Question: What is job enrichment and what has

> A manager states that her process is really working well. Out of 1,500 parts, 1,477 were produced free of a particular defect and passed inspection. Based upon Six Sigma theory, how would you rate this performance, other things being equal?

> Shingo told a story of a poka-yoke he developed to make sure that operators avoided the mistake of putting fewer than the required four springs in a push button device. The existing method involved assemblers taking individual springs from a box contain

> The desired daily output for an assembly line is 360 units. This assembly line will operate 450 minutes per day. The following table contains information on this product’s task times and precedence relationships. a. Draw the precedence

> Develop a cause and effect (fishbone) diagram to address everything that impacts your grade in this course. How much is under your control?

> “You don’t inspect quality into a product; you have to build it in.” Discuss the implications of this statement.

> “If line employees are required to work on quality improvement activities, their productivity will suffer.” Discuss.

> Is the goal of Six Sigma quality realistic for services such as Blockbuster Video Stores or Redbox DVD Kiosks?

> Bragg’s Bakery is building a new automated bakery in downtown Sandusky. Here are the activities that need to be completed to get the new bakery built and the equipment installed. a. Draw the project diagram. b. What is the normal proj

> Do you see any relationship between ISO standards mentioned in this chapter and the competitive strategy concepts mentioned earlier in the text?

> Is certification under the ISO standards in this chapter necessary for competing in the modern market? What should companies consider when deciding whether or not to become certified?

> The typical computerized word processing package is loaded with poka-yokes. List three. Are there any others you wish the packages had?

> Business writer Tom Peters has suggested that in making process changes, we should “Try it, test it, and get on with it.” How does this square with the DMAIC/Continuous Improvement philosophy?

> “Before you build quality in, you must think it in.” How do the implications of this statement differ from those of Question 3?

> An assembly line is to operate eight hours per day with a desired output of 240 units per day. The following table contains information on this product’s task times and precedence relationships. a. Draw the precedence diagram. (Answer

> On March 31, 2016, Tesla Motors announced the release of its new Model 3 electric car. Over 276,000 people from around the world put down $1,000 reservations for the car within three days. First deliveries of the car are expected in late 2017. Th

> At the Children’s Hospital in Seattle there are, on average, 60 births per week. Mother and child stay, on average, two days before they leave the hospital. At the Swedish Hospital (also in Seattle), the average number of births per week is 210. Mothers

> Avis Company is a car rental company that is located three miles from the Los Angeles airport (LAX). Avis is dispatching a bus from its offices to the airport every 2 minutes. The average traveling time (round-trip) is 20 minutes. a. How many Avis buses

> Remember Mr. Rockness in Question 11? He now retrains college professors. It is a much more challenging task but still involves five steps. He has worked hard to balance the line; however, there is a lot of variability. Each stage in the process now hand

> I-mart is a discount optical shop that can fill most prescription orders in around 1 hour. The management is analyzing the processes at the store. There currently is one person assigned to each task. The optometrist assigned to task B takes an hour off f

> The following CPM network has estimates of the normal time in weeks listed for the activities: a. Identify the critical path. b. What is the length of time to complete the project? c. Which activities have slack, and how much? d. Here is a table of nor

> The National State Bank is trying to make sure it has enough tellers to handle the Friday afternoon rush of workers wanting to cash their paychecks. It is only concerned with the last hour of the day from 4:00 to 5:00 P.M. It takes 5 minutes per customer

> Wally’s Widget Warehouse takes orders from 7 A.M. to 7 P.M. The manager wants to analyze the process and has provided the following process flow diagram. There are three steps required to ship a customer order. The first step is to take

> The following represents a process used to assemble a chair with an upholstered seat. Stations A, B, and C make the seat; stations J, K, and L assemble the chair frame; station X is where the two subassemblies are brought together; and some final tasks a

> A processor makes two components, A and B, which are then packaged together as the final product (each product sold contains one A and one B). The processor can do only one component at a time: Either it can make As or it can make Bs. There is a setup

> In manufacturing layout design, the key concern is the resulting efficiency of the operation. In retail service operations, what is the primary concern or objective?

> A local market research firm has just won a contract for several thousand small projects involving data gathering and statistical analysis. In the past, the firm has assigned each project to a single member of its highly trained professional staff

> The bathtub theory of operations management is being promoted as the next breakthrough for global competitiveness. The factory is a bathtub with 50 gallons of capacity. The drain is the outlet to the market and can output three gallons per hour when wid

> Rockness Recycling refurbishes rundown business students. The process uses a moving belt, which carries each student through the five steps of the process in sequence. The five steps are as follows. One faculty member is assigned to each of these steps

> An enterprising student has set up an internship clearinghouse for business students. Each student who uses the service fills out a form and lists up to 10 companies that he or she would like to have contacted. The clearinghouse has a choice of two metho

> You are in a line at the bank drive-through and 10 cars are in front of you. You estimate that the clerk is taking about five minutes per car to serve. How long do you expect to wait in line?

> A process is part of an organization that takes _________________, turns them into _______________, and adds ___________________ while doing so.

> For the network shown: a. Determine the critical path and the early completion time in weeks for the project. b. For the data shown, reduce the project completion time by three weeks. Assume a linear cost per week shortened, and show, step by step, how

> In a flowchart, what is used to represent a storage activity in the process?

> A manufacturing company has a small production line dedicated to the production of a particular product. The line has four stations in serial. Inputs arrive at station 1 and the output from station 1 becomes the input to station 2. The output from sta

> A small barber shop has a single chair and an area for waiting, where only one person can be in the chair at a time, and no one leaves without getting their hair cut. So the system is roughly: Entrance → Wait → Haircut → Exit Assume customers arrive at t

> Why is it important to use expected value management (EVM) in the overall management of projects? Compare to the use of baseline and current schedules only.

> A quoting department for a custom publishing house can complete 4 quotes per day, and there are 20 quotes in various stages in the department. Applying Little’s law, the current lead time for a quote is how many days?

> Which work measurement technique is most appropriate for tasks that are infrequent or have a long cycle time?

> What are the four basic techniques for measuring work and setting time standards?

> A firm has redesigned its production process so that it now takes 10 hours for a unit to be made. Using the old process, it took 15 hours to make a unit. If the process makes one unit each hour, on average, and each unit is worth $1,500, what is the redu

> Compare McDonald's old and new processes for making hamburgers. How valid is McDonald's claim that the new process will produce fresher hamburgers for the customers? Comparing McDonald's new process to the processes used by Burger King and Wendy's, whic

> Describe cycle time as it relates to business processes. Why is it important to the management of business processes? How does it relate to concepts like productivity and capacity utilization?

> Define a process in general. Apply this definition in detail to a university, a grocery store, and a beer brewing company.

> The home office billing department of a chain department stores prepares monthly inventory reports for use by the stores’ purchasing agents. Given the following information, use the critical path method to determine: a. How long the t

> How does seasonal variability in demand affect the flow and waiting time through a process? How might a company respond to reduce the effect of this variability?

> What is the effect of waiting time on a manufacturing process? Why is it good to reduce waiting time? Can it be eliminated altogether?

> What are the three terms used to describe the parts of a service operation that have social significance?

> From your own experiences, compare the processes of your favorite bricks and mortar department store and a comparable online retailer. What advantages does each have over the other for the company? How about for you, the customer?

> Why are work measurement and time standards important for a firm? Are there any negatives to the implementation of these standards? Are there ways to achieve the same objectives without setting firm standards?

> Recently some Operations Management experts have begun insisting that simple maximizing process velocity, which actually means minimizing the time that it takes to process something through the system, is the single most important measure for improving a

> Explain how having more work-in-process inventory can improve the efficiency of a process? How can this ever be bad?

> State in your own words what Little's Law means. Think of an example that you have observed where Little's Law applies.

> Retrieving money from a mechanical slot machine is referred to as the drop process. The drop process begins with a security officer and the slot drop team leader obtaining the slot cabinet keys from the casino cashier’s cage. Getting the keys takes abou

> An engineering firm retains a technical specialist to assist four design engineers working on a project. The help that the specialist gives engineers ranges widely in time consumption. The specialist has some answers available in memory, others require c

> Here is a network with the activity times shown in days: a. Find the critical path. b. The following table shows the normal times and the crash times, along with the associated costs for each activity. If the project is to be shortened by four days, s

> What are the three general factors that determine the fit of a new or revised service process?

> What is the term used to refer to the physical surroundings in which service operations occur and how these surroundings affect customers and employees?

> What are the underlying assumptions of minimum-cost scheduling? Are they equally realistic?

> For each of the following variables, explain the differences (in general) as one moves from a work center to an assembly line environment. a. Throughput time (time to convert raw material into product) b. Capital/labor intensity c. Bottlenecks

> The product–process matrix is a convenient way of characterizing the relationship between product volumes (one-of-a-kind to continuous) and the processing system employed by a firm at a particular location. Characterize the nature of th

> How would you characterize the most important difference for the following issues when comparing a workcenter (job shop) and an assembly line? Issue Workcenter (Job Shop) Assembly Line Number of setups/job changeovers Labor content of product Flexib

> The Goodparts Company produces a component that is subsequently used in the aerospace industry. The component consists of three parts (A, B, and C) that are purchased from outside and cost 40, 35, and 15 cents per piece, respectively. Parts A and B are a

> A firm is selling two products—chairs and bar stools—each at $50 per unit. Chairs have a variable cost of $25, and bar stools $20. The fixed cost for the firm is $20,000. a. If the sales mix is 1:1 (one chair sold for every bar stool sold), what is the b

> Assume a fixed cost of $900, a variable cost of $4.50, and a selling price of $5.50. a. What is the break-even point? b. How many units must be sold to make a profit of $500.00? c. How many units must be sold to average $0.25 profit per unit? $0.50 profi

> A book publisher has fixed costs of $300,000 and variable costs per book of $8.00. The book sells for $23.00 per copy. a. How many books must be sold to break even? b. If the fixed cost increased, would the new break-even point be higher or lower? c. If

> What term is used to mean manufacturing designed to achieve high customer satisfaction with minimum levels of inventory investment?

> Dell Computers’ primary consumer business takes orders from customers for specific configurations of desktop and laptop computers. Customers must select from a certain model line of computer, and choose from available parts, but within those constraints

> Which characteristics must a project have for critical path scheduling to be applicable? What types of projects have been subjected to critical path analysis?

> What is it about service processes that makes their design and operation so different from manufacturing processes?

> Pop Corporation is the primary beneficiary in a VIE, even though Pop owns only 10 percent of the outstanding voting shares. In the year following the initial consolidation, the VIE earns net income of $2,000,000. Included in income is a fee paid by Pop f

> Sun Corporation is a corporate joint venture that is jointly controlled and operated by five investor-venturers, four with 15 percent interests each and one with a 40 percent interest. Each of the five venturers is active in venture management. Land sale

> On January 1, 2016, Pam Corporation acquired a 90 percent interest in Sun Corporation for $1,260,000. The book values and fair values of Sun’s assets and equities on this date are as follows (in thousands): REQUIRED: 1. Prepare the jo

> Pop Corporation acquired an 80 percent interest in Son Company at book value a number of years ago. Separate incomes of Pop and Son for 2016 were $120,000 and $60,000, respectively. The only transactions between Pop and Son during 2016 were as follows:

> Pam Company acquired an 80 percent interest in Sun Corporation at book value equal to fair value on January 1, 2016. During the year, Sun sold $50,000 inventory items to Pam, and at December 31, 2016, unrealized profits amounted to $15,000. Separate inco

> Son Corporation’s recorded assets and liabilities are equal to their fair values on July 1, 2017, when Pop Corporation purchases 36,000 shares of Son common stock for $900,000. Identifiable net assets of Son on this date are $855,000, and Son’s stockhold

> On January 1, 2017, Pam Corporation pays $600,000 for an 80 percent interest in Sun Company, when Sun’s net assets have a book value of $550,000 and a fair value of $700,000. The $150,000 excess fair value is due to undervalued equipment with a five-year

> Balance sheet information of Pop and Son Corporations at December 31, 2015, is summarized as follows (in thousands): On January 2, 2016, Pop purchases 80 percent of Son’s outstanding shares for $500,000 cash. REQUIRED: 1. Determine g

> Do investments in nonconsolidated subsidiaries and 20 to 50 percent–owned investees affect the nature of the investor’s EPS calculations?

> How does controlling share of consolidated earnings per share differ from parent earnings per share?

> Pan Corporation owns an 80 percent interest in Sol Company and Sol owns a 30 percent interest in Pan, both acquired at a fair value equal to book value. Separate incomes (not including investment income) of the two affiliates for 2016 are: Pan..........

> Describe the computation of noncontrolling interest share for an 80 percent–owned subsidiary with both preferred and common stock outstanding.

> Refer to the information in question 1. Assume that Son pays two years’ preferred dividend requirements during the current year. Would this affect your computation of Pop’s investment income for the current year? If so, recompute Pop’s investment income.

> When do unrealized and constructive gains and losses create temporary differences for a consolidated entity?

> Does a parent/investor provide for income taxes on the undistributed earnings of a subsidiary by adjusting investment and investment income accounts? Explain.

> Describe the nature of the tax effect of temporary differences that arise from use of the equity method of accounting.

> Some or all of the dividends received by a corporation from domestic affiliates may be excluded from federal income taxation. When are all of the dividends excluded?

> Can a consolidated entity that is classified as an “affiliated group” under the IRS code elect to file separate tax returns for each affiliate?

> Are consolidated income tax returns required for all consolidated entities? Discuss.

> It may be necessary to compute the earnings per share for subsidiaries and equity investees before parent (and consolidated) earnings per share can be determined. When are the subsidiary EPS computations used in calculating parent earnings per share?

> Under what conditions will the procedures used in computing a parent’s EPS be the same as those for a company without equity investments?

> Pat Corporation owns an 80 percent interest in Sam Corporation and a 70 percent interest in Ten Corporation. Ten owns a 10 percent interest in Sam. These investment interests were acquired at fair value equal to book value. The net incomes of the affilia

> Potentially dilutive securities of a subsidiary may be converted into parent common stock or subsidiary common stock. Describe how these situations affect the parent’s EPS procedures.

> How should preferred stock of a subsidiary be shown in a consolidated balance sheet in each case? a. If it is held 100 percent by the parent b. If it is held 50 percent by the parent and 50 percent by outside interests c. If it is held 100 percent by out

> Son Corporation has 100,000 outstanding shares of $10 par common stock and 5,000 outstanding shares of $100 par, cumulative, 10 percent preferred stock. Son’s net income for the year is $300,000, and its stockholders’ equity at year-end is as follows: 1

> What are the primary advantages of filing a consolidated tax return?

> In computing diluted earnings for a parent, it may be necessary to replace the parent’s equity in subsidiary’s realized income with the parent’s equity in the subsidiary’s diluted earnings. Does this replacement calculation involve unrealized profits tha

> What are the required disclosures related to EPS calculations when preparing consolidated financial statements?

> Your CEO called you into his office to discuss an article he had read over the weekend. The article stated that the FASB had changed accounting for deferred taxes such that all deferred tax assets and liabilities would be treated as noncurrent items. The

> Pam Corporation has $108,000 income from its own operations for 2016, and $42,000 income from Sun Corporation, its 70 percent–owned subsidiary. Sun’s net income of $60,000 consists of $66,000 operating income less $6,000 net-of-tax interest on its outsta

> Pop Corporation acquired an 80 percent interest in Son Corporation common stock for $240,000 on January 1, 2015, when Son’s stockholders’ equity consisted of $200,000 common stock, $100,000 preferred stock, and $25,000