Deck 12: Lean Supply Chains

Question 1

In the textbook, the expression "quality at the source" means that we need to purchase the best quality a supplier or vendor can provide.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Uniform plant loading is a process of smoothing the production activity flow to dampen the reaction waves that normally occur in response to schedule variations.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Lean production is an integrated set of activities designed to achieve high-volume production using minimal inventories of raw materials, work in process, and finished goods.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

One of the aims of value stream mapping to eliminate waste in a process.

Question 5

JIT production means that we produce the product before it is required so the customer does not wait for the product.

Question 6

Lean production requires a "push & pull" system of inventory replenishment.

Question 7

Henry Ford used JIT concepts as he streamlined his moving assembly lines to make automobiles in the early 1900s.

Question 8

Lean production replaced JIT in the 1990s because JIT did not address the problem of reducing waste.

Question 9

Uniform plant loading is where you schedule production with different amounts of the same product each day of the week to permit variation to meet changing demand requirements.

Question 10

Group technology includes the set of psychological tests and training exercises given to group workers to ensure a high level of teamwork.

Question 11

JIT is typically applied to nonrepetitive manufacturing.

Question 12

Group technology is a philosophy wherein similar parts are grouped together and the processes required to make the parts are arranged as a work cell.

Question 13

Value stream mapping is used to visualize product flows through various processing steps.

Question 14

The goal of JIT production is to drive all inventory queues lower.

Question 15

Lean production makes implementing green strategies in manufacturing processes more difficult.

Question 16

JIT manufacturing forces a firm to work with a lower water level despite safety hazards.

Question 17

"Quality at the source" requires factory workers to become their own inspectors.

Question 18

A principle of value stream mapping is to concentrate on speeding up value-added operations.

Question 19

Group technology cells help to eliminate movement and queue (wait) time between operations.

Question 20

Lean production is a management philosophy and a pull system throughout the plant.

Question 21

A kaizen burst is an overfilled kanban container.

Question 22

In Japanese manufacturing, automation and robotics are used extensively to perform dull or routine jobs so employees are free to focus on important improvement tasks.

Question 23

Firms in Japan tend to have short-term relationships with their suppliers and customers.

Question 24

One of the many lean techniques that have been successfully applied in service firms is the upgrading of quality.

Question 25

Kanban means "symbol" or "box" in Japanese.

Question 26

Company unions in Japan exist to foster a cooperative relationship with management.

Question 27

One of the many lean techniques that have been successfully applied in service firms is leveling facility load.

Question 28

Value stream mapping is used to identify all of the value-adding as well as non-value-adding processes that materials are subjected to within a plant.

Question 29

Preventive maintenance is emphasized in lean production to ensure that flows are not interrupted by downtime or malfunctioning equipment.

Question 30

One of the few lean techniques that does not work well in service firms is demand-pull scheduling.

Question 31

The term "freeze window" refers to the practice of building quality into the process and not identifying quality by inspection.

Question 32

A kanban control system uses a signaling device to regulate JIT flows.

Question 33

Value stream mapping involves materials, not information.

Question 34

One of the many lean techniques that have been successfully applied in service firms is the upgrading of housekeeping.

Question 35

One of the many lean techniques that have been successfully applied in service firms is the eliminating of unnecessary activities.

Question 36

Using the formula in the textbook the only parameters we need to determine the number of kanban car sets is the average number of units demanded over some time period, the container size, and the safety stock.

Question 37

"Kanban Squares" is an educational game played in kanban training sessions.

Question 38

Subcontractor networks are not very important in Japanese manufacturing.

Question 39

A kaizen burst is a symbol on a value stream map.

Question 40

Respect for people is a key to Toyota's improvement ideas in manufacturing.

Question 41

Automation is a key to lean procurement.

Question 42

When implementing a lean production system, a stabilized schedule is achieved using which of the following?

A) Level scheduling
B) Demand pull
C) Demand push
D) Reduced lot sizes
E) Bottom-round management

Question 43

The Toyota Production System identified which of the following types of waste to be eliminated?

A) Excess quality
B) Overproduction
C) Underproduction
D) Environmental
E) Over-thinking

Question 44

In implementing a lean production system you should work with suppliers to do which of the following?

A) Open facilities near your factory
B) Focus workstation capacities
C) Backflush
D) Provide quality at the source
E) Reduce lead times

Question 45

The Toyota Production System identified which of the following types of waste to be eliminated?

A) Excess quality
B) Motion
C) Excess capacity
D) Underproduction
E) Excess demand

Question 46

You have been called in as a consultant to set up a kanban control system. The first thing you do is to determine the number of kanban card sets needed. Your research shows that the expected demand during lead time for a particular component is 1,200 per hour. You estimate the safety stock should be set at 5% of the demand during lead time. The tote trays used as containers can hold 2 units of stock and the lead time to replenish an order is 10 hours. Which of the following is the number of kanban card sets necessary to support this situation?

A) 5,000
B) 5,500
C) 6,300
D) 6,500
E) 7,000

Question 47

Which of the following address elimination of waste under lean production?

A) Info-matic warehouse networks
B) Outsourced housekeeping
C) Quality at the source
D) Backflush
E) Bottom-round management

Question 48

Applying lean concepts to logistics is difficult unless either the manufacturer or the customer owns the logistics activities.

Question 49

In designing a lean production facility layout a designer should do which of the following?

A) Design for work flow balance
B) Locate flexible workstations off line
C) Link operations through a push system
D) Balance capacity using job shop analysis
E) Always keep operations on a single floor of the factory

Question 50

Which of the following are elements that address elimination of waste under lean production?

A) Production ahead of demand
B) Group plant loading technology
C) Kanban production control system
D) Minimized run times
E) Full capacity utilization

Question 51

The Toyota Production System identified which of the following types of waste to be eliminated?

A) Underproduction
B) Excess quality
C) Preventive maintenance
D) Product defects
E) Kaizen

Question 52

To implement lean production schedules a firm would do which of the following?

A) Have excess capacity
B) Force demand
C) Hire a consultant
D) Bottom-up management
E) Implement kanban groups

Question 53

In implementing a lean production system you should work with suppliers to do which of the following?

A) Calculate lead times
B) Quality circles
C) Freeze windows
D) Make frequent deliveries
E) Achieve bottom-round management

Question 54

Which of the following are related to lean production?

A) A philosophy of waste elimination
B) Lean consumption
C) Never running out of inventory
D) The Wahei-Subaru method
E) Full use of capacity

Question 55

You have been called in as a consultant to set up a kanban control system. The first thing to do is to determine the number of kanban card sets needed. Your research shows that the expected demand during lead time for a particular component is 150 per hour. You estimate the safety stock should be set at 25% of the demand during lead time. The tote trays used as containers can hold 8 units of stock and the lead time it takes to replenish an order is 2 hours. Which of the following is the number of kanban card sets necessary to support this situation?

A) 42
B) 47
C) 68
D) 89
E) 94

Question 56

Which of the following statements holds true for kanban production control systems?

A) The authority to produce or supply additional parts comes from upstream operations
B) In a paperless control system, containers can be used instead of cards
C) The cards or containers make up the kanban push system
D) They require substantial quantitative analysis prior to implementation
E) They have not been successful outside of Japan and the United States

Question 57

Group technology (GT) is credited with which of the following benefits?

A) Reducing waiting time between process operations
B) Improving inventory discipline
C) Reducing required workforce skills
D) Improved labor relations
E) Improved small group functioning

Question 58

In setting up a kanban control system you need to determine the number of kanban card sets needed. If the expected demand during lead time is 25 per hour, the safety stock is 20% of the demand during lead time, the container size is 5, and the lead time to replenish an order is 5 hours, what is the number of kanban card sets needed?

A) 5
B) 20
C) 27
D) 30
E) 34

Question 59

In setting up a kanban control system you need to determine the number of kanban card sets needed. If the expected demand during lead time is 50 per hour, the safety stock is 20% of the demand during lead time, the container size is 4. If the lead time to replenish an order is 8 hours, what number of kanban card sets is needed?

A) 60
B) 80
C) 90
D) 120
E) 150

Question 60

Applying lean concepts in manufacturing balances increases in cost with quality improvement.

Question 61

An activity where the parts that go into each unit of a product are periodically removed from inventory and accounted for based on the number of units produced. is called which of the following?

A) Frozen window
B) Backflush
C) Level schedule
D) Group Technology
E) Kanban

Question 62

To develop a lean manufacturing system a firm might do which of the following?

A) Eliminate anything that does not add value for the customer
B) Standardize product configurations
C) Process design with product design
D) Adopt a kaizen philosophy
E) Implement top-down management controls

Question 63

Which of the following is not listed in the textbook as a component of a lean supply chain?

A) Lean customers
B) Lean management
C) Lean logistics
D) Lean warehousing
E) Lean procurement

Question 64

Which of the following is a lean production technique that is not reported in the textbook to have been successfully applied in service firms?

A) Organize problem-solving groups
B) Upgrade housekeeping
C) Upgrade quality
D) Freeze windows
E) Eliminate unnecessary activities

Question 65

In the context of a production process such as a manufacturing plant, what is the technique used to identify all of the value-adding as well as non-value-adding processes that materials are subjected to within a plant, from raw material coming into the plant through delivery to the customer?

A) Lean manufacturing
B) Lean supply chain
C) Kaizen
D) Value stream mapping
E) Lean production schedules

Question 66

To implement a flow process in developing a lean system a firm might do which of the following?

A) Improve capacity utilization
B) Build product in anticipation of demand
C) Reduce setup/changeover time
D) Eliminate some fixed costs
E) Implement groupware

Question 67

Imagine comparing a manufacturing operation using regular lot-sizing and the same operation with a kanban/lean production approach. What would be your expectations of the difference between the total cost (i.e., inventory holding costs + setup/ordering costs) of each?

A) Inventory holding cost will increase nonlinearly with inventory
B) Total costs will be lower for the regular lot-size operation
C) Total costs will be lower for the kanban/lean production operation
D) The order quantity will be larger for the kanban/lean production approach
E) As long as the total quantity is the same, total costs will be the same

Question 68

You have been called in as a consultant to set up a kanban control system. The first thing to do is to determine the number of kanban card sets needed. Your research shows that the expected demand during lead time for a particular component is 150 per hour. You estimate the safety stock should be set at 25 percent of the demand during lead time. The tote trays used as containers can hold 8 units of stock, and the lead time it takes to replenish an order is 2 hours. You found that the number of kanban cards needed is 47. Your client now tells you that they miscalculated the demand and the true demand is 300 per hour. All other things remain the same. What is the most appropriate answer from the choices below?

A) Number of kanban cardsets will stay the same
B) Number of kanban cardsets will decrease.
C) Number of kanban cardsets will be 94
D) Number of kanban cardsets will be 47
E) Number of kanbancardsets will be 23.5 (rounded to 24).

Question 69

In a lean production system we expect to see which of the following?

A) No extra inventory
B) Extra inventory of critical parts held "just-in-case"
C) More parts and fewer standardized product configurations
D) Managers being held responsible for quality of the work turned out
E) Closer management-labor relationships

Question 70

In a kanban card calculation problem, other things remaining the same (that is changing only one variable at a time). Select the most appropriate answer.

A) Number of kanban cards required will increase linearly as demand increases.
B) Number of kanban cards required will decrease linearly as demand increases.
C) Number of kanban cards required will decrease nonlinearly as the container size increases.
D) Number of kanban cards required will decrease linearly as the container size increases.
E) Number of kanban cards required will increase linearly as demand increases and number of kanban cards required will decrease nonlinearly as the container size increases.

Question 71

Consider the relationship between the number of kanban cars sets needed with safety stock and the container size. Choose the most appropriate answer.

A) As safety stock increases, the number of kanban card sets needed will decrease
B) As safety stock decreases, the number of kanban card sets needed will increase
C) As container size increases, the number of kanban card sets needed will increase
D) As container size increases, the number of kanban card sets needed will decrease
E) As container size decreases, the number of kanban card sets needed will decrease

Question 72

Which of the following is a lean production technique that has been successfully applied in service firms?

A) Decision trees
B) Leveling the facility load
C) Kanban Card Systems
D) Fully utilizing capacity
E) Backflushing

Question 73

Lean concepts discussed in the text do not include which of the following?

A) Group technology
B) Quality at the source
C) Just-in-time production
D) Preventive maintenance
E) Kaizen burst

Question 74

Which of the following problems are not among those hidden when inventory levels are excessively high?

A) Inadequate worker motivation
B) Engineering design redundancies
C) Paperwork backlogs
D) Scrap
E) Productive equipment downtime