Deck 19: Operations and Services Management

Question 1

Productivity is the quantitative measure of the efficiency with which inputs are transformed into outputs.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

In the operations management world, self-managers take charge of their destiny.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Only product manufacturers need to concern themselves with the essentials of operations management.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

All top executives approach the challenges of productivity, quality, speed, and customer service in very uniform and consistent ways.

Question 5

Productivity is not essential to achieving a competitive advantage.

Question 6

Typical productivity obstacles might be procrastination and poor communications.

Question 7

In one way or another, all organizations must master the challenges of operations management.

Question 8

Being flexible and staying flexible is a sound piece of advice to give a team worker.

Question 9

To achieve success in the operations management field, self-management is not one of the essential skills for career success.

Question 10

Typical operations management decisions include resource acquisition, inventories, facilities, and product quality.

Question 11

An important career success lesson is "There is no substitute for high performance."

Question 12

All top executives focus on moving services and products into the hands of customers in ways that create loyalty and profits.

Question 13

To have a successful career one must keep focus and build talent in your team workers.

Question 14

As a general statement, self-management is the ability to understand yourself individually and in the social context.

Question 15

According to consultant Steve Covey, behaving like an entrepreneur will help to move your career forward since it is essential to self-management.

Question 16

"Productivity" and "competitive advantage" are core issues in operations and services management.

Question 17

Lost productivity is never a drain on organizational competitiveness.

Question 18

Today's managers are learning to operate in a world that places a premium on productivity, technology utilization, quality, customer services, and speed.

Question 19

Managing productive systems that transform resources into finished products, goods, and services for customers is called operations management.

Question 20

Operating efficiencies that increase productivity are a way to increase competitive advantage.

Question 21

Technology accomplishes tasks by making things consumers want to have.

Question 22

Doing anything better than your competitor which they also can't reproduce is the key to competitive advantage.

Question 23

Due to the significant amount of equipment required for continuous-process production, they require a large labour force to operate.

Question 24

A key element of productivity is the availability of appropriate technology.

Question 25

Organizations using continuous-process production must be highly automated.

Question 26

Most items found on the shelves of grocery stores have been produced by mass production.

Question 27

Organizations using continuous-process production find it difficult to incorporate high levels of automation into their processes.

Question 28

Productivity inefficiencies rarely cost a company money in terms of lost revenue and profit.

Question 29

In continuous-process production, raw materials are continuously transformed by an automated system.

Question 30

Productivity obstacles include unclear objectives and priorities, as well as procrastination and poor communication.

Question 31

Operating efficiencies is one way organizations can gain competitive advantage.

Question 32

Ben's Pasta Emporium uses small-batch production to create pasta dishes for their customers.

Question 33

Oil refineries use the continuous-process production method to create petroleum products.

Question 34

Workers are highly dependent upon one another in a mass production environment as the product passes from stage to stage until completion.

Question 35

Competitive advantage is the ability to outperform one's competitors.

Question 36

Continuous-process production environments are equipment intensive, but can be operated by a relatively small labour force.

Question 37

In small-batch production, a high level of worker skill is unnecessary.

Question 38

The key result of competitive advantage is an ability to consistently do something of equal value to your competitor that cannot be changed quickly.

Question 39

Technology is at the core of any transformation process.

Question 40

Technology is the combination of knowledge, skills, equipment, and work methods used to transform resource inputs into organizational outputs.

Question 41

Remanufacturing, as a trend in manufacturing technology, takes things apart and rebuilds them as products to be used again.

Question 42

Intensive technology focuses on the efforts and talents of many people to serve clients.

Question 43

The goal of flexible manufacturing systems is to combine flexibility with efficiency.

Question 44

Flexible manufacturing systems, as a trend in manufacturing technology, allow automated operations to shift from one task or product type to another quickly.

Question 45

The goal of design for disassembly is to design and manufacture products in ways that consider how their component parts will be recycled at the end of their lives.

Question 46

The real estate industry is an example of an industry which is based primarily on mediating technology.

Question 47

Cellular layouts, as a trend in manufacturing technology, place together machines doing different work so that movement of materials from one to another is as efficient as possible.

Question 48

As a trend in manufacturing technology, computer-integrated manufacturing drives product designs, process plans, and manufacturing from a common computer platform.

Question 49

Remanufacturing cannot help a company achieve a competitive advantage.

Question 50

Cellular layouts do not accommodate much teamwork on the part of machine operators.

Question 51

Design for disassembly is very difficult to achieve in a small-batch production facility.

Question 52

The automobile industry is an example of the use of long-linked technology.

Question 53

Mediating technology links together people in a beneficial exchange of values.

Question 54

Lean production is not possible in a small-batch production scenario.

Question 55

Lean production, as a trend in manufacturing technology, is the process of continuously innovating and employing best practices to increase production efficiencies.

Question 56

There is no materials cost saving to be gained from remanufacturing.

Question 57

Mass customization, as a result of flexible manufacturing systems, provides efficient mass production of products meeting specific customer requirements.

Question 58

Robotics is one trend in manufacturing technology where computer-controlled machines perform physically repetitive work with consistency and efficiency.

Question 59

Cellular layouts require a high level of coordination and management to operate at high efficiency.

Question 60

In long-linked technology, a client moves from point to point during service delivery.

Question 61

The purpose of break-even point analysis is to improve the control and leadership abilities of managers.

Question 62

Inventory control by economic order quantity orders replacements whenever inventory level falls to a predetermined point.

Question 63

The value chain is the specific sequence of activities that creates goods and services with value for customers.

Question 64

Just-in-time scheduling minimizes inventory by outing materials to workstations "just in time" to be used.

Question 65

Some of the areas linked in supply chain management include purchasing, manufacturing, transportation, and distribution.

Question 66

Typical value chain support activities are procurement and human resource management.

Question 67

Break-even point is where revenues equal costs.

Question 68

Value creation is the end result of a task or activity that is worth more in terms of eventually delivering a product or service with higher customer appeal than was the case in the beginning.

Question 69

Just-in-time scheduling is used by lazy managers who cannot be bothered to create schedules too far in advance.

Question 70

Value chain management attempts to manage each step of the input-through-output process for maximum efficiency and effectiveness.

Question 71

The purpose of inventory control by economic order quantity is to improve productivity.

Question 72

Long-linked technology processes must have interdependent tasks in order to be effective.

Question 73

Break-even analysis calculates the point at which revenues cover costs under different "what-if" conditions.

Question 74

Value chain management includes only primary activities and excludes support activities.

Question 75

Value chain management is the specific sequence of activities that creates products and services with value for customers.

Question 76

Resources and materials flow in → materials received and organized for use → people and technology create products → finished products distributed → customers served is an illustration of a value chain.

Question 77

Supply chain management links all operations dealing with resource supplies strategically.

Question 78

The coordination and centralization of purchasing within a company is done to achieve supply chain management efficiencies.

Question 79

The goals of supply chain management are to achieve efficiency in all aspects of the supply chain while ensuring on-time availability of quality resources and products.

Question 80

Efficiency is not a major issue in the value chain.