GMS401 Final Exam Questions And Answers

3 Functions of Management - ANS 1. Marketing 2. Production/Operations 3. Finance/Accounting 10 Key Decisions of Operations Managements - ANS 1. Design of Goods & Services 2. Managing Quality 3. Process & Capacity Design 4. Location Strategy 5. Layout Strategy 6. HR & Job Design 7. Supply Chain Management 8. Inventory, Material Requirements Planning & JIT 9. Intermediate & Short Term Scheduling 10. Maintenance 6 Steps in the Decision Process - ANS 1. Clearly define the problem and factors that influence it 2. Develop specific and measurable objectives 3. Develop a model 4. Evaluate each alternative solution 5. Select the best alternative 6. Implement the decision New Challenges in Operations Management - ANS - Global Focus - Supply Chain Partnering - Sustainability - Rapid Product Development - Mass Customization - Just-in-Time Performance (JIT) - Empowering Employees Strategies for Competitive Advantage - ANS 1. Differentiation (concerned with providing uniqueness) 2. Cost Leadership (achieving maximum value while lowering cost) 3. Response - Flexible - Reliable - Quick Response Productivity - ANS A measure of the effective use of resources Expressed as: Outputs / Inputs Why does Productivity Matter? - ANS - High Productivity is linked to higher standards of living - High productivity leads to competitive advantage - High productivity may be linked to the life of an organization Productivity Growth - ANS The increase of productivity from the previous to the current period relative to the productivity to the previous period How can Productivity be improved? - ANS - Labour (basic education, diet of labour force, social overhead) - Capital (changes int axes and resources/inflation) -Management (responsible for ensuring that labour and capital are effectively used to increase productivity) 4 Tactics Organized around Reliability and Maintenance - ANS 1. Reliability tactics 2. Maintenance tactics 3. Preventative Maintenance 4. Increasing Repair Capabilities Ways Reliability can be Improved - ANS - Component Design - System Design - Testing - Preventative Maintenance Procedures - User Education - Components may be linked in a series/parallel format How to Enhance Overall Reliability - ANS - Overdesign: improve the design to avoid failure - Design Simplification: reduce number of components in the production system - Redundancy in the Design: provide backup components Product Development - ANS An effective product strategy links products decisions with cash flow, market dynamics, product life cycle and the organization's capabilities Product Development System - ANS 1. Ideas from many sources 2. Ability 3. Customer Requirements: meeting requirements to win orders 4. Functional Specifications: how the product will work/perform it's intended function 5. Product Specifications: how the product will be made 6. Design review: making sure they are the best way to meet customer requirements 7. Introduction: launch product into market 8. Evaluation: level of success Product Decision - ANS The objective is to develop and implement a product strategy that meets the demand of the marketplace with a competitive advantage New Product Development Focuses on - ANS 1. Understanding the customer 2. Economic Change 3. Social & Demographic Change 4. Technological Change 5. Political / Legal Change 6. Other Changes Product Life Cycle - ANS 1. Introductory Phase 2. Growth Phase 3. Maturity Phase 4. Decline Phase Introductory Phase (Product Life Cycle) - ANS - Products are still being fine tuned - They may warrant unusual expenses for research, product development, process modification and improvement, and supplier development Growth Phase (Product Life Cycle) - ANS - Product design has begun to stabilize and affective forecasting of capacity requirements are necessary -Adding capacity or enhancing existing capacity to accommodate the increase in produce demand Maturity Phase (Product Life Cycle) - ANS - Competitors are established - High volume, innovative production may be appropriate - Improved cost control, reduction in options Decline Phase (Product Life Cycle) - ANS - Management may need to be ruthless with those products whose life cycle is at an end - Unless dying products make some unique contribution to the firm's reputation or can be sold with an unusually high contribution; their production should be terminated Robust Design - ANS The product is designed so that small variations in production or assembly do not adversely affect the product - Central feature is parameter design that determines controllable and not controllable factors Modular Design - ANS The parts/components of a product are subdivided into modules that are easily interchanged/replaced - Adds flexibility to both production and marketing - Makes product development, production and subsequent changes easier - adds feasibility to the easy customers can be satisfied Computer-Aided Design (CAD) - ANS The use of computers to interactively design products and prepare engineering documentation - Is extensive and rapidly expanding - Providing speed and ease of use - Shortening development cycles of products Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) - ANS The use of special computer programs to direct and control manufacturing (machinery) Process Chain - ANS A sequence of steps that accomplishes an activity Process Participant - ANS Can be a manufacturer, a service provider or a customer - A network is a set of participants Adding Service Efficiency - ANS - Limit the Options (provide a list of options to reduce ambiguity) - Delay Customization (Design product so customization is done as late in the process as possible) - Modularization (Modernizing so customization takes the form of changing modules) - Automation (Identify parts that lend themselves to automation) - Moment of Truth (moment that exemplifies, enhances or detracts from customers expectations) Quality Function Development (QFD) - ANS A process for determining customer requirements and translating them into attributes that each functional area can understand and act on Refers to both: -Determining what will satisfy the customer - Translating those desires into the target design House of Quality - ANS Utilizes a planning matrix to relate customer wants to how the firm is going to meet those wants 7 Basic Steps to Build the House of Quality - ANS 1. Identify Customer Wants 2. Identify how the Goods/Services will satisfy the customer wants 3. Relate customer wants to hows (product) 4. Identify relationships between the firms hows 5. Develop important ratings 6. Evaluate competing products 7. Determine the desirable technical attributes, your performance and the competitive performance against these attributes 4 Approaches for Organizing for Product Development - ANS 1. Distinct Departments (Duties and responsibilities are defined) - Difficult to foster forward thinking 2. Assign a Production Manager to Drive the Production through the Product Development System and Related Organization