Chapter3 - Sac Study

Question 1

What are the key elements of an operations system?

Answer 1

inputs
processes
outputs

Question 2

What are the six categories of inputs?

Answer 2

materials (meat offcuts)
capital equipment (mixing machinery to mix dog food)
labour (people putting ingredients into mixers)
Info from variety of sources (dog food recipe)
time (e.g. 3 hours per batch)
Money (money put into materials)

Question 3

How can an organisation increase productivity and business competitiveness

Answer 3

competing on cost
competing on quality
competing on speed of delivery

Question 4

What are the four strategies adopted to optimise operations?

Answer 4

facilities design and layout
Materials management
Management of quality
Extend of the use of technology

Question 5

What is 1 disadvantage of the fixed position layout?

Answer 5

• SPACE - work area may be crowded, little storage space available

Question 6

What are 2 advantages of the product layout?

Answer 6

PRODUCTIVITY - can generate a large volume of products (outputs) in a short period of time
COST - Cost is reduced because of the use of technology and machines, and staff only compete specialised tasks

Question 7

What are 2 disadvantages of the product layout?

Answer 7

MOTIVATION - staff can become bored with repetitive, low skilled activities and may become lazy
SHUT DOWN - A problem on the production line can sometimes mean that the whole factory needs to be shut down

Question 8

What are 2 disadvantages of the process layout?

Answer 8

CONFUSION - constantly changing schedules and routing make juggling process requirements more difficult, and can become confusing for staff
UTILISATION - équipement utilisation rates in process layout are frequently low, because machine usage is dependant upon a variety of output requirements

Question 9

What are 2 advantages of the process layout?

Answer 9

PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVES - because whole factory doesn’t need to be shut down if there are defects or problems in one cell
MOTIVATION - improves because employees will be able to perform a variety of tasks, opposed to assembly line

Question 10

What are 2 problems of a large amount of inventory being held by an organisation to ensure materials do not run out?

Answer 10

STORAGE - stock taking up storage for lengthy periods

USE-BY DATE - Materials can have a use-by date, which means they could become unusable after a period of time

Question 11

What is an example of using inventory control to optimise operations? (other than TQM)

Answer 11

• using bar coding and computerised stock records to control inventory (can help minimise loss or theft of stock)

Question 12

what are 2 advantages of ‘just in time’ to be used to control inventory?

Answer 12

• Reduces risk of products exceeding the use-by-date

- companies spend less money on raw materials because they buy just enough to make the products and no more

Question 13

what is 1 disadvantage of ‘just in time’ to be used to control inventory?

Answer 13

if supplier of materials has a breakdown and cannot deliver goods on time it can shut down entire production process

Question 14

Why does the supply chain need to be well managed?(2)

Answer 14

• because if materials not on hand, nothing can be produced

- if materials are of inferior quality, difficult to produce quality products

Question 15

What are the 3 elements of quality management?

Answer 15

• quality control
• quality assurance
• total quality management (TQM) (continuous improvement, employee empowerment/quality circles, customer focus)

Question 16

What are 2 advantages or quality control? plus one example of quality control

Answer 16

• if established standards are met - meeting customer expectations
• Competitiveness increases - costs associated with waste and faulty products are reduced
• mars not let out cans that come under weight

Question 17

How can an organisation have quality assurance? (2)

Answer 17

• involves getting external organisation to audit the production process against national or international standards, E.G. ISO standards
• the organisation strives to achieve these standards, and if met can display the certification showing the product is of national or international standard

Question 18

How does total quality management (TQM) ensure quality?

Answer 18

quality becomes an organisation wide philosophy. Its aim is to crease a defect-free production process

Question 19

how can employee empowerment be used to achieve TQM objectives?

Answer 19

• quality control circles (workers meeting to solve problems relating to quality) achieve employee empowerment

Question 20

what are 2 advantages of robotics?

Answer 20

• allows for precision and accuracy that is unmatched by human labour
• robots work without complaints or demand for higher wage

Question 21

how can an operations manager manage inputs appropriately? (advantage and disadvantage of this)

Answer 21

• sourcing locally, reducing amount the products have to travel and reducing green house gas emissions.
• environmentally sustainable inputs may cost more and not be locally available

Question 22

how can an operations manager manage suppliers appropriately? (advantage and disadvantage of this)

Answer 22

• use reputable suppliers who are also ethically and socially responsible
• this may cost more and require time and effort to investigate

Question 23

how can operations manager manage staff appropriately? (adv and disadvantage to this)

Answer 23

• training benefits staff by upscaling, increasing motivation
• lost time while employees are trained

Question 24

how can operations manager act ethically and socially responsible with outputs? (adv and disadvantage to this)

Answer 24

• make sure the end product is of extremely high quality and exceeds customer expectations
• this may slow down the production process

Question 25

how can an operations manager act ethically in the production process? (processes/transformation)

Answer 25

use renewable sources of energy including solar and wind energy

Question 26

What are inputs at mars? (4)

Answer 26

Labour, money, recipes, raw materials

Question 27

What are processes at mars? (3)

Answer 27

grinding, mixing, rinsing, assembly

Question 28

What is the output at mars?

Answer 28

A high quality can of dog food that can be sold to a variety of customers

Question 29

what are 3 differences between service and manufacturing organisations?

Answer 29

• tangible vs. intangible
• service there is a higher customer contact
• goods are usually standardised whereas services can be more easily tailored

Question 30

What is involved in quality control? (element of quality management)

Answer 30

checks and inspections against standards and benchmarks and after comparing, fixing those products that aren’t meeting standards

Question 31

What are the elements of TQM?

Answer 31

employee empowerment
continuous improvement
customer focus (what the customer needs)

Question 32

What is an example of a service organisation?

Answer 32

A large hospital - provides a service to patients

Question 33

What are the elements of materials management?

Answer 33

• supply chain management

- inventory control (just in time)

Question 34

What are 3 examples of operations management objectives?

Answer 34

• reduce production cost
• Increase quality
• increase profit

Question 35

What is the relationship between productivity and business competitiveness?

Answer 35

• Organisations that can improve productivity will become more competitive, because they are able to produce more outputs at a lower cost

Question 36

What are 2 similarities between a manufacturing organisation and a service organisation?

Answer 36

• both have objectives e.g.: the core objective to efficiently produce goods or services
• both have customers

Question 37

What is the relationship between operations and business objectives?

Answer 37

The operations function influence on quality, cost and availability of goods or services. These effect whether the organisation achieves its main objectives

Question 38

When does a competitive advantage occur?

Answer 38

Competitive advantage occurs when an organisation is able to produce goods or services better than its competitors (e.g.; competing on cost)