Deck 4: Product and Service Design

Question 1

Reliability is frequently defined as the probability that a product or system will function when activated.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Global teams provide diversity while eliminating conflicts and miscommunication.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The main forces that initiate product or service design or redesign are market opportunities or threats.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

One of the main advantages of standardization is that it increases the potential variety of products.

Question 5

Reducing consumer choices makes service more efficient.

Question 6

The process of dismantling and inspecting a competitor's product to discover product improvement is called benchmarking.

Question 7

Concurrent engineering is another term for sequential development.

Question 8

One way to increase overall reliability of a system is to add parts that increase redundancy in the system.

Question 9

To save money, it is essential that designers revise the production capabilities to meet the requirements of the new products.

Question 10

Modular design increases the costs of purchasing and controlling inventory compared to nonmodular.

Question 11

A service blueprint is quite similar to an architectural drawing.

Question 12

A house of quality is achieved when no department in a single location has more than 15 percent rejects.

Question 13

A major benefit of computer-aided design (CAD)is the increased productivity of designers.

Question 14

Product reliability involves both short-term and long-term perspectives.

Question 15

Product failures can be easier to remedy with modular design.

Question 16

A disadvantage of standardization is the possibility of standardizing designs too early, which may make them difficult to modify in the future.

Question 17

One motivation for an organization to redesign its product or service is to avoid the alternative of downsizing the organization.

Question 18

If a system depends on two subsystems functioning when activated, the reliability of that system is equal to that of the less reliable subsystem.

Question 19

Many U.S. manufacturers are now shifting their focus from products to both product and process improvements.

Question 20

Availability cannot be increased without improving the time between breakdowns.

Question 21

Research and development (R&D)refers to organized efforts that are directed toward increasing scientific knowledge and product (or process)innovation.

Question 22

Service design often must take into account the degree of customer contact required.

Question 23

Standardization refers to the extent to which there is absence of variety in a product, service, or process.

Question 24

The demand for a product and the rate of technological change have a significant impact on the length of a given phase of the product life cycle.

Question 25

Basic research is done with the expectation that discoveries will have near-term commercial application.

Question 26

Applied research has the objective of achieving commercial applications for new ideas.

Question 27

Design for production takes into account the capabilities of the organization to produce or deliver a given product or service.

Question 28

Remanufacturing refers to replacing worn-out components of old products to extend the products' useful life.

Question 29

Companies wanting to do business in the European Union must not sell products that contain recycled materials.

Question 30

Robust design describes a product that will perform satisfactorily so long as it is used in a very narrow range of conditions.

Question 31

Quality function deployment (QFD)is based on a set of standards which relate customer requirements to company capabilities.

Question 32

The process of dismantling and inspecting a competitor's product to discover improvements is called reverse engineering.

Question 33

Concurrent engineering means that at least two engineers are involved in product design at the same time.

Question 34

The quality function deployment matrices are often referred to as the "house of quality" because, when completed, they "house" all of the customer's quality requirements.

Question 35

Concurrent engineering brings people concerned with manufacturing into the design phase earlier than in the "over-the-wall" approach.

Question 36

Taguchi design methods involve identifying the optimal operating or environmental conditions for a given product.

Question 37

Product liability means that a manufacturer is liable for any injuries or damages caused by a faulty product because of poor workmanship or design.

Question 38

One approach to extending a product's life cycle is to promote alternate uses of the product.

Question 39

Reliability refers to the ability of a product to perform its intended function under normal conditions.

Question 40

Quality function deployment is a structured approach that guarantees that the highest-quality product or service will be designed.

Question 41

Reliability of an overall system is a function of the reliability of the individual components of the system.

Question 42

The term failure as applied to reliability means that a part or item does not function at all.

Question 43

Suppose a given control unit fails, on average, every 12,000 hours. It takes an average of 900 hours to repair and reboot this unit. The repair/reboot procedures for this unit are being reconfigured. By how much would average repair/reboot time need to be reduced to increase availability by 5 percent (assuming the control unit's average life remains unchanged)?

A)not more than 200 hours
B)more than 200 hours but not more than 400 hours
C)more than 400 hours but not more than 600 hours
D)more than 600 hours but not more than 800 hours
E)more than 800 hours

Question 44

Commonality of components is beneficial for manufacturing but not for services.

Question 45

Applied research is the major R&D effort of business organizations because of their desire for commercial applications.

Question 46

If the average amount of time a product goes without failing decreased by some amount, that product's availability could nevertheless be maintained at previous levels by __________ its __________.

A)increasing; reliability
B)reducing; time required for repair
C)reducing; reliability
D)reducing; reparability
E)increasing; time required for repair

Question 47

Which of the following is least likely to result in product innovations that have near-term commercial application?

A)process blueprinting
B)development
C)applied research
D)quality function deployment
E)basic research

Question 48

Which of the following is not one of the 3 Rs?

A)reuse
B)reduce
C)reposition
D)recycle
E)remanufacture

Question 49

What measures the fraction of time that a piece of equipment will not be down for repairs?

A)operational
B)maintenance
C)idle
D)availability
E)waiting

Question 50

An electrical appliance will not work unless component QK does. Component QK's reliability is 0.95. Every other part of the appliance is 100 percent reliable. What would the reliability of the appliance be if a backup QK were added?

A)0.95
B)0.9975
C)0.9025
D)0.9205
E)0.9795

Question 51

A system consists of two components, each of which must activate if the system is to activate. One component has a reliability of 0.99. The other has a reliability of 0.95. The components are independent of one another with respect to reliability. What is the overall system reliability?

A)0.99
B)0.95
C)0.94
D)0.90
E)Cannot be determined with this information.

Question 52

Standardization can at times lead to serious difficulties and competitive struggles, particularly when systems are running under different conditions.

Question 53

Delayed differentiation and modular design are tactics for mass customization.

Question 54

The time between failures for an electrical appliance is exponentially distributed with a mean of 25 months. What is the probability that the next failure will not occur before 30 months have elapsed?

A)not in excess of 0.2
B)in excess of 0.2 but not in excess of 0.3
C)in excess of 0.3 but not in excess of 0.4
D)in excess of 0.4 but not in excess of 0.6
E)in excess of 0.6

Question 55

Reliability can be improved by the use of backup components.

Question 56

The probability of a product failing over a period of time is known as what type of curve?

A)bell
B)S
C)bathtub
D)U
E)circle

Question 57

Waygate's residential Internet modem works well but is sensitive to power-line fluctuations. On average, this product hangs up and needs resetting every 200 hours. On average about 45 minutes is needed to reset this product. What is this product's availability?

A)not in excess of 0.75
B)in excess of 0.75 but not in excess of 0.8
C)in excess of 0.8 but not in excess of 0.9
D)in excess of 0.9 but not in excess of 0.95
E)in excess of 0.95

Question 58

Availability _____ as the mean time between failure _____.

A)stalls; increases
B)decreases; decreases
C)increases; decreases
D)decreases; increases
E)increases; increases

Question 59

A classroom has a presentation system that consists of four components, each of which must activate if the system is to work adequately. The first component has a reliability of 0.97, the second component has a reliability of 0.99, the third component has a reliability of 0.97, and the fourth component has a reliability of 0.93. What is the overall system reliability?

A)0.87
B)0.95
C)0.93
D)0.97
E)0.89

Question 60

As the quantity of components increases in a system, the overall system reliability _____.

A)becomes intermittent
B)decreases
C)stalls
D)increases
E)does not change

Question 61

Which one of the following is not a factor of successful product and service design?

A)Be aware of what the competitors are doing.
B)Be aware of what customers want.
C)Know what government regulations are.
D)Use computerized design techniques.
E)Know what new technologies are available.

Question 62

The research and development activity which starts after positive research results are available and attempts to turn these results into useful commercial applications is:

A)basic research.
B)applied research.
C)development.
D)redesign.
E)commercial research.

Question 63

Which of these pairs of functions would tend to be affected most dramatically by a product or service redesign?

A)Operations and Accounting
B)Marketing and Operations
C)Finance and Human Resources
D)Engineering and Accounting
E)Finance and Engineering

Question 64

A software company is weighing whether to release a new version of its software as scheduled. The company can go ahead and release the version as scheduled and correct flaws with subsequent patches or upgrades, or it can wait until the new version is reasonably bug-free. Choosing to delay release until the bugs can be worked out is an example of:

A)life cycle analysis.
B)value analysis.
C)vaporware.
D)concurrent engineering.
E)design for production.

Question 65

Which of the following statements about CAD is not true?

A)It increases the productivity of designers.
B)It uses computer graphics.
C)It requires a good database.
D)Some systems permit engineering or cost analysis of proposed designs.
E)It is used successfully by all manufacturing companies.

Question 66

Products or services with a high degree of similarity of features and components are called:

A)generic.
B)copy-cat.
C)rip-offs.
D)product families.
E)product/service matrix.

Question 67

One possible disadvantage of modular design is that:

A)replacement and repair are more difficult.
B)failure diagnosis is more complex.
C)the number of configurations of modules decreases.
D)individual parts lose their identities.
E)inventory problems arise.

Question 68

Excitement characteristics are categories in the _________ model.

A)bipolar
B)Kano
C)Pareto
D)quality
E)service matrix

Question 69

One step that is not part of service blueprinting is:

A)Eliminate boundaries for the service and decide on the level of interaction needed.
B)Identify and determine the sequence of customer and service actions and interactions.
C)Develop time estimates for each phase of the process.
D)Understand the time variability involved.
E)Identify potential failure points and develop a plan to minimize them.

Question 70

In the area of product and service design, the acronym CAD refers to:

A)conceptually appropriate design.
B)computer-aided design.
C)commercial applications design.
D)competitive advantage design.
E)completely automated design.

Question 71

A disadvantage of global teams for product design is that:

A)customers may have different needs in different countries.
B)the product designed may have increased marketability and utility.
C)the diversity of an international team may be a detriment.
D)ease of face-to-face meetings is absent since members are located everywhere.
E)technology allows constant contact with team members.

Question 72

Which of the following is not a reason for redesigning a product or service?

A)to reduce labor or material cost
B)to increase the level of employee satisfaction
C)to increase the level of customer satisfaction
D)to attract and increase customer demand
E)to increase quality

Question 73

Incorporating design for disassembly principles in product design helps firms with ___________ design issues.

A)legal
B)social
C)reuse
D)reverse engineering
E)reengineering

Question 74

Which of the following is not an advantage of standardization?

A)The opportunity to freeze design at a very early stage.
B)Fewer parts to deal with in inventory.
C)Reduced training cost and time.
D)Purchasing is more routine.
E)Inventory management is less complex.

Question 75

Which of the following is an example of a postponement tactic?

A)mass customization
B)standardization
C)process mapping
D)delayed differentiation
E)service blueprinting

Question 76

Which of the following questions is least appropriate during value analysis?

A)How can we reduce the cost of parts?
B)How can we improve the performance of the product?
C)How can we incorporate more cultural values in the design of our global system?
D)Can we find a way to use less energy in the production of our product?
E)Could a given component in our product be simplified or combined with another?

Question 77

Mobile phones have evolved from devices intended to place and receive phone calls into handheld multimedia communications devices, but in the eyes of some customers these new features make the phones less desirable. This is an example of:

A)robust design.
B)creeping featurism.
C)sustainable design.
D)quality function deployment.
E)component commonality.

Question 78

One way to increase reliability is to:

A)eliminate backup components.
B)improve preventive maintenance procedures.
C)increase mean repair time.
D)increase the number of independent components.
E)use a global supply chain.

Question 79

One way to increase reliability is to:

A)improve component design.
B)increase the number of service stations.
C)increase mean repair time.
D)increase the number of dependent components.
E)reduce production capacity.

Question 80

Designing for recycling helps facilitate

A)reduced legal liability.
B)compliance with regulatory environments.
C)increased product reliability.
D)reduced standardization costs.
E)better customer service.