Ch. 14: Operations Management: Managing Vital Operations and Processes

Question 1

Define operations management:

Answer 1

The management of any
aspect of the production
system that transforms
inputs into finished
goods and services.

Question 2

What is a production system:

Answer 2

The system that an
organization uses to
acquire inputs, convert the
inputs into outputs, and
dispose of the outputs.

Question 3

What is an operations manager

Answer 3

A manager who is
responsible for managing
an organization’s
production system and
for determining where
operating improvements
might be made.

Question 4

Define customer relationship management:

Answer 4

(CRM) A technique
that uses IT to develop
an ongoing relationship
with customers to
maximize the value an
organization can deliver
to them over time.

Question 5

Define facilities layout

Answer 5

The operations
management technique
whose goal is to design
the machine—worker
interface to increase
production system
efficiency.

Question 6

What is flexible manufacturing?

Answer 6

Operations management
techniques that attempt
to reduce the setup
costs associated with a
production system.

Question 7

What is total factor productivity?

Answer 7

Outputs divided by All outputs

Question 8

What is labour productivity?

Answer 8

Outputs divided by direct labour

e.g. work hours it takes to make a car

Question 9

Define the three facilities layouts:

Answer 9

• Product layout (Pipeline)
• Fixed position (All contributes individually to final product)
• Process layout (Not a specific organisation, but product is sent to whichever workstation it is needed)

Question 10

Define a company’s inventory

Answer 10

The stock
of raw materials, inputs,
and component parts that
an organization has on
hand at a particular time.

Question 11

What is a just-in-time

inventory system?

Answer 11

A system in which parts
or supplies arrive at an
organization when they
are needed, not before.

Question 12

What is process reengineering

Answer 12

The fundamental
rethinking and radical
redesign of business
processes to achieve
dramatic improvements
in critical measures of
performance such as
cost, quality, service, and
speed.

Question 13

Name three ways in which managers try to improve their company to achieve high performance

Answer 13

their responsiveness to customers
the quality of their products
and the efficiency of their organization.