Was Linderman Industries’ adoption of project organization an appropriate one for getting the Mexican subsidiary started?
> What advantages and what limitations stem from the company’s not using preservatives in cookies?
> Who needs to be involved in setting schedules?
> Explain the term makespan.
> What factors would you take into account in deciding whether to split a job?
> Explain forward and backward scheduling and each one’s advantage.
> What problems not generally found in manufacturing systems do service systems present in terms of scheduling the use of resources?
> What are the main decision areas of job-shop scheduling?
> What advantage did IBM’s use of the Internet have for small suppliers?
> Explain the benefit of cross-docking.
> Describe vendor analysis.
> As a consumer, what things do you consider in judging the quality of cookies you buy in a supermarket?
> Discuss the importance of RFID for supply chain management.
> Describe what purchasing managers do.
> Why is managing returns important?
> What impact has e-business had on supply chain management?
> What are the elements of supply chain management?
> What is a supply chain?
> Explain the key benefit of the revised approach, and the reason for the benefit.
> This reading offers one possible reason for the existence of a long supply process. Can you think of some other possible reasons for long supply processes?
> Describe the philosophy that underlies JIT (i.e., what is JIT intended to accomplish?).
> Which inventory models could be used for ordering the ingredients for bagels? Which model do you think would be most appropriate for deciding how many bagels to make in a given batch?
> What factors cause the company to carry minimal amounts of certain inventories? What benefits result from this policy?
> Can the optimal stocking level in the single-period model ever be less than expected demand? Explain briefly.
> What is safety stock, and what is its purpose?
> Explain briefly how a higher carrying cost can result in a decrease in inventory.
> What are the primary reasons for holding inventory?
> Give two examples of unethical conduct involving inventory management and the ethical principle each one violates.
> What ordering system would be best for this situation?
> What are the primary advantages and limitations of informal graphic and charting techniques for aggregate planning?
> What aggregate planning difficulty that might confront an organization offering a variety of products and/or services would not confront an organization offering one or a few similar products or services?
> What are the most common decision variables for aggregate planning in a manufacturing setting? In a service setting?
> Why is there a need for aggregate planning?
> Hazel is thinking about the purchase of new equipment. One would be power sidewalk edger’s. She believes edger’s will lead to an increase in productivity. Another would be a chain saw, which would be used for tree pruning. What trade-offs should she cons
> What are the three phases of intermediate planning?
> Name several behaviors related to aggregate planning or master scheduling that you believe would be unethical, and the ethical principle that would be violated for each.
> Who needs to be involved in setting quality standards?
> What two basic assumptions must be satisfied in order to use a process capability index?
> If all observations are within control limits, does that guarantee that the process is random? Explain.
> Why is order of observation important in process control?
> What is the purpose of a control chart?
> In repetitive operations it is often possible to automatically check for quality and then reject parts that are unacceptable. In those situations, does that mean that control charts arent needed? Explain.
> Why are bar codes being used in hospitals?
> List the steps of problem solving.
> Why might some workers prefer not to work in a lean production environment?
> Describe the quality–ethics connection.
> Define the terms quality of design and quality of conformance.
> Name several ways that technology has had an impact on location decisions.
> Describe how those same tools can lead to store closings or store relocations.
> What community factors influence location decisions?
> In what ways can the location decision have an impact on the production system?
> Why do workers sometimes resent time studies?
> What are the main limitations of time study?
> If an average worker could be identified, what advantage would there be in using that person for a time study? What are some reasons why an average worker might not be studied?
> Could performance rating be avoided by studying a group of workers and averaging their times? Explain briefly.
> What competitive advantage does Hazel have over a professional lawn care service?
> How do customers judge the quality of a supermarket?
> If the interest rate is 10 percent, then the future value in 2 years of $100 today is a. $80. b. $83. c. $120. d. $121.
> If the interest rate is zero, then $100 to be paid in 10 years has a present value that is a. less than $100. b. exactly $100. c. more than $100. d. indeterminate.
