Chapter Three - The Operations Management Function

Question 0

What are Tangibles?

Answer 0

Tangibles are goods, which can be touched.

Question 1

What is Operations Management?

Answer 1

Operations management consists of all the activities in which managers engage to produce goods or services.

Question 2

What are Intangibles?

Answer 2

Intangibles include services, which cannot be touched.

Question 3

What are Inputs?

Answer 3

Inputs are resources used in the process of production.

Question 4

What is Transformation?

Answer 4

Transformation is the conversion of inputs (resources) into outputs (goods or services).

Question 5

What are Outputs?

Answer 5

Outputs refer to the end result of an organisation’s efforts - the service or product that is delivered or provided to the consumer.

Question 6

What is Productivity?

Answer 6

Productivity is a measure of efficiency - the amount of output produced compared to the amount of input required in production.

Question 7

What is Business Competitiveness?

Answer 7

Business competitiveness refers to the ability of an organisation to sell products in a market.

Question 8

What is Facilities Design and Layout?

Answer 8

Facilities design and layout involves planning the layout of workspace to streamline the production process.

Question 9

What is Fixed Position Layout?

Answer 9

Fixed position layout deals with large-scale processes, such as the construction of bridges, ships, aircraft or buildings.

Question 10

What is a Product Layout?

Answer 10

A product layout deals with the manufacturing of goods in mass volume using an assembly line.

Question 11

What is a Process Layout?

Answer 11

A process layout deals with high varieties of products by grouping activities, equipment and machinery of similar function together.

Question 12

What is Lean Manufacturing?

Answer 12

Lean manufacturing aims to eliminating waste at every stage of production. It involves analysing each stage of the production process, detecting where inefficiencies are and correcting them.

Question 13

What is Materials Management?

Answer 13

Materials management is the strategy that manages the use, storage and delivery of materials to ensure the right amount of inputs is available when required in the operations system.

Question 14

What is Inventory?

Answer 14

Inventory is the goods and materials held as stock by an organisation.

Question 15

What is Materials Handling?

Answer 15

Materials handling is the physical handling of goods in warehouses and at distribution points.

Question 16

What is a Production Plan?

Answer 16

A production plan is an outline of the activities undertaken to combine resources (inputs) to create goods or services (outputs).

Question 17

What is Master Production Scheduling?

Answer 17

Master production scheduling details what is to be produced and when.

Question 18

What is Materials Requirements Planning?

Answer 18

Materials requirements planning involves developing an itemised list of all materials involved in production to meet the specified orders.

Question 19

What is Inventory Control?

Answer 19

Inventory control ensures that costs are minimised and that the operations system has access to the right amounts of inputs when required.

Question 20

What is Just in time?

Answer 20

Just in time is a materials management strategy that ensures that the exact amount of material inputs will arrive only as they are needed in the operations process.

Question 21

What is a Supply Chain?

Answer 21

A supply chain is the range of suppliers from which the organisation purchases materials and resources.

Question 22

What is Quality?

Answer 22

Quality refers to the degree of excellence of goods or services and their fitness for a stated purpose.

Question 23

What is Quality Control?

Answer 23

Quality control involves the use of inspections at various points in the production process to check for problems and defects.

Question 24

What is Quality Assurance?

Answer 24

Quality assurance involves the use of a system so that an organisation achieves set standards in production.

Question 25

What is Total Quality Management?

Answer 25

Total quality management is an ongoing, organisation-wide commitment to excellence that is applied to every aspect of the organisation’s operation.

Question 26

What are Quality Circles?

Answer 26

Quality circles are groups of workers who meet to solve problems relating to quality.

Question 27

What is Continuous Improvement?

Answer 27

Continuous improvement involves an ongoing commitment to achieving perfection.

Question 28

What are Robotics?

Answer 28

Robotics are highly specialised forms of technology capable of complex tasks.

Question 29

What is Computer Aided Design?

Answer 29

Computer aided design is a computerised design tool that allows a business to create product possibilities from a series of input parameters.

Question 30

What is Computer Aided Manufacture?

Answer 30

Computer aided manufacture is software that designs and controls manufacturing processes.

Question 31

What is Computer Integrated Manufacturing?

Answer 31

Computer integrated manufacturing is a method of manufacturing in which the entire production process is controlled by a computer.

Question 32

What is Six Sigma?

Answer 32

Six Sigma is a quality management approach that seeks to identify and remove the causes of problems in the operations process, achieving virtually defect-free production.