Sample midterm1

Concept part
TRUE/FALSE
1. Customer interaction is often high for manufacturing processes, but low for services (F)
2. An example of a "hidden" production function is money transfers at banks. (T)
3. One reason for global operations is to gain improvements in the supply chain(T)
4. The multi-domestic OM strategy maximizes local responsiveness while achieving a significant cost advantage
(F)
5. TQM is important because quality influences all of the ten decisions made by operations managers.(T)
6. One of the ways that Just-In-Time (or JIT) influences quality is that by reducing inventory, bad quality is
exposed. (T)
7. Source inspection is inferior to inspection before costly operations.(F)
8. In statistical process control, the range often substitutes for the standard deviation.(T)
9. One essential ingredient of mass customization is modular design.(T)
10. An example of the postponement strategy for improving service productivity is having the customer wait until
you have sufficient time to serve the customer.(F)

Multiple Choices
10. The responsibilities of the operations manager include
a. planning, organizing, staffing, procuring, and reviewing
b. forecasting, designing, planning, organizing, and controlling
c. forecasting, designing, operating, procuring, and reviewing
d. planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling
e. designing and operating
(c)
11. Which of the following is not a current trend in operations management?
a. just-in-time performance
b. global focus
c. supply chain partnering
d. mass customization
e. All of the above are current trends.
(e)
12. Examples of response to the global environment include
a. Boeing's worldwide sales and production
b. Benneton's flexibility in design, production, and distribution
c. A Chinese manufacturer, Haier, opening plants in the United States
d. Ford's partnerships with Volvo and Mazda
e. All of the above are examples.
e (Introduction)
13. Which of the following represent reasons for globalizing operations?
a. to gain improvements in the supply chain
b. to improve operations
c. to expand a product's life cycle
d. to attract and retain global talent
e. All of the above are valid.
e (A global view of operations)
14. Which of the following is not an operations strategy?
a. response
b. low-cost leadership
c. differentiation
d. experience
e. All of the above are operations strategies.
d (Achieving competitive advantage through operations)

15. The stage in the product life cycle at which it is a poor time to change quality is
a. introduction
b. growth
c. maturity
d. decline
e. incubation
c (Issues in operations strategy)

16. Forecasts
a. become more accurate with longer time horizons
b. are rarely perfect
c. are more accurate for individual items than for groups of items
d. all of the above
e. none of the above
b (What is forecasting?)

17. Forecasts used for new product planning, capital expenditures, facility location or expansion, and R&D
typically utilize a
a. short-range time horizon
b. medium-range time horizon
c. long-range time horizon
d. naive method, because there is no data history
e. all of the above
c (What is forecasting)

18. Which of the following statements comparing the weighted moving average technique and exponential
smoothing is true?
a. Exponential smoothing is more easily used in combination with the Delphi method.
b. More emphasis can be placed on recent values using the weighted moving average.
c. Exponential smoothing is considerably more difficult to implement on a computer.
d. Exponential smoothing typically requires less record keeping of past data.
e. Exponential smoothing allows one to develop forecasts for multiple periods, whereas weighted moving
averages does not.
d (Time-series forecasting)
 19. "Making it right the first time" is
a. an unrealistic definition of quality
b. a user-based definition of quality
c. a manufacturing-based definition of quality
d. a product-based definition of quality
e. the definition proposed by the American Society for Quality
c (Defining quality )
20. Which of the following is not one of the major categories of costs associated with quality?
a. prevention costs
b. appraisal costs
c. internal failures
d. external failures
e. none of the above; they are all major categories of costs associated with quality
e (Defining quality)

21. The process of identifying other organizations that are best at some facet of your operations and then
modeling your organization after them is known as
a. continuous improvement
b. employee empowerment
c. benchmarking
d. copycatting
e. patent infringement
c (Total quality management)

22. A product-focused process is commonly used to produce

a. high-volume, high-variety products
b. low-volume, high-variety products
c. high-volume, low-variety products
d. low-variety products at either high- or low-volume
e. high-volume products of either high- or low-variety
c (Four process strategies)

23. Which of the following is false regarding repetitive processes?

a. They use modules.
b. They allow easy switching from one product to the other.
c. They are the classic assembly lines.
d. They have more structure and less flexibility than a job shop layout.
e. They include the assembly of basically all automobiles.
b (Four process strategies)

Short Answers:
24. How can global operations improve the supply chain?
The supply chain can often be improved by locating facilities in countries where unique resources exist. (A global
view of operations

25. What is SWOT analysis? List its four elements and describe its purpose.
The four elements of SWOT are strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Its purpose is to maximize
opportunities and minimize threats in the environment, while maximizing the advantages of the organization's
strengths and minimizing the weaknesses. (Strategy development and implementation)
 26. State two examples of cultural and ethical issues that face operations managers in a global
environment.

You answers may vary but Among those listed in the text are bribery, child labor, slave labor, and intellectual
property rights. Students may bring forward from an earlier chapter issues such as environmental regulation or safe
work environment, and may raise issues such as product safety. (A global view of operations)

27. What are the differences between quantitative and qualitative forecasting methods?
quantitative methods use mathematical models to analyze historical data. Qualitative methods incorporate such factors
as the decision maker's intuition, emotions, personal experiences, and value systems in determining the forecast.
(Forecasting approaches, moderate)

28. List the four components of a time series. Which one of these is rarely forecast? Why is this so?
Trend, seasonality, cycles, and random variation. Since random variations follow no discernible pattern, they cannot
be predicted, and thus are not forecast. (Time-series forecasting)

29. Explain, in your own words, the meaning of the coefficient of determination.
The coefficient of determination measures the amount (percent) of total variation in the data that is explained by the
model. (Associative forecasting methods: Regression and correlation)

30. Name the four basic process strategies; describe them in a complete sentence or two each.
The four process strategies are process focus, product focus, repetitive focus, and mass customization. Process is a
job shop--high variety and low volume; repetitive is an assembly line--relatively standardized products with options
from modules; product is for high volume, low variety, such as oil refining, flour milling; mass customization is for
high volume, high variety. (Four process strategies)

31. List five examples of technology's impact on services. Specifically, identify one of these which has led to
labor cost reductions. Discuss briefly. Can you add an item, not identified in the textbook, to this list?
Textbook identifies about three dozen examples. Students may add examples like PointCast (or other "push"
information technologies), Amazon.com (fully electronic Internet-based shopping), or examples from entertainment
(video gaming, network gaming). (Technology in services, moderate)