Deck 11: Process Design and Analysis

Question 1

Buffering in a production process refers to a storage area between stages of production activity where output of a stage is placed prior to being used in a "downstream" stage.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

McDonald's fast-food restaurants use a make-to-order production process.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

A "process" is any part of an organization that takes inputs and transforms them into outputs that, hopefully, are of greater value to the organization than the original inputs.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

When a make-to-order production process is used, production is based on forecasts.

Question 5

A rectangle is conventionally used in a process flowchart to represent a task or operation.

Question 6

Productivity in a production process can be measured by the ratio of output to input.

Question 7

A diamond is conventionally used in a process flowchart to represent a storage area or queue.

Question 8

Cycle time is the ratio of the time that a resource is actually activated relative to the time that it is available for use.

Question 9

Make-to-order production processes are well suited for high-volume production of a standardized product.

Question 10

Blocking in production processes is when activities in a stage must continue because there is no place to deposit completed items.

Question 11

Hybrid processes combine features of make-to-order and make-to-stock production processes.

Question 12

Process analysis can help answer many important questions such as why change in a process is necessary.

Question 13

One way to categorize a process is to determine whether it is a multiple-stage or a single-stage process.

Question 14

When we use a make-to-stock production process, we control our production based on a desired amount of finished goods inventory.

Question 15

A bottleneck occurs when a stage in a production process is starving.

Question 16

Process analysis can help answer many important questions such as how many customers can a process handle per hour.

Question 17

Make-to-stock production processes can easily handle requests for customized product features.

Question 18

A triangle is conventionally used in a process flowchart to represent a storage area or queue.

Question 19

A service operation by its very nature is a make-to-stock type of production process.

Question 20

Pacing in production processes refers to the fixed timing of the movement of items through the process.

Question 21

Little's law says there is a long-term relationship among the inventory, throughput, and flow time of a production system in steady state.

Question 22

Utilization of a production process is the ratio of output to input.

Question 23

If you want to reduce process flow time, it has been suggested that you can perform activities in the process in parallel.

Question 24

Benchmarking refers to the practice of comparing the production metrics of one firm with the production metrics of another.

Question 25

Run time is calculated by multiplying the number of units in a batch by the setup time.

Question 26

A process flowchart uses which of the following symbols to represent tasks or operations in a flow diagram?

A)Rectangle
B)Arrow
C)Inverted triangle
D)Diamond
E)A dashed line

Question 27

A process flowchart uses which of the following symbols to represent a decision point in a flow diagram?

A)Rectangle
B)Arrow
C)Inverted triangle
D)Diamond
E)A dashed line

Question 28

Efficiency of a production process is the ratio of the actual output of a process to some standard.

Question 29

Setup time is the time required to prepare a process to produce a particular item.

Question 30

Job design is defined as the function of specifying the work activities of an individual or group in an organizational setting.

Question 31

Process velocity is the ratio of the total throughput time to the value added time.

Question 32

Utilization of a production process is the ratio of time that a resource is actually being used relative to the time it is available for use.

Question 33

A process flowchart uses symbols to represent which of the following?

A)Factory location
B)Warehouse space available
C)Workforce schedules
D)Flows of material or customers
E)Data analysis

Question 34

Inventory turn is the cost of goods sold divided by the average inventory value.

Question 35

A process flowchart uses which of the following symbols to represent storage areas or queues in a flow diagram?

A)Rectangle
B)Arrow
C)Inverted triangle
D)Diamond
E)A dashed line

Question 36

Which of the following best describes the term "cycle time"?

A)Average time between completions of successive units
B)Ratio of the time a resource is activated over its use
C)Can be no more that 60 minutes
D)The same as utilization
E)The labor content of the item being measured

Question 37

Inventory turn is a better measure than the total value of inventory for comparative purposes because it is a relative measure.

Question 38

If you want to reduce process flow time, it has been suggested that you can reduce interruptions in the production process.

Question 39

Throughput rate of a production process is the amount of time a unit spends actually being worked on.

Question 40

Methods Time Management (MTM) and Most Work Measurement System (MOST) are proprietary examples of predetermined motion-time data systems (PMTSs).

Question 41

According to Little's law, which of the following ratios is used to find flow time?

A)Cycle time/Process time
B)Throughput time/Process velocity
C)Process velocity/Throughput time
D)Inventory/Throughput rate
E)Value-added time/Process velocity

Question 42

An advantage of a make-to-stock process is which of the following?

A)It features rapid delivery of a standard product.
B)All units of output are unique.
C)It responds directly to customer orders.
D)It allows the firm to avoid inventory costs.
E)It combines the best features of other processes.

Question 43

A process flowchart uses which of the following symbols to represent flows of material or customers in a flow diagram?

A)Rectangle
B)Arrow
C)Inverted triangle
D)Diamond
E)A dashed line

Question 44

Consider a business that can be run using a make-to-stock or make-to-order process. Further suppose that your demand is 10000 per month and is spread out during the month. Capacity of both processes is 15000 per month.Based only on this information, what would be the best choice?

A)Choose Make-to-stock process.
B)Choose make-to-order process.
C)Either A or B.
D)Both A and B
E)None of the above.

Question 45

Consider a three sequentially stepped process named as Process A, Process B and Process C.Input comes into Process A.Output form A goes into Process B.Output from B goes into Process C.Output of C is the final output.Suppose that it takes 2 minutes per unit in Process A, 3 minutes per unit in Process B and 1 minute per unit in Process C.Suppose further that Process A receives input at the rate of 30 per hour.Where would you place a buffer? A.in front of Process A
B)in front of Process B
C)in front of Process C
D)in front of both Process B and Process C
E)None

Question 46

According to Little's law, which of the following can be used to estimate inventory?

A)Process time/Cycle time
B)Throughput rate × Flow time
C)Process velocity/Flow time
D)Set up time/Throughput rate
E)Value-added time/Process velocity

Question 47

Which of the following terms describes the time a unit spends actually being worked on together with the time spent waiting in a queue?

A)Cycle time
B)Flow time
C)Run time
D)Setup time
E)Efficiency

Question 48

The long-term relationship among the inventory, throughput, and flow time of a production system in steady state is called which of the following?

A)Peterson's rule
B)Murphy's law
C)Little's law
D)Robert's rule
E)None of these

Question 49

To reduce process throughput time, you might try which of the following actions?

A)Outsource activities.
B)Change the sequence of activities.
C)Improve teamwork.
D)Reduce management interference.
E)Introduce incentive pay

Question 50

To reduce process flow time, you might try which of the following actions?

A)Perform activities in parallel.
B)Change the sequence of activities.
C)Reduce interruptions.
D)Acquire additional equipment.
E)All of these

Question 51

Which of the following production process terms best describes the situation when activities in a stage of production must stop because there is no work?

A)Blocking
B)Buffering
C)Starving
D)Buffer
E)Setup time

Question 52

Consider a three sequentially stepped process named as Process A, Process B and Process C.Input comes into Process A.Output form A goes into Process B.Output from B goes into Process C.Output of C is the final output.Suppose that it takes 2 minutes per unit in Process A, 3 minutes per unit in Process B and 1 minute per unit in Process C.What will be maximum steady state output from this system?

A)30 per hour
B)60 per hour
C)20 per hour
D)10 per hour
E)cannot tell since it depends on the input rate.

Question 53

Consider a three sequentially stepped process named as Process A, Process B and Process C.Input comes into Process A.Output form A goes into Process B.Output from B goes into Process C.Output of C is the final output.Suppose that it takes 2 minutes per unit in Process A, 3 minutes per unit in Process B and 1 minute per unit in Process C.Suppose further that Process A receives input at the rate of 30 per hour.Which process will be experiencing starving?

A)Process A
B)Process B
C)Process C
D)Process B and Process C
E)None