What is throughput and how is it measured?
> Explain the SCOR model. Why is it useful in managing supply chains?
> An order fulfillment process normally operates two shifts a day, six days per week. Under ideal conditions, 380 orders can be processed per shift. What is the weekly theoretical capacity?
> Develop a portfolio of advertisements from the Internet, newspapers, and magazines, and illustrate how quality is used in promoting these products.
> List some products in your personal or family “inventory.” How do you manage them? (For instance, do you constantly run to the store for milk after it is gone? Do you throw out a lot of milk because of spoilage?) How might the ideas in this chapter chang
> The Hudson Jewelers case study found in MindTap integrates material found in each chapter of this book. Case Questions for Discussion: 1. Define and draw the customer benefit package and state Hudson Jewelers’s strategy; rank order its competitive priori
> Describe how organizations are incorporating sustainability issues in managing their supply chains, and explain how manufactured goods recovery and reverse logistics work.
> What is a certified supplier? Why is supplier certification important?
> Describe the components of cash-to-cash conversion cycle analyses. What are the implications of positive and negative cash flows?
> List and describe the important metrics used in supply chain performance and be able to evaluate total supply chain costs.
> Describe how e-commerce has changed the role of supply chains.
> Describe the types of risks supply chains face and ways to mitigate them.
> What is supply chain management? How does it differ from logistics?.
> Define lead time. What factors affect lead time?
> Explain the difference between independent and dependent demand, deterministic and stochastic demand, and static and dynamic demand. Provide an example of an inventory item for each combination of these demand types (e.g., independent, stochastic, and st
> Select a service activity with which you are familiar. If you were the manager of this activity, what “conformance to specifications” criteria would you use to monitor it?
> What is a SKU? Provide some examples in both goods and services.
> What is the tracking signal for the end of period 39 when actual demand is 800 units and the forecast is 700 units in period 39. The algebraic sum of the forecast errors at the end of period 38 was -111 units. Assume that MAD is computed at the end of pe
> How does order cost differ from setup cost?
> Define and explain the different types of inventory costs that managers must consider in making replenishment decisions. How can these costs be determined in practice?
> Define environmentally preferable purchasing or green purchasing.
> How does inventory affect a firm’s financial performance?
> Provide three examples of where the single period model would apply in practice.
> Describe how to apply the single period inventory model.
> Explain how a fixed-period inventory system operates.
> Explain how a fixed-order-quantity inventory sys- tem operates and how to use the EOQ and safety stock models.
> A top Ford executive stated “You can’t have great value unless you have great quality.” Comment on this statement. Do you agree? Why or why not?
> Explain the importance of inventory, types of inventories, and key decisions and costs.
> Define service level. Why is it not necessarily desirable to attempt to attain a 100-percent service level?
> Ham’s Used Cars sells cars with an upward trend based on time and the degree of bad weather. Weather is scored with 1 being bad weather and 5 being great weather. Using the following multiple regression model, Sales (units of used cars) = 0.92 + 0.44*Wee
> How are optimal lot sizes for a quantity discount model computed?
> Discuss the sensitivity of the EOQ model’s optimal solution to changes in the model parameters. Why is this important?
> Explain how the total annual inventory cost is expressed in the EOQ model.
> What is the EOQ model? What assumptions are necessary to apply it? How do these assumptions change the nature of the cycle inventory pattern graphically?
> Define cycle inventory and explain how it is computed.
> Define inventory position. Why is inventory position used to trigger orders in a FQS rather than the actual stock level?
> Describe how to conduct an ABC inventory analysis. ABC analysis consists of categorizing inventory items or SKUs into three groups according to their total annual dollar usage.
> Discuss how either good or poor quality affects you personally as a consumer. For instance, describe experiences in which your expectations were met, exceeded, or not met when you purchased goods or services. Did your experience change your regard for th
> Describe the major characteristics that impact inventory decisions.
> Describe the two different types of stockouts that firms often face. What must be done to prevent them?
> Define inventory and provide some examples.
> A linear regression model is Units = 3,014 – 0.639*Week. For week 38, what is the forecast for the number of units?
> Describe common queueing configurations.
> What does a queueing system consist of?
> What is a queue, and why is it important to under- stand it?
> Explain Little’s Law and illustrate how it can be used by providing a numerical example.
> Define flow time.
> What are some ways to improve throughput in a process?
> Find two examples similar to the introductory example in this chapter that describe the economic consequences of poor quality.
> What is a bottleneck? Explain why is it important.
> What are the basic principles of the Theory of Constraints (TOC)? How do these principles impact costs?
> What are the advantages of using simulation to analyze queueing models?
> A small airplane company called Just In Time flies between cities in Florida. It is trying to decide whether to add one extra plane to its fleet next year. Passenger demand that last four quarters are as follows: Q1 = 4,403, Q2 = 4,008, Q3 = 3,750, and Q
> How can economic analysis be used in making queueing system design decisions?
> List the characteristics and assumptions of a multiple server queueing model.
> List the characteristics and assumptions of a single server queueing model.
> What is queueing theory? Summarize the performance measures that are computed in queueing models.
> Define utilization and explain two ways computing resource utilization.
> Do an Internet search of “vehicle-routing software” and “vehicle routing.” Write a two-page report of the capabilities, advantages, and disadvantages of these vehicle-routing and dispatching systems. Provide one or two examples of real-world applications
> How are total time, setup time, and processing time related?
> What is setup time? Why is it important in determining capacity?
> Define a work order and provide examples in goods-producing and service-providing industries.
> Explain how safety capacity and planned capacity are related.
> Why is safety capacity important? Provide some examples of safety capacity in manufacturing and service organizations.
> Exotic Wines, Inc. wants to use exponential smoothing with = 0.25 to forecast demand in bottles sold. The demand the last four months are 2,321, 3,097, 2,845, and 3,812 bottles. The forecast for bottles was 2,321 bottles for the second month. What is t
> Summarize the different ways in which capacity can be measured.
> What is a focused factory? How can it make more efficient use of capacity?
> How are capacity decisions influenced by economies and diseconomies of scale?
> Explain the experience curve and how does it differs from the traditional learning curve.
> 1. What cost-of-quality criteria (i.e., prevention, appraisal, internal failure, and external failure costs) might be included in an analysis at the following stages of a global diamond supply chain—mining, cutting and polishing centers, and retail jewel
> Explain the concept of learning curves. Why are they important in managing operations?
> Why do service organizations use revenue management systems (RMS)? What are the advantages and disadvantages?
> What advantages do reservations have?
> Discuss various ways for managing short-term capacity.
> Why do firms often incorporate complementary goods and services into their product lines?
> Discuss four strategies used for capacity expansion. What are the risks and benefits of each strategy?
> A part-time employee who rolls out dough balls at a pizza restaurant was observed over a 40-hour period for a work-sampling study. During that time, she prepared 550 pieces of pizza dough. The analyst made 50 observations and found the employee not worki
> Explain the concept of capacity.
> Explain how to apply simple moving average and exponential smoothing models.
> Explain how to determine the number of data values (k) in a moving average forecast.
> Explain how modern vehicle routing and dispatching software and systems can support sustainability goals and objectives.
> Explain how to compute single moving average forecasts.
> Define forecast error. Explain how to calculate the three common measures of forecast accuracy.
> Explain the importance of selecting the proper planning horizon in forecasting.
> What is a time series? Explain the four characteristics that time series may exhibit and provide some practical examples.
> Describe the different time horizons used in forecasting and provide examples of each.
> How is forecasting used throughout the value chain?
> What is bias in forecasting? Explain the importance of using tracking signals to monitor forecasts.
> Using a rating factor of 1.00, compute the normal time for drilling a hole in a steel plate if these are the observed times (in minutes):
> Describe how statistical and judgmental forecasting techniques are applied in practice.
> Explain the role of judgment in forecasting.
> Research software available to organizations to create staff schedules. What features do these types of software have? Prepare a one-page report.
> Describe how to apply regression as a forecasting approach.
> Define forecasting and explain why it is important.
> What is work measurement? How can it be used to improve organizational performance?
> Explain how to design product layouts using assembly line balancing.
> What is a “closeness rating” and how can computer analysis support layout decisions?
> Explain the concepts of designing process layouts.
> When might you have to rebalance an assembly line?
> What is an assembly line? Define the "assembly line balancing problem" and explain what information is needed to solve it.
> The Florida Appliance Company is installing an assembly line to produce vacuum cleaners, and you, as an operations manager, are responsible for balancing the line. The tasks to be performed are listed below, along with their task times in seconds and imm
