4.1/4.2/4.3/4.4/4.5 Operations

Question 1

What is operations management?

Answer 1

Managing the process of converting inputs into output

Question 2

What are some operation decisions?

Answer 2

• Level of output
• Range of products offered
• How best to produce good (labour/capital intensive)
• How best to provide good/service

Question 3

What is labour intensive?

Answer 3

A higher proportion of labour is being used in comparison to capital

Question 4

What is the supply chain?

Answer 4

Series of activities involved in taking the initial resources to providing the final product

Question 5

What are the stages of operations?

Answer 5

Raw materials
Manufacturing
Transportation
Retail
Disposal

Question 6

How do you categorise operations?

Answer 6

Visibility (how many workers you interact with/see what goes on)
Variability of demand
Variety
Volume

Question 7

What is the operational decision making process?

Answer 7

Set operations objectives
Analyse operations data
Make operation decisions
Implement decisions
Review

Question 8

What are some operational objectives?

Answer 8

Costs
Quality
Flexibility
Speed
Dependability

Question 9

What is a competitive advantage?

Answer 9

A way in which a business offers superior value to its competitors

Question 10

How do you calculate labour productivity?

Answer 10

output / number of employees

Question 11

How do you calculate unit cost?

Answer 11

total cost / total output

Question 12

What is capacity utilisation?

Answer 12

The use that the business makes from its resources.

Question 13

How do you calculate capacity utilisation?

Answer 13

current output / maximum output x 100

Question 14

What do managers consider when making operational decisions?

Answer 14

Costs
Profits
Risk
Impact of competitiveness
Effects on stakeholders

Question 15

What is efficiency?

Answer 15

Getting more output from a given level of inputs

Question 16

How can efficiency be improved?

Answer 16

• Using factors of production
• Choosing optimal mix of resources
• Improving labour productivity
• Introducing lean production
• Using technology

Question 17

What would a business do if capacity utilisation is too low?

Answer 17

Try and improve marketing to boost sales

Reduce its capacity

Question 18

What would a business do if capacity utilisation is too high?

Answer 18

Outsource to other producers

Reduce demand in the short term

Question 19

How can labour productivity be improved?

Answer 19

• Training
• Technology
• New ways of working
• Better management
• New reward systems

Question 20

Problems with improved labour productivity?

Answer 20

• Rushing can lead to quality issues
• Employees wanting higher pay
• Waste through excess stock

Question 21

What is lean production?

Answer 21

When managers reduce waste and therefore operations become more efficient

Question 22

How can lead production reduce waste?

Answer 22

• Improved quality - less broken items
• Reducing amount of inventory held
• Reducing time items are waiting to be worked on
• Reducing time items are being moved around during production

Question 23

How can a business become leaner?

Answer 23

• Kaizen
• Andon
• Changes of layout
• Change to the process

Question 24

Issues of lean production?

Answer 24

• More vulnerable (less stock being held)
• Issues will halt production
• Risk from external factors
• Employees are checking their own work
• Need excellent links to suppliers
• Expensive

Question 25

What is quality?

Answer 25

the extent to which an operation meets its customer requirements

Question 26

What does a quality operations process need?

Answer 26

- clear targets - systems to achieve targets - training so employees are skilled - ongoing measurement of what is achieved relative to targets

Question 27

What is the PDCA cycle?

Answer 27

Plan Do Check Act

Question 28

Why is quality important?

Answer 28

``` Reputation Price Customer satisfaction Repeat sales Standards - legislation ```

Question 29

How can quality be achieved?

Answer 29

- Understanding customer requirements - Training - Investment in technology - New processes - Selecting the right partners

Question 30

Whats the difference between quality control and quality assurance?

Answer 30

The difference is that QA is process oriented and QC is product oriented.

Question 31

What is the X and Y theory?

Answer 31

Assumes workers are naturally unmotivated and dislike working, which encourages a authoritarian style. . There is little delegation of authority and control remains firmly centralised.

Question 32

What are the benefits of improving quality?

Answer 32

``` Reputation Price Customer satisfaction Repeat sales Standards Competitive Reliable Brand image Word of mouth ```

Question 33

What is inventory?

Answer 33

The goods or stock a business holds

Question 34

What are the different types of stock?

Answer 34

Inventory of supplies Inventory of works in progress Inventory of final goods

Question 35

What are the costs of holding inventory?

Answer 35

Storage Security Opportunity Cost of losing its value

Question 36

2 types of stock rotation?

Answer 36

First in first out | Last in first out

Question 37

Whats the time taken for supplies to reach the factory?

Answer 37

Lead time

Question 38

What is the supply chain?

Answer 38

All the providers of resources at different stages of the operations process

Question 39

Why do businesses choose certain suppliers?

Answer 39

Costs Dependability Ethical Considerations

Question 40

What is outsourcing?

Answer 40

When a business uses another provider for some of its goods and services

Question 41

What is good about outsourcing?

Answer 41

- Make use of specialist skills | - Increase the capacity of a business

Question 42

Whats bad about outsourcing?

Answer 42

- Cost and quality of suppliers - How does the business behave? - May be more expensive than producing themselves