Which crew size had the highest productivity per worker? Which crew size had the lowest productivity per worker? What are some possible explanations for these results?
> List the specific weaknesses of each of these approaches to developing a forecast: a. Consumer surveys. b. Sales force composite. c. Committee of managers or executives.
> What are the main advantages that quantitative techniques for forecasting have over qualitative techniques? What limitations do quantitative techniques have?
> Choose the type of forecasting technique (survey, Delphi, averaging, seasonal, naive, trend, or associative) that would be most appropriate for predicting: a. Demand for Mother’s Day greeting cards. b. Popularity of a new television series. c. Demand for
> What are models and why are they important?
> Suppose a software producer is about to release a new version of its popular software. What information do you think it would take into account in forecasting initial sales?
> Which type of forecasting approach, qualitative or quantitative, is better?
> How is forecasting in the context of a supply chain different from forecasting for just a single organization? List possible supply chain benefits and discuss potential difficulties in doing supply chain forecasting.
> Discuss how you would manage a poor forecast.
> It has been said that forecasting using exponential smoothing is like driving a car by looking in therear-view mirror. What are the conditions that would have to exist for driving a car that are analogousto the assumptions made when using exponential smo
> Give three examples of unethical conduct involving forecasting and the ethical principle each violates.
> Omar has heard from some of his customers that they will probably cut back on order sizes in the next quarter. The company he works for has been reducing its sales force due to falling demand and he worries that he could be next if his sales begin to fal
> What are some of the potential benefits of a more formalized approach to forecasting?
> M&L Manufacturing makes various components for printers and copiers. In addition to supplying these items to a major manufacturer, the company distributes these and similar items to office supply stores and computer stores as replacement parts for pr
> Why is high productivity important for a nation?
> Discuss the term sustainability, and its relevance for business organizations.
> How can a company gain a competitive advantage by having higher productivity than its competitors have?
> Why do you suppose that service jobs have lower productivity than manufacturing jobs?
> How can technology improve a. Competitiveness? b. Productivity?
> Name some of the competitive trade-offs that might arise in a fast-food restaurant.
> A company that makes shopping carts for supermarkets and other stores recently purchased some new equipment that reduces the labor content of the jobs needed to produce the shopping carts. Prior to buying the new equipment, the company used five workers,
> Compute the multifactor productivity measure for each of the weeks shown for production of chocolate bars. What do the productivity figures suggest? Assume 40-hour weeks and an hourly wage of $12. Overhead is 1.5 times weekly labor cost. Material cost is
> The manager of a crew that installs carpeting has tracked the crew’s output over the past several weeks, obtaining these figures: Compute the labor productivity for each of the weeks. On the basis of your calculations, what can you co
> A company offers ID theft protection using leads obtained from client banks. Three employees work 40 hours a week on the leads, at a pay rate of $25 per hour per employee. Each employee identifies an average of 3,000 potential leads a week from a list of
> A property title search firm is contemplating using online software to increase its search productivity. Currently an average of 40 minutes is needed to do a title search. The researcher cost is $2 per minute. Clients are charged a fee of $400. Company A
> The following table shows data on the average number of customers processed by several bank service units each day. The hourly wage rate is $25, the overhead rate is 1.0 times labor cost, and material cost is $5 per customer. a. Compute the labor produ
> Discuss the various impacts of outsourcing.
> A manager checked production records and found that a worker produced 160 units while working 40 hours. In the previous week, the same worker produced 138 units while working 36 hours. Did the worker’s productivity increase, decrease, or remain the same?
> An operation has a 10 percent scrap rate. As a result, 72 pieces per hour are produced. What is the potential increase in labor productivity that could be achieved by eliminating the scrap?
> What impact did competitive pressures have on the USPS?
> Why is it important for the USPS to have a high volume of mail to process?
> What results were achieved by the USPS’s changes?
> What measures did the USPS adopt to increase competitiveness?
> What factors enable Dutch tomato growers to achieve much higher productivity than the Italian and Greek growers?
> Contrast organization strategy and operations strategy.
> Select two stores you shop at, and state how they compete.
> Explain the importance of identifying and differentiating order qualifiers and order winners.
> Explain the term value-added.
> From time to time, various groups clamor for import restrictions or tariffs on foreign-produced goods, particularly automobiles. How might these be helpful? Harmful?
> Identify two companies that have time-based strategies, and two that have quality-based strategies.
> Name 10 ways that banks compete for customers.
> Boeing’s strategy appears to focus on its 777 midsize plane’s ability to fly into smaller, nonhub airports. Rival European Airbus’s strategy appears to focus on large planes. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of these two strategies.
> It has been said that a typical Japanese automobile manufacturer produces more cars with fewer workers than its U.S. counterpart. What are some possible explanations for this, assuming that U.S. workers are as hardworking as Japanese workers?
> List some factors that can affect productivity and some ways that productivity can be improved.
> Productivity should be a concern of every business organization. a. How is productivity defined? b. How are productivity measures used? c. Why is productivity important? d. What part of the organization has primary responsibility for productivity? e. How
> Explain the term time-based strategies and give three examples.
> In the past there was concern about a “productivity paradox” related to IT services. More recently, there have been few references to this phenomenon. Using the Internet, explain the term productivity paradox. Why do you think that the discussion of that
> Give two examples of what would be considered unethical involving competition and the ethical principles (see Chapter 1) that would be violated.
> Why do people do things that are unethical?
> It is common knowledge that Sam’s boss Dom has been fudging the weekly productivity figures. Several employees, including Sam, have spoken to him about this, but he continues to do it. Sam has observed a drop in morale among his coworkers due to this. Sa
> After a recent storm, a customer called in a panic, saying that she had planned a garden party for the upcoming weekend and her garden was in shambles. The owner decided to send a crew of four workers, even though a two-worker crew would have a higher pr
> Briefly describe the cookie production process.
> Do you think that the company is making the right decision by not automating the packing of cookies? Explain your reasoning. What obligation does a company have to its employees in a situation such as this? What obligation does it have to the community?
> What are two ways that the company has increased productivity? Why did increasing the length of the ovens result in a faster output rate?
> Hazel would like to increase her profits, but she doesn’t believe that it would be wise to raise her prices considering the current state of the local economy. Instead, she has given some thought to increasing productivity. a. Explain how increased prod
> Hazel does not have a mission statement or a set of objectives. Take one of the following positions and defend it: a. Hazel doesn’t need a formal mission statement and objectives. Many small businesses don’t have them. b. She definitely needs a mission
> Hazel has been fairly successful in her neighborhood, and now wants to expand to other neighborhoods, including some that are five miles away. What would be the advantages and disadvantages of doing this?
> Can you think of a strategy that could have increased Burgomaster’s chance of survival? Explain why you think that strategy would have been effective.
> List and briefly explain the four basic sources of variation, and explain why it is important for managers to be able to effectively deal with variation.
> Write a brief report that outlines the reasons (both internal and external) for Burgomaster’s demise, and whether operations management played a significant role in the demise.
> Why are services important? Why is manufacturing important? What are no manufactured goods?
> Many organizations offer a combination of goods and services to their customers. As you learned in this chapter, there are some key differences between production of goods and delivery of services. What are the implications of these differences relative
> How important is the loss of manufacturing jobs to the nation?
> a. What would cause a business person to make an unethical decision? b. What are the risks of doing so?
> One way that organizations compete is through technological innovation. However, there can be downsides for both the organization and the consumer. Explain.
> Why is it important to match supply and demand? If a manager believes that supply and demand will not be equal, what actions could the manager take to increase the probability of achieving a match?
> All managers have to cope with variation. a. What are the major sources of variation that Hazel has to contend with? b. How might these sources of variation impact Hazel’s ability to match supply and demand? c. What are some ways she can cope with variat
> Hazel decided to offer the students who worked for her a bonus of $25 for ideas on how to improve the business, and they provided several good ideas. One idea that she initially rejected now appears to hold great promise. The student who proposed the ide
> The town is considering an ordinance that would prohibit putting grass clippings at the curb for pickup because local landfills cannot handle the volume. What options might Hazel consider if the ordinance is passed? Name two advantages and two drawbacks
> What are some of the trade-offs that Hazel probably considered relative to: a. Working for a company instead of for herself? b. Expanding the business? c. Launching a website?
> Hazel is the operations manager of her business. Among her responsibilities are forecasting, inventory management, scheduling, quality assurance, and maintenance. a. What kinds of things would likely require forecasts? b. What inventory items does Hazel
> What possible solutions do you see for competitors such as Macy’s and Gap?
> In what ways does technology have an impact on capacity planning?
> What are trade-offs? Why is careful consideration of trade-offs important in decision making?
> Who needs to be involved in capacity planning?
> A small firm intends to increase the capacity of a bottleneck operation by adding a new machine. Two alternatives, A and B, have been identified, and the associated costs and revenues have been estimated. Annual fixed costs would be $40,000 for A and $30
> A producer of pottery is considering the addition of a new plant to absorb the backlog of demand that now exists. The primary location being considered will have fixed costs of $9,200 per month and variable costs of 70 cents per unit produced. Each item
> In a job shop, effective capacity is only 50 percent of design capacity, and actual output is 80 percent of effective output. What design capacity would be needed to achieve an actual output of eight jobs per week?
> Determine the utilization and the efficiency for each of these situations: a. A loan processing operation that processes an average of 7 loans per day. The operation has a design capacity of 10 loans per day and an effective capacity of 8 loans per day.
> Remodeling an office will cost $25,000 and will generate savings of $3,000 the first year, $4,000 the second year, and $5,000 per year thereafter. How long will it take to recoup the initial cost of remodeling?
> The following diagram describes a service process where customers go through through either of two parallel three-step processes and then merge into a single line for two final steps. Capacities of each step are shown on the diagram. a. What is the curre
> Find the capacity of this system: 22 units/hr 17 units/hr 18 units/hr 51 units/hr 54 units/hr 20 units/hr 18 units/hr 18 units/hr (5 (10) (11 8. 9 22 units/hr 17 units/hr 15 units/hr
> Given the following diagram, a. What is the capacity of this system? b. If the capacity of one operation could be increased in order to increase the output of the system, which operation should it be, and what amount of increase? 18 units/hr 15 unit
> The following diagram shows a four-step process that begins with Operation 1 and ends with Operation 4. The rates shown in each box represent the effective capacity of that operation. a. Determine the capacity of this process. b. Which action would yield
> In what general ways does technology have an impact on operations management decision making?
> The manager of a car wash must decide whether to have one or two wash lines. One line will mean a fixed cost of $6,000 a month, and two lines will mean a fixed cost of $10,500 a month. Each line would be able to process 15 cars an hour. Variable costs wi
> A manager must decide how many machines of a certain type to purchase. Each machine can process 100 customers per day. One machine will result in a fixed cost of $2,000 per day, while two machines will result in a fixed cost of $3,800 per day. Variable c
> A manager must decide which type of machine to buy, A, B, or C. Machine costs are as follows: Machine Cost A ……………â
> A company must decide which type of machine to buy, and how many units of that type, given the following information: Type Cost 1 …………â
> A company manufactures a product using two machine cells. Each cell has a design capacity of 250 units per day and an effective capacity of 230 units per day. At present, actual output averages 200 units per cell, but the manager estimates that productiv
> A manager is trying to decide whether to purchase a certain part or to have it produced internally. Internal production could use either of two processes. One would entail a variable cost of $17 per unit and an annual fixed cost of $200,000; the other wo
> A firm plans to begin production of a new small appliance. The manager must decide whether to purchase the motors for the appliance from a vendor at $7 each or to produce them in-house. Either of two processes could be used for in-house production; one w
> A real estate agent is considering changing her cell phone plan. There are three plans to choose from, all of which involve a monthly service charge of $20. Plan A has a cost of $.45 a minute for daytime calls and $.20 a minute for evening calls. Plan B
> A producer of felt-tip pens has received a forecast of demand of 30,000 pens for the coming month from its marketing department. Fixed costs of $25,000 per month are allocated to the felt-tip operation, and variable costs are 37 cents per pen. a. Find th
> In some instances the outsourced service occurs in a different location, while in others it takes place inside the organization doing the outsourcing, as the food service did in this case. What advantages were there in having the outsourced work performe
> Why is it important for the various functional areas of a business organization to collaborate?
> Do you consider restaurant outsourcing to be dishonest? Unethical? Explain.
> Explain the meaning of the phrase “Hours versus ours.”
> A computer repair service has a design capacity of 80 repairs per day. Its effective capacity, however, is 64 repairs per day, and its actual output is 62 repairs per day. The manager would like to increase the number of repairs per day. Which of the fol
> Identify four potential unethical actions or inactions related to capacity planning, and the ethical principle each violates.
> Why is it important to adopt a big-picture approach to capacity planning?
